The tripartite model of attitude, also known as the ABC model, breaks attitudes down to their three components. Show
 The three components of attitude are:
This model helps us to define attitudes and deconstruct them to see what’s going on under the surface. Sometimes, affect is influencing behavior more than cognition (when we make impulse purchases, for example). Other times, cognition wins over (such as when we want something but decide not to get it right now because it’s too expensive). The ABC model of attitude can be used by marketers to find out why someone would want to buy a product (and better package it!) as well as psychologists to help people self-reflect on their own behaviors. The model emerged from the Yale University Communication and Attitude Program in the 1950s and 60s[1]. However, note that this model has fallen out of favor in recent decades, as discussed in our ‘criticisms’ section later in this article. The Structure of AttitudeAttitude is structured into three components: affect, behavior, and cognition. In this model, we consider there to be an “attitude object” that our attitudes and behaviors are directed at. AffectiveThe affective component of attitude refers to how we feel about something. It’s often our initial reaction and might be positive or negative, such as a fear-based reaction or an excitement-based reaction. It’s important to separate affect from cognition, where affect is what we feel and cognition is what we think. Our affective responses might be driven by deep-seeded memories or experiences that shape our feelings about things. For example, our negative past experiences with certain animals may inform our current feelings toward them. Some examples include:
BehavioralThe behavioral component of attitude refers to our intentions, or what we would do. It can be informed by our attitude or cognition. For example, if we’re afraid of something (our affect), we might run (our behavior). Similarly, if we However, the behavioral component is generally understood to be malleable. If a marketer does a good job at marketing a product, they can influence the behavior so that it is favorable (i.e. that the person purchases the product). The behavior is also often influenced by the ‘cognitive’ component, discussed next. CognitiveOur cognitive component is what we think about something. It’s what happens when we pause and really think hard about it. Cognitive and affective components are interrelated, but don’t always overlap. For example, we might think it’s a bad idea to take a holiday, even though we have positive feelings about it, because it’s too expensive. That’s because we’re overriding our impulsive feelings in order to make decisions based on logic. Sequence of Attitudes in the Tripartite ModelAffect, behavior or cognition could each win out in a decision. This changes depending on the situation. So, different ones come first, second and third at different times. Here are some examples:
Which Wins Out?We’ll often try to reflect on which of the three components in the ABC model will “win” and force a behavior. For example:
Here, the conflict between cognitive and affective components of attitude may be resolved by the third – past experience – which might be enough to cause a consumer to make a purchase. Further ExamplesHere are some more examples:
ConclusionThe ABC model has largely fallen out of favor in social psychology since the 1990s because it is widely understood that behavior should not be subsumed under attitude. They should, perhaps, instead be considered as separate things. As Sutton & Douglas (2020, p. 151) argue[2]:
Nonetheless, this model is useful for students to start thinking about how attitudes are formed and how we can influence behaviors by looking deeper at people’s cognitive and affective reactions to attitude objects. Read Next: A full list of 29 motivation theories References [1] Augoustinos, M., Walker, I., & Donaghue, N. (2014). Social cognition: An integrated introduction. London: Sage. [2] Sutton, R. & Douglas, K. (2020). Social Psychology. London: Springer. [3] McCabe, S. (2010). Marketing communications in tourism and hospitality. Los Angeles: Routledge. Skip to content
What is Attitude? Definition, Types, Components, Formation, Functions, Characteristics
Attitude is defined as a more or less stable set of predispositions of opinion, interest or purpose involving expectancy of a certain kind of experience and readiness with an appropriate response. Attitudes are also known as “frames of reference“. They provide the background against which facts and events are viewed. An attitude describes persons’ enduring favorable or unfavorable cognitive evaluations, feelings, and action tendencies toward some object or idea. People have attitudes regarding almost everything such as religion, politics, cloth, music, food. A person’s attitudes settle into a coherent pattern and to change one may require difficult adjustment in many others. Thus, a company would be well advised to fit its product into existing attitudes rather than to try changing people’s attitude. Attitude can be defined as learnt predispositions to respond to an object or class of objects in a consistently favorable or unfavourable way. Attitude Definition
Attitude MeaningIn simple words, an “attitude” is an individual’s way of looking or an individual’s point of view at something. To be more specific, an “attitude” may be defined as the mental state of an individual, which prepares him to react or make him behave in a particular pre-determined way. It is actually an acquired feeling. Attitude is the mixture of beliefs and feelings that people have about situations, specific ideas or other people. Also Read: What is Organizational Behavior? | Organizational Behavior Definition Components of Attitude
Cognitive componentBeliefs are the cognitive components of consumer attitude. Cognitive component of attitude is associated with the value statement. It consists of values, belief, ideas and other information that a person may have faith in. Positive brand associations enhance brand equity and are achieved through a number of positioning strategies. Through brand associations, marketers establish and influence favorable beliefs about a brand and unfavorable beliefs about competitors. Example: Quality of sincere hard is a faith or value statement that a manager may have. Affective componentAffective is the emotive component of consumer attitude. Affective component of attitude is associated with individual feelings about another person, which may be positive, neutral or negative. Three research models describe the determinants of affective response.
Example: I don’t like Sam because he is not honest, or I like Sam because he is sincere. It is an expression of feelings about a person, object or a situation. Behavioral componentIntention is the behavioral component of consumer attitude. Behavioral component of attitude is associated with the impact of various condition or situations that lead to person behavior based on cognitive and affective components. Two research models demonstrate the relationship between intention to purchase and actual purchase and consumption.
Example: I don’t like Sam because he is not honest is an affective component, I, therefore, would like to disassociate myself with him, is a behavioural component and therefore I would avoid Sam. Cognitive and affective components are bases for such behaviour. Former two components cannot be seen, only the behaviour component can be seen. Former is important because it is a base for the formation of attitude. Also Read: Vroom’s Expectancy Theory of Motivation Characteristics of AttitudeCharacteristics of attitude are discussed below: Attitude are predispositionsAttitude are predispositions of purpose, interest or opinion of the person to assess some objects in a favourable or an unfavourable manner. Attitude are different from valuesAttitude are different from values: Values are the ideals, whereas attitudes are narrow, they are our feelings. Attitude are evaluative statementAttitude are evaluative statements: either favourable or unfavourable concerning the objects, people or events. Attitude influence human behaviorA positive attitude towards a thing will influence human behavior towards the thing favorably and vice-versa. Attitude have intensityIt refers to the strength of the effective component. For example, we may dislike an individual but the extent of our disliking would determine the intensity of our attitude towards the person. Attitude are learntAttitude is not inborn phenomenon. Attitude are learnt through social interaction and experience. Functions of AttitudeFour important functions of attitude which are crucial in organizational behavior viewpoint are: Adjustment FunctionAttitudes often help individuals to adjust to their work environment. Consumers hold certain brand attitudes partly because of the brand utility. If a product has helped us in the past even in a small way, our attitude towards it tends to be favorable. One way of changing attitude in favor of a product is by showing people that it can solve utilitarian goals. They may not have considered some advertisement which stresses the utilitarian benefits of a product. Example: Well-treated employees tend to develop a positive attitude towards their management or job. Ego-Defensive FunctionConsumers want to protect their self concept from inner feelings of doubt. Cosmetic and personal hygiene products, by acknowledging this need, increase their relevance to the consumer and have the possibility of a favorable attitude by offering reassurance to the consumers self concept. Example: Older faculty might feel somewhat threatened by a young and new faculty member who is full of fresh ideas and enthusiasm Value-Expressive FunctionAttitudes are one expression of general values, lifestyles, and outlook. If a consumer segment generally holds a positive attitude towards being in a fashion segment, consumer may treat high fashion clothing and accessories as symbols of that lifestyle. Example, a manager who values honest and sincere work will be more vocal against an employee who is having a very casual approach towards work. Knowledge FunctionAttitudes provide frames of reference or standard that allow individuals to understand and perceive the world around him. Individuals have a strong need to know and understand the people and things with whom they come in contact, especially if they think they might influence their behavior. Example, If a student has a strong negative attitude towards the college, whatever the college does, the student will be perceived as something ‘bad’ and as actually against them. Also Read: What is Motivation? | Types of Motivation Types of AttitudeThere are broadly three types of attitude in term of organisational behavior
Job satisfactionA collection of positive and/or negative feelings that an individual holds toward his or her job. A person will hold a positive attitude if had a high level of satisfaction, while dissatisfied people will generally display a negative attitude towards life. When we talk about attitude, we generally speak about job satisfaction because they are inter-related in organizational behaviour. Job involvementJob involvement refers to the degree to which a person identifies himself (psychologically) with his job, actively participates and considers his perceived performance level important to self-worth. (Robbins) Higher job satisfaction leads to low absenteeism & employee turnover and indicates that the individual cares for his job. Organizational commitmentOrganizational commitment refers to a degree to which an employee identifies himself with the organizational goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization. Resigning from the job or absenting versus job satisfaction is a predictor of organizational commitment. Organizational commitment depends upon the degree of autonomy & freedom job and job enrichment factor. Also Read: What is Perception? | Importance of Perception Attitude FormationThe question often arises, ‘how are the attitudes and subsequent behaviors formed?’ While attitudes are basically learned over the years, some inherited characteristics do affect such attitudes Some of the learned characteristics responsible for attitude formation are: ExperiencesOur personal experiences with people and situations develop our attitude towards such persons and situations. Through job experience, people develop attitudes towards working conditions, salaries, supervision, group dynamics and so on. Perceptual biasesPerception is the result of a complex interaction of various senses such as feelings, seeing, hearing and so on and plays an important part in our attitude and behavioural formation. For example, if a manager perceives a subordinate’s ability as limited, he will give him limited responsibility. Similarly, we lose many good friends due to our changed perception about them. Observation of other person attitudeWhen we like someone, we try to emulate that person’s attitude. For example, when we are impressed by someone keeping calm under stressful circumstances and we appreciate such calmness, we might try to do the same. AssociationOur association with the group we belong to strongly influences our attitude. Our close association with a group would encourage us to be consistent with the attitude of the group. PersonalityPersonality is a set of traits and characteristics, habit patterns and conditioned responses to certain stimuli that formulate the impression that a person makes upon others and this impression is a function of a person’s attitude. Consumer Attitude FormationAttitudes are learned though there are different approaches on how learning works as is acquired by individuals. Following factors lead to consumer attitude formation: Read Complete Article: Consumer Attitude Formation Importance of AttitudeAn expert knows that a positive attitude is necessary for successful completion of a project or an assigned task. Having a positive attitude with positive thinking in the organization will reflect on what employee do and make them a more productive employee. Importance of attitude in organisational behavior Employees with a positive attitude will create a healthy atmosphere in the organization, develop positive relations with sub-ordinates, their supervisors, managers and top management. A positive attitude has significant benefits for an individual in many aspects. Following are the aspects related to the importance of attitude: Career successPerformance is a parameter to measure employees‘ success in the workplace. Performance leads to success either through promotion or increased compensation. A positive attitude of an employee will help him to think of ways to accomplish their task in a well-defined manner ProductivityAn employee with a positive attitude tends to take more interest and responsibility and will provide better work, which in turn will improve productivity. LeadershipManaging a diverse workforce is a crucial task for achieving the objective of an organization. Positive attitude demonstrated by leaders or employee will result in proper communication between the subordinate which will lead to efficient work. TeamworkA positive attitude of employees helps to appreciate each other‘s competencies and work as a team for achieving common objectives. Decision makingAn employee with a positive attitude and mindset will help employees to make better decisions, in an objective manner. It will enable employees to choose wisely and logically and avoid them to take an unambiguous decision. MotivationMotivation is an important factor for efficient work. An employee with a positive attitude will always be mentally prepared to face any obstacle in a job. The moment they are successful in overcoming obstacles, they are motivated to move forward. Interpersonal relationsCustomers prefer to make relation with someone who is positive in nature. A positive attitude helps in establishing valuable customer loyalty. Stress managementPositive attitude and thinking will reduce the stress of an employee and with reduced stress employee can take a better decision and increase their productivity which results, employees, to enjoy better health and take fewer sick leaves. Also Read: What is Learning? | Elements of Learning | Factors Affecting Learning Theories of AttitudeLets discuss these 4 theories of attitude in brief: Balance TheoryBalance Theory is concerned with consistency in the judgement of people and or issues that are linked by some form of relationship. There are three elements:
There are two types of relationship to connect these three types of elements
Both linking and unit relations are positive or negative towards any object or person or stimuli etc. or these three types of elements. Congruity TheoryCongruity theory is similar to balance theory. The focus of the theory is on changes in evolution of a source and a concept that are linked by an associative or dissociative assertion. Congruity exists when a source and concept positively associated have exactly the same evaluation, and when a source and concept that are negatively associated have exactly the opposite evaluation attached to him. Affective Cognitive Consistency TheoryThe theory is also called structural because it is concerned with what happens within the individual when an attitude changes. It is concerned with the consistency between a person’s overall attitude towards an object or issue and its his beliefs about the relationship. Cognitive structure means end relationship between the object or issue and the achievement of desired undesired values of goals. Cognitive Dissonance TheoryIt is little-bit similar to affective cognitive theory. The difference between these two is that the stimuli arise from environment in the first one. This theory tends to tie in the third component of attitude. There are three types of cognitions: 1. Dissonance 2. Go to Section: What is Attitude? | Attitude Definition | Attitude Meaning | Components of Attitude | Characteristics of Attitudes | Functions of Attitude | Types of Attitude | Attitude Formation | Importance of Attitude | Theories of Attitude Reference
FAQ
What is Attitude?
Attitude is defined as a more or less stable set of predispositions of opinion, interest or purpose involving expectancy of a certain kind of experience and readiness with an appropriate response.
What is Personality?
Personality is the fundamental and foremost determinant of individual behaviour. It seeks to integrate the physiological and psychological facets of an individual to put them into action.
What is Perception?
Perception is the process by which a person interpret and organize sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world.
What is Learning?
Learning can be defined as a relatively permanent change in behaviour or potential behaviour as a result of direct or indirect experience. Learning is thus a change in behaviour as a result of experience. Go On, Share & Help your Friend Did we miss something in Organizational Behavior Tutorial or You want something More? Come on! Tell us what you think about our post on What is Attitude? | Organisational Behavior in the comments section and Share this post with your friends. |
What are the 3 components of attitude explain with an example?
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