Mains GS 4 Notes:

Attitude Content, structure and function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and
political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.

Attitude:
o Dictionary definition the way you think and feel about someone or something.
o Defined as relatively enduring organisation of beliefs, feeling, and behavioural tendencies towards socially
significant objects, groups, events or symbols. Simply said it is an enduring behaviour of an individual
towards a particular object. (Enduring repetitive).
o Attitudes are defined as favourable or unfavourable evaluations of people, objects, and situations. Ex. I like
mangoes, I enjoy classical music, etc.
o Attitudes formed primarily based on underlying values and beliefs.
o If you can cultivate the right attitude, your enemies are your best spiritual teachers because their presence
provides you with the opportunity to enhance and develop tolerance, patience and understanding Dalai
Lama.

Structure of Attitude the ABC model:

o It consists of three aspects Affective, Behavioural and Cognitive.
o Affective part It refers to the direction (positive or negative feeling), intensity of a persons evaluation or
the emotion experienced towards the attitude object. Ex. I am scared of spiders.
o Behavioural part It is the likelihood of acting in a certain manner towards the attitude object. Ex. I scream
when I see spiders.
o Cognitive part It refers to the thinking that brings about the development of a belief about the attitude
object. Ex. I believe spiders are dangerous.
o These three components, thinking, feeling and behaving, come together and we form an attitude towards a
person or an object.
o Normally if you hold a strong attitude, all the three components of attitude remain consistent and do not
contradict each other.
o Attitudes change especially when you undergo new experiences; depends on socialisation and interaction
with the social world.

Functions of attitude:
o (1) Knowledge refer to our need for a world which is consistent and relatively stable. It allows us to
predict what is likely to happen and gives us a sense of control. Means attitude allows us to understand the
world around us. Attitudes can help us organize and structure our experience. Knowing a persons attitude
helps us predict their behaviour.
o (2) Self/Ego-expressive helps us to understand and communicate who we are. Attitudes express an
individuals values and self-concept. It makes us feel good because we have asserted our identity. Attitudes
are a part of our identity and help us to be aware through the expression of our feelings, beliefs and values.
o (3) Adaptive helps us to get support, praise and acceptance from others. People who hold similar attitudes
are attracted toward each other. Ex. Friendship share common interests and attitudes. Attitudes help us
to adjust in social interaction.
o (4) Ego-defensive Holding attitudes that protect our self-esteem or justify action that made us feel guilty.
o Attitudes help describe the social groups that each one of us belongs to.
o Attitude help a person to mediate between their own inner needs (expression and defence) and the outside
world (Knowledge and adaptive).

Formation of attitude:
o Different types of learning direct contact (classical conditioning), direct instruction, interaction with
others and observational learning.
o Attitude formation by direct experience stays longer period than
o Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov Ringing bell before feeding the dog experiment Repeated
association with the stimuli evokes positive or negative feelings. Acquisition takes place if there is a
repetitive exposure and extinction of feelings when there is no desired response is presented.
o Direct instruction Instructions given by parents, teachers, or leaders, lead to formation of specific
attitudes.
o Interaction with others we usually in company of
others and adopt attitudes similar to the group we
belong to.
o Operant Conditioning Reward/Punishment
based If a child completes the home work she is
praised (rewarded) by the parents and the child
learns to perform the task. If the child breaks a plate,
he/she is scolded (punished) and she will learn not to
repeat the behaviour. This is called Operant
Conditioning or instrumental conditioning. we learn
to perform behaviours that produce positive
outcomes and avoid behaviours that yield negative
outcomes.
o Reinforcement Reinforcement is any operation or
action that increases the rate of response. Suppose, a
rat is placed in a chamber and for getting food
everytime it needs to press a lever. The rat is knowing
that it gets food everytime it presses the lever. Pressing the lever is the reinforcement; the response is
pressing the lever, which is instrumentla is getting the food. This is called postiive reinforcement.
o Negative Reinforcement increasing the rate of response; suppose the rat recevies shock to the feet every
second. When the rat presses the lever, the shock is removed for 10 secs. This increases the rate of response.
This procedure is called negative reinforcement which involves application of an aversive stimulus. This is
called avoidance learning rat can avoid shock by pressing the lever.
o Observational Learning Attitudes are often learnt through observation of other peoples actions. Ex.
how did your mother react when she saw a stray dog? If she showed fear and an attempt to run away from
the dog, it is likely that you may also have developed the same attitude.
o In addition, the educational system, media particularly television, movies, magazines and newspapers all
influence attitude formation.

Change of attitude:
o Change of attitude depends on following factors Source, Message and Person.
o Source The person who delivers the message is called the communicator. The probability, that you will
change your attitude is higher if the message is conveyed by experts, who are considered to be trustworthy,
attractive and similar to the person receiving the message. Ex. Sachin says that a drink gives him energy
likely to buy they think that they would be able to play like him.
o Message The nature of message is important because it provides the information for attitude change.
The message should be clear and well organized. Messages that produce anxiety and fear are more effective.
Ex. advertisement on soap may explain that perspiration from the body results in bad odour and your
friends will turn away from you.
o Person The characteristics of the person whose attitude is to be changed plays an important role in
attitude change.
o Attitudes that are strong, personally important, complex and interconnected are difficult to change. Thus
your attitude towards family would be difficult to change rather than preference of a soap or drink.
o Who (communicator) says what (message) to whom (person for whom the communication is
meant for) will determine whether attitude change will take place or not.

Relationship between Attitudes and Behaviour:

o When attitudes are strong and consistent, that is when the three components of attitude are clear and
stable they better predict behaviour. Weak, unimportant and ambiguous attitudes are less likely to predict
behaviour.
o When one holds a strong attitude or when one is conscious of ones attitude, thereby it is also easily
recalled and possible to predict behaviour.
o When attitudes have been formed through direct experience prediction of behaviour is more accurate.
o When one acts under social pressure attitude may be expressed in diverse ways.
o An adolescent may not want to smoke or drink because it affects health. But peer group pressure may force
him to drink. Thus his way of thinking is different from his behaviour. When external influences are
minimal then attitude behaviour relationship is becomes strong.

Attitudes and Beliefs:

o Beliefs refer to the acceptance of something as truth, even though that may be unproven or irrational.
Beliefs are acquired through real experiences affects our quality of work and relationships they govern
our experiences form an important part of identity. They reflect who we are and how we live our lives.
o Our brains become intimately emotionally entangled with ideas we come to believe are true (however we
came to that conclusion) and emotionally allergic to ideas we believe to be false.
o There are biases (a) Confirmation bias causes us to pay more attention and assign greater credence
to ideas that support our current beliefs; means we pick the evidence that supports a contention we already
believe and ignore evidence that argues against it.
o (b) Disconfirmation bias causes us to expend disproportionate energy trying to disprove ideas that
contradict our current beliefs.
o Confirmation bias and disconfirmation bias represent two of the most powerful weapons at our disposal,
but simultaneously compromise our ability to judge ideas on their merits and the evidence for or against
them.
o Once a belief is formed you are confident about the occurrence of certain events and how you or people are
likely to behave.
o It helps us understand why people behave in a particular way or why an event has taken place. Beliefs help
us to organize our experiences in the social world and predict our own behaviour as well as the occurrence
of events.
o Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort (psychological stress) experienced by a person who
simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values.

Attitude and Behaviour:

o Attitude is internal while behaviour is external; Attitude is what we think and behaviour is what we do.
o Attitude affects behaviour. But it is only one of the factors. Other being the external environment. Ex- An
adolescent may not want to smoke or drink because it affects health. But peer group pressure may force
him to drink
o The stronger the attitude, the more it will affect ones behaviour. Ex- people state that they want to be fit
but they do not exercise- weaker attitude unpredictability in behaviour.
o Principle of consistency in behaviour it reflects the idea that people are rational and attempt to behave
rationally at all times and that a persons behaviour should be consistent with their attitude. However,
though this principle in practice not always holds well in determining the behaviour. Example our
behaviour with mothers when we are not in bad mood; even though we know respect mother, we speak
harsh or not giving proper attention.
o A person may lean more towards his intrinsic attitude while making decisions or rely on push pulls of the
outer environment for the same.
o For a public servant, his attitude should be flexible so that he can strike a balance between his internal
values and the external pressures.

Moral Attitudes:
o Moral attitudes are based on moral convictions of what is Right and what is wrong. Moral attitudes are
stronger than moral beliefs. Family, society, religion and education play important role in framing those
moral convictions.
o Fundamental moral attitudes Reverence, Faithfulness, Awareness of responsibility, Veracity and
Goodness.
o Reverence it is a feeling or attitude of great respect towards others touched with awe; veneration. It is
the attitude which can be labelled as the originator of all moral life, for in it man first takes a position toward
the world which opens his spiritual judgements and enables him to grasp value.
o It is the ability to hold moral values, to sustain them, and to respond to them, is the foundation for realizing
the moral values of man. These marks can be found only in the man who possesses reverence.
o Faithfulness Faithfulness is the concept of dependably remaining loyal to someone or something and
putting that loyalty into consistent practice, regardless of extenuating situations. The more faithful, the
 more constant a man is, the more substantial will he be, the more capable of becoming a vessel of moral
values viz. purity, humility, love, thought, etc.
o Veracity truthfulness; essential for upholding the trust and faith of others. A dishonest person can never
exemplify moral values in his life. Honesty is the best policy Benjamin Franklin.
o Goodness denotes the generous and benevolence character of an individual towards others combined
with purity of heart. It focuses on goodness in both means and ends.
o Responsibility A duty or obligation to satisfactorily perform or complete a task (assigned by someone,
or created by one's own promise or circumstances) that one must fulfil, and which has a consequent penalty
for failure; to follow morally correct path.
o Positive Implications (a) Tied up with strong emotions. Hence prevents deviant behaviours among
normal folks due to fear of social Ostracization e.g. child molestation, incest, etc. (b) Motivates a person
towards Altruism, volunteerism, social service.
o Negative implications (a) Person can use it to justify violence behaviour and lunacy and still society
will accept it because moral attitude = strong emotions. Example April 1919: A violent mob attacks an
English missionary Marcella Sherwood in Punjab. General Dyer uses this to justify Jalianwala Bagh
Massacre, and hes given heros welcome in England. (b) Motivates a person towards riots, genocide and
terrorism.
o (c) Since moral attitude is tied with strong emotions, people dont get along with those who dont share
their moral attitude. Result? Intolerance. Before buying/renting a house, people will inquire about the
caste/religion of the neighbours.
o (d) Religious attitude has trickledown effect. E.g. Hindus vs. Muslim- if there is negativity towards other
persons religious outlook, then theyll find differences even in political and economic outlooks. Ultimately
itll transform from religious to communal attitude.
o Role of Social media in Moral attitude: Internet catalyses wrong behaviour.
Anonymity Remain unnoticed/untraceable by police.
Action at distance No need to come near victim
Automation Circulate some messages/photos on thousands of
online groups within few key strokes.
Accessibility Increase in internet penetration and data plans
getting cheap.
Perpetuity Text-images multiply and exist indefinitely. Even
an MMS is removed from one web-portal by court
order, it continue to circulate among others.
o End result cyber violence against women Hacking unauthorised access to system to acquire
information; impersonation creating fake profiles; Surveillance Tracing key strokes, planting spy
cameras in washrooms, etc.; Harassment persistent calls and messages; Recruitment fake job vacancies
to lure women into sex-trade unknowingly; malicious distribution morphed photos posting on social
media by ex-boyfriend to embarrass woman.

Political Attitude:
o Refers to like or dislike for a political person, party or ideology.

Ideology Character
Liberal/Moderate They support basic ideas of liberty, equality and democracy but want reforms in the
system albeit not in extreme/violent manner but through constitutional / legal
means.
Conservative Want Status quo. They believe changes or reforms will not improve the situation.
Progressive Progressive: slowly reform the system
Radical: immediately reform the system, e.g. Marx: Confiscate all the private
property immediately.
Nehru was a progressive- he believed state ownership but in a gradual manner.
Reactionary Theyre one step behind Conservatives I.e. Conservatives want status quo, while
reactionaries want to go back to previous system.
Example Taliban/ISIS wanting to run nation with literal interpretation of
Sharia/Quran.
Religious organizations involved in politics= theyre usually reactionary in nature.
Extremist
Extremist Extremely unhappy with current system
 Want complete change to a new system, and justify violence as a mean/tool to
achieve the end/goal.
Pacifist Theyre also unhappy with current system but reject violence as a tool to achieve
the goal; Example: Gandhi, Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.

o Factors affecting political attitude Religion, Age, Economic Status, Residence, Family, Race, Gender,
education, Social media, etc.

Social Influence and Persuasion:

o Social influence this is a condition when a persons thoughts and actions are consciously and
unconsciously getting affected by other people and groups.
o Individuals make real changes to their feelings and behaviors as a result of interaction with others. (peer
group)
o Individuals are also influenced by the majority: when a large portion of an individuals referent social group
holds a particular attitude, it is likely that the individual will adopt it as well. (following the herd- ice bucket
challenge, and GOI tried implementing swachh bharat abhiyan so that people will see it as a trend emulating
their stars/celebrities)
o Ways Advertising (ex- Fair & Lovely ad- fairness is considered to be necessity), Coercion, Criticism,
Enabling, Ethics, Ethnic values, Interpersonal influences (ex- peers of same age group in a class get
influence- smoke, booze etc ), Mass media (ex- movies- every1 becomes srk and wants heroine); Power,
Self-brand, Taboos etc.; Propaganda; Prejudice (ex- people speaking broken English considered less
superior to the one speaking well, Bihari, Madrasi etc.)
o Social approval (ex- people blindly following trend- ice bucket challenge, no shave November, Watching
Game of Thrones, football)
o Social norms (ex- a brother should always marry only after his sisters marriage if they have little age gap)
o Superstitions (ex- movies being released on Fridays, black cat, sneezing etc)
o Social values ()
o Social desirability (ex- earning more money= successful-though doing a shitty job- at the end all ppl think
is what others are thinking about them, costly weddings- flaunting )
o Factors affecting social influence Charisma (celebrities); Social trend (fad among youth); Emotions ();
Peer pressure (boozing); Persuasion (same source social influence );
o Persuasion is method of transmitting messages to change ones attitude and behavior through verbally
and nonverbally via television, radio, Internet or face-to-face communication. Persuasion is one form of
social influence.
o Persuasion try to influence our attitude and beliefs; Ex- blindly following western culture and belittling our
own culture; Materialism by west replaced social ties which we had.
o Persuasion vs Propaganda vs manipulation
o Persuasion open actions; Propaganda- final goal of having the recipient voluntarily accept the position as
if it were his own. (ex- NASA landing on moon floating flag controversial, Nazi propaganda that Jews were
responsible for their problems); Manipulation on the other hand, has elements of coercion automatically
embedded unlike persuasion which is ethically neutral. (ex- fraud cases, tele market, chit funds promising
high returns etc.)

Quotes:
Dalai Lama:
Happiness mainly comes from our own attitude, rather than from external factors.
A truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change even if they behave negatively or hurt you.
It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart as much as possible. From this, happiness in
both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.
I believe each human being has the potential to change, to transform ones own attitude, no matter how
difficult the situation.
If one assumes a humble attitude, ones own good qualities will increase. Whereas if one is proud, one will
become jealous of others, one will look down on others, and due to that there will be unhappiness in the
society.
Our attitude towards suffering becomes very important because it can affect how we cope with suffering
when it arises.
 With genuine love and compassion, another persons appearance or behaviour has no effect on your
attitude.
If an individual has a calm state of mind, that persons attitudes and views will be calm and tranquil even
in presence of great agitation.
A sense of concern for others gives our lives meaning; it is the root of all human happiness.
Too much of a self-centred attitude creates mistrust and suspicion in others, which can in turn lead to fear.
But if you have more of an open mind, and you cultivate a sense of concern for others' well-being, then, no
matter what others' attitudes are, you can keep your inner peace.

Gandhi:
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because
your words become your behaviour. Keep your behaviour positive because your behaviour becomes your
habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive
because your values become your destiny. (thoughts words behaviour habits values destiny)
If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the
beginning.
Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is
an attitude that only hinders progress.
Once one assumes an attitude of intolerance, there is no knowing where it will take one. Intolerance,
someone has said, is violence to the intellect and hatred is violence to the heart.

John C Maxwell:
People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.
We are either the masters or victims of our attitudes. It is a matter of personal choice. Who we are today is
the result of choices we made yesterday. Tomorrow, we will become what we choose today. To change
means to choose change.
Our attitude is the primary force that will determine whether we succeed or fail.
Circumstances do not make you what you are, they reveal what you are.
Attitude is the first quality that marks the successful man. If he has a positive attitude and is a positive
thinker, who likes challenges and difficult situations, then he has half his success achieved.
If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you'd like to win but think you
can't it's almost certain you won't. Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner
or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can. A happy person is not a person with a certain set
of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. I may not be able to change the world
I see around me, but I can change the way I see the world within me.
Changing your attitude from self-centeredness to understanding requires desire and commitment to
always try to see things from the other persons point of view.
Our attitude can turn our problems in to blessings.
An attitude is an inward feeling expressed by an outward action.
Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thought.

Miscellaneous:
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude Mary Angelou, US Poet.
Your attitude is everything, and it determines how you experience every aspect of your life Gerald
Jampolsky, Author.
The world does not have to change.... The only thing that has to change is our attitude. G Jampolsky.