Types Of Attitude

To get the obvious out of the way, attitude is not something a girl gives to you when you praise her before being friends with her. And attitude is definitely not something you show to the same girl after she accepts your compliments and now wants to be your friend. Attitude, in every sense of the word, has more connotations attached to it than just being used as a slang statement among the youth. Technically, attitudes are evaluative statements related to a person, object, or event; either favorable or unfavorable. They reflect our tenacious disposition to react and behave in a certain way towards people and situations. It’s our attitude through which the world sees us and forms opinions and attitudes of its own. And they are nothing but the branches formed out of the seeds that we only sowed based on our experiences, positive or negative. However, attitudes are not to be confused with personality types, for the latter are more rigid in nature. Attitudes, on the other hand, are elastic in nature and can be molded into a different one over time. So, don’t lose heart, for the ball lies in our own court when it comes to forming and controlling our attitudes. We just need to hold our own, stay open minded, and try not to give in to the criticisms of the world. We can’t control their attitude and mindset, but can definitely change ours. Remember, we don’t need to do it for anyone else, but only for ourselves.

 

It is the belief segment of an attitude. When someone forms an opinion or perception about any person, object, or situation; the cognitive component comes into play. The opinion may be favorable or unfavorable, positive or negative. For example, if a person says “Life is unfair”, he’s iterating his opinion about how he perceives life is.

 

It is the feeling segment of an attitude. When someone attaches his/her emotions to the opinion that has been formed about any person, object, or situation; the affective component comes into play. For example, if a person says “I hate the fact that life is unfair”, he’s connecting an emotion through hatred, to his opinion of life being unfair.

 

As the word itself suggests, it’s the behavior segment of an attitude. When a person attaches a desire to behave or act in a certain way based on the emotions he has attached to the opinion about any person, object, or situation; the behavioral component comes into play. For example, if a person says “I am going to hurt myself and others if life doesn’t stop being unfair to me”, he’s reflecting a desire to act by hurting himself and others based on how he perceives life to be and the emotions he has attached to this perception.

 

However, a negative attitude need not be always concluded through a negative reaction. Instead of stating “I am going to hurt myself and others if life doesn’t stop being unfair to me”, he could have said “The change needs to start from within myself if I am to make it fair”. As it was discussed, it is in our own hands of how we transform the negative attitude into positive.

 

People react differently when confronted with different situations. For example, a person who reacts cheerfully when it comes to watching a movie may not react cheerfully when it comes to going out to the mall. That doesn’t mean that this person is not cheerful, but only justifies the first statement of this paragraph. Here’s a list of few of the attitude types that we’ve put together of what people’s actions and perceptions are.

Summarizing everything said above, what we think, what we do, and what we feel is what forms our attitude. While sometimes knowledge and experience form our attitude, on other occasions it is based on our assumptions and beliefs.