Attitudes, Beliefs and Values

'The power of Knowledge to organise, select, learn and judge comes fromvalues and
beliefs as much as, and probably more than, from information and logic'

-Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak (2000) Working Knowledge

Why Attitudes?
All educational theories encompass teaching and assessment
of knowledge,skills and attitudes. While we find it easier to define knowledge and skills,
definitions of attitudes vary.

Attitudes have been described as an hypothetical construct that represents a person's like or
dislike for anything. Attitude is a judgement made on the 'attitude object' ( a person, place, task,
event, skill, etc.). These judgements can range from positive, negative or ambivalent.

Attitudes arise from an inner framework of values and beliefs, developed over time. Jung, in his
essay on Psychological types, defines attitude as " the readiness of the psyche to act or react in
a certain way"1

Attitudes comprise of three components : Emotions, Behaviours and Thoughts. These can also
be decribed as the ABC model : Affective, Behavioural andCognitive.

The Affective response is one's emotional response to a task or an entity;

the Behavioural response is the displayed verbal or behavioural tendency to a task or entity
whereas the Cognitive response is the cognitive evaluation of theentity based on internal belief
system.

There is considerable overlap in semantics of beliefs, values and attitudes, however these are
also distinct constructs as illustrated below.
 Beliefs, Values and Attitudes

"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which,more than anything else, will
affect It's successful outcome."
- William James

Beliefs, Values and Attitudes

In our various roles, our beliefs, values and attitudes are constantly interfacing with those of
others; our peers, friends, family or learners. We seem to instinctively 'like' those individuals who
share our core values and beliefs. It is clear that harmonising our value systems is what makes a
successful relationship, be it personal, educational or professional.
Proponents of adult learning state that in order to achieve competence and excellence, one
needs to be able to teach and assess not only knowledge and skills but also attitudes . To do this
we have to be able to identify core values and belief systems that underpin attitudes2.

Performance improvement can only come through learning the appropriate knowledge,
skills and possessing the right value and belief systems that in turn influence our motivation,
intention and engagement with a specific task.

Often we may come across individuals who seemingly possess the knowledgeand skills to a do
a task, but only with a positive attitude towards the task, there will be motivation, engagement
and intention to do the task.

The following 'iceberg' shows the relationship between the hidden values and belief systems to
expressed attitudes through behaviours. However, there are two factors that directly influence
behaviours displayed - one is the attitude that underpins the behaviour, the other is
the capability to express the expected behaviour.
I'ts not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life ;it is how you
handle what happens to you.
- Zig Ziglar

Behaviour vs. Attitudes

One of the key lessons to be learnt from this is that we are at the mercy of expressed
behaviours. Both in ourselves and in others we ‘assume’ attitudes based on observed behaviour.
For example someone who regularly arrives late may be considered not very punctual and
disorganised. If that someone is then found to care for somebody who is very ill and has to spend
a lot of their personal time delivering this care, which then interferes with their prompt arrival to
work or lessons, may be viewed with a different perspective.

Our attitudes towards observed behaviour will also tint our judgements. For example if a person
arrives shoddily dressed for an interview, we may feel they have not taken the time to smarten
up. If the said person believes that it should be the talent and skills that should be recognised
and not based on their appearance – this influences their attitude to dressing ‘smart’ and thus
influences their behaviour.

Behaviours may also be ‘false’ a person may display false obeisance and ritualistic behaviour
when they need a favourable review or they feel they are being observed for performance. This
may indicate a certain attitude but the observer needs to delineate the difference between a true
attitude and a false behaviour implying an attitude. A person who is constantly fawning and
agreeing to everything their superior says may not necessarily be in agreement but may fawn in
order to curry favour.

In assessing behaviour, one needs to be aware of capability. There have been situations where
certain person may be considered ‘rude’ due to a raised voice or lack of clear idioms and
phraseology like saying thank you and please. Yet if the person or persons observed have never
received any training to modulate their speech pattern or learn the idioms and phraseology of the
language they are communicating in, they may not have the capability to express the right
behaviour for the situation. This in turn ay be perceived as a ‘bad attitude’

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude
determines how well you do it."
- Lou Holtz

Values & Behaviours

Feedback on Behaviours
In summary, positive attitudes are needed in an individual to be motivated and engaged in a task.
Attitudes arise out of core values and beliefs we hold internally. Beliefs are assumptions and
convictions we hold to be true based on past experiences. Values are ideas of worth about
things, concepts and people. Behaviours are how these internalised systems are expressed.

The ability to learn and organise knowledge and skills is heavily influenced by these factors. In
order to infleunce performance in a learning context or in an organisation ( or even at home!) one
needs to be aware of the key differences between these constructs.

Feedback on attitudes will always be perceived as judgemental as it is about others' behaviour

filtered through our value systems. It is better therefore to feedback on behaviours. It is even
better to determine ideal behaviours for an organisation, a situation or a learning environment
and set the scene even before the behaviours are being assessed.This way feedback can be
contextualised, can be on behaviour that is observed and factual. This reduces the potential for
conflict and low morale.

 Attitudes are not the same as behaviours

 Attitudes are a construct of internal beliefs and value systems

 Observed behaviour are influenced by attitudes, capability or circumstance

 Caution in assessing attitudes using behaviours as examples

 Attitudes can be changes by feedback and behaviour management

 Changing attitudes can also change values and beliefs and vice versa.

 An understanding of these constructs helps personal and organisational

management

In the next related hub, We may discuss behaviour management and influencing behaviour
change. Hope this was useful.

Please do leave comments and feedback below. Appreciate your time.