Structural Approach To Attitudes

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An attitude is a psychological tendency expressed when we evaluate a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. It is a mental or neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence on the individual’s response to all objects and situations to which it is related. It is a tendency to act in a particular way due to both an individual’s temperament and experience. It is a positive or negative evaluation of people, events, ideas and objects. It is the dynamic part of our behavior which drives response and activity. An attitude is “the relatively stable overt behavior of a person which affects his status. People with different attitudes react differently to same situations. Attitudes…show more content…
“I like this” or “I prefer that” depict the affective component. • Behavioural component, also known as the conative aspect, how the person behaves or acts towards the object or the event. The way we behave towards a poor or homeless person depicts our behavioural component. • Cognitive component, the beliefs about the attitude object belief or knowledge or information about an object or event in question. Our belief that god is supreme depicts our attitude towards sacred places. Another such example to elaborate the above components: I am scared of snakes (Affective). Hence I will avoid snakes whenever I see one (Behavioural). I will do so because I know and believe snakes are…show more content…
If a person holds and(or) expresses socially acceptable attitudes, other people will reward them with approval and social acceptance. For example, when people flatter their colleagues, bosses or instructors or keep silent at times in various scenarios so as to avoid any kind of unpleasant atmosphere. Also, I like my employer as he pays me good salary is an adaptive attitude. • Knowledge: The attitude helps us to understand the overwhelming amount of information in the world. They are short-cuts, helping us to simplify our perceptions of the world so that it becomes more manageable, predictable and safer. The knowledge function refers to our need for a world which is consistent and relatively stable. It enables us to predict what is likely to happen, and so gives us a sense of control. For example, knowing that a person is religious we can predict they will go to Church. • Self-expressive (also known as ego-expressive): These help us to relate ourselves and to others, presenting a fairly unified image with which others can interact with us , build a rapport and hence establish our identity for both ourselves and for others. Thus, these help communicate who we are and also make us feel good because we have asserted our identity. Self-expression of attitudes can be non-verbal too: tattoos, car stickers, cap, or T-shirt

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