Attitudes are thought to have three components: an affective component [feelings], a behavioral component [the effect of the attitude on behavior], and a cognitive component [belief and knowledge].
Attitude is our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object. Typically, attitudes are favorable or unfavorable, or positive or negative. They can also be defined as a learned habit for responding to social stimuli. Attitudes form from three components; the affective, behavioral and cognitive.
The affective component of attitude relates to a person’s feelings or emotions in their shaping on attitudes to a person or object. If you feel more positive about someone you are more likely to address them in a positive manner.
The cognitive component relates to our beliefs and knowledge about someone or a situation that shapes our attitude. For example, if you know dogs bite and this is dangerous you would adapt your attitude to dogs when you see them because of your knowledge of them.
The final component is behavioral. This component involves our actions towards a person or situation. For example, if we have a positive behavior at work and there is a positive environment we are more likely to behave in a productive manner.
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Key Points
• Attitude is our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object. Typically, attitudes are positive or negative and involve affective, behavioral, and cognitive components.
Key Terms
attitude: a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, events, or ideas in one’s environment
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13.Employees' beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work environment, theircompetence, the meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived autonomy is known aspsychological empowerment.
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14.The affective component of attitude is the emotional, or feeling, segment of an attitude.
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15.Job involvement measures the degree to which people identify psychologically with theorganization's mission and vision.TrueFalse
16.According to Festinger, people seek consistency between their attitudes and theirbehaviors.
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17.The intent to act in a certain way is the affective component of an attitude.
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18.Rewards can offset dissonance.
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19.Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior tend to occur when social pressures tobehave in certain ways hold exceptional power, as in most organizations.TrueFalse
20.Asking employees how they feel about key elements in a job and then adding the resultsto create an overall job satisfaction score is the single global rating approach to jobsatisfaction.
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- Social Psychology
- Attitudes
Attitudes and Behavior
By Dr. Saul McLeod updated 2018
An attitude is "a relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols" [Hogg & Vaughan 2005, p. 150]
"..a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor" [Eagly & Chaiken, 1993, p. 1]
Structure of Attitudes
Attitudes structure can be described in terms of three components.
- Affective component: this involves a person’s feelings / emotions about the attitude object. For example: “I am scared of spiders”.
- Behavioral [or conative] component: the way the attitude we have influences on how we act or behave. For example: “I will avoid spiders and scream if I see one”.
- Cognitive component: this
involves a person’s belief / knowledge about an attitude object. For example: “I believe spiders are dangerous”.
This model is known as the ABC model of attitudes.
One of the underlying assumptions about the link between attitudes and behavior is that of consistency. This means that we often or usually expect the behavior of a person to be consistent with the attitudes that they hold. This is called the principle of consistency.
The principle of consistency reflects the idea that people are rational and attempt to behave rationally at all times and that a person’s behavior should be consistent with their attitude[s].
Whilst this principle may be a sound one, it is clear that people do not always follow it, sometimes behaving in seemingly quite illogical ways; for example, smoking cigarettes and knowing that smoking causes lung cancer and heart disease.
There is evidence that the cognitive and affective components of behavior do not always match with behavior. This is shown in a study by LaPiere [1934].
Attitude Strength
The strength with which an attitude is held is often a good predictor of behavior. The stronger the attitude the more likely it should affect behavior. Attitude strength involves:
Importance / personal relevance refers to how significant the attitude is for the person and relates to self-interest, social identification and value.
If an attitude has a high self-interest for a person [i.e. it is held by a group the person is a member of or would like to be a member of, and is related to a person's values], it is going to be extremely important.
As a consequence, the attitude will have a very strong influence upon a person's behavior. By contrast, an attitude will not be important to a person if it does not relate in any way to their life.
The knowledge aspect of attitude strength covers how much a person knows about the attitude object. People are generally more knowledgeable about topics that interest them and are likely to hold strong attitudes [positive or negative] as a consequence.
Attitudes based on direct experience are more strongly held and influence behavior more than attitudes formed indirectly [for example, through hear-say, reading or watching television].
Function of Attitudes
Attitudes can serve functions for the individual. Daniel Katz [1960] outlines four functional areas:
Knowledge
Attitudes provide meaning [knowledge] for life. The knowledge function refers to our need for a world which is consistent and relatively stable.
This allows us to predict what is likely to happen, and so gives us a sense of control. Attitudes can help us organize and structure our experience.
Knowing a person’s attitude helps us predict their behavior. For example, knowing that a person is religious we can predict they will go to Church.
Self / Ego-expressive
The attitudes we express [1] help communicate who we are and [2] may make us feel good because we have asserted our identity. Self-expression of attitudes can be non-verbal too: think bumper sticker, cap, or T-shirt slogan.
Therefore, our attitudes are part of our identify, and help us to be aware through the expression of our feelings, beliefs and values.
Adaptive
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 bosses or instructors [and believe it] or keep silent if they think an attitude is unpopular. Again, expression can be nonverbal [think politician kissing baby].
Attitudes then, are to do with being apart of a social group and the adaptive functions helps us fit in with a social group. People seek out others who share their attitudes, and develop similar attitudes to those they like.
Ego-defensive
The ego-defensive function refers to holding attitudes that protect our self-esteem or that justify actions that make us feel guilty. For example, one way children might defend themselves against the feelings of humiliation they have experienced in P.E. lessons is to adopt a strongly negative attitude to all sports.
People whose pride has suffered following a defeat in sport might similarly adopt a defensive attitude: “I’m not bothered, I’m sick of rugby anyway…”. This function has psychiatric overtones. Positive attitudes towards ourselves, for example, have a protective function [i.e. an ego-defensive role] in helping us reserve our self-image.
The basic idea behind the functional approach is that attitudes help a person to mediate between their own inner needs [expression, defense] and the outside world [adaptive and knowledge].
The basic idea behind the functional approach is that attitudes help a person to mediate between their own inner needs [expression, defense] and the outside world [adaptive and knowledge].
How to reference this article:
How to reference this article:McLeod, S. A. [2018, May 21]. Attitudes and behavior. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/attitudes.html
APA Style References
Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. [1993]. The psychology of attitudes. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
Hogg, M., & Vaughan, G. [2005]. Social Psychology [4th edition]. London: Prentice-Hall.
Katz, D. [1960]. Public opinion quarterly, 24, 163 - 204.
LaPiere, R. T. [1934]. Attitudes vs. Actions. Social Forces, 13, 230-237.
How to reference this article:
How to reference this article:McLeod, S. A. [2018, May 21]. Attitudes and behavior. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/attitudes.html
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