Attitudes and Values for Promoting Well-being and Harmony of Individuals and Society

Page: 495-500
M. Ramya Maheswari (Department of Psychology, Ethiraj College for Women, Chennai, Tamil Nadu)

Attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). When people use such words as like, hate, good and bad, they are usually describing attitudes. One reason why we need to study attitudes is that attitudes are woven into the fabric of daily life as each individual on an everyday basis talk about one’s own and other’s attitude. Everyday conversations are plagued by discussions ranging from people’s attitude on recent movies and changing social norms to government policies. The second reason is that there is a strong assumption that attitudes predict behaviour. This implies that any required change in behaviour can be addressed through change in attitudes. Hence if we wish to bring about changes in our environment, we need to devise strategies to change people’s attitudes. When we talk of changing attitudes we also need to understand its link to values. Problems with attitudes could reflect improperly developed or ineffectively utilized value system. For example attitudes towards child labour, child marriage, widow remarriage, untouchability can spring out of certain values we hold on to. Society acquires values through a long process of trial and error experimentation with various approaches to life. Over centuries, the collective comes to recognize that certain principles or guidelines are essential for the survival or vital for the growth of the individual and the community. They learn by experience to value these essential principles and pass them on to future generations as cultural guidelines for action. Values are hence a significant element of culture. An understanding of how we develop attitudes and values and a knowledge of its, structure, content and functions is essential and precedes honing them, Hence the current paper examines the link between values, attitudes and beliefs that provides clarity of dynamics underpinning many conscious behaviours of the individuals in the society. Major influences on attitudes and values are studied to examine the extent to which value system has evolved as a result of it. The paper deliberates on whether existing values needs to be redefined for the people to live in harmony. Relevant values and attitudes in key life domains are explored and recommendations are provided for promoting positive attitudes and values