a) Attitude

An attitude is a relatively enduring organisation of beliefs, feelings and behavioral tendencies

towards socially significant objects, groups events or symbols. Attitude structure can be
described in terms of three components which are Affective component, Behavioral component
and Cognitive component. This is called the ABC model

Affective Component

The affective component refers to the emotional reaction one has towards an attitude object. In
other words it is the way one feels about the situation, person or object of the attitude. The initial
feeling can influence a person’s attitude in many ways which can either be positive or negative.
Often times this is an impulsive response stemming from memory or past experience with the
object or the attitude or something similar to it. For example, Progress who has a phobia of dogs,
a dog is an attitude object. Whenever she is exposed to a dog, whether she thinks about one or
sees one she feels extreme anxiety and fear. An attitude that is stemmed from or originally
created by emotion is called an affectively-based attitude.

Behavioral Component

It refers to the way one behaves when exposed to an attitude object. It is the actions that one
takes because of the person or experience in front of them. These behaviors can be positive or
negative depending on the object of attitude. The behavior is often regarded as predictable in the
sense that if the individual has already acted in a specific manner to experience or object of
similar value, that behavior is likely to be consistent when the person is faced with the item or
person again. For example, Progress who has dog phobia, her affective component of her attitude
towards dogs is fear and anxiety. Most likely her behavior when it comes to dogs is avoiding
them whenever possible. If she does see one, she probably screams or cries. This behavior is the
second component of that particular attitude.

Cognitive Component

The third and final component of an attitude is the cognitive component and it refers to the
thoughts and beliefs one has about an attitude object. For example, we have already determined
that Progress avoids dogs and is scared when she is exposed to them. Its likely she believes that
all dogs are dangerous. Beyond the physical and emotional reactions of her phobia, there is also
this cognitive component of her attitude.

b) Attitude Formation

Attitude formation refers to the movement we make from having no attitude towards an object to
having some positive or negative attitude towards that object. The process of attitude formation
takes place in the following ways:

Learning by association

Attitudes are learnt by associating good or bad characteristics to an object. Associating bad or
good attributes to an object may be based on the personal experience of the individual or his
knowledge about the pros and cons of the object. An individual form negative attitude towards a
thing, to which he associates negative characteristics. For example, an individual may associate
bad characteristics to smoking cigarettes, such as that it contains nicotine and thus it causes
cancer and other health complications. This individual will have a negative attitude towards
smoking cigarettes.

Learning through reinforcement (punishment and rewards)

It also called instrumental conditioning. A positive or negative attitude towards an object is

formed on the basis of consequences of coming across that object. Anything that gives a person a
positive consequence would develop a positive attitude towards it. For example, a student
studying gets high marks wins a prize and is appreciated by others. He develops a positive
attitude towards studying books. Similarly, any negative consequences of some action lead to the
formation of a negative attitude towards it.

Imitation and Observation

Attitudes are formed by imitating and observing others. We observe the preference, choices and
attitudes of other people toward different things which may also shape our own attitudes towards
those things. We imitate other in developing a specific attitude towards a thing. This means that
we simply copy the attitudes of others towards a thing and our attitude formation may not be
primarily based on our personal assessment of things.

Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms

Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms is through association, reward or punishment
and modeling. For example, offering money, sweets and fruit in a place of worship is a
normative behavior in some religions. When individuals see that such behavior is shown by
others and is socially approved, they develop a positive attitude towards such behavior.

Learning through exposure to information

With the huge amount of information that is being provided through media, both positive and
negative attitudes are being formed. By reading the biographies of self-actualized person, an
individual may develop a positive attitude towards hard work.