Attitude A Powerful Behavior Guide In 12 Ways

Attitude always focuses on knowledge, feelings, and the state of readiness of an individual to deal with and adapt to the subjects or objects. An attitude is a firm belief about a subject, object, or concept, which predisposes a person to respond in some preferential manner. 

What is a belief then?

A belief is cognitive information; an individual has about an object. Beliefs are of two types, one is a strong belief and the other is light belief. An attitude, therefore, is a firm belief or concept or an evaluation and a learned predisposition to behave consistently, and evaluatively towards a person, a group of people, an object, or a group of objects and subjects.

Attitude always predisposes anyone to respond in some preferential manner.  Attitudes have components of a knowledge element, a feeling element, and an action element. Attitudes are acquired characteristics of an individual. It is not learned from textbooks. They are learned from social interactions and associations.

What is the attitude in psychology example?

Attitudes towards persons, things, situations, issues, government policies, programs, and administrative measures denote glaring examples of attitudes. Attitudes on health issues, such as family planning, abortion, early marriage, etc. may create problems in some conservative societies, such as mother’s attitudes about breast-feeding newborn children.

Attitudes formed once are difficult to change. The responsibility to develop healthy attitudes depends on parents, teachers, religious leaders, and the elders so our success and failures in life depend on our attitudes.

Attitude is not a static phenomenon. However, it is changeable. It depends on how best the communicator can convince the strong attitude holder to change for betterment.

What are the Components of Attitudes?

There are three main components of attitudes. They are cognitive beliefs and ideas, feeling emotional aspects related to a subject or object, and action tendencies including all behavioral preparedness associated with attitude.

What are the Positive Attitudes?

There are four components of positive attitudes. They are kindness, understanding, consideration, and selfless dedicated services.  In recent years, psychologists and health professionals have frequently used surveys and measurements of attitudes.

Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals must always cultivate positive attitudes because people expect positive behavior from medical professionals. The attitudes of an individual toward a particular thing, object, situation, or issue are the direct result of social interactions.  For more: see the doctor-patient relationship.

What are Social Attitudes?

Other members of the community can share social attitudes on particular things and issues.  These attitudes are attitudes to prohibition in family planning, child marriage, etc. In any democratic society, people’s attitudes on important issues are matters of vital importance to the government and the country. Prejudice is also a form of attitude that is harmful. It is a pre-judgment of people without exact information.

On what does the Change of Attitude Depend?

The change of attitudes depends on the personality of the individual, group affiliation where the individual lives, intelligence, and perception about the welfare of others, the capacity of the individual to accept or reject depending on the benefit of the new ideas, and the needs and lifestyle of the individual concerned.

How can we modify Attitude and Behavior?

The modification of attitude and behavior is done after a proper assessment of the individual or group’s social needs and cultural values. Simple information will not alter their attitudes and behavior. We can modify through persistent, repeated, and effective health education to satisfy the individual’s social needs and fulfillment of some useful purpose before any kind of visible response within people.

 How do Attitudes Develop Human Habits?

Habit is an accustomed way of doing things. Human habits form by repeated practices in life in which the individual gets habituated to doing things.

What are the Characteristics of Human Habits that develop Attitude?

The characteristics of human habits are repetition and automatic because of past repeated practices. The individual performs them under similar circumstances. The generation’s old accumulative practices emerge as customs, which in turn create habits. The formed habit persists and influences human behavior. As a result, human attitude gets modified.

Harmful Effects of Bad Habits Formation

There are some notable habits, which form easily. These are habits of smoking, the habit of drug abuse and addiction, the habit of abuse of alcohol, food habits, sleeping habits, and the habit of working.

The habit of holding a sweet in the mouth causes a marked increase in tooth decay. Similarly, a baby holding a feeding bottle with milk or sweetened juices in the mouth, while going to bed or habits of sucking the bottle throughout the day is likely to develop dental caries later.  This is what the dentist calls Baby-Bottle Syndrome. The habit of taking drugs or putting tobacco in the mouth is responsible for oral cancer. The chewing of betel leaf is a cause of bad oral hygiene in the Indian sub-continent. It can cause mucosal cancer.

What are the Principles Involved in Habit Formation?

The formation of habits starts right early in life, when our parents, teachers, and close relatives can very well help us practice good habits. It is usually formed very early in life because of frequent repetition, it usually should take some time to form habits. It does not form overnight or within a very short time. Besides, we usually need some kind of strong stimulus or urge to form habits. These stimuli are like taking a vow, a reward, or recognition. In other words, the stimuli are requirements of habit formation.  

How to Form Good Attitude Using Good Habits

What is attitude and behavior in psychology?

Good habits can kill bad ones. The best way to break bad habits is to follow good, successful, and effective leaders or citizens. That is to say to follow successful leaders and their footprints. The habits build up our personality.

What is an implicit attitude in psychology?

Therefore, man should not be a slave to his bad habits. He should remain as a master of his rationality or judgment. In any good society, it is the job of psychologists to find how good habits can be developed within the people of the community or society.

If once this can be accomplished, the bad habits will then perish from the society. That is why psychologists should come ahead to build a peaceful society or community by providing impactful messages among the people of the community. Religious norms, in this field, can play the most significant role in the formation of good habits in an individual. To get proper solutions, please follow the suggested books.