Understanding how our attitudes shape our behaviour
By comprehending the functionality of attitudes we can better understand why we behave in certain ways; this will empower us to shape our behaviour in order to lead a healthier and happier lifestyle
Everyone has likes and dislikes. This spans across everything in life; food, hobbies, objects. We also feel like or dislike towards abstract concepts such as politics, philosophy, towards specific people that we know, or read about. However, there’s a psychological reason behind you enjoying extreme sports or being terrified of spiders. This is all down to our attitudes. Attitude functions act as energy saving devices to help us make decisions and judgements faster, whilst also enabling us to express our views and connect with people on similar values and beliefs. Our attitudes impact our decision making day-to-day.
Eagly and Chaiken (1993) define attitudes as a “psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour” and similarly, Petty and Cacioppo (1981) define it as “general and enduring positive or negative feeling about some person, object, or issue”. If someone likes ice cream, then they are deemed to have a positive attitude towards ice cream. Equally if one dislikes their neighbour Bob, then they have a negative attitude towards that particular individual. That something that we can have attitudes towards, is commonly referred to as an ‘attitude referent’.
Why is this important to know?
By being able to categorise our attitudes and clearly understand what drives our positive and negative responses, we are then better equipped to change or adjust them should we wish to. How often do you feel you are being held back from doing something because you’re either afraid or distressed by it? For example, you may be afraid of heights and feel you’re missing out on activities that others around you enjoy such as hot air balloon rides or roller-coasters. Or, perhaps you have always wanted to have a great physique but really don’t enjoy exercising? Luckily our attitudes are not a permanent fixture; they can be shaped and changed if we are willing to work on our instinctual reactions to them.
Case study I: Using the Multicomponent Model to demonstrate the differences in attitude regarding Confrontation
Confrontation is often seen as hostile and aggressive however, sometimes it is necessary in order to allow both parties to ensure their voice is heard at times of disagreement. If you look at those around you, you’ll note that people’s attitude towards confrontation is on a spectrum. A lot of close friends of mine are very vocal about raising issues that they are bothered by whereas others are more reserved, letting things slide in order to avoid conflict.
Why is it that people’s attitude towards confrontation differs?
Since the 1950s, social psychologists have adopted a multicomponent view of attitudes which assumes that responses to an attitude referent express evaluation, and therefore reveal people’s attitudes. These are divided into: Cognitive responses, Affective responses and Behavioural responses.
According to the Multicomponent Model of Attitudes people can evaluate something through their thoughts, feelings and their overt behaviour on a spectrum of extremely positive to extremely negative.
- Cognitive response determines our thoughts and beliefs about a certain attitude. A positive attitude could be believing that confrontation is beneficial because it enables people to communicate better and overcome barriers in their relationships. On the other hand, a negative cognitive attitude to confrontation may be that it leads to conflict and disappointment, or as a result the person that you’re confronting may dislike you after you raise something unpleasant.
- Affective response identifies what feelings and emotions an attitude referent may trigger. You may feel good after confronting someone because you have resolved the issue which was bothering you and as a result feel closer to the other person post confrontation. You may also get a sense of relief after getting things off your chest. On the other hand you may worry that you have upset someone so you may feel sad or even guilty for triggering the conflict in the first place.
- Behavioural response highlights which behaviours one exhibits based on their attitude. If you have a positive perception of confrontation you might be more willing to confront issues when necessary, so you will be more prone to openly expressing your feelings. Or conversely you would rather internalise your own thoughts in order to avoid all those negative beliefs and emotions associated to initiating a difficult discussion. In the latter case, your behavioural pattern would encourage you to avoid confrontation at all costs.
These three responses reveal a person’s attitude towards the attitude referent. Some researchers have challenged the view that the behavioural layer fits as a third component as this implies that the relationship between attitudes and behaviours manifested is cyclical, undermining the fact that there may be other underlying factors which impact behaviours. Nonetheless, if we were to assume that our behaviours are to a certain degree influenced by our attitudes, this could be a major breakthrough in knowing why we feel the way we do and then taking active steps in changing this pattern.
Most often, we know that certain attitude referents have positive effects, yet this knowledge is not enough to deter us from avoiding it. In the case of confrontation, we may know that it can help resolve issues when necessary however due to the negative feelings of discomfort and awkwardness, it is easier to simply avoid confronting altogether. This is problematic as it means that we carry on doing things which may actively harm us, even though we know that this is the case.
Case study II: Make stress your friend
Kelly McGonigal’s speech focuses on how seeing stress in a positive light enables you to have a healthier lifestyle. She introduces a study which concludes that those who a) experienced a large amount of stress and b) believed that stress is harmful for their health faced a 43% increase in risk of dying. Conversely, people who experienced high amounts of stress but did not see stress as harmful had the lowest risk of death in the study even when compared against those who experienced very little stress. She also provides a very helpful breakdown of how in fact having more oxytocin (hormone released during times of stress) can actually help enhance cardiovascular function as it facilitates the faster repair and regeneration of heart cells. This is another example of how re-shaping our attitude enables us to improve our lives.
“The harmful effects of stress are not inevitable. How you think, and how you act can transform your experience of stress. When you choose to view your stress response as helpful, you create the biology of courage”
Managing and shaping our attitudes
So next time you want to do something which overwhelms you and your immediate reaction is to avoid it, why don’t you try the following:
- Pin point why your perception is negative, i.e. is it because of something you experienced in the past? Did someone share an unpleasant story with you which was off-putting?
- What feelings are associated to this? Do you feel anxious? Uncomfortable? Scared?
- Think of why you want to do this regardless of those negative feelings and what advantages this would bring
- Try and visualise those positive feelings and think about how you will personally benefit from seeing things from a different perspective
- Give it a go!
Of course our behaviours will not change right away, but in order to re-shape our attitudes we will need to flex our mindset and mentality. It certainly isn’t the easiest feat but with perseverance and commitment we can take control of our behaviour and maximise our potential.
References
Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. Orlando, FL, US: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
Maio, G. R., & Haddock, G. (2015). The psychology of attitudes and attitude change (2nd edition). London: Sage.
Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Goldman, R. (1981). Personal involvement as a determinant of argument-based persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41(5), 847–855.
