What is Attitude?

What is attitude? It is a very clearly defined expression of the mental state of a human being towards his likes, or dislikes, related to a situation, event, or surroundings.

There are two sides of any particular expression in psychology, viz; the positive and the negative, which also defines the personality of that individual. There are three main components of the term attitude, which include an effective component, a behavioral component, and a cognitive component.

The effective attitude refers to the emotional response that a person has to a particular situation. The behavioral component is known to be the verbal response, or the behavioral pattern in which the individual responds to a situation.

Whereas, the cognitive component is the judgment or perception of a situation, that is derived from it. When these three components come together, an attitude towards a "place, situation, or thing" is formed.

There are many aspects to an individual's personality, they may be positive and negative, the effects of these two sides of our mental development, behavioral pattern, and the way we deal with daily life, is what forms our individual attitude. It becomes a part of one's personality, and changes according to our experiences.

Even though there are many arguments about a person's expression being consistent with respect to certain beliefs and values, there are many examples in the field of psychology to prove them wrong.

For e.g., when an individual is provided with evidence which contradict his belief, the individual either ignores, criticizes, or interprets the evidence, to favor his opinion. But, if the evidence supports his belief, there is complete acceptance. This is called attitude polarization, where, you judge an object, depending on how you want to perceive it.

Such individuals often disagree with situations, people, and other things around them. A rebellious person thinks and reacts in an aggressive manner with bold actions, loud voices, high energy breakouts, etc. These actions can be harmful for himself and people around him.