A predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea, object, person, or situation. Attitude influences an individual’s choice of action, and responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards (together called stimuli).Four major components of attitude are (1) Affective: emotions or feelings. (2) Cognitive: belief or opinions held consciously. (3) Conative: inclination for action. (4) Evaluative: positive or negative response to stimuli.Your attitude includes your cognitive thoughts and beliefs about a given subject, the feelings and emotions that the subject provokes in you, and your tendency towards engaging in an activity or avoiding the activity entirely. Your attitude is your motivation. There are different theories on how you developed your attitudes and how to change them. Each suggests different things about how you shaped your own attitudes.Functionalist Theory• In 1938, Daniel Katz offered the functionalist theory for attitude formation. He believed that attitudes have a functional role in the individual’s life, believing that people develop their attitudes in order to serve a specific purpose. He also believed people change their attitudes once those attitudes no longer serve their intended purpose. Katz held that attitudes can be instrumental, knowledge, express values or work as a defense to the individual’s ego. For instance, if you have a very positive attitude about your favorite movie, the attitude serves as an excuse to watch the movie regularly. However, once you no longer want to watch the movie anymore, your attitude would change.Learning Theory• Learning theory suggests that people learn their attitudes from outside sources, such as a child learning to hold a view because they see it in their parents or through a subconscious associationfrom classical conditioning. Learning theory suggests that your attitudes are not likely to change unless you observe a situation that forces you to rethink your attitudes. As an example, if youpurchase a new car and notice that every time you turn it on, the engine makes a terrible noise, your attitude towards your car would change as you associate it with that terrible noise.Cognitive Dissonance Theory• Cognitive dissonance is the theory that states that when people’s actions are different from their attitudes, a natural anxiety will grow within them. Cognitive dissonance suggests that people seek to return to a happy state in their life, where their attitudes and actions are in harmony. For instance, if you went to work every day with a mindset that you hated your job, you would be acting in a way that opposes your attitude. Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that you would be miserable and seek to change either your actions or your attitude in order to bring the two into alignment.Self-perception TheorySelf-perception theory suggests that people can learn about their own attitudes by watching their actions. The idea is that people are always acting in compliance with their attitudes. This theory is very reliant on self-evaluation. As an example, if you notice yourself looking for reasons to avoid going to work or calling in for no real reason, you can identify that you have a very negative attitude towards your job