PSYCHOLOGY

PRACTICAL ON
ATTITUDE
ISC PSYCHOLOGY
PRACTICAL FILE

ATTITUDE

CLASS - 12 E
ROLL NO. 47
 INDEX

• Attitude; Definition

• Salient Features of Attitude

• Components of attitude

• Attitude Formation

• Attitude change

• Program Of Action

• Questionaire on attitude

• Conclusion

• Bibliography
 ATTITUDE

Definition

Gordon W. Allport introduced the term ‘attitude’. Attitude was

defined as a preparation of readiness for response. Attitude can be
defined as lasting evaluations of virtually any and every aspect of the
social world issues, ideas, persons, social groups, objects, et cetera.
Attitude is also defined as the learned predisposition to respond to a
person/object in a favourable or unfavourable way.

Definition – Jung‘s definition of attitude is “a readiness of the psyche

to act or react in a certain way”. In psychology, attitude is a
psychological construct, a mental and emotional entity that
characterizes a person. Attitudes have a powerful hold over behaviour
of a community.

Attitude
Attitude refers to our evaluations of various aspects of the social
world – the extent to which we have favourable or unfavourable
relations to inner ideas, persons, social groups, objects, etc. attitudes
are strongly influential on our social thought even if they are not
always reflected in our overt behaviour. Attitudes affect our
behaviour. For example, if we have a sense of acceptance towards the
LGBTQ+ people, then only we will truly support them. There are
descriptions in terms of liking- disliking, positive-negative etc.
SALIENT FEATURES OF ATTITUDE
1. Attitude refers to feelings and beliefs of individuals or groups of
individuals.

2. The feelings and beliefs are directed towards other people, objects
or ideas. When a person says “I like my job”, it shows that he has a
positive attitude towards his job.

3. Attitudes often result in or affect the behaviour of people. Attitudes

can lead to intended behaviour if there are no external interventions.

4. Attitudes constitute a psychological phenomena (not directly

observed)

5. Attitude is not momentary but a long held view. This is a stable

phenomena which persists for a period of time.
COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE
Attitude comprises three basic components that are representative in a
model called ABC models of attitudes, where A stands for affective, B
stands for behavioural and C stands for cognitive.

1. Affective or Emotional component – Emotional or affective

component refer to the emotional reaction one has to words an object.
This involves the person's feelings or affect which may be positive,
neutral or negative. This type of attitude is used to invalidate beliefs.
This component serves as a motivating factor and intensity of positive
or negative feelings would determine the motivational force behind
the resulting behaviour.

2. Behavioural component – It refers to the way one behaves when

exposed to an object. It is the tendency of a person to behave in a
particular manner. It can be directly observed.

3. Cognitive or informational component – It consists of beliefs,

values, ideas, and other information a person has about the object. For
example – a person seeking a job may learn from his own sources and
other examples working in that company that the promotion chances
are very favourable. In reality it may or may not be correct, but
influences the person's attitude.
 ATTITUDE FORMATION

Process of Attitude Formation

1. Learning attitude by association (classic conditioning) - We
might have seen that a student often develops a liking for a particular
subject because of the teacher. This is because they see many positive
qualities in that teacher and this positive quality gets link to the
subject which helps them and liking it.

2. Learning attitude by operant conditioning - If a person is praised

for having a particular kind of attitude, chances are he made
developed that attitude furthur.

3. Observational learning - We learn them by observing others being

rewarded or punished for expressing thoughts or showing behaviour
of a particular kind towards the attitude of object. For example,
children may form a respectful attitude toward elder by observing.

4. Learning attitude by
group norms -We learn
attitude through norms of a
group and cultural. Norms
are the unwritten rules about
behaviour that everyone is
supposed to show under
specific ci rcum st ances.
These norms may become a
part of our social cognition
in the form of attitudes.
Learning attitudes through
group and cultural norms May actually be an example of learning
through association reward or punishment as well as modelling.
5. Learning by exposure to information – Many attitudes are
formed in a social context. Today with the use amount of information
that one being has been provided through media both positive and
negative attitude are being formed.
 ATTITUDE CHANGE

(a) Cognitive Dissonance-

How we sometimes change our own attitudes:

There are many

occasionsin
everyday life when
we feel compelled
to say or do things
inconsistent with
our true attitudes.
For example –your
friend shows you
her new sweater and
asks how much you like it. You really dislike the colour, but you don’t
say that, instead you say ‘really nice’. Social psychologists describe
such situations as involving induced compliance, a technique used for
changing attitudes in which individuals are somehow induced to state
positions/opinions that are different from those they actually hold.
When we behave in this way – we engage in attitude discrepant
behaviour – this may sometimes produce changes in the attitudes we
hold. In fact, our attitudes mid-shift towards what we felt compelled
to do or say, thus reducing the size of the gap between our true
attitudes and our overt actions.

Such effects were first predicted by the theory of cognitive

dissonance, “The state experienced by individuals when they discover
inconsistency between two attitudes they hold or between their
attitudes and their behaviour.”
Dissonance, it appears, is quite unpleasant, so when we experience it,
we attempt to reduce it. We can accomplish this in several different
ways –

1. We can change our attitudes or our behaviour so that those are

more consistent with each other. For example – we can convince
ourselves that the colour of our friend's sweater is really not so
bad.

2. We can acquire new information that supports our attitude or our

behaviour. For instance, we can seek out information indicating that
our boss’ plan does not make sense, in the situations where your boss
describes his new idea for increasing sales and you thought it was
idiotic, but responded, “seems really interesting”.

3. We can engage in trivialisation and conclude that the attitudes or

behaviour in question are not important.

(b) Persuasion-

The process through which one or more people attempt to alter the
attitude of one or more others is known as persuasion. The messages
vary or are derived in different ways but the goal remains the same- to
change people’s attitude and so, ultimately, their behaviour.

1. Experts are more persuasive than non-experts. The same arguments

can carry more weight when delivered by people who seem to know
what they are talking about than when they are made by people
lacking experience.

2. Messages that do not appear to be designed to change attitudes are

often more successful in their respect than one that seems intended.

3. Attractive sources are more effective in changing attitudes than

unattractive ones.

4. People are sometimes more susceptible to persuasion when they are

distracted by some extraneous event than when they are paying full
attention to what is being said.

5. When an audience holds an attitude contrary to those of a would-

be persuader, it is often more effective for the communicator to adopt
a two-sided approach in which both sides of the argument are
presented than a one-sided approach. Apparently, strongly supporting
one side of an issue while acknowledging that the other side has a few
good points in its favour to disarm the audience makes it harder for
them to resist the source's major conclusion.

6. People who speak rapidly are more persuasive than persons who
speak slowly.

7. Persuasion can be enhanced by messages that arouse strong

emotions in the audience.
PROGRAMME OF ACTION
1. Change of perception–
Perception should be
changed, i.e., contradictory
data is to be presented
before people so that they
may look at it from other
angles. If one wants to
change gender bias, the
favourite aspects of
women’s liberation,
education, independence
and their role in nation
building should be vividly presented before the audience. Perception
of material carrying emotional words, catchy phrases are extremely
powerful, to change attitudes.

2. Control of motivational and emotional factors- It has already

been indicated how attitude can have a functional significance for
every individual who grows it. It satisfies some of our needs and
emotions, purposes and goals. Hence, substituted satisfaction of needs
is essential to change any attitude. This can be possible with new
rewards and reinforcement both material and emotional.

3. Re-establishment of new social support– Lewin and Ertley

adopted a group discussion and lecture method with the help of six
groups of Red Cross volunteers and found the food habit change due
to re-establishment of new social support. Lewin noticed that when
personal involvement is greater, not only attitude but also motivation
undergoes changes.
 AIM

To study the inter generational differences in attitude towards

marriage.

Methodology
Sample of the study–

The sample of the study constituted subjects from two groups: a

group of 30 students (Group I) and a group of 30 parents (Group II)
from class 12th E (humanities stream).

Materials used–

The materials used for the study were–

1. Calculator, pen, pencil etc.

2. Self constructed five points rating scale on attitude towards

marriage.

3. Self constructed short structured interview schedule.

INSTRUCTIONS
For rating scale –

“I shall present to use some statements expressing opinion towards

marriage. You may agree with some of the statements while disagree
with the others. Against the statements, you will find 5 responses
alternatively like- strongly agree (SA), agree (A), neutral (N),
disagree (D), strongly disagree (SD). Put a tick on the column of your
choice according to your opinion towards the given statements.”

For the short structured interview–

“I shall ask a few questions, regarding your views on marriage. You

will have to respond according to your opinions towards the
questions. There is no right or wrong answer, so feel free to answer.”

PROCEDURE

The procedure of the study was divided into four phases:

PHASE I
Construction of the scale

A list of statements based on several views regarding marriage were

collected from students and the internet. The statements were selected
on the basis of a common theme as describing different views on
marriage. The items were framed in both positive and negative
manner. The statements were kept short, simple and easy to
comprehend. It was also avoided to use irrelevant or targeted
statements. The scoring key for positively worded statements was [5,
4, 3, 2, 1] and for negatively worded statements was [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Items 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10 were negatively worded and items 2, 4, 6, 8
were positively worded.

PHASE II
Administration and scoring of the scale

The attitude sale was administered to class 12th (humanities) students

and their parents. The subjects were asked to join the items in the
attitude scale against 5 responses– strongly agree (SA), agree (A),
neutral (N), disagree (D), strongly disagree (SD). The score of each
response was added up to obtain the total score of each subject of
group I and II, separately. The total score obtained by adding the
score of all groups in group I and all parents in group II. After
pooling, the data was subjected to further calculations of mean and
standard deviation.

PHASE III
Calculation of mean and quantitative comparison

The calculation of mean an attitude score for the two groups was done
on the basis that means score, a difference was analysed between the
scores of group I and II, which were interpreted to be inter
generational differences in attitude towards marriage. It was seen that
“more the score on the attitude scale the more favourable the attitude
towards marriage.”

PHASE IV
Construction of short structure interview

Based on the statement rating scale a short structured interview

schedule was prepared with the purpose of exploring reasons as to
why a particular response was chosen by the subject. With the
answers provided by subjects, their views became more clear and
quantitative results became validated as they were supported with
proper reason and logic as given by subjects. In the preparation for
the interview schedule, it was kept in mind that the subject was well
motivated to speak their minds for his/her clear opinion.
 OBSERVATION TABLE
Table 1 shows the scores the scores, computation of mean and
standard deviation for the submitted scores of students on the attitude
towards marriage questionnaire.

No.
S. No. Scores (x) Deviation (x-m) Sq. Of
Deviation (x1)2

1 32 12 144

2 35 15 225

3 30 10 100

4 35 15 225

5 38 18 324

6 28 8 64

7 25 5 25

8 20 0 0

9 31 11 121

10 34 14 196

11 30 10 100

12 33 13 169

13 33 13 169

14 26 6 34

15 28 8 64

16 31 11 121

17 30 10 100
S. No. Scores (x) Deviation (x-m) Sq. Of
Deviation (x1)2

18 30 10 100

19 30 10 100

20 30 10 100
 OBSERVATION TABLE
Table 2 shows the scores computation of mean and standard deviation
for the submitted scores of parents on the attitude towards marriage
questionnaire.

No.
S. No. Score (x) Deviation (x-m) Sq of
Deviation(x1)2

1 37 18 324

2 37 18 324

3 35 16 256

4 36 17 289

5 36 17 289

6 29 10 100

7 27 8 64

8 24 5 25

9 30 11 121

10 38 9 81

11 25 6 36

12 29 10 100

13 30 11 121

14 27 8 64

15 25 6 36

16 30 11 256

17 19 0 0
S. No. Score (x) Deviation (x-m) Sq of
Deviation(x1)2

18 28 9 81

19 27 8 64

20 29 10 100
 INTERPRETATION

TREATMENT OF DATA

The key was taken to be: the more the score– more favourable attitude
towards marriage.

A group of students of class 12th of humanities stream and their

parents were taken as subjects for this practical. Group I had 30
students and group II had 30 parents.

The total of the scores of Group I students was . This data was taken
and the mean was calculated to be and standard deviation was which
shows a more favourable attitude towards marriage.

On the other hand 30 parents under the Group II scored a total of The
mean was calculated to be and the standard deviation was which
shows a less favourable attitude towards marriage.

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

The quantitative analysis shows a slight difference between the means

of a group 1 (20 students) and group 2 (20 parents) i.e, respectively
which indicates that the attitude of students towards marriage is
slightly more favourable than that of their hands.

QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

Similarly, on interview schedule, responses on the 1 questions that

were asked from students and parents separately for also analysed
which showed contrasting result and can be used to support the results
of the study for an easy and organised analysis. There is only
1response discussed to show that there is not much contrast between
parents and children regarding attitude towards marriage. Reason for
this little difference in attitude could be that nowadays there is open
discussion between parents and children regarding life and marriage
parents are not stereotypical and rigid believes also with kids see their
parents happily married they tend to develop positive attitude towards
marriage both parents and children influence each other thoughts and
beliefs.

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

Theme -10 : Re-marriages of Women.

Question: Re-marriages are more unacceptable in a society for

women as compared to men.

STUDENT’S RESPONSE (Group 1) : Agree

Answer : According to me, although our society has become quite

progressive and accepting yet discrimination and injustice against
women has not vanished yet. A woman who is divorced and living in
another relationship is seen through disrespectful eyes. Her
independent nature is not appreciated but instead critised. Hence,
women specially in Indian and Muslim societies have to face a lot of
critical judgement from the society when it comes to re-marriage.

PARENTS RESPONSE (Group 2) : Strongly Disagree

Answer : According to my parent, today’s society does not

discriminate an individual be it a man or a woman, on the basis of
their marital status. People happily accept women who are ready for
remarriages.
 CONCLUSION

There were little discrepancies found while observing the interview

responses of parents and students. The main scores show a slight
difference in the attitude of parents and children towards marriage.
Somehow, the attitude of students was found to be less favourable
than parents but not much can be seen if we consider the qualitative
analysis. To conclude, through quantitative analysis, there was a mean
score difference but through qualitative analysis is not a very high
level of difference in the attitude of parent and child has been
observed in this study, which is indicative of a stereotype regarding
marriage and nowadays parents and students both are equally
sensitive towards concepts of marriage and they have a logical as well
as favourable attitude towards marriage.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

• sfsu.edu
• Lumen learning.com
• Learn psychology.org
• Psych central.com
• Psychology by Robert A. Baron
• Oxford learning.org
• The power of subconscious mind