Attitudes

What is an Attitude?

An attitude is a general, relatively enduring evaluation of an object. Attitudes are evaluative in the sense that they reflect the degree of positivity or negativity that a person feels toward an object. An individual's attitude toward ice cream, for example, reflects the extent to which he or she feels positively toward ice cream, with approach tendencies, or negatively toward ice cream, with avoidance tendencies. Attitudes are general in that they are overall, global evaluations of an object. That is, a person may recognize various positive and negative aspects of ice cream, but that person's attitude toward ice cream is his or her general assessment of ice cream taken as a whole. Attitudes are enduring in that they are stored in memory and they remain at least somewhat stable over time. In this way, attitudes are different from fleeting, momentary evaluative responses to an object. Finally, attitudes are specific to particular objects, unlike diffuse evaluative reactions like moods or general dispositions.

Given this conceptualization, attitudes are most commonly measured by presenting respondents with a bipolar rating scale that covers the full range of potential evaluative responses to an object, ranging from extremely negative to extremely positive, with a midpoint representing neutrality. Respondents are asked to select the scale point that best captures their own overall evaluation of a particular attitude object.

In the National Election Studies, for example, respondents have often been asked to express their attitudes toward various groups using a “feeling thermometer” ranging from 0 (very cold or unfavorable) to 100 (very warm or favorable), with a midpoint of 50 representing neither warmth nor coldness toward a particular group (e.g. women). By selecting a point on this scale, respondents reveal their attitudes toward the group.

How are Attitudes Formed?

At the most general level, attitudes can be formed in one of three ways. Some attitudes are formed primarily on the basis of our cognitions about an object. For example, we may believe that a particular brand of laundry detergent is reasonably priced, removes tough stains, and is safe for the environment. On the basis of these and other beliefs, we may come to hold a positive attitude toward the detergent. This attitude would be cognitively based.

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