• What is attitude?
• Types of attitudes
• Why do we adopt different attitudes?
• Characteristics of attitudes
• Elements of attitude

We explain what attitude is, how it is classified and why we adopt different attitudes. In addition, its main characteristics and elements.

Attitudes are acquired and learned throughout life.

What is attitude?

The attitude (from the Latin actitūdo), can be defined as the manifestation of a state of mind or as a tendency to act in a certain way.

Definitions of other authors:

• C. M. Judd.“Attitudes are enduring evaluations of various aspects of the social world, evaluations that are stored in the memory”.
• R. Jeffress."Attitude is our emotional and mental response to life circumstances."

The concept of attitude is widely used in the field of psychology, in which attitudes cannot be considered as particular issues, but rather must be understood within a social and temporal context.

Attitudes are acquired and learned throughout the life and they acquire a direction towards a certain end. This differentiates it from biological characteristics, such as sleep or hunger.

Attitude is made up of three essential components:

• Behavioral element. In the first place, this element refers to the way in which emotions are expressed or thoughts.
• Emotional element. Second, this element refers to the feelings that each person has.
• Cognitive element. Finally, this element refers to what the individual thinks.

Types of attitudes

The attitudes that individuals acquire are influenced by various causes, such as relationships, beliefs and experiences that have been lived throughout the existence of each. person. These variants drive individuals to act in different ways in very similar situations.

That is why it is common to hear terms such as positive attitude or negative attitude, which can determine the success or failure of what you are trying to do. On the other hand, specialists have made certain classifications determining the types of attitudes in:

• Selfish attitude. People who act with this type of attitudes are characterized by being interested in satisfying their own needs without being interested in the needs of others. In this case, any means is used, even other people can be a means to achieve what is desired.
• Manipulative attitude. Individuals who possess these attitudes usually have characteristics in common to the previous case, unlike the fact that they actually use others as the instrument to satisfy their own needs, that is, they actually use other people as tools.
• Altruistic attitude. People who adopt this type of attitudes are completely opposed to the two cases mentioned above since they are not interested in their own benefit, if not in that of others. Other people are not used as a means or tool but are understood as ends in themselves. People with an altruistic attitude are usually understanding and caring.
• Emotional attitude. People who acquire attitudes of this type are often interested in the feelings and emotional state of other people. Like the previous case, they do not seek to exclusively satisfy their needs but are considerate of others. Many times these people are affectionate and sensitive towards others.

Why do we adopt different attitudes?

The attitude that individuals exhibit towards their environment and the social environment in which they are integrated, on more than one occasion, may reflect different functions depending on the result to be achieved.

In this way, a subject who adopts a cautious attitude aims to carry out his tasks safely and trying to reduce the margin of error to the minimum possible. The different attitudes that a subject exhibits will determine the sense of predisposition with which he will want to act.

Many specialists claim that attitude takes on a considerably high degree of importance within a group or even a society. However, the role played by an individual's attitude can be positive or negative.

As long as there is a positive attitude in the majority of the members of a group, it can be said that it has tendencies of evolution and effective adaptation, since the predisposition of each individual is positive. When a group meets members who emanate negative attitudes, the group's course will be consolidated as involutive and the chances of failure will be higher.

Obtaining attitudes is by no means innate, but contrary to the human being He is the one who acquires and adopts them based on lived experiences.

In this sense, it is correct to say that an attitude is acquired by active experience with something specific, such as an object, an event, a person, and so on. Also the result caused in response to a stimulus, generated by external agents, is a means by which attitudes are obtained.

Characteristics of attitudes

Attitudes are subject to several completely recognizable characteristics:

• Attitudes are predisposed to spontaneous change and innate flexibility.
• Attitudes are the main influencing motor in relation to responses to stimuli and to behaviors taken.
• Attitudes can respond to multiple situations, therefore they are said to be transferable.
• Attitudes are acquired through experience and obtaining knowledge in each event that makes up the life of an individual. In this way, attitudes influence the different behaviors that the subject adopts.

Elements of attitude

The social psychologist, Rodríguez Aroldo, remarks that the attitude is made up of different essential elements:

• Cognitive element. The very existence of an attitude is complemented together with the existence of a scheme cognitive that the subject itself recreates. Said scheme is made up of the perception that can be grasped about the object in question, along with beliefs and data that you have previously of the same. This element can also be understood as an attitudinal model of expectation for value. The studies carried out by Fishbein and Ajzen affirm based on this that any object which does not have any type of data or information, will never then be able to generate an attitude in the individual.
• Behavioral element. According to Rodríguez Aroldo, the behavioral element is one that is active at all times. In addition, he defines it as the attitudinal current that occurs when reacting to an object in a specific way.
• Affective element. Unlike the behavioral one, the affective element is made up of the feelings exposed, be they positive or negative, in front of a social object. It also represents the point of comparison between the beliefs and opinions, always characterized by their cognitive side.