Dr. Maushumi Lahon
Dept. Of Computer Engg
We are all very familiar with the term attitude. It refers to one’s way
of thinking or how one feels and reacts about something or someone. Attitude
has different meanings in different areas. In the area of psychology, attitude
is considered to be the driving force of our behaviour. Both implicit and
explicit attitude are responsible for ones behaviour. Explicit attitudes mostly depend on personal
experiences, cultural norms, and social influences and they can be easily
measured in self-reports or surveys. Implicit attitudes on the other hand are
shaped by long-term exposure to societal values, media and personal
experiences, making them a powerful influence on human behaviour.
Everyone is aware of the positive and
negative attitude and the “Be positive” slogan. Attitude is all about making
choices. Wherever and whenever there is a situation, we always have choices to
make and the choice determines our attitude towards the particular situation.
There are many stories which tell us about the power of attitude.Why attitude
is so important ? Does this really have something to do with our life? Then it
is a big YES. Our attitude is related to our ability to do things in our
personal and professional life.
We have seen people with no intention to
address your problem and you have also seen people going out of their way to
solve your problem. The difference lies in their attitude. When you start your
day thinking, wow, it’s a new day, many new things may happen, you could feel
positive and go on for the day. On the other hand, you start your day thinking,
Ah.. it’s the same old things to come ahead, you could feel lazy, clumsy and
negative throughout the day failing to realise the gift of a new day given to
you. Your attitude makes the difference.
For students, attitude plays a very
important role in their academic performance, personal development, social
interactions and their overall development. As a student, learning is the most
important component. Learning requires a stable, calm and focused mind. This is
possible only when one is out of negative thoughts and practices positive
attitude formation techniques. The importance of learning can be very well
recognised in the following sentences -
“The
information available worldwide doubles every few years, and
technology—especially information technology—is part of virtually every
workplace. As a result, employers value knowledgeable employees who are
committed to lifelong learning.”
How to have positive attitude ?
Suppose you and your friends were supposed
to go out for a trip and it got cancelled. Rather than sulking on the
cancellation, think about some other activity that makes you happy and plan for
the trip for some other day.
Suppose you have not done well in your
tests, rather than thinking that there is no use studying, I cannot do
well… ,you can think that, I need to give some more time to the subject
and I will score better.
It’s our desire and choices that we make,
reflect our attitude. You may see some people making a “mountain of a mole hill
“ i.e over dramatizing small
difficulties while you will see some going through a storm in their life with a
smile. This is only because of their attitude towards the situation that has
evolved. The three components of attitude are :
The emotional response to a person, object or
event
The actions a person takes in response to an
object, person or event
The thoughts or beliefs a person has about an
object, person or event.
I would like to share some ways of building
positivity in oneself -
u Searching for solutions of a problem,
neither exaggerate the problem nor dwell with the problem.
u Believe in oneself and expect success.
u Search for opportunities in failures too.
u Believe you are good and can do better.
u Do things that make you happy.
u Accept the power of universe.
There are many such activities that can
help one to see the bright side and leave behind things which make them unhappy
and sad. The exercise of developing positivity helps in developing positive
attitude. In this short article, I would like to highlight one aspect which can
encourage positivity in oneself - “Gratitude”
. It is about recognising that something good has happened and choosing to
acknowledge that. It is a positive emotion that makes one feel thankful and is
associated with many mental and physical health benefits. Studies at different
universities suggest that, practicing gratitude helps one to deal with
adversities, build strong relationships,
get better sleep and a desire to take better care of their health.
Research suggests that there is a relation
between Knowledge-Attitude-Behaviour (KAB). Though the relation is not very
direct or specific, there is some amount of relation between Knowledge and
Attitude which in turn influences the behaviour of a person. Considering one perspective, it is that the
knowledge of a person regarding an object/thing/ topic can build the attitude of the person towards
the object/topic/thing that influences the behaviour of the person. From
another perspective a person has already an attitude towards a an
object/topic/thing, which then influences the person in the process of
knowledge acquisition on the object/topic/thing. Thus there are many views and
perspectives that suggest that the relation between knowledge-attitude-behaviour
is dynamic and sometimes correlated.
The KAB framework is used to measure traits
that influence learning. We are already familiar with the three components of
the KAB framework. Knowledge is something we are always trying to gain,
attitude is something which greatly
influences the ability to learn in educational activities and behaviour
is the activity that is actually taken by the person. In the process of
learning assessment forms an integral part. The objective of any educational
product or exercise is to make the learner learn and feel empowered to use the
knowledge and skill gained. The achievement of the objective requires to be
evaluated in three dimensions :
1:
The declarative and procedural knowledge learned.
2:
The attitude and impact on the learner regarding the knowledge learned, and
3:
Real application of knowledge and skills learned, through their behaviour.
To
conclude with, I feel that if we are in tune with the KAB framework it will be
a step towards achieving the goal of Outcome Based Education (OBE) .
References :
1: Tom
Marcinkowski & Alan Reid (2019) Reviews of research on the attitude –behavior
relationship and their implications for future environmental education
research, Environmental Education Research, 25:4, 459-471, DOI:
10.1080/13504622.2019.1634237.
2: P.G. Schrader & K.A. Lawless, “The knowledge, attitudes, & behaviors approach how to evaluate
performance and learning in complex environments” , Article
in Performance
Improvement ,DOI: 10.1002/pfi.4140430905.
3: https://lekb.org/index.php/Knowledge-attitude-behavior_(KAB)_framework
ATTITUDE IS A SECRET POWER