Human beings react and respond to their environments based on their evaluative observations. These evaluations or judgments are formed by the person’s attitudes. “Attitudes are beliefs or opinions about people, objects and ideas” (Santrock, 2004, p. 512). Attitudes can help predict or determine an individual’s behavior based on the strength of the attitude, the individual’s awareness of the attitude or the whether the attitude is relevant to the behavior (Santrock, 2004). “Attitudes are formed from direct experience with the object or from indirect sources such as parents, peers and the media” (Weiner, Freedheim, Millon, & Lerner, 2003, p. 311). An individual’s external and internal perceptions also help contribute to the formation of attitudes.
The theory of self-perception suggests that people formulate their attitudes by analyzing their own behavior (Santrock, 2004). For instance a person who begins to oversleep and withdraw from enjoyable activities with friends and family for three consecutive weeks might begin to think to his or herself, “I must be depressed about something.” Thus the person forms a self-perception of his or her attitude by perceiving their behavior. People who are more consciously aware are more likely to constantly analyze their behaviors and attitudes.
Changing attitudes or behaviors are general methods that can reduce cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is a motivational response of an individual to reduce the discomfort created by two inconsistent thoughts (Santrock, 2004). This theory suggests that individuals will be more likely to change their attitudes only if they feel they cannot justify their beliefs from their actions. An example of cognitive dissonance is an individual who believes drinking and driving to be dangerous, yet drives while intoxicated in order to get home. To reduce the dissonance, the driver must decide that it would be safer to call a cab or decide that he or she is sober enough to drive home. The driver may even convince himself or herself that being under the influence helps him or her drive more cautiously. With this theory it’s safe to assume that people will change their attitudes for some sort of emotional gratification in order to feel better about a situation or thought.
Persuasion techniques can also be implemented in order to change a person’s attitude. This method is often used amongst politicians, sales representatives, marketers, and religious leaders. The art of persuasion can be very powerful if it appeals to a person’s emotions. Television commercials are often produced using this method of persuasion in order to spark the interest or motivate consumers to purchase a product or service. However, logical reason can also be used to sway and transform a person’s beliefs or attitude. This method allows the communicator to educate the recipient with unknown facts provided by extensively conducted research. Dieticians and health care providers often use this method to change their patient’s attitude towards eating more healthy and exercising frequently in order to avoid illnesses such as heart disease or diabetes.
It is important for people to become more aware of how powerful of an impact attitudes can have on their behaviors. Some negative actions can be caused by harmful attitudes such as discrimination. Discrimination is defined as being an “unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because the person belongs to that group” (Santrock, 2004, p. 525). Discrimination is the result of negative attitudes and prejudiced beliefs. A lot of innocent lives have been the cost of ignorance and discriminatory actions. Humans who hold different religious beliefs, sexual preferences, and ethnic backgrounds outside of society standards have been the main victims of discrimination. It is understandable when an individual forms a negative opinion about another individual because of the negative experiences with that person, however causing harm to a complete stranger with the same similarities should never be justified. Parents, teachers, and leaders have a responsibility towards the future generation of youth and should always work together to encourage nondiscriminatory attitudes.
Ever since I was a little girl I was always a headstrong and independent individual. I wanted to make my own mistakes and learn from my own experiences. Having this kind of perception of myself has allowed me the room to formulate my own attitudes or opinions about the world around me. I never was satisfied with conformity nor did I allow myself to accept other people’s views as my own. While other people were quick to condemn and judge each other by proclaiming what was good and what was bad, I attempted to explore both sides. This ideal helped to create a sense of receptivity and openness within myself, which led to many experiences. I’ve always tried to be more objective about things and never really formed solid beliefs because I didn’t want my life to shackled around my own beliefs and perceptions.
Opening myself up to experiencing both the good and bad in life has led me to form a more empathetic and compassionate attitudes toward other human beings. So often others try and judge people by saying, “I would never do that, or I can’t believe he did that,” when in actuality these people would never understand because they don’t take the time to put themselves in that person’s shoes. The truth is we never really ‘know’ what we are going to do in a situation until we presented with it.
I’ve always been interested in the field of psychology because I wanted to know why people did the things they did, one of my favorite psychologists that I would study was Carl Gustav Jung. From reading his books I learned that he and I shared similar perspectives. I felt that one passage from his biography clearly defined my true self and it reads,
“So now I intend to play the game of life, being receptive to whatever comes to me,
good and bad, sun and shadow that are forever alternating, and in this way, also
accepting my own nature with its negative and positive sides. Thus everything
becomes more alive to me. What a fool I was! How I tried to force everything
to go according to the way I thought it ought to.” – Carl Jung (Dunne, 2002, p. 89).
Thus accepting and being open to both positive and negative experiences I have learned to more of my true self, which is whole and complete. No longer looking externally for the world I have found that world internally. Holding this attitude has allowed me to become more balanced as well as grow and experience life more fully. I have also been able to heal and mend wounds inflicted upon myself and upon others. I have learned to become more accountable and responsible for my actions both past and present. I do not know what the future holds for me but I do know that I am open to every aspect of this journey towards wholeness.
References
Dunne, C., (2002). Carl Jung: wounded healer of the soul, London: Continuum.
Santrock, J., (2004). Psychology Essentials. 2nd Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies
Weiner, I., Freedheim, D., Millon, T., Lerner, M., (2003). Handbook of Psychology, Hoboken,
Wiley.
Kimona Brown - "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." - Rumi
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