Attitude Project

AIM
To study the attitudinal differences regarding marriage between
two groups: boys and girls.
 THEORETICAL ASPECT
Introduction
DEFINITION
Attitudes are lasting evaluations of various aspects of the social world that is stored in memory.
When we meet people, we make inferences about their personal qualities. This is called ‘Impression Formation’.
We are also interested to know why people behave in the way that they do i.e. we assign causes to their behaviour shown
in specific social situations. This is termed ‘Attribution’.
These two processes are examples of mental activities related to the gathering and interpretation of information about the
social world collectively called ‘Social Cognition’
All definitions of attitude agree that these processes are involved in attitude formation.
Nature of Attitude: An attitude is a state of mind, a state of views or thoughts recording some topic which has an
evaluative feature (positive, negative or neutral). It is accompanied by an emotional component and a tendency to act in a
particular way with regard to the attitude object
Components of Attitude: ABC
Attitudes comprise three major components namely affective (feeling), behavioural (action or performance) and cognitive
(thinking). Taken together these three aspects have been referred to as ABC components of Attitude.
1) The Affective Component: deals with the way one feels about the attitudinal object. For example, our liking or
disliking for some person.
2) The Behavioural Component: refers to the actual behaviour. If one has a positive attitude towards someone, his actual
behaviour is also likely to be favourable.
3) The Cognitive Component: represents the belief that one has about an attitudinal object, implying thereby how we
evaluate the characteristics of a person, object or place. This evaluation can be positive or negative.

The three components are interlinked: For example, suppose you love swimming and believe that swimming is an
excellent exercise. You also love jumping into a pool and it brings a smile to your face. In this case the smile and fun it
brings is the affective component, the knowledge you have about the activity, for example the fact that it a good exercise
is the cognitive component and the act of jumping into the pool is the behavioural component.
Inconsistency amongst the three components may cause tension and anxiety and the person will try to make changes in the
components in such a manner that consistency or balance is restored.
When all the three components of attitude are in the same direction, the attitude will be more resistant and difficult to
change.
THE PROCESS OF ATTITUDE FORMATION:
There are specific conditions which lead to the formation of specific attitudes. In general attitudes are learned through
one’s own experiences and through interactions with others. There are a few research studies that show attitudes have
some inborn aspects but such genetic factors influence attitudes only indirectly. In general Attitudes are greatly influenced
by learning.
a) Learning Attitude by Association: A positive attitude towards one thing may lead to a positive attitude for some other
thing by association. For example, if a student likes a teacher a lot, he may develop a positive attitude towards the subject
taught by him. Here a positive attitude towards the subject is a direct result of the positive attitude towards the teacher.
b) Learning Attitude by being Rewarded or Punished: Children learn certain attitudes and behaviour by the control
exercised due to systematic rewards and punishments. Parents, teachers and other elders influence the kind of attitude that
children develop. If an individual is praised for showing a particular kind of attitude chances are high that he will develop
a positive attitude towards that belief, person or object. Similarly, if he is criticised or punished he is likely to develop a
negative attitude.
c) Learning attitudes by Modelling: Often individuals attempt to emulate their role models. People in powerful
positions, actors, politicians, businessmen etc having charisma, money or status have an immense effect on attitude
formation. People often adopt the beliefs or attitudes expressed by them due to the process of modelling. Also, individuals
learn about the attitudes specific to religious or ethnic groups through observational learning or modelling. This is the
reason why children observe sweets or flowers being offered at a place of worship, develop a positive attitude towards it
and also in turn exhibit such behaviour.
d) Learning due to exposure to Information: many attitudes are learnt due to the exposure to media content even
without the direct physical presence of any particular individual. The world wide web, social media, high speed
connectivity has made all parts of the virtual world accessible to us. In such a scenario many attitudes are formed in a
global context which was earlier not as common or even possible.

FACTORS AFFECTING FORMATION OF ATTITUDE:

1) Family and School Environment: In the early years of life parents play a significant role in attitude formation. Later,
the school plays an important part. Learning attitudes within the family and school usually takes place through rewards
and punishments, association as well as modelling.
2) Reference Groups: Reference groups indicate to an individual the norms regarding acceptable behaviour and ways of
thinking. Attitude towards various topics such as political, religious and social groups are often developed through
reference groups their influence is noticeable especially during the beginning of adolescence.
3) Direct Personal Experience: Some attitudes are formed through direct personal experience which bring about a drastic
change in our attitude towards certain people, objects and even in our own lives.
4) Media related influences: Technological advances have made audio, visual media and the internet very powerful
sources of information that lead to attitude formation and change. The media can exert both positive and negative
influences on attitude. On the one hand media and the internet make people better informed than other modes of
communication. On the other hand there may be no checks on the information being gathered and distributed and
therefore no control over the attitudes being formed.
PREJUDICE: A powerful negative attitude towards the member of specific social group based solely on their
membership in that group.
STEREOTYPE: these are cognitive frameworks consisting of knowledge and beliefs about specific social groups. A
framework suggesting that by and large, all members of this group possess certain traits, at least to a degree.
DISCRIMINATION: An unjustified negative or harmful behaviour towards a member or members of a group simply
because of their membership in that group.
THE PROCESS OF CHANGING ATTITUDES
1) Learning theories- Doob(1947) first suggested that learning theories such as the principles of classical and operant
conditioning can be applied to explain the formation and change in attitudes. In an experiment two groups of people were
placed in two separate rooms- one comfortable and one uncomfortable. Those who were in the comfortable room held a
positive attitude about their roommates while those who were in the uncomfortable room viewed other members as the
cause of their discomfort. This is because when objects and events are associated with pleasant experiences people tend to
develop a positive attitude towards it while those associated with unfavourable experiences take on a negative attitude.
2) The Concept of Cognitive Dissonance: The concept of cognitive dissonance was given by Leon Festinger in 1957. It
emphasises the cognitive component of attitude. The basic idea is that the various components of an attitude, or even the
various attitudes held by an individual should be in consonance with each other i.e they should logically in line with each
other. If an individual finds that two components of an attitude are dissonant i.e they do not agree with each other, then
one of the components will be changed towards the direction of consonance. For example. Attitude 1: I smoke. Attitude 2:
Smoking is injurious to health. In this example there is cognitive dissonance so either I will convince myself that smoking
is a not a as harmful as it is shown to be or I will stop smoking in order to being the two attitudes into consonance.
Changing attitude through Persuation
It is the process through which one or more persons try to change the attitude of one or more other persons. Yale
researchers have proposed four factors that influence persuasion. These are:
1) Source Variables- Research shows that persuasion may sometimes result from speaker appeal rather than logic,
rationalization or believability of the message itself. Speaker variables such as status, attractiveness etc are often used in
advertising to use this technique. Experts are more persuasive than non-experts. Similarly, people who speak rapidly are
more persuasive than people who speak slowly.
2) Message variables- Certain characteristics make the message more persuasive. Research has shown that attitude
change occurs if the persuasion is neither too much nor too little. Similarly, a two-sided approach is more effective
compared to one sided argument. Message repetition also brings about attitude change.
3) Channel variables: Face to face persuasion proves to have more impact than persuasion through other media. It is
more attention grabbing and stimulates more thought and commitment to the message.
4) Target variable- People having open, flexible personality change more easily. People with low self-esteem and
external locus of control are also persuaded easily compared to those who are confident and have an internal locus of
control.

Attitude of Boys towards Marriage

Attitude of Girls towards Marriage

 PRACTICAL ASPECT
AIM- To study the attitudinal differences regarding marriage between two genders: boys and girls.
PRELIMINARIES
2 groups of randomly selected 10 boys and 10 girls.
Age: 17-18 years Date of Study- ____________ Education: Studying in class XII
Time of Study :___________ Physical and Mental Status: Fresh and Active
MATERIAL REQUIRED
Pen, Pencil, Paper, Ruler and Information from book and internet (in order to construct statements).

VARIABLES
Independent variable –Gender difference
Dependent variable – Attitude scores towards marriage
CONSTRUCTION OF CHECKLIST AND COLLECTION OF RAW DATA
After collection of data from various sources checklist of 10 statements was constructed with positively and negatively
worded statements towards marriage.
Each statement was attached with 5 point scale- SA (Strongly Agree), A (Agree), U (Undecided), D(Disagree) and SD
(Strongly disagree).
A short semi structured interview was conducted with all the participants.
PRELIMINARY SET UP
• All required material for the study is collected in advance and checked.
• Proper arrangement of light and ventilation was confirmed.
• The subjects were made to sit comfortably away from distractions.
• Rapport was established with subject. When the subject was ready and gave his/her consent general instructions
were given
INSTRUCTIONS
“Please sit comfortably and pay attention to my instruction. I shall present a list of 10 statements regarding marriage.
Please go through them carefully and put a tick against the suitable option with which you agree. Ask me if you have any
inconvenience.”
PROCEDURE
After the above instructions the study was started by handing over the materials to the subject. They subject was made to
fill the preliminary details on the checklist an fill the responses after reading each statement carefully. Once the checklist
was filled it was checked. After a brief interview on attitude towards marriage, the subject was thanked and allowed to
leave. The checklist was scored and the result was calculated.
SCORING
The scoring of the statement is 5- point scale is illustrated below
Serial number of statements 5-point scale and their corresponding scores
POSITIVE STATEMENTS- 1/3/5/7/9 SA/A/U/D/SD- 5/4/3/2/1
NEGATIVE STATEMENTS- 2/4/6/8/10 SA/A/U/D/SD- 1/2/3/4/5
The maximum score for each statement was 5. So, the maximum total scores of all the statements is 50.
TREATMENT OF DATA
Measures of central tendency, i.e., the mean or the average was calculated for the boys and girls. Similarly, the range of
the data was also calculated for the boys and girls to find out the dispersion.

Data Collection from boys

( Attach all the 10 filled up questionnaires of the adult (parents) subjects after this page. )

Data Collection from girls

( Attach all the 10 filled up questionnaires of the teenager subjects after this page. )

RESULTS(Left Side of Page)

‘Scores of Boys’ 3
S.No. Name Score
4
1
5
2
 6 2
7 3
8 4
9 5
10 6
Total= (add 7
scores from 1
to 10) 8
9

Mean= (total/10) 10
Total= (add
Range= Max scores from 1
score – Min to 10)
score

Scores of Girls’(Left Side of Page)

Mean= (total/10)
Table 2
S.No. Name Score
Range= Max
1 score – Min
score

GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION (Left Side of Page)

(A graph has to be made on graph paper and attached to the project.)
It will show the mean score of the adults and the mean score of the teenagers
STATISTICAL TREATMENT
Mean Score obtained by the boys = ………
Mean Score obtained by the girls= ………
Thus, by comparing the scores obtained by both the groups we see that the score obtained by………. Is more than the
score obtained by ……….. Thus ………..has a more positive attitude towards marriage compared to…………..
DISCUSSION
As per the study conducted by me on 10 boys and 10 girls my results indicate that the average score of boys is ______
while the average score of girls is _______.This shows that on an average ________have a more positive attitude towards
marriage. Furthermore, the range of the scores of girls was ….while the range of the scores of boys was_____

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Mangal, S.K. (2019) General Psychology, Sterling Publishers (P) Ltd., New Delhi.
• Albarracin, D., Johnson, B.T., & Zanna, M.P. (2005).The Handbook of Attitudes, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
New Jersey.
• Baron, R. A., Branscombe, N. R., & Byrne, D. (2009).Social Psychology, 12thEd., MA: Pearson/Allyn and
Bacon, Boston.
• www.verywellmind.com › attitudes-how-they-form
• en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Attitude_(psychology)