Factors affecting learning 1-definition of Attitudes attitude is a psychological construct, a mental and emotional entity that inheres in or characterizes a person, or their attitude is their approach to something, or their personal view on it. Attitude involves their mindset, outlook and feelings.[1] Attitudes are complex and are an acquired state through experience. Attitude is an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value and it is precipitated through a responsive expression towards oneself,[2] a person, place, thing, or event when you use words like : like, dislike, love, hate , good, bad, yuck,) which in turn influences the individual's thought and action. Most simply understood attitudes in psychology are the feelings individuals have about themselves and the world. Our attitudes may be positive, negative or neutral 2 related concepts of attitude Very closely related to the concept of attitude are the constructs of prejudice and stereotype. Both of these usually influence the learning process , Prejudice may be understood as a negative attitude towards an object or event, while stereotypes represent a mind set, or expectancy, or a readiness to react in a certain way to a stimulus situation. Both prejudice and stereotypes are learnt attitudes, resulting from cultural conditioning. Components of Attitude Cognitive Component: Your thoughts and beliefs about the subject Affective Component: How the object, person, issue, or event makes you feel Behavioral Component: How attitude influences your behavior Several factors can influence how and why attitudes form, including: Experience Attitudes form directly as a result of experience. They may emerge due to direct personal experience, or they may result from observation. Social Factors Social roles and social norms can have a strong influence on attitudes. Social roles relate to how people are expected to behave in a particular role or context. Social norms involve society's rules for what behaviors are considered appropriate. Learning Attitudes can be learned in a variety of ways. Consider how advertisers use classical conditioning to influence your attitude toward a particular product. In a television commercial, you see young, beautiful people having fun on a tropical beach while enjoying a sports drink. This attractive and appealing imagery causes you to develop a positive association with this particular beverage. Conditioning Operant conditioning can also be used to influence how attitudes develop. Imagine a young man who has just started smoking. Whenever he lights up a cigarette, people complain, chastise him, and ask him to leave their vicinity. This negative feedback from those around him eventually causes him to develop an unfavorable opinion of smoking and he decides to give up the habit. Observation Finally, people also learn attitudes by observing people around them. When someone you admire greatly espouses a particular attitude, you are more likely to develop the same beliefs. For example, children spend a great deal of time observing the attitudes of their parents and usually begin to demonstrate similar outlooks References https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude_(psy chology Theories of Attitude Formation How do attitudes develop and how do attitudes change? To answer this question a number of theories have been postulated by various psychologists. These theories explain the process of attitude formation and change. These theories have been categorized into following categories according to the psychological process involved in understanding the attitude formation and change. A. Cognitive Consistency theories B. Functional theory C. Social Judgement theory Cognitive-Consistency theories These theories assume that people seek consistency between their attitudes and attitude and behavior. People endeavor to reconcile their divergent beliefs, attitudes and behavior to attain the consistency and to appear more rational. Any inconsistency leads to discomfort, anxiety and tensions and forces are initiated to return an individual to the state of equilibrium where attitudes and behavior are consistent. This can be done by either altering the attitude or by developing rationalization for the discrepancy or inconsistency. In brief, we can say that all consistency theories focus on inconsistencies which occur between beliefs, attitudes and behavior. Functional theory Functional theory of attitude focuses on the need for understanding the purposes or functions of attitude. Attitude serves different functions for different individuals or for same individual but in different situations. The theory assumes that every individual has personal need for changing the attitude. Therefore, an understanding of functions served by the attitude is important in selecting the procedure to change the attitude. Because, a particular method may introduce a change in the individual whose attitude serve one particular function for him but, it may not produce desirable change in another individual whose attitude serves a different function for him. Katz’s functional theory of attitude formation and change is the most popular functional theory. He suggested that attitude of an individual serves four functions viz. utilitarian, ego-defensive, value expressive and knowledge function. He further established that change in the attitude will occur if there is a discrepancy between attitude itself and the function served by the attitude. Therefore, attitude can be successfully changed only by understanding the function of the attitude. Another alternative approach to functional theory of attitude was given by Kelman. He proposed three processes for attitude change viz. compliance, identification and internalization. This theory focuses on the types of social relationships that occur in social influence situations. The three processes of change are explained as: pliance: Compliance occurs when attitude is formed or changed to gain a favorable impression from another person or group. establishing or maintain a self defining relationship with the influencing agent. Internalization: Internalization means adopting a particular attitude because it is congruent with one’s overall value system. Social Judgement theory This theory was originated by Sherif and Hoveland. The theory explains how a person’s existing attitudes distort attitude towards some other objects and how these judgements mediate the process of attitude change. In simple words, we can say that a person’s initial attitude towards an object provides standards or reference points against which he evaluates other opinions. These views of attitude can be defined in terms of attitudinal continuum which is comprised of latitudes. Latitude of acceptance provides the range of opinions which are acceptable for an individual and can best describe his own stand. Latitude of rejection provides the range of opinions which are objectionable for an individual. The latitude of non-commitment provides the range of opinions which a person find neither acceptable nor objectionable. Therefore, this theory applies the principles of judgement on the process of attitude change. Characteristics of Attitude Characteristics of attitude are discussed below: 1. Attitude are predispositions 2. Attitude are different from values 3. Attitude are evaluative statement 4. Attitude influence human behavior 5. Attitude have intensity 6. Attitude are learnt Attitude are predispositions Attitude are predispositions of purpose, interest or opinion of the person to assess some objects in a favourable or an unfavourable manner. Attitude are different from values Attitude are different from values: Values are the ideals, whereas attitudes are narrow, they are our feelings. Attitude are evaluative statement Attitude are evaluative statements: either favourable or unfavourable concerning the objects, people or events. Attitude influence human behavior A positive attitude towards a thing will influence human behavior towards the thing favorably and vice-versa. Attitude have intensity It refers to the strength of the effective component. For example, we may dislike an individual but the extent of our disliking would determine the intensity of our attitude towards the person. Attitude are learnt Attitude is not inborn phenomenon. Attitude are learnt through social interaction and experience. Types of Attitudes in Psychology 1. Explicit attitudes Conscious and reportable controllable and easy to report. Many of our attitudes these types 2. Implicit attitudes Uncontrollable and perhaps not consciously accessible to us Either unwilling or unable to report. Questions 1-what do you think about the subject is…… Component A- cognitive B-intellectual C-behavioral 2-Attitude may result from…….. A-learning B-situations C-observation 3-Attitude is acquired () 4-Attitudes and values are the same () 5-Implicit attitudes are controllable and consciously accessible () 1-cognitive 2-observation 3-true 4- false 5-false
