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Attitudes

Someone could have an emotional reaction to someone or something someone does, that is different from having an attitude change, or it could be that the emotional reaction causes a change in attitude. Also, people make evaluations about the other person or about what they are saying or is going on, which could call upon a set of stored knowledge the person already has or be a completely new idea or set of thoughts about the person or thing going on. It makes sense that evaluations would have occurred before, however, since everything in an interaction is not completely new each time - therefore people make evaluations and assessments (come to conclusions during an interaction) about other people's behavior or something else about what is going on - and they are assessments that are similar to ones they have made in the past in similar situations. When someone makes an evaluation, they are likely to have an attitude adjustment because their opinion or thoughts about what is going on has changed. An example of such an evaluation might be "this person is not easy to get along with, I don't know if I like him or her, I might have to stop talking to them" - once a person makes such an evaluation of the other person, their attitude is likely to change. They have probably made evaluations like that in the past with other people, so have learned how to change their attitude and what other conclusions to make once they make that assessment. They also take in new information and construct an opinion based on the current situation, in addition to having learned assessments that they call upon. People can consider readily available information (what is going on in the social interaction they are currently in) and integrate this information into an overall attitudinal judgement.

During the coarse of an interaction or, for example, a conversation, someone might change their attitude many times, there might be large attitude changes or small ones. They change their attitude when they have an emotional reaction (generated from the other person most likely) or make an assessment or evaluation of the other person, their behavior, or what is going on (the conversation most likely). The nature of their evaluation might be similar to evaluations they have reached in the past, so it is a learned response or attitude change. That person might just happen to change his or her attitude in such a way when someone does such a thing, it is just what they do. A person might also generate a new attitude based on a new situation and new information they have gathered in this situation. When I say people make evaluations during interactions, I mean they reach conclusions about the other person, form ideas and opinions of them, their behavior and the interaction. These "evaluations" occur all the time and, since they can be natural and unconscious to a large extent, are going to be influenced by the persons previous experience with forming conclusions, opinions and ideas during an interaction. This means that not all the opinions and ideas you reach during an interaction (and their resulting attitude changes) are going to be completely under your awareness (conscious). That makes sense, of course you don't know all the times you change your attitude and all the assessments of the the interaction you are making during the interaction, the point is, however, that you are making them and they are influencing you behavior. Your attitude can change without you directing it, that shows that you are reaching conclusions and having evaluations and assessments during an interaction that you aren't completely aware of.

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Source:  OpenStax, A self help and improvement book: useful psychology information (an integration of personality, social, interaction, communication and well-being psychology). OpenStax CNX. Jul 11, 2016 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11139/1.47
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