Attitudes are the mental positive filters through which we view and interpret the world. Positive attitudes produce positive emotions; negative attitudes don’t.
The quality of your attitude will help determine the quality of your life, so you must guard your thoughts accordingly. If you make up your mind to approach life with a healthy mixture of realism and optimism, you’ll be rewarded. But if you allow yourself to fall into the unfortunate habit of negative thinking, you will doom yourself to unhappiness or mediocrity or worse.
In psychology, an attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors toward a particular object, person, thing, or event. The components of attitude are cognitive, affective, and behavioral, which means they incorporate thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Attitudes are formed from various factors, such as;
• Directly as a result of experience. They may emerge due to direct personal experiences, or as a result from observation.
• Social roles can have a strong influence on attitudes. Social roles relate to how people are expected to behave in a particular role or context. Social norms involve society’s rules for what behaviors are appropriate.
• Attitudes can simply be learned from others, or heavy advertisements.
While attitudes have a powerful effect on behavior, they can be lead to change.
Mounting evidence from medical studies have indicated that people who think positively have a lower risk of dying from all causes compared with others their own age who have a gloomier view of life. Over the last decade, researchers have identified practices that can help you achieve and sustain a positive attitude toward your future. Many of them are explained in the Harvard Special Health Report Positive Psychology. Here are a few suggestions:
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• Slow down and focus. You will enjoy things more, whether a meal or a visit with a friend.
• Practice gratitude which is a thankful appreciation for what you receive, whether tangible or not.
• Retain a sense of purpose.