What’s up with the attitude?

The study of attitudes (what evaluations do people hold) and persuasion (how do they change their evaluations) is a core topic in social psychology.

So how are attitudes formed and why are they so difficult to change?

Attitudes are defined as learned, comprehensive evaluations of a person, object, place, or issue that influence thought and action. Because people are influenced by the situation, general attitudes are not always good predictors of specific behaviour. Attitudes that are well remembered and central to our self concept, however, are more likely to lead to behaviour, and measures of general attitudes do predict patterns of behaviour over time.

Two characteristics shape these kinds of attitudes: commitment and embeddedness. They may help teachers understand why certain students act the way they do.