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 affective component, a behavioral component, and a cognitive component.

The affective one 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.

Formation
There are many aspects to an individuals personality, they may be positive as well as 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.

Belief Polarization
Belief polarization is a theory, that an individual tends to interpret every situation according to his beliefs, and forms a biased opinion. To explain this more clearly, when an individual is provided with certain evidence which might contradict his belief, the individual either ignores, criticizes, or interprets the evidence, to favor his opinion.

But, if the evidence supports his belief, then there is complete acceptance. This is what is called attitude polarization, where, you judge an object, depending on how you want to perceive it.

Rebelliousness
A rebellious attitude is a commonly found negative expression in people towards their surroundings. Such individuals are often in disagreement with most situations, people, and other things around them. When rebellious, a person only thinks defensively towards everything, and reacts in an aggressive manner with bold actions, loud voices, high energy breakouts, etc. These actions can be harmful for people around him, as well as himself. Anger, depression, loneliness, despair, disagreement, and defensiveness, are a few more repercussions of this type of expression.

Optimism
When an individual has a positive attitude, it helps him cope with the daily affairs of life very easily, and helps him take the right and strong decisions. It also aids creative and positive thinking, motivational drive to achieve goals, and help live a stress free life.