ATTITUDE AND ITS COMPONENTS
Simply put, "attitude" is a person's manner of looking at something or their point of view on something. To be more exact, "attitude" might be described as an individual's mental state that prepares him to react or causes him to behave in a predetermined manner. It is, in fact, a learned feeling. Attitudes are statements about how much we like or dislike different things. Based on the information we get, our attitudes indicate our evaluations, preferences, or rejections. It is a generalized inclination to think or act in a particular manner in relation to some item or situation, which is frequently accompanied by sentiments. It is a taught proclivity to respond consistently to a particular thing. Evaluations of people, issues, items, or events are examples of this. Such assessments are frequently positive or negative, but they can also be ambiguous at times.
Attitude is defined as a more or less stable set of predispositions of opinion, interest, or purpose involving the expectation of a specific type of experience and preparedness to respond appropriately. Attitudes are frequently referred to as "frames of reference." They provide a backdrop against which facts and events might be seen.
According to Robbins, ‘’Attitudes are evaluative statements that are either favourable or unfavourable to objects, people, or events. They express how a person feels about something.”
CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDE: Following are the basic characteristics of attitude:
- Attitudes are inclinations: Attitudes are a person's predispositions of purpose, interest, or opinion to evaluate particular objects favourably or unfavourably.
- The intensity of one's attitude: It relates to the effective component's strength. For example, we may despise someone, but the depth of our dislike determines the intensity of our feelings against that person.
- An attitude is an evaluative statement: Attitudes are evaluative remarks that are either positive or negative about items, people, or events.
- Values and attitudes are not the same things: Values and attitudes are not the same things: Values are aspirations, whereas attitudes are limited to our feelings.
- Human behaviour is influenced by attitude: A favourable attitude toward something influences human conduct toward that object and vice versa.
- Attitudes may be taught: Attitude is not a natural occurrence. Attitudes are formed as a result of social contact and experience.
STRUCTURE OR COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE:
The structure of attitudes can be broken down into three parts.
Affective component: this refers to a person's feelings or emotions in relation to the attitude object.
The behavioural (or conative) component: how our attitude determines how we act or behave.
The cognitive component refers to a person's belief or knowledge regarding an attitude object.
This is referred to as the ABC model of attitudes.
The Affective component: The affective component of an attitude is the emotional or feeling component. It is related to a statement that has an impact on another individual. It is concerned with feelings or emotions that occur as a result of something, like dread or hatred. Individual feelings towards another person, which might be good, neutral, or negative are related to the affective component of attitude.
Much of the study on attitudes has emphasized the role of affective or emotional components. The cognitive process, or how we think about an issue or scenario, interacts with emotion. Emotional appeals are common in advertising, public health efforts, and political discourse. Any discrete emotion can be employed in a persuasive appeal, including jealousy, contempt, indignation, fear, humour, and fury. For example, a pack of cigarettes now has a graphic of black lungs as well as the slogan 'Smoking Kills: Tobacco Causes Cancer,' which is intended to instill dread.
The Behavioral component: The behaviour component of an attitude is made up of a person's proclivity to behave in a certain way toward an object. It refers to the aspect of attitude that shows a person's aim in the short or long run.
As previously said, the things you believe about something and how you feel about it may have an impact on how you are predisposed to behave. Thus, attitudes have a behavioural component—a proclivity or aptitude to act in a particular way. It is important to distinguish between behaviour and behavioural inclination.
It may be logical to suppose that if we have a negative attitude toward a specific thing, that attitude is likely to be translated into a specific sort of behaviour. However, such a behavioural proclivity may not be predictive of your actual behaviour. Behaviours are often characterized as an individual's overt acts.
The Cognitive component: Attitudes entail more than simply feelings; they also entail knowledge—what you believe to be true about an attitude object. For example, you may assume that studying psychology can help you better understand other people and prepare you to cope with them. This view, whether totally true or completely wrong, is the cognitive component of your attitude toward psychology. We're talking about the cognitive portion of an attitude when you make your opinion or judgment based on available facts and decide whether you have a favourable or unfavourable opinion on it.
Cognition means 'to know,' 'to conceptualize,' or 'to recognize.' As a result, the cognitive component of attitude is the storage component, which is where we organize information about an attitude object. It is made up of our ideas, beliefs, opinions, and thoughts concerning the attitudinal object.
Though most attitudes contain all three components, they can be more strongly based on either the cognitive or affective component. It is also possible that an attitude might not always have all three components. According to research, not all three of these components are required for an attitude to exist. For example, you could create a good attitude toward a product you see on television without ever having any beliefs about it (you may lack knowledge about it and hence don't know if it will function) or engage in any purchasing behaviour.
CONCLUSION: Attitude is divided into three parts: cognitive, affective or emotional, and behavioural. The cognitive component focuses on information or understanding, whereas the emotive component focuses on feelings.
The behavioural component demonstrates how our attitudes affect how we act or behave. It helps to understand their intricacies as well as the potential relationship between attitudes and behavior. But, the term attitude primarily refers to the impacted component of the three.
https://www.geektonight.com/what-is-attitude-meaning-functions-types-importance-components/
https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/23575/1/Unit-2.pdf
https://www.iedunote.com/components-of-attitudes
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