Social Attitudes

Attitudes are a significant aspect that helps people to understand their social world. Attitudes reflect how we think and perceive others and behave towards them. A popular definition of attitudes is “evaluations of various objects that are stored in memory”.

An attitude is composed of three components :

(i)  Affect (a feeling).

(ii) Cognition (a thought).

(iii)  Behavior (an action)

The way people in a country think, feel and act depends upon the prevailing attitudes in the society. Therefore, attitudes differ from society to society. Business firms must know and understand attitudes of people while formulating business strategies and practices. The types of products acceptable to people, the distribution practices and the methods of communication with customers all need to be in accordance with the prevailing attitudes. However, powerful corporations can through sustained efforts would the attitudes of people in favor of their products and services.