How are Attitudes Formed and Changed?

Childhood Influence

Most children develop their early attitudes by absorbing the values and beliefs of the most influential adults in their life. These can come directly from parents, who in turn can derive their attitudes from their own parents, from religious institutions and clergy, through changes they have made in their own lives and from their social standing and social pressures (i.e., pressure to be like adults in their surroundings). While childhood beliefs should not be discounted and should be respected, in many cases, these beliefs will change throughout an individual's life.

Re-evaluation

Rebellion is one of the most prominent features of adolescence and the teenage years. During this time, many youths will actively question the beliefs they acquired when they were younger and will seek to stretch the boundaries that have been placed on them by their belief systems. Some will decide that the answers they come to on their own through youthful experimentation are more valuable than their parents' beliefs, while others will, after a time, return to an adherence to their parents' attitudes; still another group will find their path somewhere between the two and go through a period of moderation.

Cementing

As people age, they tend to begin taking their beliefs and attitudes for granted. They have gone through the influences of childhood and engaged their own experiments, so many feel that they have come to the right conclusions about what attitudes hold true for them. As people enter and progress through adulthood, they become less likely to question their attitudes and less likely to change than when they were younger.

Adulthood Re-evaluation

Not all adults have static beliefs. Changing social, economic and personal conditions can lead someone to re-evaluate their attitudes, even as an adult. As just one example, the Pew Forum reports that 44 percent of American adults do not practice the religion of their childhood and an additional 9 percent changed their faith at some point and then returned to that of their childhood. Here, too, age does seem to have an impact, as most Americans who leave their childhood faith do so before the age of 24.

Argumentation

It can be difficult to determine what kind of argumentation will be effective in changing a person's attitudes; a more scientifically inclined individual might be appealed to best with a well-presented, logically based argument. However, that same person might on another day have a religious experience such as an epiphany that radically alters his attitudes. These changes can be long-lasting, while some people's attitudes may fluctuate less or for shorter periods of time.

References

• Pew Forum: Faith in Flux

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish