attitude

attitude, in social psychology, a cognition, often with some degree of aversion or attraction (emotional valence), that reflects the classification and evaluation of objects and events. While attitudes logically are hypothetical constructs (i.e., they are inferred but not objectively observable), they are manifested in conscious experience, verbal reports, overt behaviour, and physiological indicators.

The concept of attitude arises from attempts to account for observed regularities in the behaviour of individual persons. For example, one tends to group others into common classes (i.e., all of the people in this room are wearing basketball uniforms). One also classifies objects such as paintings or events such as battles.

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public opinion: Components of public opinion: attitudes and values

The quality of one’s attitudes is judged from the observable, evaluative responses that are made. While one might consult one’s inner experiences as evidence of one’s own attitudes, only public behaviour can receive objective study. For this reason investigators rely heavily on behavioral indexes of attitudes—e.g., on what people say, on how they respond to questionnaires, or on such physiological signs as changes in heart rate.

Other investigators hold that one’s attitude toward any category will correlate with how well that category serves one’s own values. For example, a person may be asked to rank specific values such as health, safety, independence, or justice. The person is then asked to estimate the degree to which a particular class (such as politicians, medical doctors, or police) tends to facilitate or impede each value. The sum of the products of these two ratings provides a measure of the individual’s attitude toward the group. Thus, if justice is held in high regard, but the person categorizes politicians as interfering with justice, then the person’s attitude toward that class of people is taken to be negative.

Attitudes are sometimes regarded as underlying predispositions, while opinions are seen as their overt manifestations. A rarer distinction equates attitudes with unconscious and irrational tendencies but equates opinions with conscious and rational activities. Others view attitudes as meaningful and central but consider opinions as more peripheral and inconsequential. A still more popular distinction likens attitudes to matters of taste (e.g., preferences for a certain cuisine or type of music) and opinions to questions of fact (e.g., whether public transportation should be subsidized). (See also taste, criticism, and judgment in aesthetics.)

Some authorities make a critical distinction between attitudes and a number of other related terms. These can be arranged in a hierarchy based on their degree of specificity or exclusiveness. “Values” are said to represent very broad tendencies of this type, “interests” being slightly less inclusive, and “sentiments” narrower still; “attitudes” are viewed as still more narrow predispositions, with “beliefs” and “opinions” being progressively the most specific members of this hierarchy. According to this terminology the difference is one of degree rather than of kind.

Some apply the term “knowledge” to what are held to be certainties and “attitudes” to what is uncertain, even using them to mean “true” and “false” beliefs, respectively. Another suggestion is that attitudes refer to beliefs that impel action while knowledge is more intellectual and passive.

The study of attitude change—that is, the processes by which people acquire new attitudes—has been a major focus of social psychological research since the mid-20th century, and work in this field has led to theoretical developments (e.g., cognitive dissonance) and practical applications (e.g., in politics and advertising).