- Attitude is a tendency or predisposition to evaluate an object or symbol of that object in a certain way - Katz and Scotland
- Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference - Winston Churchill
Characteristics of Attitude
![Characteristics of Attitude](https://theiashub.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/images/b57e6897103467593fde2732b6eff27d.png)
- Learnt: It is learned and is not innate.
- Abstract construction: It is a tendency to evaluate things in a certain way.
- Form of expression: It is an expression of favour or disfavour towards a person, place, thing or event.
- Observation: Attitude helps us define how we see situations and define how we behave toward the situation or object.
- Summary of Experience: An attitude is a summary of a person’s experience; thus, an attitude is grounded in direct experience and predicts future behaviour more accurately.
- Reflect Personality: It includes certain aspects of the personality as interests, appreciation, and social conduct. It indicates the total of a man’s inclinations and feelings.
- Point of View: An attitude is a point of view, substantiated or otherwise, true or false, which one holds towards an idea, object, or person.
- Consent: It refers to one’s readiness for doing Work.
- Depends on personal aspects: It may be positive or negative and may be affected by age, position, and education. Influence of attitude on behaviour
- Mutable/ Fluctuating- It can vary from time to time.
Behaviour
- A person's response to a specific action, person or circumstance is referred to as his/her behaviour. It refers to how one conducts or controls themselves around others.
- Behaviour is a reflection of character and conduct.
Attitude and Behaviour
![Attitude and Behaviour](https://theiashub.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/images/de88a9add2b888503942c21289b892ed.png)
- The relationship between attitude and behaviour is thin. Attitude is an internal component of our cognition whereas behaviour is the manifestation (exhibition) of such attitude. Ex. -
- Attitude: Negative outlook regarding safety measures in Trains (Cognition- Trains do not adhere to safety standards)
- Behaviour: She does not travel by train (Manifestation: Avoid travelling by train)
- Attitude refers to how someone feels about something. For example, a person has a negative outlook toward social media.
- Behaviour is how someone acts in response to their feelings. For example, That person has not installed social media applications like Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp etc.
Attitude as a guiding factor for an individual’s Behaviour
Steps to be taken to increase the correlation between Attitude & Behavior
- Emotional intelligence: It facilitates to act aptly depending upon the situation. Ex. An attitude of helping nature shows compassion behaviour for needy people.
- Introspection: People aware of their feeling shows better attitude behaviour correlation.
- Attitude literacy: Identify good and bad attitudes through learning.
- Connecting with conscience: To understand the reasons behind holding a particular attitude
- Integrity and truthfulness: This shows ways to motivate oneself and develop a positive attitude as well as behaviour.
Degree of Influence of Attitude on Behavior:
![Degree of Influence of Attitude on Behavior](https://theiashub.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/images/629d85903529d5e1396e1b0def5d0d33.png)
- True vs Expressed attitude: An expressed attitude may not be a person’s true attitude because of the influence of other factors.
- For Example- India may have a negative attitude towards the Taliban but help them by sending essential items.
- One Instance vs Aggregate: An individual act may be different from aggregate behavior.
- For Example- Our teachers who always active to teach us (Aggregate behavior) but sometime may become rude. (One instance)
- Attitude strength: Stronger attitudes influence behavior more intensely. Attitudes formed through personal experience are stronger. Ex. Dog bite resists from feeding anything in future
- Economic Status and Occupations: Economic power and Occupations shape the attitude of a person. Ex. Wealthy people use their money carelessly.
- Educational and Religious Institutions: Secular character is imbibed while studying in schools. Ex. The patriotic curriculum of Delhi schools, imbibing an attitude of Nationalism.
Functions of Attitude
- Decision Making: Our choices are determined by how we assess the circumstances. Decision-making is facilitated by attitude.
- Ex. Attitude of citizen-centric governance of the Indian government led to the evacuation of students from Ukraine
- Knowledge function: It helps individuals to organize and simplify information about the world. Ex. As smoking is injurious to health and hence we avoid smoking.
- Ego defensive function: It protects us from accepting real or bitter truths about our-self.
- Ex. A civil servant urges the villagers to enroll their children in school as responsible fathers (ego-defensive), instead of engaging them in menial jobs.
- Adjustment Function: It helps people to adjust to the environment. Ex. A person patient starts doing exercise after being diagnosed with diabetic
- Utilitarian/Instrumental function: It leads to behaviour that optimizes one’s interest. Ex. If a person has a positive attitude for the gym then he is likely to engage in that.
- Self Awareness: It facilitates knowing the situation and act accordingly. Ex. An attitude of safety always motivates one to wear a helmet while driving.
Components of Attitude
Attitude Formation
There are the following factors which affect the formation of Attitude -
- Experience: Attitude can form because of direct experience or observation. Ex. Newly recruited jawans are disciplined by observing fellow colleagues
- Prejudice: An attitude could include prejudice, which occurs when we make assumptions about a situation before carefully considering all the available information.
- Ex. Media trial post suicide of Susant Rajput before the verdict of the court
- Media: It plays a major role in shaping people’s opinions and beliefs. Ex. Opinion Polls before the election helps in shaping people's opinion.
- Direct expierence: Ex. A person who has faced racism in his life develops a negative attitude towards it eg Mahatma Gandhi was evicted from the train by a white man making him stand against apartheid policies.
- Social Factors: Social institutions like family, region, caste, religion etc. affect the formation of Attitude.
- Ex. Not accepting intercaste marriages, leads to honour killing.
- Politicisation of caste i.e. Giving votes to members of the same caste.
- Learning institution: Itlays the foundation of understanding and moral values and hence affects attitude formation.
- Role Modelling: People, particularly children, try to emulate the people they admire, and this includes accepting the attitudes held by these people as one’s own.
- Ex. Children started emulating the action of ‘Shaktiman’ after watching the serial.
Moral Attitude
- It is based on moral convictions of what is right and what is wrong. Family, society, religion and education play an essential role in framing those moral convictions.
- All attitudes are not associated with Moral attitudes. Ex. Attitude towards Cricket matches has nothing to do with morality.
Characteristics of Moral Attitude
- Reverence: This attitude takes the highest rank in terms of deriving moral attitude, it stands for respecting things, actions or situations. Ex: Standing up in attention at times of National songs played in the theatre.
- Faithfulness: It is required when the sanctity of the human being needs to be weighed and measured. Ex. Husband shows faithfulness when getting married and even after that till they exist.
- Veracity: It conveys sincerity, loyalty, and a sense of accountability. A lack of honesty makes a person's personality crippled.
- Ex. Pakistan has lost veracity after failing to curb cross-border terrorism despite multiple assurances.
- Goodness: It emanates from an intentional act of love. It is the fundamental mindset that facilitates practising generosity and charity.
Political Attitude
- It refers to the emotional set with which an individual approach a political issue and which determines his line of conduct towards the issues.
- It can be learned. Ex. Radical, liberal, progressive, conservative or reactionary etc.
Factors Affecting Political Attitude:
- Religion: Many people cast their votes based on religious biases. Religion shapes our moral attitude which in turn shapes Political attitude.
- Ex. People supported a Party which declared to prohibit same-sex marriage as it was against religious belief
- Economic Status: Middle class adhere to the capitalist system ideology, whereas the poor adhere to the socialistic ideology.
- Ex. Socialist people cast their votes for parties that promise freebies and subsidised services.
- Education: The political ideologies are significantly shaped by the curriculum and philosophy of the school.
- Ex. Military schools imbibe nationalist ideology among students from the beginning
- Social Media: Social media has emerged as a key propaganda tool which affects people's political ideas.
- Ex. Twitter and Instagram following guides political attitudes of youth
- Family: It helps to inculcate political ideology in their children.
- Ex. Discussion on the political topic in family shapes the political attitude of kids
- Age: New generation like privacy, an independent lifestyle and liberal thoughts whereas old-generation people show rigidity in their thoughts.
- Ex. New-gen youngsters support that candidate who promises individuality and freedom
Importance of Political Attitude
- Influence Political process: It determines how individuals engage in politics, who they support and which political parties they vote for.
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- Ex. People having Liberal political attitudes favour parties based on liberal thoughts.
- Represents Moral Attitude:Religion shapes our moral attitude which in turn shapes Political attitude.
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- Ex. People develop moral attitude against living in relationships and support party which upholds their ideas.
- Determines values of Society: Societal values like service to the needy, and empowering the marginalized are evolved through political attitude.
Ex. During COVID people came forward to support people by emulating their leaders
- Enforce Ethics in Politics: Positive political attitudes like tolerance, nationalism, and social service reinforce ethics in politics.
Democratic Attitude
- The attitude of authority that promotes people's participation in decision-making is called Democratic Attitude.
- Compassion, tolerance, and inclusiveness are prioritized more than rules and restrictions.
- Merits of Democratic Attitude
- Strengthen democracy: Decision is based on the majority and hence strengthens the democratic system at the grass root level. Ex. Framing of legislation by including civil society
- Accountable system: Authority is accountable to the public for their work. Ex. Cooperative society accountable to its members
- Transparency: It promotes characteristics of transparency in working. Ex. All stakeholders know about the action
- Demerits of Democratic Attitude
- Delays in execution: Taking everyone on board takes considerable time. Ex. Electoral process
- Barrier in development approach: Every segment of society is tough to please. Such a mindset might occasionally impede the process of development.
- Ex. Land pooling for infrastructural projects, clearance for Mining activities in Scheduled areas, because of mandatory consultation under the Forest Act 2006.
Bureaucratic Attitude
- It refers to the attitude which precisely complies with norms, rules, and regulations. It weighs less importance to public opinion and the elected representatives.
- Merits ofBureaucratic Attitude
- Adherence to SoP: There is strict compliance with the standard operating procedure. Ex. The Mock drill before the beginning of voting in an election
- Quick decision: It involves less number of stakeholders, and hence a quick decision is possible. Ex. Army deployment during Disaster
- Easy to fix responsibility: Due to the hierarchical nature of the decision-making process, fixing responsibility is easy. Ex. Departmental punishment for any guilty
- Demerits ofBureaucratic Attitude
- Red Tapism: Decisions are not taken on a priority basis. Ex. Pending cases in courts
- Rigid outlook: They are opposed to changes in the system, leading to stagnation.
- Indifference towards common citizen: This attitude shows apathy towards common people as rule is supreme and not citizens