Attitude

What the official syllabus says

Main Written Examination, Paper VI: General Studies-IV (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude). The following broad areas will be covered:

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

Topics in detail

Meaning and features

• Attitude: a learned, relatively lasting evaluation (favourable or unfavourable) of a person, object, idea or event
• Attitude, belief, value, opinion and behaviour: how they differ
• Features: learned, directed at an object, varying in strength, open to change
• Explicit (conscious) and implicit (automatic) attitudes

Content of attitudes

• Cognitive component: beliefs and knowledge about the object
• Affective component: feelings and emotions about the object
• Behavioural (conative) component: the tendency to act in a certain way
• The ABC (affect, behaviour, cognition) model

Structure of attitudes

• Valence (direction) and strength (extremity, certainty, importance)
• Simple and complex attitudes; ambivalent attitudes
• Consistency between components; centrality to the self
• Accessibility: how readily an attitude comes to mind

Functions of attitudes

• Functions identified by Daniel Katz: utilitarian (adjustive), knowledge, ego-defensive and value-expressive
• Social identity and belonging
• Attitudes as shortcuts for decisions

Formation and change

• Formation: direct experience, family and peers, classical and operant conditioning, observational learning, media
• Cognitive dissonance (Leon Festinger): discomfort from inconsistency and how it is reduced
• Self-perception theory: inferring one’s attitudes from one’s own behaviour
• Balance theory and the role of new information and experience
• Resistance to change: selective exposure, confirmation bias, strong identity

Influence and relation with thought and behaviour

• When attitudes predict behaviour: strong, specific, accessible attitudes; little situational pressure
• Theory of planned behaviour: attitude, subjective norms and perceived control
• Behaviour shaping attitudes (role-playing, commitment, foot-in-the-door)
• Prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination: the attitude–behaviour gap and its effects in administration
• Attitude of public servants towards citizens, the poor and marginalised groups; service orientation

Moral attitudes

• Attitudes based on moral conviction: right and wrong, fairness, harm
• Moral attitudes are strong, resistant to change and linked to action
• Examples: attitudes to corruption, gender equality, caste discrimination, the environment
• Building pro-social attitudes: honesty, respect for law, civic sense

Political attitudes

• Attitudes towards the State, parties, policies, ideologies and political participation
• Political socialisation: family, school, media, peer group, events
• Liberal, conservative, radical and reactionary orientations
• Political neutrality of the civil servant: holding private political views while acting impartially

Social influence and persuasion

• Conformity: changing one’s judgement to match the group (Solomon Asch’s line experiments)
• Compliance: going along with a direct request; obedience to authority (Stanley Milgram’s experiments)
• Informational and normative social influence; minority influence
• Herbert Kelman’s processes: compliance, identification and internalisation
• Group influences: group norms, groupthink, social facilitation and social loafing
• Persuasion: source (credibility, attractiveness), message (rational or emotional appeal, one-sided or two-sided), audience
• Elaboration Likelihood Model: central and peripheral routes to persuasion
• Principles of influence: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity
• Ethical and unethical persuasion: informing and convincing versus manipulation and propaganda
• Uses in governance: behaviour change campaigns (cleanliness, girl child, health), nudges

Overlaps

Attitudes of public servants are the ground for Aptitude and Foundational Values for Civil Service and Emotional Intelligence.