Attitude & Behaviour
87
Solution
Our attitudes don't always connect with our behavior but sometimes they can relate with each other.
- How a subject can make feel
- how it can easily influence your behaviour
- how it can test your thoughts and beliefs
When you combine the three points above it can give a positive or negative perspective in any given situation.
Attitude Change
Cognitive Dissonance
Learning Theory of Attitude Change: Classical conditioning can be used to create positive emotional reactions to an object, person or event by associating positive feelings with the target object. Operant conditioning can be used to strengthen desirable attitudes and weaken undesirable ones. People can also change their attitudes after observing the behavior of others.
Dissonance Theory of Attitude Change: In order to reduce the tension created by these incompatible beliefs, people often shift their attitudes.
Cognitive Dissonance is used to describe the feelings of discomfort that result from holding two conflicting beliefs. When there is a problem between beliefs and behaviors, something must change in order to eliminate or reduce the dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is which a person experiences psychological distress due to conflicting thoughts or beliefs. In order to reduce this tension, people may change their attitudes to reflect their other beliefs or actual behaviors.
How Attitude influences Behaviour
Explicit and Implicit Attitude
Explicit Attitude - attitudes that are at the conscious level, are deliberately formed and are easy to self-report
Implicit Attitude - are attitudes that are at the unconscious level, are involuntarily formed and are typically unknown to us.
We humans usually to assume that others behave in according to their attitudes. However, social psychologists have found that attitudes and actual behavior are not always perfectly aligned. For example, plenty of people support a particular candidate or political party and yet fail to go out and vote.
Researchers have discovered that people are more likely to behave according to their attitudes under certain conditions:
• When your attitudes are the result of personal experience.
• When you are an expert in the subject.
• When you expect a favorable outcome.
• When the attitudes are repeatedly expressed.
• When you stand to win or lose something due to the issue.
Attitude & Behaviour
Attitude - a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person's behavior.
Behaviour - The way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially towards others.
The Link between Attitude and Behaviour
How does Attitude affect Behaviour?
Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to evaluate events in a certain way. This can include positive or negative evaluations of people, issues, objects or events. Some researchers also suggest that there are different components that make up attitudes.
1. An Emotional Component: How the object, person, issue or event makes you feel.
2. A Cognitive Component: Your thoughts and beliefs about the subject.
3. A Behavioral Component: How the attitude influences your behavior