Attitude (psychology)

Definition according to wikipedia.org

In psychology, attitude is a psychological construct that is a mental and emotional entity that inheres or characterizes a person, their attitude to approach to something, or their personal view on it. Attitude involves their mindset, outlook and feelings. Attitudes are complex and are an acquired state through life experience. Attitude is an individual’s predisposed state of mind regarding a value and it is precipitated through a responsive expression towards oneself, a person, place, thing, or event (the attitude object) which in turn influences the individual’s thought and action.

Most simply understood attitudes in psychology are the feelings individuals have about themselves and the world. Prominent psychologist Gordon Allport described this latent psychological construct as “the most distinctive and indispensable concept in contemporary social psychology.” Attitudes can be formed from a person’s past and present. Key topics in the study of attitudes include attitude strength, attitude change, consumer behavior, and attitude-behavior relationships.

Dimensions of Attitudes

Researchers study three dimensions of attitude: strength, accessibility, and ambivalence.

• Attitude Strength: Strong attitudes are those that are firmly held and that highly influence behavior. Attitudes that are important to a person tend to be strong. Attitudes that people have a vested interest in also tend to be strong. Furthermore, people tend to have stronger attitudes about things, events, ideas, or people they have considerable knowledge and information about.
• Attitude Accessibility: The accessibility of an attitude refers to the ease with which it comes to mind. In general, highly accessible attitudes tend to be stronger.
• Attitude Ambivalence: Ambivalence of an attitude refers to the ratio of positive and negative evaluations that make up that attitude. The ambivalence of an attitude increases as the positive and negative evaluations get more and more equal.

The Influence of Attitudes on Behavior

Behavior does not always reflect attitudes. However, attitudes do determine behavior in some situations:

• If there are few outside influences, attitude guides behavior.

The importance of attitude is that it is the basis for everything in our lives. Our attitude determines how we react to adversity, our ability to grow and to learn, our ability to overcome challenges, and create bonds with others.

“The Five Hazardous Attitudes” are the source of most on-the-job incidents during elevated construction. These attitudes, Anti-Authority, Impulsivity, Invulnerability, Macho, & Resignation, often lead to poor judgment and risk assessment.

Having a positive mental attitude is one of the most important things to develop in life. More energy, better health, a greater chance at success, and an overall happier life all show just how important having the right attitude is.

• • Non-judging.
  • Patience.
  • Beginner’s Mind.
  • Trust.
  • Non-striving.
  • Acceptance.
  • Letting Go.
  • Gratitude.

Research has shown that your attitude is the most important factor in determining how well you do in life. Developing a positive attitude demands change. The first step is to face up to the need for changing from a negative attitude to a positive attitude.

Attitudes can form through direct experience, social influence, formal education, conditioning processes, and observation.