Attitude
Meaning and Definition of Attitude
Attitude is a state of mind. It is a set of ideas regarding a subject that has an evaluative characteristic positive, negative or neutral quality .
Attitude generally means the presence of a positive, negative or neutral attitude towards a psychological object, that is, a person,thing, group, idea, situation or other.
For example, in present-day India, there is a positive attitude towards Western culture and knowledge, while there is a generally negative attitude towards traditional and orthodox beliefs.
The definition of attitude has changed over time. According to Thurston, the intensity of positive or negative emotion in favor or against a psychological subject is called attitude.
Later this definition was expanded and said that attitude has not only emotional side but also cognitive and practical side, i.e. presence of an information or belief, e.g. a man says that 'Women are irrational, so this includes the belief that women have less reasoning', as well as negative feelings towards them. Because of this the behavior of that man is not positive towards women.Inthe 1990s, the approach contained in the definition of attitude came to be called the ABC approach.
Here 'A' means Affective or Emotional, 'B' means Behavioural i.e.Behavioral while 'C' means Cognitive or Cognitive.
If a white, for example, has negative attitudes towards blacks, then he will have three sides
- He will have information that proves it.that blacks are bad. These information may be wrong, but he will believe that they are correct cognitive side.
- He will feel hatred/hatred towards blacks(emotional side).
- He will do some negative actions on seeing a black personlike- sitting away from him, not shaking hands or abusing etc. (Practical / functional side).
Contemporary research is pointing out that it is not necessary to have a behavioral aspect in attitude.
Behavioral aspect is also absent in attitude due to moral values,social pressure or fear of conflict. For example, while roaming in Africa, a white person will not behave towards a black ashe can in his own country.
In addition to the emotional, cognitive and behavioral components, there are other characteristics of low attitudes, such as - Valence, Extreme ness, Simplicity or Complexity, Multiplicity.
