AttitudeBy-

Jagdish Kandpal

An attitude is an expression of favor or disfavor toward a person, place, thing, or event (the attitude object). Prominent psychologist Gordon Allport once described

attitudes "the most distinctive and indispensable concept in contemporary social psychology.". Attitude

can be formed from a person's past and present. Attitude is also measurable and changeable as well as

influencing the person's emotion and behavior.

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive

because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior

becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your

values positive because your values become your destiny.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Attitude

Attitude influences the behavior of the individuals. Attitude is a usual way of doing things.

Successes and failures in life depend upon the attitude of the individuals. If attitudes are positive, then human relations will

be positive. And positive human relations are necessary for a successful life.

Attitude is a disposition to approach an idea, event, person, or an object.

It is a tendency to act in one way or the other toward an `attitude object' or something (i.e. idea, event, person, object, food, color, and furniture, virtually everything.)

Types of AttitudesAttitude is something that lies between emotions and thought

processing. Attitude may be positive or negative. If someone has good feelings about something e.g. towards his/her work, or people, then it is positive attitude otherwise it would be negative.

Positive attitudeThe predisposition that results in desirable outcomes for

individuals and organizations can be described as positive attitude. Positive attitudes are rewarded. It means the individual is encouraged to do the same thing in future.

Negative attitudeThe tendency of a person that results in an undesirable outcome

for individuals and organizations can be described as negative attitude. Negative attitudes are punished in order to discourage the same action in future.

Change in Attitude

Reward and punishment build up attitude. Attitude can be changed, if we differentiate negative attitude from positive attitude. Positive attitude can bring positive change in life.

It is difficult to change attitudes but with some effort, it can be done. A positive attitude is a pre-requisite for change and development. If anybody has negative attitude towards `change', this attitude will extend to anything representing change i.e. leaders, technology, meetings, or any process of change.

Formation of Attitude

Individual attitudes develop through the interaction of complex forces and are learnt.

And what is learnt can be unlearned or changed. We develop our attitudes from copying those people who are important to us (significant others), particularly parents and siblings. Religious beliefs are good

Why concern for attitudeFor any change (growth or development), positive attitude

towards change is critical. Without the positive attitude towards change, development or growth is very difficult.

Positive attitude has the power to attract sudden good fortune from the world around us. We can observe that when under critical circumstances, if we adopt positive attitude and stay calm, we can easily overcome the problem, having no or less serious consequences.

How to change attitude

Negative attitudes towards change will disrupt the process of change.

Information alone is not sufficient to change attitudes towards a new idea or practice.

Don't fertilize the rocks. First, make people less resistant to receiving and processing information. And then expect change in their attitudes.

Cognitive approaches

Focus on changing the way people think about an entity or object. This is done through information, persuasive communication through introducing conflict or dissonance between the existing attitude and the new one.

Behavioral approaches

focus reward and punishments for certain attitudes and behaviors.

It can be used at homes, schools or organizations

Social approaches

Focus on our tendency to copy the beliefs and behaviors of others.

Role models shown on television and in the neighborhoods are examples. People change their residences, shift from old localities/Mohall's to modern localities to learn new values and bring change in their attitudes

Steps towards change in attitude

Attitudes of individuals towards life, family, ideas, political thinking, religion or anything can be changed.

Following are the various steps for bringing change in one's attitude that bring change in the behaviors.

Identify the object towards which change of attitude is desired.

Introduce information about which individual agrees. Introduce the new information that contradicts the

existing beliefs or attitudes.Identify the ways through which belief or practice

conform to new information

Steps to turn attitude into action

Attitudes can be turned into positive actions by realizing certain behaviors such as Understand the power of attitude.

Take control of yourself and your life. Be aware about yourself and keep updated. Identify and frame your bad and good attitudes. Find purpose of your behavior and develop prudent

passion actions. Be pro-active and pre-active. Discover the ways to motivate yourself (motivators). Build supportive relationships. See change as an opportunity. Leave a lasting legacy.

Characteristics of Attitudes

Following characteristics explain the nature of attitudes

The attitude objectAttitude are learned predispositionAttitudes have consistencyAttitudes occur within a situation

Attitude Object The word object in our consumer-oriented definition should be

interpreted broadly to include specific consumption or marketing related concepts such as product, product category, brand, service, possessions, product use, causes or issues, people or advertisements. In conducting attitude research we tend to be object specific. For example if we are interested in learning about three popularly priced brands of watches our "object"

may include: Seiko Fossil Casio If we are examining attitudes towards major brands of computer

printers, our "object" of study may include HP, Dell, Brother, Epson

Attitudes are learned predisposition

Consumer Psychology

There is general agreement that attitudes are learned. This means attitudes relevant to purchase behavior are formed as a result of direct experience with product, word of mouth, information acquired from others, exposure to mass media advertising, the internet and various forms of direct marketing.

It is important to remember that attitudes result from behavior they are not synonymous to behavior, instead they reflect either favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the attitude object.

Attitudes have consistency

Attitudes are relatively consistent with the behavior they reflect; however, attitudes are not necessarily permanent.

Attitudes do change

Attitudes occur within a situation

Situation means events or circumstances that at a particular point in time influence the relationship between attitude and behavior. A specific situation may cause individuals to behave in a way seemingly inconsistent with their behavior.

For example if Ali purchases a different brand of toothpaste every time he runs low. Although his brand switching behavior may seem to reflect a negative attitude or dissatisfaction with the brands he tries, it actually may be influenced by a specific situation which in this case is Ali's wish to economize.

Never, never, compare yourself with people. It points out the good parts in the person and makes you feel bad. Just think of all the good qualities you have too.

How to Build a Positive Attitude

Remind yourself most things are possible if you try hard enough.

Set your goal and work to reach it

Set a goal to make friends. If you feel you don't have enough of something in your life, such as friends, make a goal to get more of it until you're satisfied. work to reach it.

Give everything a chance before you neglect or reject it. It might give you something you're happy with in your life

Grooming. Appearance can affect you too if you feel ugly. Stay natural. You should change hair styles, clothing, and if you wear it, make up, but that's it. This can help you feel great

Communicate needs. If someone makes you feel negative, like a friend, tell whoever it is in a nice way how you feel. Try to fix the problem

Stay upbeat. Don't let other people drag you down!! What they say is ALWAYS their opinion.

Do what makes you happy and isn't harmful.

Smile! Always remember to keep that beautiful smile on your face. Smiling is actually proven to keep you happier when you are down and gloomy on a dreadful day. If you are sad, smile! If you are happy, smile! It makes you a happier person and gives other people a better impression of you. As I always say, it is worse to forget a smile than your purse or wallet.

REFERENCE

http://www.zeepedia.com/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

JAGDISH KANDPAL MBA(HR)

DEHRADUN