“Success is 80% attitude & 20% aptitude.”
There is common belief that, ‘ Attitude can be your best friend or your worst enemy.’ This means attitude can destroy the benefit of every possible advantage. Attitude is nothing but how a person feels about something/ somebody.
Meaning of Attitude
Attitude refers to the way in which the mind perceives, believes, reasons and believes. It is the complex mental state of perception and action towards all aspects of the social environment.
Features of Attitude
Attitude has many features like;
1.Attitude is a complex combination of things like Personality, beliefs, values, behaviours, and motivations.
2. It is found in every individual, irrespective of their status/intelligence.
3. An attitude helps to define identity, guide actions, and influence in judging people.
4. The components of attitude- feeling and belief are internal part of a person, but they are manifested in through a person’s attitude from the resulting behaviour.
Elements of Attitude.
Attitude is composed of different forms of judgements. Attitude develops on ABC models( affective, behaviour and cognitive) which are the basic elements of attitude.
1.Affective response is a physiological response which expresses a person’s choice of an identity.
2.Behavioural Intention is a verbal indication of the intention of an individual.
3.Cognitive response involves knowledge, thoughts, beliefs, information, and ideas about a person or an object. Most attitude in individuals are due to observational learning of the environment.
Factors Influencing Attitude.
Attitude is the sum of beliefs, feelings, and action tendencies of the person or group of individuals towards an object, idea and people. There are various factors which influence in formation of attitude. They are:
- Physical factors
- Educational & Religious Institutions.
- Economic Status & Occupation.
- Media.
- Social factors
- Family
- Prejudices
- Personal experience.
Kinds of Attitudes
Attitudes are of different kinds, some these are listed as:
Positive Attitude
A positive attitude means a favourable attitude which consists of liking people, objects, situations ,etc. Individuals having a positive attitude gives attention to the good, rather than bad in people, situations, events, etc. For them mistakes are considered as opportunity instead of a hurdle/ obstacle. The characteristics of a positive attitude person are: confidence, happiness, optimism, flexibility, determination, diligence, reliability, humility, sincerity/ sense of responsibility, and tolerance.
Negative Attitude.
Negative attitude is an unfavourable attitude that involves unlinking people, objects, etc. Individuals with negative attitudes avoid the good, and pay attention towards bad in people, , events, etc. They are in a habit of complaining about changes instead of adapting to the changing environment. It is their characteristic to blame others for their failure. A negative attitude person’s traits are: Doubt, Hatred, Anger, Pessimism, Frustration, Resentment, Jealousy, Inferiority, etc.
Neutral Attitude
Neither favourable or unfavourable are considered as neutral attitudes. They don’t give enough importance to events/ situations. Ignoring the problem and leaving it for someone else to solve is their habit. They don’t feel the urge to change. Their traits are: Unemotional, Detachment, Indifference, Complacence, Feeling being disconnected.
Rebellious attitude
Rebellious attitude resists some established authority, government, or tradition, etc. A rebellious person likes to challenge authority & break the rules every now and then.
Irrational Attitude
It is defined as unreasonable behavior or having no clear objective or meaning. Irrational behavior is one of the most difficult behaviors to deal with. When someone is being irrational, they don’t listen to reason, logic, or even common sense.
Social Attitude.
A social attitude is an acquired tendency to evaluate social things in a specific way. It’s characterized by positive or negative beliefs, feelings and behaviors towards a particular entity. Social attitude has three main components: emotional, cognitive and behavioral. There are explicit and implicit attitudes.
In short, attitudes are tendencies to feel and behave in a specific way towards some objects, persons or events.
‘ Attitude goes with you wherever you go’