Components Of Attitudes

If you make an effort to change your attitude, life can be very different.

Attitude is a key concept in psychology. Attitudes are positive or negative views of an "attitude object": i.e., a person, behaviour, or event. People can also be "ambivalent" towards a target, meaning that they simultaneously possess a positive and a negative attitude.

Attitudes develop on the basis of evaluative responding. Attitudes develop on the ABC model (affect, behavioral change and cognition). For an attitude to form an individual goes through the steps of responding to an entity on an affective, behavioral change and cognitive level. The affective response is a physiological response that expresses an individual's preference for an entity. The behavioral intention is a verbal indication of the intention of an individual. Thecognitive response is a cognitive evaluation of the entity to form an attitude. Most attitudes in individuals are a result of social learning from the environment.

Attitudes are comprised of three components: beliefs, emotions and behaviours.

Beliefs
Beliefs make up the cognitive component of an attitude. For example, an unfavourable attitude about eating meat might include beliefs that eating meat causes health problems, and that most meat is processed and packaged in unhygenic ways.

Emotions
Emotions make up the affective component of an attitude. In the example of an unfavourable attitude about eating meat, related emotions might include feeling nauseated by the sight of raw meat, and reacting with anger to meat industry advertising campaigns.

Behaviours
Behaviours comprise the responsive or active component of an attitude. If one has an unfavourable attitude about eating meat, one will probably refuse meat at meals, and this attitude may generalize to other forms of behaviour, such as criticizing others for eating meat or boycotting stores and restaurants that sell meat.

What sort of attitude do you have to your work? A new attitude might improve your career prospects!