changing one's attitude essay

Essays About Attitude: Top 5 Examples Plus Prompts

Your attitude and demeanor affect all aspects of your life. We have found an inspiring list of essays about attitude to help you choose your own angle.

Attitude refers to a person’s way of thinking about something that affects their behavior. One can say that the proper attitude is vital to leading a fruitful life, whatever that might be for specific individuals. A “good” attitude and a positive outlook can better ascertain success, while a “bad” attitude predisposes a person to fail.

One’s attitude is founded upon knowledge, beliefs, and feelings and reflected in behavior. However, it is also shaped by your experiences.

If you want to write an essay about attitude, here are 5 essay examples and 5 prompts we have prepared to make the process easier for you. 

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers .

1. Attitude changes everything – it can change your life by Kate Darbyshire Evans

2. 6 ways to banish negative thoughts by emily co, 3. our life is a reflection of our attitude. by iqra shehzadi, 4. watch your attitude: your students are counting on you by amber chandler, 5. how to develop a positive attitude in the workplace by jennifer post, 5 writing prompts on essays about attitude, 1. why is a good attitude so important, 2. how can you change your attitude for the better, 3. is a bad attitude really as detrimental as it is said to be, 4. how has your attitude affected your life, 5. does attitude reflect character.

“Attitude changes everything. Change your attitude, and you can change your life. You cannot always control what happens to you in life but you can always control how you respond to the challenges or difficult situations you encounter. The attitude you approach anything with is entirely your choice. The way you choose to respond mirrors your attitude and so by changing your attitude you can change your perspective and change your life.”

Evans talks about how genuinely present one’s attitude is in the different aspects of their life. It can, quite literally, “change your life.” Regardless of your challenges, Evans believes that a positive attitude can help you steady your course and maintain a good life. She also gives readers tips on developing a good attitude and a more positive outlook on life, including being more grateful, not taking life too seriously, and stepping out of your comfort zone. 

“It’s easy to become jaded when life gets tough, but don’t get caught up in negative thoughts because it may hinder your progress. Seeing the world as a glass half empty may lead you to give up easier and not try as hard because you may think that it’s pointless to even make an attempt.”  

In this short essay, Co lists down a few ways in which we can maintain a positive attitude by keeping negative thoughts out of our minds. These include keeping a gratitude journal, keeping good company, being around animals, and looking for new hobbies. Co believes these activities help promote positivity so that we are not as affected when life gets challenging. You might also be interested in these essays about discipline .

“Our mind has sufficient bandwidth to focus on one thought at a time. All you must do is keep it attentive on inspiring thoughts until you achieve your goal or establish a new habit. After adopting a positive attitude, I have noticed amazing changes all around. I also have noticed a major boost in my confidence and I feel more capable of taking on new projects and challenges which might have formerly been outside my comfort zone.”

Shehzadi reflects on the importance of a positive attitude. She briefly goes over its benefits, like increased confidence and reduced stress. To develop a better attitude, surround yourself with positive people. From there, you can practice kindness, patience, and tolerance. As our attitude reflects itself in how we live, a positive attitude leads to a more productive life. Training your mind to be positive is an excellent investment for your well-being, both mentally and physically. 

“It’s human nature to express ourselves, sure, but I think adults underestimate the impact our ‘attitudes’ have on our own children and students. As we deal with the new variants, head back to school and face another uncertain school year, our attitudes are going to shape the experiences of our students. Why not make a concerted, intentional effort to be the one place where your students can let their guard down and take a break from the attitudes that are everywhere?”

Chandler, an educator, discusses the importance of the right attitude in an environment with kids and the importance of setting a good example. She believes that an authentic, positive attitude helps students thrive, but she also stresses the importance of empathy. To her, the ideal attitude is positive, practical, humble, and empathetic. She wants adults to be more mindful of their attitude, especially in front of kids- they may have certain mannerisms or habits that children will quickly pick up on.

“Not everyone is going to be positive all the time. That’s an unrealistic idea. But even when people are down and at their most negative, there are things one can do to deal with those emotions and actions around the office to keep them from impacting others. Even if it’s just one co-worker causing an issue, take matters into your own hands for your own happiness at work.”

Post’s essay elaborates on the importance of having an attitude suited to your work. Like in Co’s essay, Post discusses certain things we can do to improve our attitude and make us more productive in the workplace. Most significantly, she says that simply saying “yes” more can help develop a better attitude. Even if we cannot always be positive, Post wants us to maximize the positivity in every situation, to look at it from a “glass half full” perspective.

Everyone talks about how the proper attitude helps you go far in life, but how does this work? In your essay, you can explore what makes attitude so vital. You can find examples where people have improved their attitude and attribute it to real-life benefits such as happiness or success. You can also check out these essays about character .

Many people often talk about fixing their attitude and getting out of bad habits. You can use the sample essays to decide which methods you can adopt to improve your attitude. Keep your selection short, simple, and meaningful. Do you think they could be successfully applied to anyone?

Would you say that a good attitude is as important as people say it is? And does a bad attitude indeed dictates one’s fortune or misfortune? Based on research and your own beliefs, decide on your position and provide evidence to support your argument.

Write about something as simple as the effects of your attitude on your life. How does your outlook on life affect you? Do you feel that your attitude is helping you live your life well? Do you think there is anything that you can change to optimize your daily life? Try and provide examples of when a different attitude may have produced a different outcome in a scenario.

Often people are told they have a bad attitude and are misjudged for it. However, is their attitude a true reflection of their character or simply masking a hidden agenda? Think of examples when people may be misjudged by their attitude, or perhaps their behavior was misconstrued, and discuss how difficult it is to remedy this after the event. There are numerous examples of this in literature that you can reference. If you cannot think of a real-life example pick one from an appropriate piece and discuss the character’s attitude, and others’ perceptions of them.

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

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“Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as being able to remake ourselves.” ~Gandhi

It was 1999 and my life stunk. I had failed miserably as a missionary for my church, I’d been sent to a mental hospital and diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and I was in the process of losing the woman I thought I was going to marry.

I was in bad shape, and didn’t have a clue as to how I could right the ship, so to speak.

Now, 13 years later, I have a great job that provides for me and my family. I have a beautiful wife, two lovely children (with another on the way!), and plenty of free time to pursue the hobbies I enjoy. I have a roof over my head, food to eat, and thanks to a few tiny little pills I take every day, I also enjoy good physical and mental health.

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that everything changed completely overnight. It didn’t.

To deal with the loss of my girlfriend I did some therapy; I put myself back on the market and did a lot of dating; I consciously chose to let go of what I thought should happen and accept what had happened. Slowly, I healed until one day I realized that I was open to loving fully again.

Dealing with my mental illness is a challenge that continues to this day. I’ve put in place the foundation for good mental health by accepting the fact that I will need to be medicated for the rest of my life.

After making that choice, there has still been an endless parade of medications as we try to find the right cocktail for me. And even with the medications, I still have good times and bad. The medication, I’ve found, is a tool and not a panacea.

Making these outward choices has really helped, but there is one thing that really changed everything for me: I changed my attitude.

What caused that change? I read a book called Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.

Frankl was a neurologist and psychiatrist who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. He was forced to work as a slave laborer and watch as many of his peers died slow, miserable deaths.

He was separated from his own wife, mother, and father, and lost them all before the war ended. But what did Frankl learn from his time in the concentration camp? Here’s what he had to say:

“Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances…”

When I read those words, something clicked inside of me. I intuitively knew that they were true, and I knew that I needed to learn how to give myself an attitude adjustment if I wanted to have any measure of peace in this world. So I began to study.

I read everything I could get my hands on that had anything to do with personal development, and I began to notice patterns in the books I was consuming.

Over time, the patterns became clearer and clearer until I was able to identify 10 “rules” of happy living.

I call these rules The Ten Principles of Personal Development. They are, in no particular order:

• Be loving toward everyone you meet.
• Forgive all who attempt to harm you.
• You become what you think.
• Look for ways to strengthen those who have less than you have.
• Always seek knowledge and truth.
• Always be honest.
• Never waste what you are given.
• Be grateful for all that you have.
• Develop a spirit of optimism.
• Have faith in something greater than yourself.

Once I identified the Ten Principles, I needed a way to make them a part of my life. So I studied some more. What I found is that the best way to make something a part of your life is to set a goal and follow through on it.

So I began to set one goal a month, doing my best to live one of the principles for 30 days or so. I used The EASIER Method of Goal Achievement to pursue my goals.

If you were trying to be more grateful using the EASIER method, you would:

• Envision yourself being grateful for everything that was given to you throughout the day.
• Assess your current levels of gratitude. In what situations do you easily express your gratitude? In what situations do you struggle?
• Create a strategy that will allow you to be grateful more often.
• Implement your strategy.
• Evaluate your progress as you go through the day’s activities.
• Report your progress to someone you love and trust.

The impact of my decision to live the Ten Principles was monumental. The more I tried to live the principles, the better I felt. The better I felt, the more I wanted to live the principles. I had created a positive feedback loop that was self-reinforcing.

There were still challenges in my life, of course; now, however, I was able to tackle them with a positive attitude, and that seemed to make all the difference. Little by little my attitude improved, and as my attitude improved, I began to enjoy my life more and more.

We all go through difficult situations in life. If you’re in a tough place right now, choose one of the principles above and set a goal to practice it as well as you can over the next month.

This might not immediately change your circumstances, but you will likely find that changing your attitude slowly but surely changes your life.

Photo by h.koppdelaney

About Justin Riggs

Justin loves talking, writing, and thinking about how we can best use our time on this earth. Visit his blog at http://denvergoals.wordpress.com to learn how to transform your life and download your free copy of his e-book, Success! A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Achieve Your Goals and Dreams.

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The Components of Attitude

Formation of an Attitude and How It Can Be Changed

Overview of Attitude

Attitude formation, attitudes impact on behavior, why attitudes change.

In psychology, an attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors toward a particular object, person, thing, or event. Attitude can also be described as the way we evaluate something or someone. For example, we tend to respond positively or negatively about certain subjects.

We can summarize the main components of attitude which are a collection of our thoughts, feelings, and actions in a given scenario. They are formed as a result of our life experiences, upbringing, education, and social influences.

Our positive and negative attitudes can have a powerful influence on our behavior in various situations. While attitudes are often enduring, they can also change. Read on to discover more about the formation of attitudes and what factors are required for a change of heart .

Illustration by JR Bee, Verywell 

To understand the meaning of attitudes, it can be helpful to look at a few different examples. Consider what your attitude is about the following:

• The death penalty
• Which political party does a better job of running the country
• Whether prayer should be allowed in schools
• Whether violence on television should be regulated

Chances are that you probably have fairly strong opinions on these and other similar topics. You've developed a passionate inner response about such issues, which can influence how you feel, what you do, and how you interact with people.

Attitudes are an important topic of study within the field of social psychology . But what exactly is an attitude? How does it develop? 

How Psychologists Define Attitudes

Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to view and judge things in a certain way. This can include an evaluation of people, issues, objects, policies, or events. It is an umbrella term that consists of our opinions, emotions, perceptions, beliefs, expectations, values, and intentions.

Such dispositions are often positive or negative, but they can also be uncertain or neutral at times. For example, you might have mixed feelings about a particular person or issue.

Researchers also suggest that there are three main dimensions that make up our attitudes. The components of attitudes are sometimes referred to as the ABC's of attitude.

3 Components of Attitude

• Affective Component:  How the object, person, issue, or event makes you feel.
• Behavioral Component:  How you respond to someone or something that elicits a set of feelings and beliefs. This can be a verbal or a physical response.
• Cognitive Component:  Your perception, ideas, and beliefs about the subject matter.

Attitudes can also be explicit and implicit.

• Explicit attitudes are those that we are consciously aware of and that clearly influence our emotional and behavioral reactions.
• Implicit attitudes are unconscious but still impact our emotions and behaviors.

Several factors can influence how and why attitudes form, including:

Attitudes form directly as a result of personal experience with people, situations, objects, and ideologies. For example, you may experience a social interaction in a favorable way and form a positive attitude about that person, family, or group. On the other hand, you may have an unpleasant encounter that influences an unfavorable attitude.

Attitudes can be learned in a variety of ways.

• Classical Conditioning : Consider how advertisers use classical conditioning to influence your attitude toward a particular product. In a television commercial, you see young, beautiful people having fun on a tropical beach while enjoying a sports drink. This attractive and appealing imagery causes you to develop a positive association with this particular beverage.
• Operant conditioning : Consider how rewards and punishments can influence our attitudes (known as operant conditioning ). Imagine a young man who has just started smoking. Whenever he lights up a cigarette, people complain, chastise him, and ask him to leave their vicinity. This negative feedback from those around him eventually causes him to develop an unfavorable opinion of smoking and he decides to give up the habit.
• Observational learning : Finally, people learn attitudes by observing people around them. When someone you admire greatly espouses a particular attitude, you are more likely to develop the same beliefs. For example, children spend a great deal of time observing the attitudes of their parents and usually begin to demonstrate similar outlooks. In addition, social media is having a profound influence on our attitudes as we are exposed to a variety of social media influencers.

Social and Cultural Factors

Social roles and cultural norms can have a strong influence on attitudes. Social roles relate to how people are expected to behave in a particular role or context. Cultural norms involve society's rules for what behaviors are considered appropriate.

Attitudes can form through direct experience, observations, formal education, conditioning processes, and social/cultural factors.

We tend to assume that people behave according to their attitudes. However, social psychologists have found that attitudes and actual behavior are not always perfectly aligned.

After all, plenty of people support a particular candidate or political party yet fail to vote. Some situations may evoke a strong passionate response, but the environment calls for self-control, professionalism, grace, and poise no matter how upset you may feel.

Essentially, people are more likely to behave according to their attitudes under certain conditions mitigated by personal values and social expectations.

Factors Influencing Attitude Strength

• You are an expert on the subject
• You experience something personally
• You expect a favorable outcome
• You stand to lose something due to the issue
• You have passion about the subject
• You are comfortable expressing your opinions

While attitudes can have a powerful effect on behavior, they are not set in stone. The same influences that lead to attitude formation can also create attitude change.

Learning Theory

Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning can be used to bring about attitude change.

• Classical conditioning can be used to create positive emotional reactions to an object, person, or event by associating positive feelings with the target object.
• Operant conditioning can be used to strengthen desirable attitudes and weaken undesirable ones.
• People can also change their attitudes after observing the behavior of others.

Elaboration Likelihood Theory

This theory of persuasion suggests that people can alter their attitudes in two ways.

• They can be motivated to listen to an elaborate explanation and think about the message (central route persuasion), thus leading to an attitude shift.
• They might be influenced by the likable characteristics of the speaker (peripheral route persuasion), leading to a temporary or surface shift in attitude.

Messages that are thought-provoking and that appeal to logic are more likely to lead to permanent changes in attitudes.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

In some cases, people may alter their attitudes to better align them with their current behaviors. Cognitive dissonance is a phenomenon in which a person experiences psychological distress due to conflicting beliefs and behaviors. To reduce this tension, people may change their attitudes to match their actual behaviors or alter their behavior to be more congruent with their beliefs.

In order to minimize the cognitive dissonance between your conflicting attitude and behavior, you either have to change the attitude or change your actions.

Imagine the following situation: You've always placed a high value on financial security, but you start dating someone very financially unstable. You have two options to reduce the tension caused by conflicting beliefs and behavior. You can end the relationship and seek a more financially secure partner, or you can de-emphasize the importance of fiscal stability and focus on other important character traits instead.

Attitudes are not set in stone and may change when people learn new information, when they are persuaded by influential people, or when they experience discomfort due to holding conflicting beliefs.

Final Thoughts

Attitudes play a pivotal role in shaping human behavior, from the choices people make about living their lives to the health behaviors they engage in daily. Understanding where these attitudes come from and how they sometimes change can help you look for ways to improve your attitudes, whether it means adopting a more positive outlook on life or changing your opinion based on new information.

Bagozi R. Advanced Methods of Marketing Research . Blackwell Business; 1994.

Jain V. 3D model of attitude . International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences . 2014; 3(3):1-12.

Chaiklin H. Attitudes, behavior, and social practice . The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare : 2011;38(1). doi:10.15453/0191-5096.3583 

American Psychological Association.  Teaching tip sheet: Attitudes and behavior change . 

Perlovsky L.  A challenge to human evolution—cognitive dissonance .  Frontiers in Psychology . 2013;4. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00179

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Attitude changes everything – it can change your life

Attitude changes everything. Change your attitude and you can change your life. You cannot always control what happens to you in life but you can always control how you respond to the challenges or difficult situations you encounter. The attitude you approach anything with is entirely your choice. The way you choose to respond mirrors your attitude and so by changing your attitude you can change your perspective and change your life. Your attitude reflects the way you see the world and how you live in it. It affects every aspect of your life, your happiness, relationships, health, wellbeing and success. Developing a positive attitude that you apply with action can change the way you live your life regardless of the challenges or adversity you face. In this post I want to share with you some of the ways attitude can change the way you live your life.   “It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.” Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The attitude you choose will determine the outcome

Select the most useful attitude that will help you with the challenges you face. The attitude you choose will determine how successful you will manage the challenge or situation. Consider how that attitude will determine what you say, your behaviour and action and what will be the outcome.

Always take action with a purpose

Before you take any action, decide how it will serve your greater goals. Act with thought and consideration when choosing an attitude that will help you take the actions that will manage the challenges you face.

Move out of your comfort zone

If you stay stuck in your comfort zone, it may seem safe and familiar but if you don’t challenge yourself nothing will ever change. If you don’t stretch yourself every day, you will never find out what you are truly capable of. Have a go, take a risk and transition from your comfort zone into your growth zone where you will gain purpose, live your dreams, set goals and overcome the obstacles that have been holding you back.

Take action without expecting success

Change happens and confidence grows from taking action. It’s where you learn most about yourself and build resilience. Of course you have to make decisions and plan your actions to achieve the results you want, but it’s a big mistake to expect those results and then be upset or downhearted when you don’t get them. Take the best action you can but don’t fixate about the result.

Use setbacks or disappointments to learn from and to build resilience

Rather than feeling bad if you fail, reflect on your actions and see what you can do to better or learn what to do next. Growth comes from failing and learning, again and again. Seek out those who share your positive attitude. It’s a known fact that your brain automatically copies the behaviours of the people around you. Therefore, it makes sense to surround yourself with people who have a positive and proactive attitude and move away those who are unduly negative or drain your energy.

Practice gratitude more frequently

Achieving an “attitude of gratitude” entails more than simply recognising what’s wonderful in your own life. Take action by thanking other people for their gifts or kindness to you, even if that gift is something as simple as a smile or an acknowledgement. Don’t take yourself too seriously. If you want to be happier nurture the ability to laugh at yourself. It will help to balance your drive and purpose with a dash of gentle humour and fun.

If you are facing a challenge or difficulty today what attitude will you choose to help yourself?

What action will you take as a result?

If this post has been helpful please share it with other women who may benefit from reading it.

Connect with me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-darbyshire-evans

and go to www.finerthinking.com and you can sign up on the homepage for a COMPLEMENTARY BREAKTHROUGH SESSION to discover how you can learn to change your attitude and change your life so you can thrive not just survive and be fulfilled and enjoy the industry you love.

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Psychology Discussion

Essay on attitude: top 8 essays | human behaviour | psychology.

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Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Attitude’ for class 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Attitude’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Attitude

Essay Contents:

• Essay on the Theories of Attitude

Essay # 1. Meaning and Definition of Attitude :

Attitudes are learned predispositions and represent cluster of beliefs, assessed feelings and behavioural intentions towards aspects of our environment like a person, object or event. Attitudes are evaluative statements either favourable or unfavourable concerning objects, people or events and are a persistent tendency to feel and behave in a particular way toward some object.

Measuring the A-B Relationship Recent research indicates that attitudes:

(A) Significantly predict behaviours

(B) When moderating variables are taken into account.

According to G.W. Allport, “Attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related.”

Krech and Crutchfield defined “attitude as an enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of the individual’s world.”

According to Katz and Scotland, “Attitude is a tendency or predisposition to evaluate an object or symbol of that object in a certain way”. In effect attitude is used in a generic sense, as to what people perceive, feel and express their views about a situation, object or other people. Attitude cannot be seen, but the behaviour can be seen as an expression of attitude.

Essay # 2. Characteristics of Attitude :

The attitude is the evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events. More precisely attitudes can be defined as a persistent tendency to feel and behave in a particular way toward some object which may include events or individuals as well.

Attitude can be characterized in three ways:

(a) They tend to persist unless something is done to change them.

(b) Attitudes can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favourable to very unfavourable.

(c) Attitudes are directed toward some object about which a person has feelings (sometimes called “affect”) and beliefs.

Essay # 3. Components of Attitudes :

The three basic components of attitude are cognitive, affective and behavioural part:

(a) Cognitive Component:

Cognitive component of attitude is related to value statement. It consists of belief, ideas, values and other information that an individual may possess or has faith in. Quality of working hard is a value statement or faith that a manager may have.

(b) Affective Component:

Affective component of attitude is related to person’s feelings about another person, which may be positive, negative or neutral.

Example: I do not like Maya because she is not hard working, or I like Mina because she is hard working. It is an expression of feelings about a person, object or a situation.

(c) Behavioural Component:

Behavioural component of attitude is related to impact of various situations or objects that lead to individual’s behaviour based on cognitive and affective components.

Example: I do not like Maya because she is not hard working is an affective component, I therefore would like to disassociate myself with her, is a behavioural component and therefore I would avoid Maya.

Development of favourable attitude, and good relationship with Mina is but natural. Individual’s favorable behaviour is an outcome of the fact that Mina is hardworking. Cognitive and affective components are bases for such behaviour. Former two components cannot be seen, only the behaviour component can be seen. Former is important because it is a base for formation of attitude. These components are explained in Figure.

Essay # 4. Formation of Attitude:

Direct Experience with the Object:

Attitudes can develop from the personally rewarding or punishing experience with an object.

(a) Classical Conditioning:

People develop associations between various objects and the emotional reactions that accompany them.

(b) Operant Conditioning:

Attitudes that are reinforced, either verbally or nonverbally, tend to be maintained.

Vicarious Learning:

Where person learns something by the observation of others helps in attitude development where individual has no direct experience with the object of attitude.

Formation of attitudes is influenced by:

(i) Family and Peer Groups:

A person may learn attitude through the imitation of family members and peers.

(ii) Neighbourhood:

The neighbourhood has a certain structure in terms of having cultural facilities, religious groupings and possibly ethnic differences. The neighbours tolerate condone or deny certain attitudes.

Economic Status and Occupations of the Person:

Mass communication like news-paper, TV, radio etc.

These in turn give rise to development of one’s attitudes.

(a) Attitudes Help Predict Work Behavior:

The following example might help to illustrate it. After introducing a particular policy, it is found from an attitude survey, that the workers are not too happy about it. During the subsequent week it is found that the attendance of the employees drops sharply from the previous standard. Here management may conclude that a negative attitude toward new work rules led to increased absenteeism.

(b) Attitudes Help People to Adapt to their Work Environment:

An understanding of attitudes is also important because attitudes help the employees to get adjusted to their work. If the management can successfully develop a- positive attitude among the employees, they will be better adjusted to their work.

Essay # 5. Functions of Attitude :

According to Katz, attitudes serve four important functions from the viewpoint of organizational behaviour.

These are as follows:

(a) The Adjustment Function:

Attitudes often help people to adjust to their work environment. Well-treated employees tend to develop a positive attitude towards their job, management and the organization in general while berated and ill-treated organizational members develop a negative attitude. In other words, attitudes help employees adjust to their environment and form a basis for future behaviour.

(b) Utilitarian Function:

An attitude may develop because either the attitude or the attitude object is instrumental in helping one to obtain rewards or avoid punishments.

(c) Ego-Defensive Function:

Attitudes help people to retain their dignity and self- image. When a young faculty member who is full of fresh ideas and enthusiasm, joins the organization, the older members might feel somewhat threatened by him. But they tend to disapprove his creative ideas as ‘crazy’ and ‘impractical’ and dismiss him altogether.

(d) The Value-Expressive Function:

Attitudes provide individuals with a basis for expressing their values. For example, a manager who values hard and sincere work will be more vocal against an employee who is having a very casual approach towards work.

(e) The Knowledge Function:

Attitudes provide standards and frames of reference that allow people to understand and perceive the world around him. If one has a strong negative attitude towards the management, whatever the management does, even employee welfare programmes can be perceived as something ‘bad’ and as actually against them.

Essay # 6. Change of Attitudes :

Employees’ attitudes can be changed and sometimes it is in the best interests of managements to try to do so. For example, if employees believe that their employer does not look after their welfare, the management should try to change their attitude and help develop a more positive attitude in them.

However, the process of changing the attitude is not always easy. There are some barriers which have to be overcome if one strives to change somebody’s attitude.

There are two major categories of barriers that come in the way of changing attitudes:

1. Prior commitment when people feel a commitment towards a particular course of action that has already been agreed upon and thus it becomes difficult for them to change or accept the new ways of functioning.

2. Insufficient information also acts as a major barrier to change attitudes. Sometimes people simply see any reason to change their attitude due to unavailability of adequate information.

Some of the possible ways of changing attitudes are described below:

(a) Providing New Information:

Sometimes a dramatic change in attitude is possible only by providing relevant and adequate information to the person concerned. Scanty and incomplete information can be a major reason for brewing negative feeling and attitudes.

(b) Use of Fear:

Attitudes can be changed through the use of fear. People might resort to change their work habit for the fear of fear of unpleasant consequences. However, the degree of the arousal of fear will have to be taken into consideration as well.

(c) Resolving Discrepancies:

Whenever “people face” a dilemma or conflicting situation they feel confused in choosing a particular course of action. Like in the case where one is to choose from” between two alternative courses of action, it is often become difficult for him to decide which is right for him.

Even when he chooses one over the other, he might still feel confused. If someone helps him in pointing out the positive points in favour of the chosen course of action, the person might resolve the dilemma.

(d) Influence of Friends and Peers:

A very effective way of changing one’s attitude is through his friends and colleagues. Their opinion and recommendation for something often proves to be more important. If for example, they are all praise for a particular policy introduced in the work place, chances are high that an individual will slowly accept that even when he had initial reservations for that.

(e) Co-Opting:

If you want to change the attitude of somebody who belongs to a different group, it is often becomes very effective if you can include him in your own group. Like in the case of the union leader who are all the time vehemently against any management decision, can be the person who takes active initiative in implementing a new policy when he had participated in that decision making process himself.

Essay # 7. Types of Attitude :

1. Job Satisfaction:

Job satisfaction is related to general attitude towards the job. A person having a high level of satisfaction will generally hold a positive attitude while dissatisfied people will generally display negative attitude towards life. When we talk about attitude, we generally speak about job satisfaction because they are inter-related in organizational behaviour.

2. Job Involvement:

Job involvement refers to the degree to which a person identifies himself (psychologically) with his job, actively participates and considers his perceived performance level important to self-worth. (Robbins). High level of involvement indicates that the individual cares for his job that has an impact on high productivity. Higher the job satisfaction, lower will be absenteeism and employee turnover.

3. Organizational Commitment:

Organizational commitment refers to degree to which an employee identifies himself with the organizational goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization. He wants to “belong” to the organization and take an active part in its functioning.

Absenting or resigning from the job versus job satisfaction is a predictor of organizational commitment. The concept has been very popular in the recent times. Organizational commitment depends upon job enrichment factor and degree to which the workers enjoy autonomy and freedom of action while performing.

Nature of Employee Attitudes :

Attitudes are the feelings and beliefs that largely determine how employees will perceive their environment, commit themselves to intended actions and ultimately behave. Managers of organizational behavior are vitally interested in the nature of the attitudes of their employees toward their jobs, toward their careers and toward the organization itself. Employee attitudes which are important to employers are Job satisfaction, Job Involvement, Organizational Commitment and Work moods.

Moderating Variables for Attitude in Organization:

1. Importance of the attitude

2. Specificity of the attitude

3. Accessibility of the attitude

4. Social pressures on the individual

5. Direct experience with the attitude

Essay # 8. Theories of Attitude :

(a) Cognitive dissonance

(b) Self-perception theory

(a) Cognitive Dissonance Theory :

Tension arises when we are aware of two simultaneously inconsistent cognitions. To reduce the dissonance, we change our attitudes so that they will correspond to our actions. We correct discrepancies between attitudes & behaviors. Festinger’s Famous Cognitive Dissonance Study Had Ss perform dull tasks (turning knobs).

Afterwards, Ss were told the study was on how expectations affect performance. Experimenter asked Ss to tell a new S outside that the experiment was really exciting. Ss were either given $1 or $20 to lie. Ss told the new S (confederate) how great the experiment was & then filled out a questionnaire asking how much they liked the study.

Those who earned $1 were more likely to say they liked the study. Why? We often experience dissonance when making big decisions. To reduce the dissonance after making our choice, we upgrade the chosen alternative and downgrade the unchosen option.

(b) Self-Perception Theory :

When unsure of our attitudes, we examine our behavior & the circumstances under which it occurs. Wells & Petty (1980) had Ss test headphone sets by making either vertical or horizontal head movements while listening to a radio editorial. Those nodding their heads up & down agreed with the editorial most as it is associated with “yes” responses.

Related Articles:

• How Attitude Influences Our Behaviour
• Attitude: Compilation of Essays on Attitude | Human Behaviour | Psychology
• Essay on Human Behaviour: Top 5 Essays | Psychology
• Essay on Stress: Top 7 Essays | Human Behaviour | Psychology

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How to (Actually) Change Someone’s Mind

• Laura Huang

Three strategies to turn your adversaries into allies.

Much of leadership boils down to turning adversaries into allies. In this piece, the authors discuss three persuasion strategies leaders can employ when faced with a disagreement in the workplace: the Cognitive Conversation, which is best for convincing colleagues focused on the rational reasons behind a decision, the Champion Conversation, which is best for convincing colleagues with whom you have a strained relationship, and the Credible Colleague Approach, which is best for convincing someone who has preconceived notions that you’re unlikely to be able to change on your own. Armed with these three methods, leaders can modulate their arguments —in terms of both content and presentation — to maximize their chances of reaching an agreement and preserving a positive working relationship.

If you’re a leader, it’s likely that not everyone who works with you will agree with the decisions you make — and that’s okay. Leadership involves making unpopular decisions while navigating complex relationships with colleagues, partners, and clients. But often, you will need to get buy-in from these constituents, and therefore you will need to convince them to change their mind.

• Laura Huang is an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. She is the author of  Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage . You can follow her on Twitter @laurahuangLA
• RY Ryan Yu is a second year MBA student at Harvard Business School. He is passionate about the intersection of data science and business strategy.

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Attitude: A Key to Personal Growth and Success

This blog post explores the concept of attitude and its significant role in personal growth and success. It provides a comprehensive understanding of attitude, its impact on various aspects of life, and practical strategies to develop a positive attitude. The post is written in a simple and engaging language, ensuring accessibility to readers of all backgrounds. This article aims to provide valuable insights into the power of attitude.

What is Attitude?

Table of Contents

Attitude refers to a person’s overall outlook, mindset, or disposition towards themselves, others, and various aspects of life. It encompasses a set of beliefs, values, emotions, and behavioral tendencies that shape how individuals perceive and respond to situations. Attitudes are influenced by experiences, upbringing, culture, and personal beliefs. They can be positive, negative, or neutral, and they greatly influence one’s thoughts, actions, and interactions with the world.

The Importance of Attitude

Attitude plays a crucial role in shaping an individual’s personal growth and success. It acts as a driving force that determines the way people approach challenges, relationships, and opportunities. A positive attitude fosters resilience, optimism, and a proactive mindset, enabling individuals to overcome obstacles, embrace change, and maintain motivation in pursuit of their goals. On the other hand, a negative attitude hinders progress, creates self-doubt, and limits one’s potential.

How Attitude Affects Success

Attitude has a significant impact on an individual’s level of success in various aspects of life, including career, relationships, and personal well-being. A positive attitude enhances performance, productivity, and creativity, leading to career advancement and professional success. It also strengthens relationships by fostering empathy, effective communication, and collaboration. Furthermore, a positive attitude contributes to overall well-being, promoting mental and emotional resilience, reducing stress, and improving overall quality of life.

Cultivating a Positive Attitude

Developing and maintaining a positive attitude is a continuous process that requires self-awareness, intentional effort, and a willingness to embrace change. Cultivating a positive attitude involves several key factors:

• Self-reflection: Taking time to reflect on one’s thoughts, emotions, and beliefs helps identify negative attitudes and limiting beliefs that may hinder personal growth. By recognizing these patterns, individuals can consciously work towards replacing them with positive alternatives.
• Mindset shift: Adopting a growth mindset, which is the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort and learning, is essential for cultivating a positive attitude. Embracing challenges, learning from failures, and seeing setbacks as opportunities for growth contribute to a positive mindset.
• Gratitude practice: Cultivating gratitude involves consciously acknowledging and appreciating the positive aspects of life. Regularly expressing gratitude for small blessings and achievements promotes a positive outlook and enhances overall well-being.
• Surrounding oneself with positivity: Surrounding oneself with positive influences, such as supportive friends, mentors, and inspirational materials, helps reinforce a positive attitude. Limiting exposure to negative environments and individuals can also contribute to maintaining a positive mindset.

By consciously cultivating a positive attitude, individuals can unlock their potential, enhance their personal growth, and increase their chances of achieving success in various areas of life.

Attitude and Personal Growth

• Self-Reflection and Awareness

Self-reflection and awareness are essential components of personal growth. By examining our attitudes and beliefs, we can identify areas that may be holding us back and work towards positive change. Here are four key points to consider:

• Recognizing Negative Attitudes:

Negative attitudes can hinder personal growth and limit our potential. By becoming aware of negative attitudes such as self-doubt, pessimism, or cynicism, we can take steps to replace them with more positive and empowering perspectives.

• Identifying Limiting Beliefs:

Limiting beliefs are deeply ingrained thoughts or beliefs that hold us back from reaching our full potential. They often stem from past experiences or societal conditioning. Recognizing and challenging these beliefs allows us to break free from self-imposed limitations and embrace new possibilities.

• Understanding the Power of Self-Talk:

Our self-talk, the inner dialogue we have with ourselves, greatly influences our attitude and mindset. Positive self-talk involves using supportive and encouraging language, while negative self-talk can be self-defeating and demotivating. By consciously shifting our self-talk to be more positive and empowering, we can cultivate a resilient and growth-oriented mindset.

• Embracing a Growth Mindset:

A growth mindset is the belief that our abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work. Embracing a growth mindset allows us to view challenges as opportunities for growth, persist in the face of setbacks, and embrace continuous learning. By adopting this mindset, we can overcome obstacles and unlock our full potential.

Developing Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence refers to our ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions and effectively navigate our interactions with others. Developing emotional intelligence contributes to personal growth in the following ways:

• Managing Emotions Effectively:

Emotional intelligence involves being aware of our emotions and effectively managing them. By developing strategies to regulate our emotions, such as deep breathing, journaling, or engaging in activities that bring us joy, we can enhance our emotional well-being and create a positive attitude towards life.

• Practising Empathy and Understanding:

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. By cultivating empathy, we develop stronger connections with others, improve our communication skills, and foster a positive and supportive attitude towards those around us.

• Building Resilience and Adaptability:

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity and adapt to change. By cultivating resilience, we develop a positive attitude towards challenges, view them as opportunities for growth, and bounce back stronger when faced with setbacks.

• Cultivating Emotional Balance:

Emotional balance involves finding a state of equilibrium where we can effectively manage our emotions without being overwhelmed. By developing techniques such as mindfulness, meditation, and self-care practices, we can cultivate emotional balance, leading to a more positive and balanced attitude towards ourselves and others.

Setting and Pursuing Goals

Setting and pursuing goals provides direction and purpose to our personal growth journey. Here are four points to consider when it comes to goal-setting:

• Harnessing the Power of Visualization:

Visualization is a powerful technique that involves creating vivid mental images of our desired outcomes. By visualizing our goals as already achieved, we activate the subconscious mind and enhance our motivation and belief in our ability to achieve them, fostering a positive attitude towards goal attainment.

• Creating SMART Goals:

SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Setting SMART goals ensures clarity and focus, allowing us to break down larger goals into smaller, actionable steps. This approach fosters a sense of achievement, enhances motivation, and encourages a positive attitude towards goal pursuit.

• Fostering Perseverance and Determination:

Personal growth requires perseverance and determination to overcome obstacles and stay committed to our goals. Cultivating a positive attitude towards perseverance involves embracing challenges as opportunities for growth, maintaining focus and determination during difficult times, and staying resilient in the face of setbacks.

• Celebrating Milestones and Achievements:

Celebrating milestones and achievements along the way is crucial for maintaining a positive attitude towards goal pursuit. By acknowledging and celebrating our progress, we reinforce a sense of accomplishment and motivation, which fuels our ongoing personal growth journey.

Continuous Learning and Personal Development

Personal growth is a lifelong journey that requires a commitment to continuous learning and personal development. Here are four points to consider in this aspect:

• Embracing a Curious and Open Mind:

Adopting a curious and open mindset involves being receptive to new ideas, perspectives, and knowledge. By embracing a mindset of lifelong learning, we expand our horizons, stay adaptable, and foster a positive attitude towards personal growth.

• Seeking Opportunities for Growth:

Actively seeking opportunities for growth allows us to broaden our knowledge, acquire new skills, and challenge ourselves. By stepping out of our comfort zones and embracing new experiences, we cultivate a positive attitude towards personal development and unlock our potential.

• Embracing Failure as a Learning Experience:

Failure is an inevitable part of the personal growth journey. By reframing failure as a valuable learning experience rather than a reflection of our worth, we develop a resilient attitude and embrace the lessons it offers. Viewing failure as an opportunity for growth allows us to bounce back stronger and continue progressing.

• Expanding Knowledge and Skills:

Personal growth involves expanding our knowledge and acquiring new skills. This can be achieved through various means, such as reading books, taking courses, attending workshops, or seeking mentorship. By continuously expanding our knowledge and skills, we enhance our personal growth trajectory and maintain a positive attitude towards self-improvement.

In conclusion, personal growth is greatly influenced by our attitude. By engaging in self-reflection and awareness, developing emotional intelligence, setting and pursuing goals, and committing to continuous learning and personal development, we can cultivate a positive attitude that fuels our personal growth journey. Remember, personal growth is a lifelong process, and maintaining a positive attitude is key to unlocking our full potential and achieving success in various aspects of life.

Attitude and Success in Relationships

Effective communication and active listening.

• Expressing Yourself Clearly and Respectfully:

In successful relationships, effective communication is key. It involves expressing yourself clearly and respectfully, ensuring that your thoughts, feelings, and opinions are conveyed in a way that promotes understanding and avoids misunderstandings. Clear communication helps build trust and fosters a healthy exchange of ideas.

• Practicing Nonverbal Communication:

Nonverbal communication plays a significant role in relationships. It involves using body language, facial expressions, and gestures to convey emotions and messages. Paying attention to nonverbal cues from others and being aware of your own body language enhances communication and understanding.

• Being Present and Engaged:

To establish meaningful connections, it is important to be present and fully engaged when interacting with others. This means giving your undivided attention, actively listening, and showing genuine interest in what the other person is saying. Being present helps create a sense of connection and makes the other person feel valued.

• Fostering Healthy and Supportive Relationships:

A positive attitude in relationships involves fostering healthy and supportive dynamics. This includes being supportive of the other person’s goals and aspirations, offering encouragement and reassurance, and being a reliable source of emotional support. Building a foundation of trust, respect, and empathy contributes to the overall success and well-being of the relationship.

Collaboration and Teamwork

• Valuing Diversity and Inclusion:

Embracing diversity and inclusion is essential for successful collaboration and teamwork. Valuing different perspectives, backgrounds, and ideas fosters creativity and innovation. It also promotes a sense of belonging and encourages individuals to contribute their unique strengths to achieve common goals.

• Building Trust and Cooperation:

Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship. Building trust involves being reliable, honest, and maintaining confidentiality. Trust encourages open communication and cooperation, enabling individuals to work together effectively as a team.

• Resolving Conflict Constructively:

Conflict is inevitable in relationships, but how it is handled can determine the success of the relationship. A positive attitude towards conflict involves addressing issues openly and constructively, actively listening to each other’s viewpoints, and seeking mutually beneficial resolutions. Conflict resolution skills help maintain healthy and harmonious relationships.

• Encouraging Shared Accountability:

Successful relationships involve shared accountability, where each individual takes responsibility for their actions and contributions to the relationship. Encouraging shared accountability means holding oneself and others responsible for their commitments, promoting fairness and mutual respect.

Building and Maintaining a Positive Network

• Surrounding Yourself with Positive Influences:

The people we surround ourselves with greatly impact our attitude and overall well-being. Building a positive network involves seeking out individuals who inspire, motivate, and uplift us. Being in the company of positive influences fosters a positive attitude and helps us maintain focus on personal growth and success.

• Nurturing Meaningful Connections:

Meaningful connections are built through genuine interactions and shared experiences. Nurturing these connections involves investing time and effort in building and maintaining relationships with individuals who share similar values and goals. Meaningful connections provide support, encouragement, and opportunities for collaboration.

• Seeking Mentorship and Support:

Mentors play a crucial role in personal and professional development. Seeking mentorship involves finding individuals who possess the knowledge and experience to guide and inspire us. A positive attitude towards mentorship means being open to learning, seeking guidance, and embracing feedback to enhance personal growth and success.

• Contributing to the Community:

A positive attitude extends beyond individual relationships to include the community at large. Contributing to the community involves actively participating in activities and initiatives that promote the well-being and development of others. Giving back not only benefits the community but also enriches one’s own life by fostering a sense of purpose and fulfilment.

Practising Empathy and Understanding

• Cultivating Compassion and Empathy:

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Cultivating empathy involves actively putting oneself in another person’s shoes, listening with an open mind, and responding with compassion. Empathy strengthens relationships by fostering understanding, connection, and support.

• Embracing Different Perspectives:

A positive attitude in relationships requires embracing different perspectives. Recognizing that everyone has unique experiences and viewpoints allows for greater understanding and appreciation of diversity. Embracing different perspectives encourages open-mindedness, encourages learning, and promotes respectful dialogue.

• Respecting Boundaries and Differences:

Respecting boundaries and differences is crucial for maintaining healthy relationships. It involves acknowledging and honoring individual preferences, personal space, and privacy. Respecting differences in opinions, values, and lifestyles cultivates an atmosphere of acceptance and mutual respect.

• Building Stronger Connections:

A positive attitude towards relationships focuses on building stronger connections with others. This can be achieved by actively engaging in meaningful conversations, showing genuine interest in others’ lives, and investing time and effort into nurturing the relationship. Building stronger connections enhances trust, fosters deeper understanding, and promotes long-lasting bonds.

In conclusion, a positive attitude plays a pivotal role in achieving success in relationships. Effective communication, active listening, collaboration, and teamwork contribute to building healthy and supportive connections. By valuing diversity, fostering trust, and resolving conflicts constructively, relationships can thrive. Additionally, surrounding oneself with positive influences, nurturing meaningful connections, seeking mentorship, and practicing empathy help create a strong and supportive network. By cultivating a positive attitude in relationships and embracing understanding, respect, and compassion, individuals can build fulfilling and successful connections with others.

Attitude and Well-being

Cultivating gratitude and appreciation.

• Recognizing the Power of Gratitude

Gratitude is the practice of acknowledging and appreciating the positive aspects of life. It involves recognizing the blessings, opportunities, and kindness received from others. By understanding the power of gratitude, individuals can shift their focus towards positivity and improve their overall well-being.

• Practising Daily Gratitude Exercises

Engaging in daily gratitude exercises can help foster a positive attitude. This can be done by keeping a gratitude journal and writing down three things one is grateful for each day. This practice promotes a mindset of abundance and encourages individuals to notice the small joys in life.

• Countering Negativity with Appreciation

When faced with negative situations or challenges, it is important to counterbalance them with appreciation. By consciously focusing on the positive aspects of a situation, individuals can reframe their mindset and reduce the impact of negativity on their well-being.

• Cultivating a Positive Outlook on Life

Cultivating a positive outlook involves developing an optimistic mindset and expecting favorable outcomes. By nurturing a positive attitude, individuals can navigate through life’s ups and downs with resilience and find joy even in difficult circumstances.

Managing Stress and Adversity

• Developing Coping Strategies

Developing effective coping strategies is crucial for managing stress and adversity. These strategies may include deep breathing exercises, practising mindfulness, engaging in hobbies, or seeking support from others. By adopting healthy coping mechanisms, individuals can reduce the negative impact of stress on their well-being.

• Prioritizing Self-Care and Relaxation

Self-care plays a vital role in maintaining overall well-being. It involves prioritizing activities that promote relaxation and rejuvenation, such as taking breaks, engaging in hobbies, practicing self-compassion, and ensuring sufficient rest. By prioritizing self-care, individuals can replenish their energy and better cope with challenges.

• Building a Supportive Network

Having a supportive network of friends, family, or mentors is essential for well-being. These individuals provide emotional support, guidance, and encouragement during difficult times. Building and nurturing such relationships can contribute significantly to managing stress and promoting overall well-being.

• Embracing a Resilient Mindset

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and adapt to challenging situations. Embracing a resilient mindset involves cultivating optimism, practicing self-reflection, and learning from adversity. By developing resilience, individuals can navigate through difficult times with strength and maintain their overall well-being.

Promoting Self-Belief and Confidence

• Challenging Self-Doubt and Limiting Beliefs

Self-doubt and limiting beliefs can hinder personal growth and well-being. It is essential to challenge these negative thoughts and replace them with empowering beliefs. By recognizing one’s strengths and capabilities, individuals can build self-belief and increase their confidence.

• Celebrating Personal Achievements and Strengths

Acknowledging and celebrating personal achievements and strengths is crucial for cultivating a positive attitude. By recognizing one’s accomplishments, individuals boost their self-esteem and foster a sense of pride and confidence in their abilities.

• Practicing Self-Compassion and Self-Affirmation

Practicing self-compassion involves treating oneself with kindness, understanding, and acceptance. This includes being patient with oneself during challenging times and practicing self-care. Self-affirmation involves intentionally affirming positive qualities and abilities, reinforcing a positive self-image.

• Embracing Positive Affirmations and Visualization Techniques

Positive affirmations and visualization techniques can help rewire the mind for positivity and success. By repeating positive statements and visualizing desired outcomes, individuals can strengthen their self-belief and improve their confidence in their abilities. Positive affirmations can be used daily to reinforce positive self-talk and cultivate a resilient attitude. Visualization techniques involve mentally picturing oneself achieving goals and experiencing success, which helps build confidence and motivation.

Cultivating a Healthy Lifestyle

• Prioritizing Physical Exercise and Activity

Engaging in regular physical exercise and activity is essential for both physical and mental well-being. Exercise releases endorphins, which are natural mood boosters, and helps reduce stress. Finding activities that one enjoys, such as walking, dancing, or yoga, can make exercise a fun and fulfilling part of daily life.

• Nourishing the Body with Balanced Nutrition

A healthy diet plays a crucial role in maintaining overall well-being. Consuming a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats provides the necessary nutrients for optimal physical and mental function. Eating mindfully and staying hydrated are also important aspects of nourishing the body.

• Getting Sufficient Rest and Sleep

Sleep is vital for restoring and rejuvenating both the body and mind. It is essential to prioritize sufficient sleep and establish a consistent sleep routine. Creating a relaxing bedtime routine, avoiding electronic devices before bed, and ensuring a comfortable sleep environment can promote restful sleep and improve overall well-being.

• Engaging in Stress-Relieving Activities

Actively engaging in stress-relieving activities can significantly impact well-being. This may include practices such as deep breathing exercises, meditation, engaging in hobbies, spending time in nature, or practicing mindfulness. These activities help reduce stress levels and promote a sense of calm and balance in daily life.

In conclusion, attitude and well-being are closely interconnected. By cultivating gratitude, managing stress, promoting self-belief, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, individuals can enhance their overall well-being. Adopting a positive attitude and incorporating these strategies into daily life can contribute to personal growth, resilience, and success. Remember, small changes in attitude and lifestyle can have a significant impact

Strategies to Develop a Positive Attitude

Mindfulness and self-awareness.

• Practicing Mindful Meditation:

Mindful meditation involves focusing your attention on the present moment, without judgment or attachment to thoughts or emotions. It helps cultivate awareness of your thoughts and feelings, promoting a positive mindset. Set aside dedicated time each day to practice mindful meditation, allowing yourself to observe your thoughts and let them pass without getting caught up in them.

• Paying Attention to the Present Moment:

Being fully present in the moment allows you to appreciate the beauty and opportunities around you. Practice mindfulness in everyday activities like eating, walking, or engaging in conversations. By focusing on the present, you can let go of worries about the past or future, fostering a positive attitude.

• Cultivating Self-Awareness and Reflection:

Developing self-awareness involves recognizing your thoughts, emotions, and behavioral patterns. Take time to reflect on your actions, beliefs, and attitudes. Consider journaling or engaging in introspective exercises to gain deeper insights into your mindset. Self-awareness helps identify negative patterns and allows you to make conscious choices to change them.

• Embracing Mindful Living in Everyday Life:

Extend the practice of mindfulness beyond meditation. Embrace mindful living by bringing awareness to your actions, interactions, and choices throughout the day. Practice gratitude, savor small moments of joy, and approach challenges with a calm and focused mindset. By living mindfully, you can nurture a positive attitude in all aspects of life.

Positive Self-Talk and Affirmations

• Identifying Negative Self-Talk Patterns:

Pay attention to your inner dialogue and become aware of any negative self-talk. Negative self-talk often involves self-criticism, self-doubt, and limiting beliefs. Recognize these patterns by actively listening to your thoughts and identifying negative or self-defeating statements.

• Replacing Negative Thoughts with Positive Affirmations:

Challenge negative thoughts by replacing them with positive affirmations. Affirmations are positive statements that reinforce desirable beliefs and attitudes. For example, if you catch yourself thinking, “I can’t do this,” replace it with “I am capable and resilient.” Repeat these affirmations regularly, either silently or out loud, to rewire your thought patterns.

• Using Visualization Techniques for Positive Reinforcement:

Visualization involves creating vivid mental images of desired outcomes or positive experiences. Visualize yourself successfully achieving your goals, overcoming challenges, or embodying the attitudes and qualities you want to develop. Engage your senses, imagine the details, and evoke positive emotions associated with these visualizations.

• Creating a Supportive Inner Dialogue:

Foster a supportive inner dialogue by treating yourself with kindness, compassion, and encouragement. Imagine speaking to yourself as you would to a close friend or loved one. Replace self-criticism with words of understanding, motivation, and self-compassion. This shift in self-talk promotes a positive attitude and builds self-belief.

Surrounding Yourself with Positive Influences

• Choosing Positive and Supportive Relationships:

Evaluate the people you surround yourself with and their impact on your attitude. Seek out individuals who uplift and inspire you, who share your values and goals. Surrounding yourself with positive and supportive relationships fosters an environment that nurtures optimism and personal growth.

• Limiting Exposure to Negative Environments:

Be mindful of the environments you spend time in, both physically and virtually. Minimize exposure to negative influences such as toxic relationships, pessimistic media, or environments that drain your energy and positivity. Create boundaries and prioritize spaces that promote positivity and well-being.

• Seeking Inspiration from Role Models and Mentors:

Identify role models or mentors who embody the attitudes and qualities you aspire to develop. Learn from their experiences and seek their guidance and support. Engage with their wisdom through books, podcasts, or personal interactions. Surrounding yourself with positive role models and mentors can provide inspiration and encouragement on your journey towards a positive attitude.

• Engaging in Positive and Uplifting Activities:

Participate in activities that promote positivity, joy, and personal growth. Engage in hobbies, sports, or creative outlets that bring you happiness and fulfillment. Seek out uplifting events, workshops, or communities that share your interests and values. By immersing yourself in positive activities, you create a conducive environment for developing and maintaining a positive attitude.

Continuous Personal Growth and Learning

• Pursuing Lifelong Learning Opportunities:

Embrace a mindset of continuous learning and growth. Stay curious and open-minded, seeking opportunities to expand your knowledge and skills. Enroll in courses, workshops, or online programs that align with your interests and personal development goals. By investing in your learning journey, you foster a positive attitude through the acquisition of new knowledge and experiences.

• Reading Inspirational Books and Articles:

Read books and articles that inspire and uplift you. Explore self-help literature, biographies of successful individuals, or motivational content that resonates with you. These resources offer insights, strategies, and stories that can positively influence your attitude and outlook on life.

• Attending Workshops and Seminars:

Participate in workshops and seminars focused on personal growth and development. These events provide opportunities to learn from experts, engage in transformative exercises, and connect with like-minded individuals. By actively engaging in such experiences, you broaden your perspectives and gain valuable tools to cultivate a positive attitude.

• Seeking Feedback and Constructive Criticism:

Be open to receiving feedback and constructive criticism from trusted sources. Feedback provides valuable insights into areas for improvement and growth. Approach feedback with a growth mindset, recognizing it as an opportunity for self-reflection and learning. By continuously seeking feedback, you can refine your attitude and adapt your behavior to foster personal and professional development.

Incorporating these strategies into your life can help you develop and maintain a positive attitude. Remember that attitude is a choice and a practice that requires consistent effort. By cultivating mindfulness, practicing positive self-talk, surrounding yourself with positive influences, and investing in continuous personal growth, you can nurture a positive attitude that empowers you to navigate challenges, embrace opportunities, and live a more fulfilling and successful life.

Throughout this blog post, we have explored the concept of attitude and its immense importance in personal growth and success. Attitude refers to the mindset, perspective, and disposition we adopt towards life and its challenges. It is a driving force that influences our thoughts, emotions, and actions. A positive attitude can propel us towards achieving our goals, while a negative attitude can hinder our progress and limit our potential.

The Power of a Positive Attitude

A positive attitude has transformative power. It allows us to approach life with optimism, resilience, and a solution-oriented mindset. By cultivating a positive attitude, we can overcome obstacles, embrace challenges as opportunities for growth, and maintain a sense of hope even in difficult circumstances. A positive attitude fuels motivation, creativity, and perseverance, enabling us to navigate setbacks and achieve success.

Implementing Attitude Changes in Daily Life

Changing our attitude requires conscious effort and dedication. Here are some practical ways to implement attitude changes in our daily lives:

• Self-reflection: Take time to reflect on your current attitudes and beliefs. Identify any negative or limiting attitudes that may be holding you back.
• Mindful awareness: Develop self-awareness by practicing mindfulness. Pay attention to your thoughts, emotions, and reactions, and consciously choose to shift negative patterns towards more positive and constructive ones.
• Positive self-talk: Challenge negative self-talk and replace it with positive affirmations and encouraging statements. Remind yourself of your strengths, achievements, and potential.
• Surround yourself with positivity: Surround yourself with people who uplift and inspire you. Seek out positive influences in your relationships, social circles, and media consumption. Limit exposure to negativity and toxic environments.

Unlocking Personal Growth and Success

By cultivating a positive attitude, we unlock the door to personal growth and success. A positive attitude enables us to embrace challenges, learn from failures, and persist in the face of adversity. It strengthens our relationships, enhances our communication skills, and fosters collaboration and teamwork. Moreover, a positive attitude contributes to overall well-being, promoting mental and emotional resilience, and improving physical health.

Remember that developing a positive attitude is an ongoing process. It requires consistent practice, self-reflection, and the willingness to adapt and grow. Embrace the power of a positive attitude, and watch as it transforms your life, empowering you to reach new heights and achieve your dreams.

In conclusion, attitude is not merely a fleeting emotion but a fundamental aspect of our being. It shapes our perceptions, choices, and actions, ultimately determining our personal growth and success. By harnessing the power of a positive attitude, we can unlock our full potential, overcome obstacles, and lead a fulfilling and meaningful life. Let your attitude be a beacon of light that guides you towards a brighter future.

Difficult Scientific Term: Emotional Intelligence

Simple Meaning: Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions and effectively navigate and respond to the emotions of others. It involves being aware of our feelings, empathizing with others, and using emotional information to guide our thoughts and actions. Developing emotional intelligence helps improve communication, build stronger relationships, and enhance overall well-being.

Last worded from Author

Developing and maintaining a positive attitude can be a transformative force in our lives. It empowers us to overcome obstacles, foster meaningful relationships, and achieve personal growth and success. By embracing strategies such as self-reflection, emotional intelligence, goal-setting, and continuous learning, we can cultivate a positive attitude and unlock our full potential. Let us remember that our attitude is within our control, and by choosing positivity and optimism, we pave the way for a brighter and more fulfilling future. So, let’s embrace the power of attitude and embark on a journey of personal growth and success.

Attitude refers to a person’s mental and emotional outlook, their overall perspective or mindset towards people, situations, or events. It involves a set of beliefs, feelings, and behaviors that shape one’s responses and interactions with the world.

Attitude plays a crucial role in shaping our experiences and outcomes in life. It influences our approach to challenges, our relationships with others, and our overall well-being. A positive attitude can lead to personal growth, resilience, and success, while a negative attitude can hinder progress and limit opportunities.

Absolutely. Attitude significantly impacts our level of success in various areas of life. A positive attitude fosters determination, motivation, and a solution-oriented mindset, all of which contribute to achieving goals and overcoming obstacles. Conversely, a negative attitude can hinder progress, create self-doubt, and limit opportunities for success.

Developing a positive attitude requires conscious effort and practice. Start by cultivating self-awareness and challenging negative thought patterns. Surround yourself with positive influences, engage in activities that uplift you, and practice gratitude and mindfulness. Embrace personal growth, set achievable goals, and maintain a resilient mindset. Remember, developing a positive attitude is a continuous journey.

Yes, attitude significantly impacts relationships. A positive attitude promotes open communication, empathy, and understanding, leading to healthier and more fulfilling connections. On the other hand, a negative attitude can breed resentment, conflict, and misunderstandings, straining relationships and hindering meaningful connections.

Attitude plays a crucial role in personal growth. A positive attitude encourages self-reflection, resilience, and a growth mindset, enabling individuals to embrace challenges, learn from failures, and continuously improve themselves. By maintaining a positive attitude, individuals can foster personal development, expand their capabilities, and reach their full potential.

Absolutely. Attitude directly influences our overall well-being. A positive attitude promotes better mental health, reduces stress, and enhances overall life satisfaction. It contributes to resilience, optimism, and a sense of purpose. Conversely, a negative attitude can contribute to anxiety, depression, and a diminished sense of well-being.

Changing one’s attitude starts with self-awareness and a genuine desire for change. Identify any negative thought patterns or limiting beliefs and challenge them. Surround yourself with positive influences, practice affirmations, and engage in activities that bring joy and fulfillment. Seek support from mentors, therapists, or support groups if needed. Remember, changing your attitude is a process that requires patience and consistent effort.

Yes, attitude can be contagious. When we interact with others, our attitude can influence their mood, mindset, and overall outlook. A positive attitude can uplift and inspire those around us, creating a positive and supportive environment. Similarly, a negative attitude can spread negativity and hinder collective progress. Therefore, it’s important to be mindful of the impact our attitude has on others.

While external circumstances can influence our attitude to some extent, it’s important to recognize that attitude is primarily a matter of personal choice and perspective. We have the power to choose how we respond to challenges, setbacks, and situations beyond our control. By cultivating a positive attitude, we can navigate through adversity with resilience, maintain an optimistic outlook, and find opportunities for growth and success.

(1) What is Attitude? – Goseeko blog. https://www.goseeko.com/blog/what-is-attitude/ .

(2) What Is Attitude? Definition, Components, Types, & Its Formation – Tyonote. https://tyonote.com/attitude/ .

(3) Module 5: Attitudes – Principles of Social Psychology – Open Text WSU. https://opentext.wsu.edu/social-psychology/chapter/module-5-attitudes/ .

(4) Positive Mindset: How to Develop a Positive Mental Attitude. https://positivepsychology.com/positive-mindset/ .

(5) What Is Attitude? Definition, Types, Components … – Geektonight. https://www.geektonight.com/what-is-attitude-meaning-functions-types-importance-components/

• What is Difference Between Ego And Attitude?
• Attitude vs. Gratitude: Understanding the Power of Positive Thinking
• The Relationship Between Attitudes and Behavior: Explained in Detail

DR. ASHUTOSH TRIPATHI

Greetings, I am Dr. Ashutosh Tripathi, a psychologist with extensive expertise in criminal behavior and its impact on psychological well-being. I hold a Master of Physics (Honors), a Master of Philosophy, a Master of Psychology, and a PhD in Psychology from BHU in India. Over the past 13 years, I have been privileged to serve more than 3200 patients with unique and varied psychological needs. My clinical work is guided by a deep passion for helping individuals navigate complex psychological issues and live more fulfilling lives. As a recognized contributor to the field of psychology, my articles have been published in esteemed Indian news forums, such as The Hindu, The Times of India, and Punjab Kesari. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been honored by the Government of Israel for my contributions to the Psychological Assistance Program. I remain committed to advancing our understanding of psychology and its applications through my ongoing research, which can be found on leading online libraries such as Science Direct, Wiley, Elsevier, Orcid, Google Scholar, and loop Frontiers. I am also an active contributor to Quora, where I share my insights on various psychological issues. Overall, I see myself as a lifelong student of psychology, constantly learning and growing from my patients, colleagues, and peers. I consider it a great privilege to have the opportunity to serve others in this field and to contribute to our collective understanding of the human mind and behavior.

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Essay on Attitude: Top 6 Essays | Employees | Values | Management

In this essay we will discuss about ‘Attitude’. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Attitude’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Attitude

Essay Contents:

• Essay on the Importance of Attitude

Essay # 1. Definition of Attitude:

Attitude is defined as ones’ feelings or mood toward things, circumstances or people. Each individual is made up of various physical, vital, and mental parts. Everyone is having physical body and its organs, muscles, etc; the vital being with its sensations, emotions and feelings, and the mental part with its thoughts, memories, reasoning power, beliefs, etc. Somewhere between emotions and thought processing lie attitudes; one’s emotional perceptions about oneself, others, and life itself.

Attitude is how one behaves towards somebody or something. It is one’s personal view, opinion or judgment. It also describes one’s general emotional approach toward a person or situation.

Attitudes are evaluative statement favourable or unfavourable related to person, object or event. They reflect that how one feel about something. For example if someone says that he likes his job, this statement expresses his attitude towards his job. Each and every person has different attitude at different conditions.

Attitude is the state of mind with which one approach a task, a challenge, a person, love, life in general.

Essay # 2. Components of Attitude:

There are three components of attitude:

(i) Cognitive component.

(ii) Effective component.

(iii) Behavioural component.

(i) Cognitive Component:

It refers to that part of attitude which is related in general know how of a person, for example, if a person says that smoking is injurious to health, such type of idea of a person is called cognitive component of attitude.

(ii) Effective Component:

This part of attitude is related to the statement, which affects another person. For example, if in an organization a personal report is given to the general manager. The report indicates that production staff is not performing their duties responsibilities. The general manager forwards a written notice to production manager to find out the cause of above said.

(iii) Behavioural Component:

The behavioural component refers to that part of attitude, which reflects the intension of a person in short run or in long run. For example, before the development of a new product, a report is prepared by the production department, which consists of their intention in near future and long run, and this report is handed over to top management for the decision.

Essay # 3. Types of Attitude:

Attitude is a way of thinking. People are often identified as having positive or negative, right or wrong, good or bad, optimistic or pessimistic, mindset. Attitudes generally express positively and negatively. For example, when a person is having good feelings towards his/her work or co-worker, his/her attitude is positive. When he/she feels reluctant to do certain things that are necessary, or show hostility towards certain individuals, then his/her attitude is negative.

(i) Positive Attitude:

A positive attitude means having an optimistic outlook. One responds constructively to stress and be able to deal with problems effectively. People having positive attitude see the glass as half full instead of seeing it as half empty.

A person’s attitude influences his/her social status, finances, health, the way he/she challenge obstacles and the kind of people they attract to their life. A positive attitude is important to people’s social status, health, work, the way they challenge obstacles and the kind of people they attract to their life.

A positive attitude will bring more positive opportunities into life. It attracts successful people who share the same goals. A positive attitude helps the body to heal faster from illness. A positive attitude helps in getting a job.

(ii) Negative Attitude:

Negative attitudes come from thinking negative thoughts over and over until they have become a part of person’s subconscious. One may not even realize that he/she is having a negative attitude because it’s been with him/her for so long.

A person having a bad attitude expects failure and disaster. An example of a negative attitude towards life is being pessimistic that things will never turn out well. These are destructive feeling and emotions that cannot help but worsen life’s conditions.

Essay # 4. Functions of Attitude:

Attitudes serve four important functions from the organization’s viewpoint behaviour.

These are as follows:

(i) Adjustment Function.

(ii) Ego-Defensive Function.

(iii) Value-Expressive Function.

(iv) Knowledge Function.

(i) Adjustment Function:

Attitudes often help people to adjust to their work environment. Well treated employees tend to develop a positive attitude towards their job; management and the organization in general while ill-treated organizational members develop a negative attitude. In other words, attitudes help employees adjust to their environment and form a basis for future behaviour.

(ii) Ego-Defensive Function:

Attitudes help people to retain their dignity and self- image. When a young faculty member who is full of fresh ideas and enthusiasm, joins the organization, the older members might feel somewhat threatened by him. But they tend to disapprove his creative ideas as ‘crazy’ and ‘impractical’ and dismiss him altogether.

(iii) Value-Expressive Function:

Attitudes provide individuals with a basis for expressing their values. For example, a manager who values hard and sincere work will be more vocal against an employee who is having a very casual approach towards work.

(iv) Knowledge Function:

Attitudes provide standards and frames of reference that allow people to understand and perceive the world around him. If one has a strong negative attitude towards the management, whatever the management does, it can be perceived as something ‘bad’ and as actually against them.

Essay # 5. Methods of Changing Attitude:

Employee’s attitudes can be changed and sometimes it is in the best interests of managements to try to do so.

Some of the possible ways of changing attitudes are:

(i) Providing New Information.

(ii) Use of Fear.

(iii) Resolving Discrepancies.

(iv) Influence of Friends and Peers.

(v) Co-Opting.

(i) Providing New Information:

Attitude can be changed by providing relevant and adequate information to the person concerned.

(ii) Use of Fear:

Attitudes can be changed through the use of fear. People might resort to change their work habit for the fear of unpleasant consequences.

(iii) Resolving Discrepancies:

Whenever people face a dilemma or conflict­ing situation they feel confused in choosing a particular course of action. For example when a person has to choose from between two alternative courses of action, it is often become difficult for him to decide which is right for him. If someone helps him in pointing out the positive points in favour of the chosen course of action, this helps in resolving his dilemma.

(iv) Influence of Friends and Peers:

A very effective way of changing one’s attitude is through his friends and colleagues. Their opinion and recommendation for something often proves to be more important.

(v) Co-Opting:

Co-opting is another method if there is need to change the attitude of some body that belongs to a different group. This can be done by including that person in the group.

Essay # 6. Importance of Attitude :

Attitude plays an important part in person’s life. It is important to remember attitude is everything. Attitude, whether positive or negative, shows in person’s daily lives. Many people say attitude is more important than experience or education. They often use attitude as the tie-breaker between two equally qualified candidates.

Person’s attitude determines the state of world he/she live in. It is the foundation for every success and every failure one has had and will have. Attitude is important because attitude truly is everything. It drives virtually every decision one makes and how one lives each day of life. Attitude will shape a person’s career. A great attitude will propel him forward, while a poor attitude will get him fired.

It has been found that people who have a good attitude remain healthier than their counterparts. This is because an optimistic attitude helps in preventing sadness, depression, anger, stress and anxiety and this in turn helps in preventing various medical problems.

Related Articles:

• Negative Attitude: Types and Consequences | Values | Management
• Essay on Attitude: Definition, Formation and Functions
• Essay on Ethics: Top 5 Essays | Employees | Management
• Values, Attitudes and Job Satisfaction | Term Paper | Employees | Management

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IResearchNet

Attitude Change

Attitude change definition.

Attitudes are general evaluations of objects, ideas, and people one encounters throughout one’s life (e.g., “capital punishment is bad”). Attitudes are important because they can guide thought, behavior, and feelings. Attitude change occurs anytime an attitude is modified. Thus, change occurs when a person goes from being positive to negative, from slightly positive to very positive, or from having no attitude to having one. Because of the functional value of attitudes, the processes that change them have been a major focus throughout the history of social psychology.

Dual Process Approach to Attitude Change

According to dual process models of attitude change, research on this topic can be organized according to two general types of processes: (1) those that occur when one puts forth relatively little cognitive effort, and (2) those that occur with relatively high cognitive effort. The amount of thought and effort used in any given situation is determined by many variables, all of which affect one’s motivation or ability to think. Some examples include one’s personal preference for engaging in complex thought, the personal relevance of the attitude object, and the amount of distraction present while attempting to think. Furthermore, both high- and low-effort processes can operate whether or not a persuasive message is presented.

Low-Effort Processes

When factors keep one’s motivation and/or ability to think low (such as when the issue is not personally relevant or there are many distractions present), attitude change can be produced by a variety of low-effort processes. These include some largely automatic associative processes as well as simple inferential processes.

Associative Processes

Classical Conditioning . One way to produce attitude change in the absence of effortful thought is to repeatedly associate an initially neutral attitude object with another stimulus that already possesses a positive or negative meaning. For example, imagine that every time you saw your uncle as a child he took you to the zoo. Assuming you enjoy going to the zoo, you will likely start to feel more positively toward your uncle. If, instead, every time you saw him he took you to the doctor to get your immunization shots, the opposite result is more likely. Although research on this process has demonstrated that it is most effective for previously neutral stimuli (such as novel words or objects), significant attitude change has also been found for positive and negative attitude objects as well. One series of studies found that repeatedly pairing words related to the self (e.g., I and me) with positive stimuli caused significant increases in a later measure of participants’ self-esteem. Thus, continually associating an attitude object or message with something you already like (e.g., an attractive source) can lead to positive attitudes.

Affective Priming . Another process that involves the association of two stimuli is called affective priming. In this process a positive or negative stimulus (e.g., words such as love or murder) is encountered just prior to a novel attitude object (rather than following it, as occurs in classical conditioning). When this happens, one’s reaction to the positive or negative stimulus will come to color the evaluation of the new object, producing attitude change. Imagine, for instance, that you are at an unfamiliar restaurant and are about to try a totally new dish. If this meal is brought to you by a very attractive waiter or waitress, your positive reaction toward this server is likely to influence your initial attitude toward the food. Although this attitude may change as you interact with the attitude object (i.e., when you eat the food), the initial positive evaluation will make it more likely that your final attitude is also positive.

Mere Exposure . In both of the processes discussed so far, an attitude is altered by the attitude object’s association with a positive or negative stimulus. In contrast, research on the mere exposure effect has found that repeated exposure to an object in the absence of association can also change attitudes. Quite simply, this process requires only that one is repeatedly exposed to an attitude object. When this occurs, the attitude toward the object becomes more positive; possibly due to the fact that the object has actually become associated with the absence of anything negative. The strongest mere exposure effects occur when the repeated attitude object is low in meaning (e.g., novel) or is presented outside of conscious awareness. One intriguing implication of this phenomenon is that mere exposure might help to account for the preference a newborn infant shows for his or her mother’s voice. As the child develops in the womb, one stimulus that is repeated every day is the mother’s voice. Thus, mere exposure to this stimulus should cause the child’s attitude toward the voice (and subsequently its source) to become positive, enhancing the mother-child bond.

Inferential Processes

Balance . One simple inferential process of attitude change involves cognitive balance. Stated simply, balance is achieved when people agree with those they like and disagree with those they dislike. When this is not the case, one experiences a state of unease, and attitudes are likely to shift to bring the system into balance. For instance, suppose you discover that you and your worst enemy both love the same band. When this occurs, you are likely to experience an uncomfortable state of imbalance, and to rectify this inconsistency, one of your attitudes will likely change. Thus, upon learning the information, you may come to find your previous enemy much less distasteful or, alternatively, feel less positively toward the band.

Attribution . At its most general level, attribution concerns the inferences that people make about themselves and others after witnessing a behavior and the situation in which it occurred. Although this topic is highly studied in and of itself, its research has also outlined a number of processes that can create low-effort attitude change. One attributional process, which occurs when people are not well attuned to their own beliefs, is self-perception. In this process, people infer their own attitudes from their behaviors, just as they would for someone else. Thus, people can infer that if they are eating a peach or watching a pro-peach advertisement, they must like peaches, even if they hadn’t considered this possibility before. When this inference is made, it produces attitude change, making their attitude toward peaches more positive.

In a related phenomenon, called the overjustification effect, people come to infer that they dislike a previously enjoyed activity when they are provided with overly sufficient rewards for engaging in it. Research has demonstrated this effect by providing children with candy or other rewards for engaging in an activity they had previously performed merely for its own sake (e.g., coloring). When this happens, the children infer that they were performing the activity for the reward, not for its mere enjoyment, and their attitude toward engaging in the behavior becomes less positive.

Heuristics . One final process through which low-effort attitude change can occur is through the use of heuristics, or simple decision rules based on prior experiences or observations. Although there are countless heuristics, some examples are “experts are usually correct” and “bigger is better.” When motivation and ability to think are low, people can use simple rules like these to form evaluations. For instance, in deciding what new music is good, someone might simply walk over to the bestseller section at the local music store and survey the current top selections. By basing their opinions on the rule that “the majority is usually right,” they establish positive attitudes toward those artists they discover in this section and avoid more effortful (and costly) processes such as critically listening to each performer’s music. Or, instead of thinking carefully about all of the arguments in a persuasive message about a new pain reliever, a person might simply count the arguments and reason, “the more arguments, the better.”

High-Effort Processes

There are also attitude change processes that require a greater use of mental resources. When a person is motivated and able to invest high effort in making a judgment about an issue or object, attitude change can occur due to characteristics of his or her thoughts (e.g., whether the thoughts are favorable or unfavorable), his or her estimation that good or bad outcomes will be tied to the attitude object, or the person’s realization that he or she holds conflicting beliefs about a set of attitude objects.

Cognitive Responses . When people’s attitudes change through the use of high cognitive effort, some of the most important aspects to consider are their actual thoughts (cognitive responses) toward the attitude object and any persuasive message that is received on the topic. Although there are a number of different aspects to consider, three components of thought have proven especially important in producing change. The first, and most obvious, is whether thoughts about the attitude object or message are largely favorable or unfavorable. By examining the ratio of positive to negative thoughts, the likely amount of attitude change produced can be approximated. If there is a greater proportion of favorable than unfavorable thoughts, your attitude will change in a positive direction. The opposite is true if there is a greater proportion of negative thoughts. A second important dimension concerns how much thinking is done. For example, the more positive thoughts one has about an attitude object, the more favorable the attitudes will be. The third, and final, aspect of thought is related to confidence. When thinking about an attitude object or persuasive message, people will have varying confidence in each of their discrete thoughts. To the extent that they are highly confident in a thought, it will have a great impact on their final attitude. Those thoughts that are associated with low confidence, however, will play a relatively minor role in any attitude change. Many things can affect one’s confidence in a thought, such as how easily it comes to mind.

Although these three factors are easy to imagine operating in traditional persuasion settings (e.g., when you view an advertisement for some commercial product), they also influence attitude change in the absence of any persuasive message. One way in which this occurs is when people role play, or imagine what someone else would think about an issue. Imagine, for instance, that you enjoy smoking cigarettes. Now, generate as many reasons as you can to stop smoking. Because of the cognitive responses you’ve created by engaging in this process, you may change your own attitudes toward smoking. As you can probably guess, the more thought and effort you put into the role play, the more likely it is that attitude change will occur. If you did put a great deal of effort into the exercise, then you’ve probably created a number of negative thoughts about smoking tobacco. In this case, you might expect that your attitude has become more negative toward smoking. This may or may not be true, however, depending on the confidence you have in the thoughts that were produced. If you generated a large number of antismoking thoughts but had low confidence in the validity of each one, then they would have very little impact on your attitude, especially if they were countered by some very positive thoughts that were held with high confidence.

Expectancy-Value Processes . According to the reasoned action theory, attitudes are created through an individual’s assessment of how likely it is that a given attitude object will be associated with positive (or negative) consequences or values. The more likely it is that an attitude object (e.g., a car) is associated with a positive consequence (being able to travel to work) or value (staying safe), the more positive the attitude will be. Although some researchers have argued that all attitudes are determined in this manner, it is most likely that this process only occurs when people put sufficient effort into considering all of the possible consequences and values that may be tied to a given attitude object. Interestingly, when people engage in this process of effortful consideration of an object or message, they may actually change their own attitude. If, for instance, you recently purchased a sport utility vehicle merely for the image it provides, your attitude toward it may become more negative if you are prompted to consider all of the consequences (e.g., very expensive fuel bills) and values (e.g., promoting U.S. independence from foreign oil supplies) that are associated with it.

Dissonance Processes . According to cognitive dissonance theory, people are motivated to hold consistent attitudes. Because of this motivation for consistency, people experience unpleasant physiological arousal (an increase in heart rate, sweaty palms, etc.) when they willingly engage in a behavior that is counter to their beliefs or are made aware that they possess two or more conflicting attitudes. This experience then motivates them to change their attitudes so that the unpleasant feelings can be eliminated. When people make a choice from among alternatives, dissonance processes will often produce attitude change. Research has shown that once people make a choice, attitudes toward each of the potential choices will change such that the chosen alternative will be viewed more positively and the nonchosen alternative(s) will be viewed more negatively than prior to the choice. This reduces the aversive dissonance experience that would have occurred if they still felt very positively toward an unselected option. If you’ve ever bought a product that turned out to have flaws, then you’ve probably experienced dissonance. When a situation like this occurs, your behavior (purchasing the product) is not consistent with your beliefs about the product (it is flawed), and this causes dissonance. To resolve this dissonance, you must change either your attitude toward the product (and decide that it is actually good) or your behavior (return it to the store).

Attitude Strength

One of the most important characteristics of an attitude is its strength. Attitude strength is associated with an attitude’s persistence, resistance to change, and ability to predict behavior. The stronger an attitude, the more it exhibits these characteristics. As you might expect, attitudes produced by high-effort cognitive processes are stronger than those produced by low-effort processes. Because they are the result of greater cognitive effort, these attitudes are often based on more consistent information, are supported by a more developed knowledge structure (e.g., related beliefs and values), and are held with greater certainty than are attitudes produced by a low-effort process. If, for instance, your recent car purchase was based on months of research and test-drives, then you are likely to have a whole host of information that supports your positive attitude toward the vehicle. This associated information will then serve to buoy the attitude, allowing it to persist over the life of the vehicle and resist change (e.g., following negative experiences like breakdowns). If your attitude was instead based on a low-effort process (e.g., a heuristic rule, “if it looks good, it is good”), then this attitude may be easily changed when you experience negative events and become motivated to think critically about the attitude object.

• Petty, R. E., Wheeler, S. C., & Tormala, Z. L. (2003). Persuasion and attitude change. In T. Millon & M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Personality and social psychology (pp. 353-382). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Success Mindset

Transform your attitude for success with these 16 killer techniques.

Do you constantly think about living your dream? Everyone faces doubt or negativity at some point. It’s important to remember that your attitude is the difference maker in determining whether your dreams become a success or failure.

In this article, we’ll look into how your attitude matters to success and what you can do to transform your attitude for success.

Table of Contents

The importance of attitude, 16 killer techniques to transform your attitude, the 90-day attitude transformation challenge, the bottom line.

Zig Ziglar once said,

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”

Your mindset impacts everything you do and may even hold limitations on what you can do. When you have a negative attitude, you will subconsciously manifest or spread negativity into your way of thinking, your work and even the people closest to you.

On the other hand, having the right attitude for success will make you more receptive to new ideas, think of better ways to overcome challenges and you will start noticing more new opportunities.

From personal development tips to productivity, how are you supposed to know which techniques you should apply and which will lead you down the path of success?

Fighting negativity doesn’t have to be as boring or as complicated as many people think. There are countless tips available but these 16 methods will keep you positive no matter what challenge you face and help you create the right attitude for success.

1. Take a vacation!

There are hidden advantages to taking a vacation and a huge correlation between holiday and success.

• Increased productivity : You will be more productive if you take vacations, it’s been proven time and time again. Restoration is rooted in our physiology, humans are not meant to spend energy continuously.
• Newer perspectives : Stay away from work for a while and do something enjoyable. When you go back to work, you will have a whole new outlook on life.
• Increased mental strength : Working non-stop and getting things done may make you think you are on top of the world. But your mind feels something else entirely. A study by the University of California’s Gregory Hickock University found that our brains do not have reservoirs to collect energy and power. Vacations can help reset your mind.
• Improving mental health : The US News and World Report have spoken with experts who have indicated that one of the main benefits of a vacation is that it can improve your mental health. [1] Confidence of calm and ease relieve stress, which allows the body and mind to heal in ways that it cannot if it was still under pressure.

Burning yourself out is not an effective use of your time and is quite detrimental to your success. Take some time to clear your mind. If it is not vacation at least plan a break.

2. Study the habits of successful people.

Daily habits are a key to success. People have zero control over the world politics, weather, and similar circumstances.

But we control ourselves and our habits, rituals, and routine. And, while we all can learn successful habits, it is meaningless if we do not apply this knowledge.

Find everyday habits of very successful people that fall within your wheelhouse and those habits you can adopt more easily to create the life you really want to live.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Just do what the wheel-maker does. Observe and imitate the time management experts around you.

3. Make a daily list.

All successful individuals must train themselves to work out a daily to-do list. Think of how important it is for a pilot to use a checklist before each takeoff. That is how effective and successful people should be as well.

Take a few minutes to create a “to do” list to use to get through the day.

The best time to make the list is the night before. By doing this, your subconscious begins to work on your list as you sleep. This way, when you wake up each morning, you can have amazing insights and ideas which will assist you in achieving some of the most important goals on your list.

At the end of each day, the last thing you do should be to plan out the next day. Making a list helps you organize priorities and keeps you on track throughout the day.

4. Eliminate needless interruptions.

You have to understand that each of us has the same 24 hours a day as Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, Will Smith, Oprah, Richard Branson and Henry Ford. It’s how we manage ourselves within a time frame that makes all the difference.

Start eliminating unnecessary distractions during the day. Research has shown that it can take our brains up to 20 minutes to recover from one single interruption.

So, let’s say you are faced with only three unnecessary distractions every day, you lose an hour of productivity. This can add up to six 40-hour weeks, that’s 240 hours per year. Or better yet, if you bill by the hour, at even $50 per hour, that is $12,000 lost revenue.

Close the office door. Post a sign that says, “conference” if you need to. Let your secretary, voicemail, or answering machine record your messages, then return calls at once.

Designate times to check email.

Start taking control of your time, your calendar, and your life right now with this one tip. Learn how to remove distractions from life:

10 Critical Tips to Prevent Distraction and Sharpen Your Focus

5. Organize and prioritize.

Organize living and workspaces. Don’t let clutter accumulate. Clean as you go. Unorganized space is not only ineffective and counterproductive, it is psychologically exhausting. Select one area to organize each day for 30 days. Start in the space where you spend most of your work time. If you have an area that bothers you the most, start there instead.

Prioritize. Complete one task before starting to do something else or stopping at least a natural stopping point. Try to bring closure to tasks, or “trim” large tasks into smaller components so that you work on it a little bit at a time while ensuring they always progress. Find out more about how to prioritize here:

How to Prioritize Right in 10 Minutes and Work 10X Faster

Developing keen organizational skills eliminates unnecessary ineffectiveness and enables individuals to efficiently achieve their goals. So, attack the beast one of two ways.

Either bag up everything out of place in each area. Then empty each bag/box/bin one at a time and put things away. Or, if the idea of an organization overwhelms you, hire a professional to do it for you.

6. Surround yourself with positivity.

It is important to continue feeding your brain with happy, loving memories.

Recreate those moments that once smiled at you. Remember the times of happiness such as something that encourages you, a birthday party, an outing with friends, a special holiday or your favorite songs.

While you are learning to change your mindset, music can help speed up the process. The effects and benefits of music on the brain are many and are not confined to a single genre, as long as they match your musical preferences. In this way, it is the connection of the brain to familiar and valued music, which is the key.

Experts recommend different genres for different purposes. Optimistic music, for example, includes songs with positive words, can provide energy boosts and get your mind primed for learning. While instrumental music and relaxing genres can help you stay calm and focused.

Ambient music, according to a study from the University of Chicago increases abstract brain processes, which are responsible for creative thinking.

Studies from the Department of Psychology at the University of London have found that listening to happy music can make us see the faces of people in a positive light – even if they wear an empty expression. So, throw on some headphones, get in front of the mirror and have at it.

Music has an active influence on your mind. Understanding how music and your brain interact, and how to tune your music consumption to maximum impact, can affect how you feel, think, learn, and you achieve success.

7. Get rid of negative people.

Keep naysayers and negative people out of your life

as much as possible. You need all the happiness and love you can surround yourself with if you want to constantly focus and work towards your dreams. Remember you’re creating the opportunity to achieve a dream, not a nightmare.

First, remember that “like attracts like” – this is universal law.  To have positive experiences, you need to have a positive opinion of yourself, evaluate then appreciate the lessons learned from life experiences and your current situations. When you are in a positive mood, you will attract positivity.

Embrace relationships that empower, excite and motivate you to be your best, and do the same for others in return. Stay surrounded with positive people who believe in your dreams and cheer you up. The longer you stay focused and positive, the more positive people you will have in your life.

Part of having a positive opinion of yourself is believing in yourself.  People can feel whether you believe in yourself or not. When you do not believe in yourself, then you will find that you attract others who are struggling with believing in themselves too.

Recognize your strengths, gifts and talents, physical beauty and features. Be nice to yourself daily by positive self-talk. When you believe in yourself, you will respect your truth which will attract optimistic people to you.

It is very rewarding to be surrounded by positive people ; understand it takes time to practice how to be consciously aware of your thoughts and change them from negative to positive.

When negative thoughts come to mind just let them go and exchange them with self-affirmative , positive thoughts that support your goals.

8. Listen to teaching tapes in the car.

Instead of being stressed out by traffic, and frustrated by the radio, you can engage your brain, learn another language, improve your sales, business, and management skills, and master the latest strategies for success by listening to tapes during drive time.

Spotify and Amazon have thousands of audios that you can listen to whether you need to buy the actual disk or listen through Bluetooth.

9. Utilize waiting time.

Waiting time can drive us crazy. Instead, think of this time as an opportunity to be used to your advantage. When you look at your daily to-do list, identify places that you are likely to wait and start productively using the time.

One of the worst traps in falling victim to waiting is the trap of not thinking. We want time to go as fast as we can, so we allow ourselves to sink into an uncomfortable brain fog, convincing ourselves it’s a much-needed break. Do not let that happen it does not make waiting time any better. Keep yourself busy and stimulated, even if it means looking out a window or finally replying to those emails.

Always keep a book that you want to read in your car or desk so you can make use of the time you spend waiting for those meetings. Recognize the waiting time is no different from another available time. We all have to use time productively, so that the time waiting is not wasted.

10. Eat for positivity.

Eating is not just the thing we do when we are hungry. Eating is an experience tied strongly to the emotional circuits in the brain.

There is an emotional association of food that is further compounded by memories summoned by the smell, texture and look of a visually pleasing meal. This holds a strong correlation over your attitude and the food you eat:

• Create good memories with good food. Your busy schedule may not allow you to sit and enjoy each meal every day. But no matter the amount of time you have, maintain your focus on your meal using all senses, it is key to your well-being and the emotional association of food.
• Focus on ‘how’ and ‘what’ you eat.  Eat a variety of wholesome, nutritious foods and resist the temptation to overeat. One type of food you should begin incorporating more of are superfoods. Compared to regular vegetables they are much richer in vitamins and nutrients but don’t hold many calories. Superfoods replenish and enrich the body and mind on a very deep level.

Also, try to add these 5 superfoods to your next grocery list:

• Maca – known to greatly reduce stress, balance hormone levels, and provide you with a substantial amount of energy and endurance.
• Acai – increases cognitive and brain function, improves cholesterol and fights off harmful toxins.
• Organic coconut water – keeps you hydrated and youthful. Also has natural antiviral properties.
• Chia seeds – are a great way to detoxify and cleanse by removing all the toxins and impurities from your body.
• Goji berries – work to enhance your vision and immune system keeping you alert and focused.

There are many more superfoods to try, many people are using them for their health and mental benefits. They work wonders to enhance your mood and energy levels.

Your attitude also plays an important role in the adoption and maintenance of a variety of health habits including your diet.

You can’t just go through the motions of eating healthier, you have to embrace it.

11. Make time for exercise.

Improve your health and you improve your life, extend your life, and can accomplish more with less fatigue. Research continues to show that making time for exercise delivers serious health and mental benefits.

Whether it’s a quick pick-up game of basketball, a group training class at the gym, or even just a run with a friend, exercise won’t happen in a bubble.

At the same time, you don’t need to train like a bodybuilder or athlete. Dedicating just 30 minutes a day, three days out of the week is enough to start gaining the mental benefits of exercise:

• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Increase happiness
• Improve self-confidence
• Boost brainpower, sharpen memory and prevent cognitive decline
• Tap into creativity

Exercise also doesn’t have to be spent running in place on a treadmill or going to the gym, it can be spent walking by the lake, gardening, riding a bike along the beach, carrying groceries, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and dancing among many other ways.

Decide which activities are fun and will suit you best and plan them throughout your week.

12. Use positive words and affirmations.

Our subconscious plays a central role in the realization of our lives and the expression of our desires. What we believe about ourselves at the subconscious level, can have a significant impact on the outcome of events.

People use these positive affirming statements for a variety of purposes. In general, the intent behind affirmation statements is to rewrite and reprogram the subconscious, to encourage us to believe in certain things about ourselves or the world around us.

They are also used to help us create the reality we want – often in terms of attracting success, love, wealth, health and happiness.

Affirmations can be used as inspiration as well as simple reminders. They can also focus attention on goals throughout the day, which, by itself has the potential to promote positive and lasting positive change.

Once you have come up with a set of affirmations, to be effective, make sure you use them daily – at the very least.

13. Avoid people who drain you.

It is good to spend time with people, but there are certain people who actually suck your life straight from you. They exhaust you. Identify these people in your life and limit your exposure to them.

Our energy comes in limited quantities and it grows or is reduced based on what you do and who you are surrounded by. Understanding how people influence you means you can do a better job matching your needs at any given moment to what your energy requires.

How do you say “no” to energy zappers? Just say NO!

Energy Zappers are people who may be stuck in a problem you’ve heard for years and years. Their situation and complaints are the same, over and over, and they bring nothing new to the table.

They aren’t bad people but you are tired just at the thought of dealing with them. Whether it’s a co-worker or friend, avoid this person.

If avoidance is not possible, make sure you are not in a state of resistance when around them. Remember, what we oppose sticks.

If you feel uncomfortable around a particular person or group, do not go into resistance mode as a way to protect yourself. This only keeps the bad energy stuck in your space.

Find your happy space and remove yourself from the uncomfortable environment as soon as possible. This way, if someone throws some negative juju to you, it will pass right through.

14. Improve your social skills.

On the other hand, building relationships with others greatly reduces stress and anxiety in your life.

Research conducted by the University of California, Santa Barbara economist Catherine Weinberger, shows many successful people excel in both social skills and cognitive abilities. [2] This is something that has not always been true.

She collapsed data linking adolescence skills in 1972 and 1992 with older results and found that in 1980, both skills did not mean better success, and yet today the combination does so. “People who are both smart and socially skilled are earning more in today’s workforce than similar workers in 1980,” she says.

15. Schedule more time for yourself and family.

Those who work harder on the job than they do on themselves tend to burn out. Remember what you are working for!

Schedule time with your spouse and children. Pencil in some time for yourself while you’re at it.

16. Learn to say NO.

Contrary to popular opinion, positivity is not and cannot be destroyed by the word “no.” You’re not a superhuman. Your energy has limits and so does your ability to produce more of it.

Taking on an endless list of tasks is not a step in the right direction. Say no to low priority items. Don’t be afraid to tell someone, “I’ve already committed myself to another project that will take up all my spare time, thank you for thinking about me.”

Negativity will somehow creep its way back into your life, it’s impossible to banish it entirely but what truly matters is how you handle it.

Do you let it get you down and keep you down, controlling you? Or do you find a way to overcome it?

Life requires a positive attitude mainly due to the constant roller coaster of highs and lows. Few people, if any, can remain at the top of the cycle throughout their lives. At some point, you will undergo a phase of trials and tribulations. This is nothing more than a test.

Your thought process must be capable of maintaining a level of positivity and realism. No one can completely control what happens throughout their lives but your attitude and the approach you choose to deal with each challenge of life is entirely controlled by you.

No one else said it better than Maya Angelou,

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.

Take the proper steps

Your attitude is rooted in your beliefs and doesn’t shape overnight. It forms over a lifetime and is shaped by your approach and reaction to every situation.

The right approach for transforming your attitude starts with an actionable plan and setting S.M.A.R.T. goals .

4 Quick steps:

• Put it to paper . It does not matter how high your goals seem, write them down. Be sure to set goals that balance your life. Set goals for every area of your life – spiritual, marriage, family, financial, career, health, education, and leisure goals. Only set goals that inspire you. You will need the fuel of enthusiasm to drive you to your destination.
• Prioritize . What do you want to tackle first? Put your goals in numerical order, from your priority to the last.
• Chop it down . Break down each goal into bite-size pieces. What do you need to do to achieve your outcome? Be specific.
• Take action . This is the most important component of goal achievement. You have to do something every day that brings you closer to your goal. Remember, desire is no substitute for action. Only actions produce results.

Imagine your attitude is like paying down a 30-year mortgage. The first few years you pay very little toward the principal and it seems like it will take 1,000 years to pay it off. But it gets faster with time and the changes will become more noticeable.

Your attitude will be the same way. At first, it will seem like you are barely making any progress. Just persevere, and you will succeed.

Attitude is everything for success. Someone whose heart is not in what they do will never be half as productive as someone who has the positive attitude for success.

According to the Stanford Research Institute study, the road to success consists of 88% attitude and only 12% education. This does not mean that education is of little importance, but it shows us how critical it is to create the right attitude for success.

Once we have the right approach, it becomes much more convenient for things to fall into place.

Much like walking, writing, playing sports and picking up any other skill, the attitude can be learned as well. It is essential to identify a negative attitude immediately as it inhibits growth and success. Just as we are able to learn them, we are also able to unlearn them and develop new and more positive habits.

It takes 21 days to develop a habit and 90 days to create a lifestyle. Start today! Each week focus on mastering just one of these methods then incorporate another the following week.

90 days is only 12 weeks which means before you have completed this list you will have completely transformed your attitude.

Featured photo credit: Unsplash via unsplash.com

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Positive Mindset: How to Develop a Positive Mental Attitude

Positivity doesn’t always refer to simply smiling and looking cheerful, however—positivity is more about one’s overall perspective on life and their tendency to focus on all that is good in life.

In this piece, we’ll cover the basics of positivity within positive psychology, identify some of the many benefits of approaching life from a positive point of view, and explore some tips and techniques for cultivating a positive mindset.

This piece is a long one, so settle in and get comfortable. Let’s get started.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values and self-compassion and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students or employees.

This Article Contains:

What is a positive mindset and attitude a definition, characteristics and traits of a positive mindset: 6 examples, a list of positive attitudes, why is a positive attitude considered the key to success, the outcomes of a positive attitude, 33 tips on how to have & keep a positive mindset in life and at work, helping students to develop a positive attitude towards learning and school, 46 activities and games to develop positive mindset skills (incl. group exercises), 10 worksheets for training a positive mindset (pdf), 32 quotes and affirmations on positive mindset/attitude, inspiring speeches and videos, recommended books, a take-home message.

You probably have an idea of what a positive mindset or positive attitude is already, but it’s always helpful to start with a definition.

This definition from Remez Sasson (n.d.) is a good general description:

“Positive thinking is a mental and emotional attitude that focuses on the bright side of life and expects positive results.”

Another, more comprehensive definition comes from Kendra Cherry at Very Well Mind (2017B):

“[P]ositive thinking actually means approaching life’s challenges with a positive outlook. It does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things; instead, it involves making the most of the potentially bad situations, trying to see the best in other people, and viewing yourself and your abilities in a positive light.”

We can extrapolate from these definitions and come up with a good description of a positive mindset as the tendency to focus on the bright side, expect positive results, and approach challenges with a positive outlook.

Having a positive mindset means making positive thinking a habit, continually searching for the silver lining and making the best out of any situation you find yourself in.

So, now we know what a positive mindset is, we can dive into the next important question: What does it look like?

There are many traits and characteristics associated with a positive mindset, including:

• Optimism : a willingness to make an effort and take a chance instead of assuming your efforts won’t pay off.
• Acceptance : acknowledging that things don’t always turn out how you want them to, but learning from your mistakes.
• Resilience : bouncing back from adversity, disappointment, and failure instead of giving up.
• Gratitude : actively, continuously appreciating the good things in your life (Blank, 2017).
• Consciousness/Mindfulness : dedicating the mind to conscious awareness and enhancing the ability to focus.
• Integrity : the trait of being honorable, righteous, and straightforward, instead of deceitful and self-serving (Power of Positivity, n.d.).

Not only are these characteristics of a positive mindset, but they may also work in the other direction—actively adopting optimism, acceptance, resilience, gratitude, mindfulness, and integrity in your life will help you develop and maintain a positive mindset.

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If you found the list above still too vague, there are many more specific examples of a positive attitude in action.

For example, positive attitudes can include:

• It is looking adversity in the eye… and laughing.
• Getting what you get, and not pitching a fit.
• Enjoying the unexpected, even when it’s not what you wanted originally.
• Motivating those around you with a positive word.
• Using the power of a smile to reverse the tone of a situation.
• Being friendly to those you don’t know.
• It’s getting back up when you fall down. (No matter how many times you fall down.)
• Being a source of energy that lifts those around you.
• Understanding that relationships are more important than material things.
• Being happy even when you have little.
• Having a good time even when you are losing.
• Being happy for someone else’s success.
• Having a positive future vision, no matter how bad your current circumstances.
• Paying a compliment, even to a total stranger.
• Tell someone you know that they did a great job. (And mean it.)
• Making someone’s day. (Not just a child’s… adult’s like to have their day be special, too!)
• It’s not complaining no matter how unfair things appear to be. (It is a waste of time… instead, do something!)
• Not letting other people’s negativity bring you down.
• Giving more than you expect to get in return.
• Being true to yourself… always (Jarrow, 2012).

Now we know a little bit more about what a positive mindset looks like, we can turn to one of the biggest questions of all: What’s the deal with having a positive attitude?

What is it about having a positive mindset that is so important, so impactful, so life-changing?

Well, the traits and characteristics listed above give us a hint; if you comb through the literature, you’ll see a plethora of benefits linked to optimism, resilience, and mindfulness.

You’ll see that awareness and integrity are linked to better quality of life , and acceptance and gratitude can take you from the “okay life” to the “good life.”

The Importance of Developing the Right Thoughts

Developing a truly positive mindset and gaining these benefits is a function of the thoughts you cultivate.

Don’t worry—this piece isn’t about the kind of positive thinking that is all positive, all the time. We don’t claim that just “thinking happy thoughts” will bring you all the success you desire in life, and we certainly don’t believe that optimism is warranted in every situation, every minute of the day.

Developing the right thoughts is not about being constantly happy or cheerful, and it’s not about ignoring anything negative or unpleasant in your life. It’s about incorporating both the positive and negative into your perspective and choosing to still be generally optimistic.

It’s about acknowledging that you will not always be happy and learning to accept bad moods and difficult emotions when they come.

Above all, it’s about increasing your control over your own attitude in the face of whatever comes your way. You cannot control your mood , and you cannot always control the thoughts that pop into your head, but you can choose how you handle them.

When you choose to give in to the negativity, pessimism, and doom-and-gloom view of the world, you are not only submitting to a loss of control and potentially wallowing in unhappiness—you are missing out on an important opportunity for growth and development.

According to positive psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, negative thinking, and negative emotions have their place: they allow you to sharpen your focus on dangers, threats, and vulnerabilities. This is vital for survival, although perhaps not as much as it was for our ancestors.

On the other hand, positive thinking and positive emotions “ broaden and build ” our resources and skills, and open us up to possibilities (Fredrickson, 2004).

Building a positive framework for your thoughts is not about being bubbly and annoyingly cheerful, but making an investment in yourself and your future. It’s okay to feel down or think pessimistically sometimes, but choosing to respond with optimism, resilience, and gratitude will benefit you far more in the long run.

According to Seligman (2006), optimism can be cultivated by challenging the negative stories we create in our minds. This “learned optimism” can be beneficial to feel happier and healthier, to release stress, and to increase performance and motivation.

The ABC Model, originally developed by Albert Ellis and later adapted by Martin Seligman, is an approach to help us think more optimistically. This model can be used for yourself or with your clients. Often, this technique can be found in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) as the approach results in restructuring beliefs through self-awareness.

This technique can be used in daily life situations – An obstacle in your way reflects Adversity . The way you think about Adversity turns into your Beliefs , which impact how you react (Consequence). The Consequences are not inevitable since you can challenge the way you think about them (Seligman, 2006).

Seligman added the components “Disputation” and “Energization” to the original ABC model in order to not only be aware of your thinking patterns but to be able to overcome pessimistic thinking and cultivate a more optimistic outlook.

To be optimistic, you have to change what you believe about yourself and the situation you are encountering. Positive beliefs result in a more positive consequence, which then leads to a more positive outlook.

Aside from enhancing your skills and personal resources, there are many other benefits of cultivating a positive mindset, including better overall health, better ability to cope with stress , and greater well-being (Cherry, 2017A).

According to the experts at the Mayo Clinic, positive thinking can increase your lifespan, reduce rates of depression and levels of distress , give you greater resistance to the common cold, improve your overall psychological and physical well-being , improve your cardiovascular health and protect you from cardiovascular disease, and help you build coping skills to keep you afloat during challenging times (2017).

You’ve probably heard of all these generic benefits before, so we’ll get more specific and explore the benefits of a positive mindset in several different contexts:

• The workplace
• Dealing with disability (for both those with a disability and those around them)
• Nursing and healthcare
• Recovery from cancer

10 Benefits of a Positive Mental Attitude in the Workplace

No construct better captures the essence of a positive attitude in the workplace quite like psychological capital (or PsyCap for short). This multicomponent construct is made up of four psychological resources:

PsyCap was first conceptualized as “positive psychological capital” by renowned management and leadership researchers Luthans and Youssef in 2004. The concept quickly took off among positive organizational psychologists, and by 2011 there were already hundreds of citations of PsyCap in the literature.

The first meta-analysis of all the research on PsyCap was conducted in 2011, and it outlined some of the many benefits of PsyCap in the workplace:

• PsyCap was positively related to job satisfaction , organizational commitment, and psychological well-being.
• PsyCap was also positively related to organizational citizenship (desirable employee behaviors) and multiple measures of performance (self-rated, supervisor evaluations, and objective measures).
• PsyCap was negatively related to cynicism, turnover intentions, job stress, and anxiety .
• PsyCap was also negatively related to negative employee deviance (bad employee behaviors; Avey, Reichard, Luthans, & Mhatre, 2011).

It seems pretty straightforward that positive attitudes like optimism and resilience lead to positive outcomes for the organization and for the employees!

Another study by a few of the giants in the field of positive psychology (Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener, 2005) investigated the relationship between happiness and benefits to employees. They showed that positive attitudes in the workplace also benefit the employee in addition to the organization:

• Happier employees are more productive than other employees.
• Happy salespeople have higher sales than other salespeople.
• Happy employees are more creative than other employees.
• Happy employees are evaluated more positively by their supervisors.
• Happy employees are less likely to show job withdrawal (absenteeism, turnover, job burnout, and retaliatory behaviors).
• Happy employees make more money than other employees.

So, a positive attitude can have great benefits for the organization as a whole and for all of its employees.

It turns out that a positive attitude can also result in benefits for leaders and their followers (as well as spreading positivity throughout the organization).

The Importance of a Positive Mindset for Leadership

As important as a positive mindset is for the rank-and-file, it’s easy to see why it is vital for those in a position of leadership.

Researchers Hannah, Woolfolk, and Lord (2009) outlined a framework for positive leadership that rests on the idea that leaders with a positive self-concept (a positive idea of who they are and a habit of thinking positively about themselves) are more able to bring the “right stuff” to their leadership role.

In their theory, a leader with a positive mindset is not only more likely to be actively engaged and to perform at a high level, he or she is also more able to influence followers toward a more positive mindset through role modeling and normative influence.

A study completed around the same time provides support for the relationship between leader and follower positivity; trust in management influenced positive PsyCap, which had a big impact on performance for leaders and followers (Clapp-Smith, Vogegesang, & Avey, 2008).

Further, trust in management was linked to positive leadership and performance. While trust in management isn’t necessarily indicative of a positive mindset in both leader and follower, it is certainly a likely outcome of a generally positive attitude in the workplace.

Forbes writer Victor Lipman (2017) puts findings like these in simpler terms:

“It’s always easier to follow someone with a positive outlook.”

In other words, positive attitudes in a leader will draw followers and encourage motivation and engagement in subordinates. Lipman also notes that having a positive outlook and being resilient is vital in leadership positions because there is a lot of stress involved in managing and leading others.

Leaders must always be “on” and spend much of their time “performing” as a strong, confident leader and perhaps even a public face. This role is a tiring one, and being optimistic and resilient will help leaders stay sane and healthy in challenging contexts.

The Promotion of Positive Attitudes Towards Disability

Having a positive attitude is also a boon for those educating, interacting with, and caring for a disabled student, loved one, or patient.

A positive attitude toward disability facilitates disabled students’ education and helps them assimilate into postsecondary education (Rao, 2004).

This makes it even more troubling to learn that, according to a 2012 study on UK primary schools, only 38% of them had a Disability Equality Scheme in place and only 30% had included a plan to “promote positive attitudes towards disabled people” (Beckett & Buckner). Further, 76% of schools reported that their staff had not received any training in the promotion of positive attitudes towards students with disabilities.

With so many resources available for promoting positive attitudes toward disability, there is ample opportunity to rectify this lack; for example, research by The Children’s Society in the UK identified several ways to promote positivity:

• An inclusive ethos within the school.
• Staff teams who are knowledgeable, skilled, and committed.
• Better training, guidance, and support for teachers, including Disability Equality training and ongoing INSET for all staff.
• High levels of awareness across the whole school community.
• Disability equality teaching being part of a wider strategy and included across the curriculum and not just within subjects such as PSHE, Citizenship and Religious education.
• A designated member of staff to coordinate teaching across the curriculum
• A better understanding of why promoting disability awareness and equality is important.
• Links with disabled people within the school community and beyond, as well as links with special schools.
• The availability of good resources.
• Awareness of, and the challenging of, stereotypes.
• A critical approach to the use of ‘disablist’ language which reinforces discriminatory attitudes and negative stereotypes.
• Promotion of the social model of disability.
• The inclusion of positive and diverse images in all materials used within the school and undertaking an audit of existing materials and resources to ensure they promote positive attitudes (More information on these suggestions can be found here ).

A 2009 study also established that formal instruction in disability awareness combined with hands-on fieldwork experiences with people who have a disability can have a significant impact on the positive attitudes toward those with disability (Campbell, Gilmore, & Cuskelly).

The research found that teachers-in-training who participated in a one-semester course involving direct work with students who had Down syndrome greatly improved their knowledge of the syndrome as well as their attitudes toward those with Down syndrome.

All of these findings show that having a positive attitude towards those with a disability is not only the right thing to work toward, but it also has a significant positive influence on both those with disability and those around them.

Unsurprisingly, it’s also important for nurses and other health professionals to cultivate a positive attitude towards their patients with a disability—something that nurses sometimes struggle with (Tervo & Palmer, 2004).

Positive Attitude in Nursing and Health Care

On the subject of nursing and healthcare, this is another context where having a positive mindset (towards oneself and one’s patients—disabled or otherwise) can have a positive impact.

In fact, having a positive attitude is so important for nursing, expert Jean Watson describes nursing as the “Caring Science” (2009). Indeed, positivity and caring are ingrained in the field; just take a look at the five core nursing values:

• Human dignity
• Social justice (Fahrenwald et al., 2005)

These five values lay the foundation for a caring, positive mindset that is the hallmark of good nursing practice. Nurses who embrace these core values and adopt a positive mindset toward themselves, their work, and their patients can help them find the meaning and fulfillment that likely prompted them to enter the field in the first place.

Having a positive mindset in health care not only acts as a facilitator of meaning and purpose in the lives of healthcare professionals but it also:

• Improves the professional’s performance and helps patients find healing and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• Reduces the frequency of accidents by enhancing focus.
• Helps the professional build a good reputation and advance in their career (Swanson, n.d.).

Luckily, there are evidence-backed ways for nurses to implement a more positive outlook, including:

• The “Three Good Things” exercise, in which the nursing staff maintains a “three good things” sheet that gets passed around all the nurses at the end of their shift; each staff member writes down at least one good thing that happened that day, and the charge nurse selects three of these positive things to share with the oncoming-shift nurses to help them start their day with positivity.
• Increasing social connections with patients by placing a “getting to know you” board in each patient room; on admission, nurses can encourage the patient to share something about themselves (not their illness or hospitalization, but about who you are).
• Encouraging random acts of kindness by nurses—a practice which has the potential to spread to patients and other healthcare professionals as well.
• Enhancing gratitude through a staff peer recognition board.
• Practicing loving-kindness meditation at staff meetings.
• Identifying and applying one’s Signature Strengths (Roberts & Strauss, 2015).

Speaking of the importance of positivity in health care, the benefits can extend to the patients as well.

Positive Attitude and Cancer Recovery

You’ve probably heard the common phrases and encouragements used when discussing someone’s cancer diagnosis.

A cancer patient will likely be told at least a few times that “You have to stay positive!” and “You can fight this if you maintain a positive attitude.”

This idea that being positive will help cancer patients to fight the disease is a common one, although the literature is a bit iffy on whether this phenomenon is real (Coyne & Tennen, 2010; O’Baugh, Wilkes, Luke, & George, 2003).

Although it is unclear whether simply cultivating a positive mindset will help a patient beat cancer, there’s no doubt that getting support, focusing on a healthy mental state, and maintaining a positive attitude will help patients reduce their tension, anxiety, fatigue, and depression, and improve their overall quality of life (Spiegel et al., 2007).

Cancer Treatment Centers of America expert Katherine Puckett agrees that positivity can be helpful for patients being treated for cancer, but clarifies that other emotions are perfectly acceptable as well.

“So often I have heard a loved one say to a cancer patient who is crying, ‘Stop crying. You know you have to be positive’… However, when we make space for people to express all of their feelings, rather than bottling them up inside, it is then easier for them to be optimistic. It is okay to allow tears to flow—these can be a healthy release.” (Katherine Puckett, as reported in Fischer, 2016).

This indicates that the most important factor regarding positivity in cancer recovery is that it is authentic . False smiles and superficial cheerfulness will likely do nothing for the cancer patient, but working on cultivating an authentically positive mindset and focusing on the activities and techniques that build well-being can have a significant impact on a cancer patient’s quality of life and—possibly—their chances of beating cancer.

Do a quick Google search on how to cultivate a more positive mindset, and you’ll see that there are tons of suggestions out there! We’ve gathered some of the most popular and most evidence-backed methods here, but don’t hesitate to search for more if you need them.

Larry Alton (2018) from Success.com lists 7 practical tips to help you get more positive:

• Start the day with positive affirmations (scroll down to see some example affirmations).
• Focus on the good things, however small they are.
• Find humor in bad situations.
• Turn failures into lessons—and learn from them!
• Transform negative self-talk into positive self-talk.
• Focus on the present instead of getting mired in the past or losing your way in the future.
• Find positive friends, mentors, and co-workers to support and encourage you.

A successful author, speaker, and coach Brian Tracy (n.d.) echoes some of these tips and adds a couple more:

• Remember that it’s your response that determines the outcome of a situation.
• Use positive affirmations or phrases to chase off negative thoughts.
• Find inspirational quotes and messages to bolster your positivity.
• Decide to be happy by being grateful and assuming the people around you have the best of intentions.
• Challenge yourself to maintain a positive attitude when something goes wrong—show the world how resilient and positive you are!

For a more specific list of habits and actions you can take to develop a more positive mindset, try these 10 suggestions from Megan Wycklendt (2014) of Fulfillment Daily:

• Keep a gratitude journal .
• Reframe your challenges as opportunities for growth .
• Get good at being rejected—it happens to everyone!
• Use positive words to describe your life.
• Replace have with get (e.g., I have to go to work → I get to go to work).
• Don’t let yourself get dragged down into other people’s complaints.
• Breathe—consciously, purposefully, and mindfully.
• Notice the righteous and good in times of tragedy and violence.
• Have solutions ready when you point out problems.
• Make someone else smile.

Finally, these 11 techniques from Dr. Tchiki Davis (2018) can also help you adopt a more positive attitude:

• Ask yourself, “Do I think positively?” Take a test or quiz on positivity to see where you stand.
• Strengthen your memory for positive information by using positive words more often.
• Strengthen your brain’s ability to work with positive information with exercises that involve positive words.
• Strengthen your brain’s ability to pay attention to the positive by routinely redirecting your focus away from the negative to the positive.
• Condition yourself to experience random moments of positivity (use classical conditioning on yourself to build positive associations).
• Think positive—but not too much—and think negative when you need to; sometimes we need to grieve, think about the negative consequences, and use negative emotions to motivate and engage us.
• Practice gratitude (perhaps with a gratitude journal).
• Savor the good moments (stop to “smell the roses” and celebrate the positive).
• Generate positive emotions by watching funny videos
• Stop minimizing your successes and acknowledge the efforts you put in.
• Stop all-or-nothing thinking; this cognitive distortion is not in line with reality since things are very rarely “all good” or “all bad.”

To pass along the benefits of developing a positive mindset to students, you can encourage them to try the techniques listed above.

However, there are some methods for improving students’ attitude towards learning and school that may be even more effective.

Elliot Seif from the ASCD’s Edge website outlines 13 ways you can help students cultivate this mindset:

• “Reduce the emphasis on traditional testing as the key assessment tool, and focus on more “natural” and diverse assessment approaches such as essays and papers, reflective journals, oral presentations, and other demonstrations of their learning.
• Create the expectation that effort makes a difference in learning. Help students understand that when someone works hard, they are more likely to succeed. Give students more opportunities to put effort into areas that interest them and that they enjoy.
• Include narratives on report cards that focus on individual strengths and interests.
• Where possible, instead of or in addition to reading textbooks, find and have students read and choose books that are interesting to them, that opens them up to the world around them, that makes them think!
• Focus primarily on student strengths and student success. For each student, consider “ the glass as half full ” rather than “the glass as half empty”. Encourage students as much as possible. Understand that not all students will be strong in all areas and that it is important to help each student find his or her strengths and interests and to build on them. Also, see “failure” as an opportunity for student growth. Make it clear to students that not doing well is a cause for looking inside yourself to see how you can do something better (and that you will do the same). Give students more specific feedback, along with opportunities to redo their work and improve it. Provide mentors and tutors and other help and support for students who need it.
• Be willing to “slow down the learning process”. Focus learning on what you think is important. Figure out ways to teach an idea differently, and work on something for a longer period than you normally do if your students are not “getting it”. Figure out alternative ways to teach something if your approach isn’t working.
• Focus a good deal of your teaching on “learning how to learn” skill development. Read up on how to teach study skills, learning to learn skills, research skills, inquiry skills. Make sure that your students grow both in terms of content they learn and the “learning to learn” skills they need to develop in order to learn well in the future.
• Make “asking questions” central to your teaching and to your learning environment and school culture. Write course descriptions around key questions. Use essential questions to focus units, or have students develop essential questions as the focus for learning. As you teach, encourage students to ask clarifying and elaborative questions. Make it clear to students that no question is too small or too silly. Build open time for students to ask questions on the topics they are studying. Use “wait time” when you are asking for questions. Teach students study strategies such as SQ3R[i] that encourage students to turn statements (such as text headings) into questions.
• Give students more choices and options – in the classroom, by offering many electives, through multiple extra-curricular options. Choices/options should give students opportunities to develop and expand their interests, see connections and relevance in what they are learning, and expand their talents.
• Use inquiry strategies, research skill-building activities, interactive learning and projects as critical parts of teaching. Incorporate more interest-based projects into your curriculum.
• Where possible, make learning experiences more “authentic”. For example, consider how learning about the American Revolution might be tied to a current event happening in the world. Visit the area surrounding the school to demonstrate how math might be used for everyday activity. Through surveys, encourage students to provide feedback on whether they feel that their learning is interesting, motivating, and relevant and whether they are being encouraged to develop their talents and interests. Conduct student surveys to determine what types of school and classroom activities are most motivating and interesting. Create activities and experiences that enable students to get outside the school and learn from the outside world and perform community service.
• Create more ways to integrate learning across the curriculum and consider ways to redesign the curriculum. Use themes to create more interdisciplinary units. Connect separate subject areas, such as by teaching American history and literature in tandem so that history topics and specific literature that touch on similar time periods or themes are taught at the same time. When redesigning or renewing the curriculum, examine whether curriculum materials or programs have a significant component built around developing curiosity, motivation, relevance, and interest.
• See yourself as helping students build “pathways to adult success”. How can your subject, your grade level, your school contribute to making these pathways smoother? How can you provide students with a concrete understanding of their future options? Can you take field trips to different places of business? Colleges and universities? Bring in speakers?” (Seif, 2013)

However, these techniques are not always within a teacher’s (or parent’s) realm of control. If you these techniques are too overwhelming or the scope is out of your control, try these 7 strategies that you will likely have the power to implement:

• Be an example. Model a positive, encouraging attitude in all that you say, do and believe.
• Create a positive learning space for your student.
• Help your student visualize a positive outcome from every scenario before starting.
• Eliminate negative verbiage from your students’ dialogue (e.g., respond to “I can’t do it” with “Why can’t you do it? What’s holding you back? How can I help?”).
• Help your students change negative thinking patterns (encourage them to replace the negative thoughts with positive ones).
• Play the role of your students’ biggest fan (encourage them and help them develop self-confidence ).
• Incorporate a rewards system to encourage positivity at all times (Werrell, 2016).

For more tips and suggestions from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, check out their excellent resource on instilling positive attitudes and perceptions about learning here .

There are many positive thinking exercises and games that can give you a boost.

Some of the most popular ones are listed here, but feel free to search for more if none of them align with your interests—there are a lot to choose from out there!

Zdravko Lukovski from the Enlightenment Portal website has 10 exercises and activities that you can implement in your own life or encourage your clients to try in order to think more positively:

• Listen to your favorite music—it’s that easy! Music has a fairly unique ability to put you in a positive state of mind, so take advantage of that fact.
• Express your thankfulness and gratitude for all the good things in your life. Appreciate them, and write them down to help you remember.
• Remember to breathe. Breathe deeply, slowly, and mindfully to transport your mind to a positive, calm place.
• Don’t live according to a label—labels come from others, not from yourself, and you are so much more than a simple label could ever represent. Be authentic, and it will be much easier to be positive.
• Check your internal dialogue, and challenge that critical inner voice to make room for happiness.
• Engage in positive activities like meditation , yoga , hiking, playing a sport, or whatever other activity you enjoy.
• Take back control of the things you can change—and put in the effort required to actually change—but learn to accept the things you cannot change.
• Go easy on yourself. Don’t kick yourself when you’re down; everyone fails, and it doesn’t mean you’re not good enough.
• Pay attention to your diet, and ensure that you eat healthy food that will contribute to a healthy and positive mind.
• Embrace change—it’s happening whether we want it to or not, so it’s best to embrace it. Make an effort to step outside of your comfort zone (2015).

This list from Thought Catalog’s Kathy Mitchell (2017) has some of the same ideas as Lukovski, but she adds a few more activities as well:

• Listen to upbeat music.
• Have sex (that can certainly be an engaging and life-affirming activity!).
• Travel, even if it’s not very far—the point is to interact with different people and get to know other cultures.
• Eat healthy foods.
• Be thankful and cultivate gratitude.
• Journal and/or use a notebook to write things down—especially positive things.
• Breathe mindfully and deeply.
• Use positive words and avoid phrases like “I can’t” and “I won’t.”
• Practice positive affirmations or mantras.
• Try the Best Possible Self exercise (imagine yourself in your best possible future, and write about it).
• Volunteer and commit your time and efforts to helping others.
• Take control of the things you can, and accept the things you can’t.
• Remind yourself “Never a failure, always a lesson;” make every failure a learning opportunity.
• Try the mirror technique—say something positive about yourself (and truly mean it) every time you see yourself in the mirror.
• Socialize and spend time with others, including family, friends, your spouse or significant other, and new friends or acquaintances.

If you’re more interested in games you can play to boost positive thinking, try these suggested games from Mary Osborne (2017) at Live Strong.

Recognizing Positive Behavior

Gather your team (or family, friends, etc.) and review a list of a generic individual’s positive behaviors (like giving credit to others, smiling, saying thank you, and listening nonjudgmentally).

Next, ask players to identify their reactions to positive behaviors like these.

When everyone has listed their responses to these behaviors, talk about them as a group to show that engaging in positive behaviors like these will attract clients, customers, and coworkers rather than repel them.

The “Glad” Game

This game comes from the Disney movie Pollyanna, in which the main character actively cultivates positive thinking.

Have one person bring up a negative event, like losing a job or breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend.

The other players are challenged to turn the first person’s thoughts to the positive; for example, they can say something like, “ But now that I’ve lost my job, I’ll have more time to _______ .” The first person must come up with a word or phrase that fits the blank.

This game will encourage you to find the silver lining and look for opportunities instead of wallowing in despair.

Egg-Balancing Game

The egg-balancing game can be frustrating, but it can impart an important lesson in staying optimistic and open-minded.

Give your player(s) a raw egg and a flat, somewhat textured tabletop (use a tablecloth or placemat if you need to). Tell them to find a way to balance the egg in an upright position on the table. They might say it’s not possible, but assure them that it is!

Let them try for a while—they might actually be able to do it—but give them a small mound of salt to balance the egg in if they are struggling for too long. If you use the salt, remind them that this is an important thing to remember: sometimes things that seem impossible actually are possible when you think outside the box!

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Hunt for Happiness

This game is described as a “positive-thinking scavenger game” and it can be used with both children and adults.

Have the players make a list of things that they feel make life worth living or, for younger children, things that make them smile.

Once everyone has a list ready, send them off on a scavenger hunt to collect as many items on the list as possible. If it’s too big to collect and bring back, you can mark your “collection” of it on the list.

You’ll have to get creative to check off everything on the list, especially abstract things like “love,” but that’s part of the challenge. As a bonus, it will also help you boost your creative thinking in addition to your positive thinking.

To read more about these games, click here .

For Children

There are even more games and activities to help children develop a positive mindset. If you’re a teacher, parent, coach, or anyone else who interacts with kids, give these activities a try.

Big Life Journal has a great infographic that lists the ways you can help children develop a positive attitude. You can find the whole blog post here , but we’ll outline the 7 activities they describe:

• Engage your child in loving-kindness meditation. You can teach him or her the four traditional phrases directed towards loved ones if you’d like: “May you feel safe. May you feel happy. May you feel healthy. May you live with ease.”
• Encourage your child to help others, whether that takes the form of assisting an elderly neighbor with yard work or chores, helping a friend with homework, or participating in a canned food, clothing, or toy drive.
• Have your child create and write in an “Awe Journal.” Tell them to write down any sights or moments from their daily life that they find beautiful, extraordinary, awesome, or just all-around wonderful.
• Encourage your child to set goals, visualize their path forward, and plan for obstacles before they come face-to-face with them (this is the WOOP approach: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan).
• Share your own positive experiences with your child. Laugh with them, hug them, and set aside quality time to simply be together.
• Identify your child’s strengths and encourage him or her to put them to good use and develop them further with productive, fun activities.
• Guide your child through the process of coming up with positive affirmations like, “I am kind. I am enough. I am loving. I am good.” (Cullins, 2018).

Another collection of activities that can help children (and the whole family) develop and maintain a positive mindset comes from Sharon Harding at the Rediscovered Families website:

• Keep “Quote Books,” or notebooks for your children to write in. Every week, choose a positive quote to share with your kids and encourage them to write it down along with their thoughts, drawings that correspond to the quote, or insights from a family discussion or activities based on the quote.
• Try the “Success of the Day” activity, in which each family member is encouraged to talk about a success they had that day, like helping someone, standing up for a peer, finishing a project, or committing (or receiving) a random act of kindness. Your children can keep a journal of their successes to look back on and draw inspiration from.
• Create Warm Fuzzy Jars for each of your children; whenever they do something kind or helpful, they can place a pom-pom ball in their jar to represent the warm fuzzy feeling they gave to another person. When their jar is full, they get to choose a special or fun activity to do—with either parent, both parents, their sibling, or the whole family.
• Write Morning Love Notes (sweet notes for them to read in the morning and get a good start to their day) for your children, and encourage them to write them for their siblings.
• Choose an Act of Kindness to help your kids understand the impact a simple kindness can have. Try something like shoveling a neighbor’s walkway when it snows, bringing a meal to a family in need, or volunteering.
• Creating art that helps them to manage their feelings and turn their mind towards the positive (more info here ).
• Have each family member create a Slinky Character Trait Person. Encourage each family member to identify some positive character traits in each other and write them on the slinky person. You can find more detailed instructions here .
• Help each child make a vision board to share their hopes, dreams, goals, and aspirations with each other.
• Complete the Buggy and Buddy motivational art activity to help your children boost their creative confidence and self-esteem .
• Make gratitude stones and encourage your children to practice gratitude every day. All you’ll need is a small, smooth stone and some paint to create a heart on the stone. Tell your children to carry them around and use them as a reminder to think about the things they are grateful for. You can also use them in other ways, detailed here .

If games and activities aren’t really your “thing,” there are lots of other ways to cultivate a positive attitude.

One effective technique is completing worksheets designed to help you develop a positive mindset.

A few of the many worksheets on this topic are described below.

Strengths Exploration

Becoming more positive can start with a fun and uplifting exercise—identifying your strengths.

This worksheet lists 36 individual strengths, with room to add 4 more, that you can use to pick out which strengths you embody. You can choose as many as you like, but try to keep the list to those traits that you think are your biggest strengths .

Once you have your strengths identified, move on to the rest of the worksheet: learning about your strengths in specific areas, how you apply them now, and how you can use them more often.

The second page concerns your relationships—romantic relationships, family relationships, and relationships with friends. There are three questions to guide you here:

• List the strengths you possess that help you in your relationships.
• Describe a specific time your strengths were able to help you in a relationship.
• Describe two new ways you could use your strengths in relationships.

On the third page, you will answer the same questions but with your profession in mind instead of relationships.

The fourth page repeats these questions but with a focus on personal fulfillment (hobbies, interests, pleasurable activities).

You can find this worksheet here .

Gratitude Journal

Cultivating a regular practice of gratitude will help you to become more positive, and this worksheet will guide you in establishing your practice.

First, the instructions for the sheet are as follows: “Two times a week, write a detailed entry about one thing you are grateful for. This could be a person, a job, a great meal with friends, or anything else that comes to mind.”

Next, the worksheet includes some tips for effective journaling, like:

• Don’t rush to write down the first things that come to your mind. Take time to truly think about what you’re grateful for. Expect each entry to take between 10-20 minutes.
• Writing about the people who you’re grateful for tends to be more powerful than writing about things.

To help get you started, you can use one of the journaling prompts listed in the worksheet, including:

• Someone whose company I enjoy…
• A fun experience I had…
• A reason to be excited about the future…
• An unexpected good thing that happened…

The next two pages provide you space to write up to four entries. It’s best if you get a journal specifically for this purpose, but this space can get you started until you obtain a journal.

Click here to download this worksheet .

Positive Journal

Similar to the gratitude journal, a positive journal is an effective way to use journaling to improve your mindset.

The worksheet encourages you to make a point of recognizing positive experiences throughout your day, however big or small. At the end of each day, use the worksheet to record three positive things that happened.

It’s good to have an actual journal for your positive entries (either the same journal you use for recording the things you are grateful for or a separate one), but this worksheet includes space for entering three positive things for 7 days to help you get started.

Click here to read the instructions in more detail.

Protective Factors

The Protective Factors worksheet will get you thinking about all of the positive traits, attributes, and skills that contribute to your resilience and overall mental health. Identifying these factors is essential to knowing when and how to use them.

The instructions are to review each of the protective factors listed and marking where you are on the scale (from weak to strong). These factors include:

• Social Support
• Coping Skills
• Physical Health
• Sense of Purpose
• Self-Esteem
• Healthy Thinking

Once you have given thought to each protective factor, the next page poses some questions about them:

• Which protective factor has been the most valuable to you during difficult times?
• Specifically, how have you used this protective factor to your advantage in the past?
• What are the two protective factors that you would like to improve?
• Describe how things might be different if you able to improve these protective factors.
• List specific steps or actions that might help to make these goals a reality.

To download this worksheet and learn about your own protective factors, click here .

Looking Back, Looking Forward

This worksheet will help you to identify times in your life when things have gone well, when you got things right, and when you thrived.

First, for the “Looking Back” portion, you will be instructed to choose a timeframe to reflect on (for example, “the past year” or “since starting my new job”).

Next, you will answer several questions about the positive events and accomplishments from this time period, including:

• List your accomplishments from this timeframe, even if they seem minor.
• Describe a great day from this timeframe. What made this day special?
• How have you grown, or what lessons did you learn, during this timeframe?
• What are you grateful for from this timeframe? Try to list at least three examples.
• What was a challenge that you overcame during this timeframe?

For the “Looking Forward” portion, you will complete a similar exercise but with a future time period in mind.

Instead of the questions above, you will answer these five questions:

• What would you like to achieve during this timeframe?
• What are you looking forward to during this timeframe? Try to list at least three examples.
• What relationships would you like to strengthen during this timeframe?
• What can you do to help others during this timeframe?
• Ideally, how will your life be different at the end of this timeframe? Give specifics.

Once you have completed this worksheet, you will have a list of good things and accomplishments already behind you, and a list of good things you have to look forward to and work towards. Click here to get started.

Why I’m Grateful

This is a great worksheet for cultivating gratitude, and it can be used with children or adults.

It lists six prompts for you to complete that will help you focus on the good things in your life:

• I am grateful for my family because…
• Something good that happened this week…
• I am grateful for my friendship with… because…
• I am grateful for who I am because…
• Something silly that I am grateful for…
• Something else I am grateful for…

To start thinking about all the things you have to be grateful for, click here .

Positive Activities for Behavioral Activation

This worksheet is focused on the therapeutic technique of behavioral activation—encouraging the patient to get more active, engage in positive activities, and gain the rewards inherent in these activities.

It instructs you to create a list of activities that you find personally rewarding and leaves space for you to do so.

Next, it instructs you to rate the ease of each activity on a scale from 1 (difficult) to 10 (easy) and the reward you get from each activity on a scale from 1 (not at all rewarding) to 10 (very rewarding).

Completing this worksheet will leave you with a list of activities that you can refer to whenever you need a quick boost, and help you learn about what you enjoy most.

Click here to download this worksheet.

Positive Experiences

The Positive Experiences worksheet is a simple one in theory, but it can be difficult to actually complete. The difficulty comes with an equivalent reward though; you can get a great boost in your mood, self-esteem, and self-confidence from completing it.

The only instruction is to consider each of the positive traits listed and write briefly about times when you have displayed each of them.

The positive traits include:

• Selflessness
• Determination

If you’re feeling particularly down, you may be tempted to skip one or two, but fight this urge! You have definitely displayed each of these traits at one time or another—don’t sell yourself short!

Positive Steps to Wellbeing

This resource is actually a handout, but you can certainly make it interactive by taking notes or using check marks to indicate what you have tried, or what you would like to try.

It lists 12 things you can do to improve your wellbeing. These 12 activities include:

• Being kind to yourself
• Exercise regularly
• Take up a hobby and/or learn a new skill
• Have some fun and/or be creative
• Help others
• Eat healthily
• Balance sleep
• Connect with others
• Beware drink and drugs
• See the bigger picture
• Accepting: “It is as it is”

To read more about how each of these activities contributes to your wellbeing, download the handout here .

Positive Self-Talk/Coping Thoughts Worksheet

The positive self-talk/coping thoughts worksheet is a great way to turn your focus from the negative to the positive and come up with positive statements you can use to cope in future stressful or difficult situations.

Example coping thoughts and positive statements listed on the worksheet include:

• Stop, and breathe, I can do this.
• This will pass.
• This feels bad, and feelings are very often wrong.
• I can feel bad and still choose to take a new and healthy direction.
• I feel this way because of my past experiences, but I am safe right now.

After reading the example statements, the worksheet encourages you to write down some coping thoughts or positive statements for difficult or distressing situations in your life. You can write them directly on the worksheet, but it may be most helpful to copy them onto a note card and carry them with you.

While we’re on the subject of positive statements, we should also mention that quotes and affirmations can be an excellent way to encourage positive thinking.

Affirmations

If you’re interested in affirmations, try the Mind Tools Content Team’s (n.d.) list of positive thinking affirmations:

• I have plenty of creativity for this project.
• My work will be recognized in a positive way by my boss and colleagues.
• I can do this!
• My team respects and values my opinion.
• I am successful.
• I am honest in my life, and my work.
• I like completing tasks and projects on time.
• I’m grateful for the job I have.
• I enjoy working with my team.
• I’m bringing a positive attitude to work every day.
• I am excellent at what I do.
• I am generous.
• I am happy.
• I will be a leader in my organization.

If none of these appeal to you on a deep level, refer to their tips on developing your own personal affirmations:

• Think about the areas of your life that you’d like to change.
• Write affirmations that are credible and achievable (based on reality).
• Use your affirmations to turn negative into positive (note a persistent negative thought and choose an affirmation that is the opposite).
• Write your affirmations in the present tense—affirm yourself in the here and now, not a vague future version of yourself.
• Say it with feeling! Your affirmations should be personally meaningful to you (Mind Tools Content Team, n.d.).

If you’re having trouble coming up with your affirmations or you just like to hear a different perspective on positive thinking, you might find some quotes helpful.

Lydia Sweatt (2017) from Success.com shares 13 great quotes on optimism and having a positive attitude.

“Optimism doesn’t wait on facts. It deals with prospects.”

Norman Cousins

“Be fanatically positive and militantly optimistic. If something is not to your liking, change your liking.”

Rick Steves

“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.”

Helen Keller

“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.”

Noam Chomsky

“One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.”

Lucille Ball

“An optimist understands that life can be a bumpy road, but at least it is leading somewhere. They learn from mistakes and failures, and are not afraid to fail again.”

Harvey Mackay

“Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant―the digitalis of failure.”

Elbert Hubbard

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

John Wooden

“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Optimism refuses to believe that the road ends without options.”

Robert H. Schuller

“What is hope but a feeling of optimism, a thought that says things will improve, it won’t always be bleak [and] there’s a way to rise above the present circumstances.”

Wayne W. Dyer

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Winston Churchill

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”

Martin Luther

Quotes can be fantastic motivators, but you probably agree that a rousing speech or inspiring video can be even more effective.

Check out these TED Talks and YouTube videos on positive thinking when you need a boost.

Jim Rohn’s A Positive Attitude Attracts Success

Brendon Burchard’s How to Reprogram Your Mind (for Positive Thinking)

Carol Dweck’s TED Talk The Power of Believing That You Can Improve

Shawn Achor’s TED Talk The Happy Secret to Better Work

If you’re more of a fan of books than videos, never fear—we’ve got book recommendations too!

Here are just a few of the many books on developing a positive mindset:

• Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Martin E. P. Seligman ( Amazon )
• Attitude: Your Most Priceless Possession by Elwood N. Chapman ( Amazon )
• The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life by Shawn Achor ( Amazon )
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck ( Amazon )
• Getting Back to Happy: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Reality, and Turn Your Trials into Triumphs by March Chernoff and Angel Chernoff ( Amazon )
• Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin E. P. Seligman ( Amazon )
• Mindset: How Positive Thinking Will Set You Free & Help You Achieve Massive Success in Life by Benjamin Smith ( Amazon )
• Hard Optimism: How to Succeed in a World Where Positive Wins by Price Pritchett ( Amazon )

17 Top-Rated Positive Psychology Exercises for Practitioners

Expand your arsenal and impact with these 17 Positive Psychology Exercises [PDF] , scientifically designed to promote human flourishing, meaning, and wellbeing.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

If you’re still with me after this very long read, thanks for sticking with it! I hope you will find that the time invested in reading this piece was worth the information you gleaned from it.

The one takeaway from this piece that I really hope sticks with you is this: Positive thinking is a powerful tool that can result in a lot of benefits for you and those around you; however, thinking positive 100% of the time is unrealistic and could even be disastrous.

We have a lot of different emotions and thoughts, and we have such a wide variety for a reason. There are times when being a bit pessimistic can help us, and it is a good idea to let out the negative emotions you experience once in a while (especially if the alternative is bottling them up).

If you’re an optimist by nature, cultivate gratitude for your inherent positivity, but make sure you don’t push aside the negative feelings that crop up. They’re part of life too.

If you’re a pessimist by nature, don’t despair of ever thinking positively. Try a few of the techniques that seem most applicable and give yourself a break if it takes some time. Remember, the goal is not to become a “ Pollyanna ,” but to become the best version of yourself that you can be and maintain a healthy and happy mental state.

How do you feel about the positivity movement? Are you naturally optimistic, pessimistic, or somewhere in between? Do you have any thoughts about how to cultivate a positive mindset? Let us know in the comments section below!

Thanks for reading, and best of luck in developing a positive mindset!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free .

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Changing Our Attitude Toward Change

Embrace change to make the best out of it..

Posted November 22, 2023 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

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• You cannot progress without resistance, challenge, or struggle.
• Embrace mistakes as it fosters growth and innovation and is mentally healthy.
• A mindset of growth, curiosity, and calculated risk-taking can help overcome the resistance to change.

You say that things could be better. You want more. You want to be fulfilled. Discontent is the driving force of change. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation that leads to growth.

Your desire for change is what puts you on the path to moving forward. The seed of progress is the need for change.

Mindful progress requires proactivity and taking steps toward the desired change. Each step forward is accompanied by new challenges and added responsibilities. And it is in solving these new challenges further progress is made. In other words, you cannot make progress without resistance, a challenge, or a struggle.

Our attitude is made up of how we think, how we feel, and how we act. Our attitude toward change creates our lives, which also means that if we want to change our lives, we must first change our attitude toward change.

If we react to life mindlessly, we are simply controlled by life situations that promote a reactive past reality. If we want a different and better life, we must be mindful and purposeful and act proactively according to the change we desire.

OK. You agree that change is unavoidable and even desirable. You want to improve your situation, be in a better position, and grow to become your best self. You ask yourself, " How do I begin?" Well, you can start by changing your attitude and perspective about change.

The starting point in viewing change is questioning our attitude toward it.

• Is it coming from a place of fear , or is it coming from a place of love?
• Is it about protection, or is it about enhancement?

Once answered, we must mindfully choose an attitude and make choices that are aligned with our authentic self, which is blissful, confident, caring, and loving. We aspire to continually purify our attitude, moving from fear to love and embracing change as a positive force in our lives.

We need to deliberately and consistently make choices of thoughts and actions that are consistent with the changes we are committed to creating. The old way of thinking and behaving only promotes rigidity and reinforces old habits. The new way of thinking and acting allows our brain to be elastic and for us to make changes more frequently and with less resistance.

It also cultivates a creative mindset that encourages thinking outside the box. Even more importantly, it pushes us to face fear and uncertainty toward growth and love. The new choices bring new behaviors and experiences that ultimately change our emotions and quality of life.

Here are practical ideas to cultivate when adopting a positive attitude toward change:

Accept responsibility. When you accept responsibility for your situations and change, you are empowered to acknowledge your own needs, desires, expectations, and values, as well as your limitations and humanity. Ask yourself,

• "What can I learn from this change?
• What opportunities do I see now as a result of what happened?
• What can I do to change the situation?"

Change what is possible. While you may not be able to change your situation as a whole, you can always implement small changes in your life that help improve things. When you are mindful, you become the director of your life. It is within your power to change what is within your control and, at the same time, to let go of what is beyond your control.

Challenge the status quo . It's important to realize the status quo is our preferred state. Most of us don't like change, and we resist in the face of change. We can't grow without resistance. Action is where the relief is, not avoidance. Understand that the way things are done does not restrict you. Rather, cultivate an open-mindedness to new ideas and encourage experimentation with new ways of acting.

Embrace risks. Don't be afraid of taking risks. Taking calculated risks is a great way to build mental strength and resiliency. Doing things that you fear helps you learn to tolerate uncertainty and stress . Cultivating confidence and courage to move forward despite the difficulty of change is the key mindset toward change.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are a natural part of being human. Mistakes are part of making progress. Learn to bounce back and prepare for a comeback. Setbacks are opportunities to improve. So, embracing your mistakes as it fosters growth and innovation and is mentally healthy.

Be positive. Adapt the phrase "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." No matter how difficult change feels, there's something to be said for making the most out of the moment. No need to regret the past. No need to worry about the future. Simply embrace what is in front of you in the present moment with trust and positivity.

Adapt the magic word " Yet ." Don't say, "I can't do it." Instead, say, "I can't do it yet." This powerful word has the power to impact your unconscious and change negativity into possibility. It allows you to meet yourself where you are and, at the same time, patiently wait until the right time you are ready to make the change.

Look at the big picture. When you see the big picture and are focused on long-term vision, you are not distracted by smaller issues and struggles. Figuring out your goals and pursuing them will allow you to embrace change with greater ease.

Do your best. Do your best in everything you do—at work, in your relationships, in your family, etc. Every choice is an opportunity to make your best effort to become your best self. At any moment, you can ask yourself,

• "What does the best version of myself look like?
• How do I want my best self to show up in the world?"

Expand yourself. Change allows you to leave the same familiar, predictable self and connect with the new self. With change, you enter into a deeper, unfamiliar self and explore new territory within the self. You then expand the self to create a larger, more authentic self.

Separate yourself from the change . The change does not define you. You are a whole person with vast and diverse experiences. Yes, life changes can impact you greatly, and you get to decide what each transition will mean for you. If it feels supportive, give yourself a gentle mental reminder of your wholeness. For instance, I use the phrase, "I am not this change."

Be grateful for the opportunity. See change as an opportunity to grow and be receptive to new ways to deal with life challenges. Gratitude and appreciation are powerful mindsets to deal with change. Developing habits of gratitude and appreciation requires intention, effort, and gentleness.

Acknowledge your accomplishments . Whether you are successful in making the change or not, acknowledge your effort and past accomplishments. Remind yourself of the times you pulled through a tough situation; remember the things you've accomplished, no matter the odds.

Change inherently feels uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean it is bad. Remember that change is inevitable, normal, and even crucial. While there is a part of you that may resist change, you must realize that change is necessary to create a better life. As such, you better embrace a positive attitude toward change.

Moshe Ratson, MBA, MFT, is a psychotherapist and executive coach in NYC. He specializes in personal and professional development, anger management, emotional intelligence, infidelity issues, and couples and marriage therapy.

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You see life through your own unique lens. This is your mindset – the assumptions and expectations you hold about yourself, your life and the situations around you. Research shows that mindsets play a significant role in determining life’s outcomes. By understanding, adapting and shifting your mindset, you can improve your health, decrease your stress and become more resilient to life’s challenges.

To learn more about mindsets and how to change them, BeWell spoke to Dr. Jacob Towery, adjunct clinical instructor in the department of psychiatry at Stanford University.

Mindsets help you to simplify.

Mindsets are a set of assumptions that help you distill complex worldviews into digestible information and then set expectations based on this input. For example, you may believe that becoming sick with cancer would be catastrophic or that going on a diet would be challenging and depriving. These belief systems help you set expectations, plan for the worst and guide decisions based on these assumptions.

While mindsets can be helpful for distilling information and managing expectations, they can also be maladaptive, lead to interpersonal problems and feelings of guilt, inadequacy, sadness and anxiety. Dr. Towery observes that it is common to hold onto mindsets that were adaptive at one point in life but have since become maladaptive. For example, it might have been helpful to believe that others cannot be trusted if you were betrayed at a young age, but this belief may lead to interpersonal issues at a later stage of life. 

Dr. Towery assures, “the good news is mindsets are highly changeable, and if you are willing to learn the technology of changing your mindset and defeating your distorted thoughts, you can have significantly more happiness.”

Having a fixed or growth mindset affects your worldview. 

You may have heard of “fixed” and “growth” mindsets. These terms were coined by Stanford researcher and professor Carol Dweck, Ph.D.  to describe belief systems about your ability to change, grow and develop over time. If you believe your qualities are essentially unchangeable or “fixed,” you may be less open to mistakes because setbacks are seen as inherent, and impinging on future success. For example, if you have a fixed mindset and have trouble connecting with others at an event, you may see this as evidence that you will never be able to socially connect, leading to social anxiety and avoidance. 

With a growth mindset, you know that you can change over time, and therefore you are more open to reflect, learn and grow from challenges. Because failure is less threatening, you are more willing to embrace life’s challenges, take feedback as a learning opportunity and continue to learn and grow throughout life. With a growth mindset, you are also less likely to personalize setbacks. For example, in the scenario above, you might reflect that the cause of your social difficulty had more to do with the environment at the event than a personal inability to socialize.  

With a fixed mindset, it can be hard to find motivation to work through perceived weaknesses, because the ability to change may seem as hopeless as changing your eye color. In contrast, with a growth mindset, you’ll see your perceived weakness as a challenge that can be motivating — and even fun — to overcome.

As Dweck writes in “Mindset,” “…as you begin to understand the fixed and growth mindsets, you will see exactly how one thing leads to another — how a belief that your qualities are carved in stone leads to a host of thoughts and actions, and how a belief that your qualities can be cultivated leads to a host of different thoughts and actions, taking you down an entirely different road.”

Dr. Towery gives a personal example, “In my own life, I was dissatisfied with my singing abilities and decided to take singing lessons for nine months. While you won’t be hearing me on the radio any time soon, my singing is remarkably less terrible than it used to be before the lessons.” He describes that it was fun to learn that singing is a skill that can be cultivated rather than something innate and immutable.

Mindsets can impact your reality.

Mindsets can impact your outcomes by determining the way you think, feel and even physiologically respond to some situations. A 2007 study revealed that increased awareness of physical activity resulted in health benefits like weight loss and decreased blood pressure.   To further investigate this phenomenon, a 2011 study was conducted to test physiological satiation in relationship to mindset around certain foods. The study revealed that participants’ satiety aligned with their mindset around the food they were consuming more than the food’s nutritional content.  

Another example of how mindset affects physiology was shown in a 2012 study on the association between stress perception, health and mortality.  Kelly McGonigal references the study in her 2013 TED talk, explaining that participants who experienced high levels of stress had an increased risk of death, but only if  they believed stress to be harmful. Those who experienced high stress levels but did not see it as harmful were no more likely to die. McGonigal encourages developing more positive mindsets around stress, and to perceive your body’s physiological responses to stress – like a pounding heart and racing mind – as your body’s natural response to rise to the challenge and overcome it, as opposed to a signal that something is wrong.

Dr. Towery points out the impact of mindset on the effect of medications. “There is a powerful phenomenon in medicine known as the placebo effect, in which if someone believes they are going to derive benefits from taking a particular medication, they often do. In fact, regardless of the disease or condition, about 30-40% of people can have significant improvement in their symptoms even when taking a placebo (sugar) pill, if they believe that the pill is going to be helpful.” 

“Equally fascinating,” Towery observes, “is the ‘nocebo-effect,’ a psychological response based on a person’s expectations around side effects. When a physician emphasizes the potential side effects of a medicine, and the patient believes they will develop those symptoms, even if given a sugar pill, these patients can develop the adverse side effects, just based on what their mind expects.” 

Science is just beginning to validate the power of the mind-body relationship. Mindset matters, so it is important to pay attention to your belief systems—where they come from, how valid they are, and how they impact your quality of life.

You can change your mindset.

Although your mindset about topics like appearance and success are largely influenced by outside factors, the brain is neuroplastic, meaning neural networks can continue to grow, change and reorganize throughout the lifespan. By challenging yourself with new experiences and perspectives, you can form new neural connections — or mindsets — at any point in life.

Even a fixed mindset is not set in stone. You can change your mindset by learning and consciously choosing to believe that your characteristics are not predetermined and that you can continue to grow over time.

According to Towery, “The exciting news about mindsets is that they are absolutely changeable. The entire field of cognitive therapy is based on the idea that thoughts determine feelings and that you can learn powerful techniques to modify distorted thoughts and self-defeating beliefs.  For those that want to learn how, I recommend reading the book “Feeling Great” by David Burns, MD and doing all of the writing sections.  A competent cognitive therapist can also teach you how to change your mindset, even in a small number of sessions.”

Dr. Towery says that the most rewarding part of his work is helping people transform distorted beliefs like “I’m a failure” to more realistic thoughts like “I didn’t perform well, but I can better prepare next time and it will probably go much better.”

Towery encourages questioning self-defeating thoughts and creating new narratives that are more self-serving. If you develop a growth mindset, setbacks can become learning opportunities and there is always another chance to improve and feel better. 

• http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345472322/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0345472322&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=ZYKJHPHELN46AOWM
• https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3196007/Langer_ExcersisePlaceboEffect.pdf?sequence=1%3FviewType=Print&viewClass=Print
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21574706/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22201278/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcGyVTAoXEU&t=722s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTDYtwqKBI8
• https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.75.1.33

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8 Ways to Improve Your Attitude

A positive attitude makes success easy; a negative one makes success pointless..

If you truly want to be successful, your number one task should be to create and maintain a positive attitude. When you've got an attitude of optimism, expectancy and enthusiasm, opportunities grow, and problems shrink.

If you're a leader, a positive attitude draws people to your side and encourages them to do their best work. A leader with a negative attitude, however, can only compel others to take action through fear.

More importantly, what would be point of being successful if you're always feeling lousy?  With that in mind, here's how to ensure your attitude stays upbeat:

1. Always act with a purpose.

Before you take any action, decide how it will serve your greater goals.  If the connection is weak or non-existent, take that action off your to-do list. Aimless activity wastes time and energy.

2. Stretch yourself past your limits every day.

Doing the same-old, same-old is depressing, even if your same-old has been successful in the past. Success is like athletics; if you don't stretch yourself every day , you gradually become slow and brittle.

3. Take action without expecting results.

While you naturally must make decisions and take action based upon the results you'd like to achieve, it's a big mistake to expect those results and then be disappointed when you don't get them.  Take your best shot but don't obsess about the target.

4. Use setbacks to improve your skills.

Rather than feeling bad if you fail or get rejected, look back at your actions and see what you can do (if anything) to improve your performances.  Remember: the results you receive are the signposts for the results you want to achieve .

5. Seek out those who share your positive attitude.

It's a scientific fact your brain automatically imitates the behaviors of the people around you.  (It's because of something called a mirror neuron ).  Therefore, you should surround yourself with positive thinkers and shun those who are excessively negative.

6. Don't take yourself so seriously.

If you want to be happier and make those around you feel more comfortable, cultivate the ability to laugh at yourself.  If you don't (or can't) laugh at yourself, I guarantee you that the people you work with are laughing behind your back!

7. Forgive the limitations of others.

High standards are important, but humans are, well, human. It's crazy to make yourself miserable because other people can't do a job as well as you think you could, or when people don't share your vision with the same passion that you feel.

8. Say "thank you" more frequently.

Achieving an "attitude of gratitude" requires more than simply being aware of what's wonderful in your life.  You must, and should, thank other people for their gifts to you, even if that gift is something as simple as a smile.

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Chapter 4. Attitudes, Behavior, and Persuasion

4.2 Changing Attitudes through Persuasion

Learning Objectives

• Outline how persuasion is determined by the choice of effective communicators and effective messages.
• Review the conditions under which attitudes are best changed using spontaneous versus thoughtful strategies.
• Summarize the variables that make us more or less resistant to persuasive appeals.

Every day we are bombarded by advertisements of every sort. The goal of these ads is to sell us cars, computers, video games, clothes, and even political candidates. The ads appear on billboards, website popup ads, buses, TV infomercials, and…well, you name it! It’s been estimated that over $500 billion is spent annually on advertising worldwide (Johnson, 2013).

There is substantial evidence that advertising is effective in changing attitudes. After the R. J. Reynolds Company started airing its Joe Camel ads for cigarettes on TV in the 1980s, Camel’s share of cigarette sales to children increased dramatically. But persuasion can also have more positive outcomes. For instance, a review of the research literature indicates that mass-media anti-smoking campaigns are associated with reduced smoking rates among both adults and youth (Friend & Levy, 2001). Persuasion is also used to encourage people to donate to charitable causes, to volunteer to give blood, and to engage in healthy behaviors.

If you think that advertisers and marketers have too much influence, then this section will help you understand how to resist such attempts at persuasion. Following the approach used by some of the earliest social psychologists and that still forms the basis of thinking about the power of communication, we will consider which communicators can deliver the most effective messages to which types of message recipients (Hovland, Lumsdaine, & Sheffield (1949).

Choosing Effective Communicators

In order to be effective persuaders, we must first get people’s attention, then send an effective message to them, and then ensure that they process the message in the way we would like them to. Furthermore, to accomplish these goals, persuaders must consider the cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of their methods. Persuaders also must understand how the communication they are presenting relates to the message recipient—his or her motivations, desires, and goals.

Research has demonstrated that the same message will be more effective if is delivered by a more persuasive communicator. In general, we can say that communicators are more effective when they help their recipients feel good about themselves—that is, by appealing to self-concern. For instance, attractive communicators are frequently more effective persuaders than are unattractive communicators. Attractive communicators create a positive association with the product they are trying to sell and put us in a good mood, which makes us more likely to accept their messages. And as the many marketers who include free gifts, such as mailing labels or small toys, in their requests for charitable donations well know, we are more likely to respond to communicators who offer us something personally beneficial.

We’re also more persuaded by people who are similar to us in terms of opinions and values than by those whom we perceive as being different. This is of course why advertisements targeted at teenagers frequently use teenagers to present the message, and why advertisements targeted at the elderly use older communicators.

When communicators are perceived as attractive and similar to us, we tend to like them. And we also tend to trust the people that we like. The success of Tupperware parties, in which friends get together to buy products from other friends, may be due more to the fact that people like the “salesperson” than to the nature of the product. People such as the media mogul Oprah Winfrey, tennis star Roger Federer, and the musician Bono have been used as communicators for products in part because we see them as trustworthy and thus likely to present an unbiased message. Trustworthy communicators are effective because they allow us to feel good about ourselves when we accept their message, often without critically evaluating its content (Priester & Petty, 2003).

Expert communicators may sometimes be perceived as trustworthy because they know a lot about the product they are selling. When a doctor recommends that we take a particular drug, we are likely to be influenced because we know that he or she has expertise about the effectiveness of drugs. It is no surprise that advertisers use race car drivers to sell cars and basketball players to sell athletic shoes.

Although expertise comes in part from having knowledge, it can also be communicated by how one presents a message. Communicators who speak confidently, quickly, and in a straightforward way are seen as more expert than those who speak in a more hesitating and slower manner. Taking regular speech and speeding it up by deleting very small segments of it, so that it sounds the same but actually goes faster, makes the same communication more persuasive (MacLachlan & Siegel, 1980; Moore, Hausknecht, & Thamodaran, 1986). This is probably in part because faster speech makes the communicator seem more like an expert but also because faster speech reduces the listener’s ability to come up with counterarguments as he or she listens to the message (Megehee, Dobie, & Grant, 2003). Effective speakers frequently use this technique, and some of the best persuaders are those who speak quickly.

Expert communicators are expected to know a lot about the product they are endorsing, but they may not be seen as trustworthy if their statements seem to be influenced by external causes. People who are seen to be arguing in their own self-interest (e.g., an expert witness who is paid by the lawyers in a case; a celebrity who is paid to endorse a product) may be ineffective because we may discount their communications (Eagly, Wood, & Chaiken, 1978; Wood & Eagly, 1981). On the other hand, when a person presents a message that goes against external causes, for instance, by arguing in favor of an opinion to a person who is known to disagree with it, we see the internal states (that the individual really believes in the message he or she is expressing) as even more powerful.

Communicators also may be seen as biased if they present only one side of an issue while completely ignoring the potential problems or counterarguments to the message. In these cases, people who are informed about both sides of the topic may see the communicator as attempting to unfairly influence them.

Although we are generally very aware of the potential that communicators may deliver messages that are inaccurate or designed to influence us, and we are able to discount messages that come from sources that we do not view as trustworthy, there is one interesting situation in which we may be fooled by communicators. This occurs when a message is presented by someone whom we perceive as untrustworthy. When we first hear that person’s communication, we appropriately discount it, and it therefore has little influence on our opinions. However, over time there is a tendency to remember the content of a communication to a greater extent than we remember the source of the communication. As a result, we may forget over time to discount the remembered message. This attitude change that occurs over time is known as the sleeper effect (Kumkale & Albarracín, 2004).

Perhaps you’ve experienced the sleeper effect. During high-profile election campaigns, candidates sometimes produce advertisements that attack their opponents. These kinds of communications occasionally stretch the truth in order to win public favor, which is why many people listen to them with a grain of salt. The trouble occurs, however, when people remember the claims made but forget the source of the communication. The sleeper effect is diagrammed in Figure 4.5, “The Sleeper Effect.”

Creating Effective Communications

Once we have chosen a communicator, the next step is to determine what type of message we should have him or her deliver. Neither social psychologists nor advertisers are so naïve as to think that simply presenting a strong message is sufficient. No matter how good the message is, it will not be effective unless people pay attention to it, understand it, accept it, and incorporate it into their self-concept. This is why we attempt to choose good communicators to present our ads in the first place, and why we tailor our communications to get people to process them the way we want them to.

The messages that we deliver may be processed either spontaneously (other terms for this include peripherally or heuristically —Chen & Chaiken, 1999; Petty & Wegener, 1999) or thoughtfully (other terms for this include centrally or systematically ). Spontaneous processing is direct, quick, and often involves affective responses to the message. Thoughtful processing, on the other hand, is more controlled and involves a more careful cognitive elaboration of the meaning of the message (Figure 4.6). The route that we take when we process a communication is important in determining whether or not a particular message changes attitudes.

Spontaneous Message Processing

Because we are bombarded with so many persuasive messages—and because we do not have the time, resources, or interest to process every message fully—we frequently process messages spontaneously. In these cases, if we are influenced by the communication at all, it is likely that it is the relatively unimportant characteristics of the advertisement, such as the likeability or attractiveness of the communicator or the music playing in the ad, that will influence us.

If we find the communicator cute, if the music in the ad puts us in a good mood, or if it appears that other people around us like the ad, then we may simply accept the message without thinking about it very much (Giner-Sorolla & Chaiken, 1997). In these cases, we engage in spontaneous message processing, in which we accept a persuasion attempt because we focus on whatever is most obvious or enjoyable, without much attention to the message itself . Shelley Chaiken (1980) found that students who were not highly involved in a topic because it did not affect them personally, were more persuaded by a likeable communicator than by an unlikeable one, regardless of whether the communicator presented a good argument for the topic or a poor one. On the other hand, students who were more involved in the decision were more persuaded by the better message than by the poorer one, regardless of whether the communicator was likeable or not—they were not fooled by the likeability of the communicator.

You might be able to think of some advertisements that are likely to be successful because they create spontaneous processing of the message by basing their persuasive attempts around creating emotional responses in the listeners. In these cases, the advertisers use associational learning to associate the positive features of the ad with the product. Television commercials are often humorous, and automobile ads frequently feature beautiful people having fun driving beautiful cars. The slogans “I’m lovin’ it,” “Life tastes good,” and “Good to the last drop” are good ads in part because they successfully create positive affect in the listener.

In some cases emotional ads may be effective because they lead us to watch or listen to the ad rather than simply change the channel or do something else. The clever and funny TV ads that are broadcast during the Super Bowl every year are likely to be effective because we watch them, remember them, and talk about them with others. In this case, the positive affect makes the ads more salient, causing them to grab our attention. But emotional ads also take advantage of the role of affect in information processing. We tend to like things more when we are in a good mood, and—because positive affect indicates that things are okay—we process information less carefully when we are in a good mood. Thus the spontaneous approach to persuasion is particularly effective when people are happy (Sinclair, Mark, & Clore, 1994), and advertisers try to take advantage of this fact.

Another type of ad that is based on emotional response is one that uses fear appeals, such as ads that show pictures of deadly automobile accidents to encourage seatbelt use or images of lung cancer surgery to decrease smoking. By and large, fearful messages are persuasive (Das, de Wit, & Stroebe, 2003; Perloff, 2003; Witte & Allen, 2000). Again, this is due in part to the fact that the emotional aspects of the ads make them salient and lead us to attend to and remember them. And fearful ads may also be framed in a way that leads us to focus on the salient negative outcomes that have occurred for one particular individual. When we see an image of a person who is jailed for drug use, we may be able to empathize with that person and imagine how we would feel if it happened to us. Thus this ad may be more effective than more “statistical” ads stating the base rates of the number of people who are jailed for drug use every year.

Fearful ads also focus on self-concern, and advertisements that are framed in a way that suggests that a behavior will harm the self are more effective than those framed more positively. Banks, Salovey, Greener, and Rothman (1995) found that a message that emphasized the negative aspects of not getting a breast cancer screening mammogram (e.g., “Not getting a mammogram can cost you your life”) was more effective than a similar message that emphasized the positive aspects of having a mammogram (e.g., “Getting a mammogram can save your life”) in convincing women to have a mammogram over the next year. These findings are consistent with the general idea that the brain responds more strongly to negative affect than it does to positive affect (Ito, Larsen, Smith, & Cacioppo, 1998).

Although laboratory studies generally find that fearful messages are effective in persuasion, they may be less useful in real-world advertising campaigns (Hastings, Stead, & Webb, 2004). Fearful messages may create a lot of anxiety and therefore turn people off to the message (Shehryar & Hunt, 2005). For instance, people who know that smoking cigarettes is dangerous but who cannot seem to quit may experience particular anxiety about their smoking behaviors. Fear messages are more effective when people feel that they know how to rectify the problem, have the ability to actually do so, and take responsibility for the change. Without some feelings of self-efficacy, people do not know how to respond to the fear (Aspinwall, Kemeny, Taylor, & Schneider, 1991). Thus if you want to scare people into changing their behavior, it may be helpful if you also give them some ideas about how to do so, so that they feel like they have the ability to take action to make the changes (Passyn & Sujan, 2006).

Thoughtful Message Processing

When we process messages only spontaneously, our feelings are more likely to be important, but when we process messages thoughtfully, cognition prevails. When we care about the topic, find it relevant, and have plenty of time to think about the communication, we are likely to process the message more deliberatively, carefully, and thoughtfully (Petty & Briñol, 2008). In this case we elaborate on the communication by considering the pros and cons of the message and questioning the validity of the communicator and the message. Thoughtful message processing   occurs when we think about how the message relates to our own beliefs and goals and involves our careful consideration of whether the persuasion attempt is valid or invalid.

When an advertiser presents a message that he or she hopes will be processed thoughtfully, the goal is to create positive cognitions about the attitude object in the listener. The communicator mentions positive features and characteristics of the product and at the same time attempts to downplay the negative characteristics. When people are asked to list their thoughts about a product while they are listening to, or right after they hear, a message, those who list more positive thoughts also express more positive attitudes toward the product than do those who list more negative thoughts (Petty & Briñol, 2008). Because the thoughtful processing of the message bolsters the attitude, thoughtful processing helps us develop strong attitudes, which are therefore resistant to counterpersuasion (Petty, Cacioppo, & Goldman, 1981).

Which Route Do We Take: Thoughtful or Spontaneous?

Both thoughtful and spontaneous messages can be effective, but it is important to know which is likely to be better in which situation and for which people. When we can motivate people to process our message carefully and thoughtfully, then we are going to be able to present our strong and persuasive arguments with the expectation that our audience will attend to them. If we can get the listener to process these strong arguments thoughtfully, then the attitude change will likely be strong and long lasting. On the other hand, when we expect our listeners to process only spontaneously—for instance, if they don’t care too much about our message or if they are busy doing other things—then we do not need to worry so much about the content of the message itself; even a weak (but interesting) message can be effective in this case. Successful advertisers tailor their messages to fit the expected characteristics of their audiences.

In addition to being motivated to process the message, we must also have the ability to do so. If the message is too complex to understand, we may rely on spontaneous cues, such as the perceived trustworthiness or expertise of the communicator (Hafer, Reynolds, & Obertynski, 1996), and ignore the content of the message. When experts are used to attempt to persuade people—for instance, in complex jury trials—the messages that these experts give may be very difficult to understand. In these cases, the jury members may rely on the perceived expertise of the communicator rather than his or her message, being persuaded in a relatively spontaneous way. In other cases, we may not be able to process the information thoughtfully because we are distracted or tired—in these cases even weak messages can be effective, again because we process them spontaneously (Petty, Wells & Brock, 1976).

Petty, Cacioppo, and Goldman (1981) showed how different motivations may lead to either spontaneous or thoughtful processing. In their research, college students heard a message suggesting that the administration at their college was proposing to institute a new comprehensive exam that all students would need to pass in order to graduate, and then rated the degree to which they were favorable toward the idea. The researchers manipulated three independent variables:

• Message strength. The message contained either strong arguments (persuasive data and statistics about the positive effects of the exams at other universities) or weak arguments (relying only on individual quotations and personal opinions).
• Source expertise. The message was supposedly prepared either by an expert source (the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, which was chaired by a professor of education at Princeton University) or by a nonexpert source (a class at a local high school).
• Personal relevance. The students were told either that the new exam would begin before they graduated ( high personal relevance ) or that it would not begin until after they had already graduated ( low personal relevance ).

As you can see in Figure 4.8, Petty and his colleagues found two interaction effects. The top panel of the figure shows that the students in the high personal relevance condition (left side) were not particularly influenced by the expertise of the source, whereas the students in the low personal relevance condition (right side) were. On the other hand, as you can see in the bottom panel, the students who were in the high personal relevance condition (left side) were strongly influenced by the quality of the argument, but the low personal involvement students (right side) were not.

These findings fit with the idea that when the issue was important, the students engaged in thoughtful processing of the message itself. When the message was largely irrelevant, they simply used the expertise of the source without bothering to think about the message.

Because both thoughtful and spontaneous approaches can be successful, advertising campaigns, such as those used by Apple, carefully make use of both spontaneous and thoughtful messages. For example, the ad may showcase the new and useful features of a device like the iPad amid scenes of happy, creative, or productive people and an inspiring soundtrack.

Preventing Persuasion

To this point, we have focused on techniques designed to change attitudes. But it is also useful to develop techniques that prevent attitude change. If you are hoping that Magritte will never puff that first cigarette, then you might be interested in knowing what her parents might be able to do to prevent that from happening.

One approach to improving an individual’s ability to resist persuasion is to help the person create a strong attitude. Strong attitudes are more difficult to change than are weak attitudes, and we are more likely to act on our strong attitudes. This suggests that Magritte’s parents might want help Magritte consider all the reasons that she should not smoke and develop strong negative affect about smoking. As Magritte’s negative thoughts and feelings about smoking become more well defined and more integrated into the self-concept, they should have a greater influence on her behavior.

One method of increasing attitude strength involves forewarning: giving people a chance to develop a resistance to persuasion by reminding them that they might someday receive a persuasive message, and allowing them to practice how they will respond to influence attempts (Sagarin & Wood, 2007). Magritte’s parents might want to try the forewarning approach. After the forewarning, when Magritte hears the smoking message from her peers, she may be less influenced by it because she was aware ahead of time that the persuasion would likely occur and had already considered how to resist it.

Forewarning seems to be particularly effective when the message that is expected to follow attacks an attitude that we care a lot about. In these cases, the forewarning prepares us for action—we bring up our defenses to maintain our existing beliefs. When we don’t care much about the topic, on the other hand, we may simply change our belief before the appeal actually comes (Wood & Quinn, 2003).

Forewarning can be effective in helping people respond to persuasive messages that they will receive later.

A similar approach is to help build up the cognitive component of the attitude by presenting a weak attack on the existing attitude with the goal of helping the person create counterarguments about a persuasion attempt that is expected to come in the future. Just as an inoculation against the flu gives us a small dose of the influenza virus that helps prevent a bigger attack later, giving Magritte a weak argument to persuade her to smoke cigarettes can help her develop ways to resist the real attempts when they come in the future. This procedure—known as inoculation — involves building up defenses against persuasion by mildly attacking the attitude position (Compton & Pfau, 2005; McGuire, 1961). We would begin by telling Magritte the reasons that her friends might think that she should smoke (for instance, because everyone is doing it and it makes people look “cool”), therefore allowing her to create some new defenses against persuasion. Thinking about the potential arguments that she might receive and preparing the corresponding counterarguments will make the attitude stronger and more resistant to subsequent change attempts.

One difficulty with forewarning and inoculation attempts is that they may boomerang. If we feel that another person—for instance, a person who holds power over us—is attempting to take away our freedom to make our own decisions, we may respond with strong emotion, completely ignore the persuasion attempt, and perhaps even engage in the opposite behavior. Perhaps you can remember a time when you felt like your parents or someone else who had some power over you put too much pressure on you, and you rebelled against them.

The strong emotional response that we experience when we feel that our freedom of choice is being taken away when we expect that we should have choice is known as psychological reactance (Brehm, 1966; Miron & Brehm, 2006). If Magritte’s parents are too directive in their admonitions about not smoking, she may feel that they do not trust her to make her own decisions and are attempting to make them for her. In this case, she may experience reactance and become more likely to start smoking. Erceg-Hurn and Steed (2011) found that the graphic warning images that are placed on cigarette packs could create reactance in people who viewed them, potentially reducing the warnings’ effectiveness in convincing people to stop smoking.

Given the extent to which our judgments and behaviors are frequently determined by processes that occur outside of our conscious awareness, you might wonder whether it is possible to persuade people to change their attitudes or to get people to buy products or engage in other behaviors using subliminal advertising. Subliminal advertising occurs when a message, such as an advertisement or another image of a brand, is presented to the consumer without the person being aware that a message has been presented—for instance, by flashing messages quickly in a TV show, an advertisement, or a movie (Theus, 1994).

Social Psychology in the Public Interest

Does subliminal advertising work.

If it were effective, subliminal advertising would have some major advantages for advertisers because it would allow them to promote their product without directly interrupting the consumer’s activity and without the consumer knowing that he or she is being persuaded (Trappey, 1996). People cannot counterargue with, or attempt to avoid being influenced by, messages that they do not know they have received and this may make subliminal advertising particularly effective. Due to fears that people may be influenced to buy products out of their awareness, subliminal advertising has been legally banned in many countries, including Australia, Great Britain, and the United States.

Some research has suggested that subliminal advertising may be effective. Karremans, Stroebe, and Claus (2006) had Dutch college students view a series of computer trials in which a string of letters such as BBBBBBBBB or BBBbBBBBB was presented on the screen and the students were asked to pay attention to whether or not the strings contained a small b . However, immediately before each of the letter strings, the researchers presented either the name of a drink that is popular in Holland (“Lipton Ice”) or a control string containing the same letters as Lipton Ice (“Npeic Tol”). The priming words were presented so quickly (for only about 1/50th of a second) that the participants could not see them.

Then the students were asked to indicate their intention to drink Lipton Ice by answering questions such as “If you would sit on a terrace now, how likely is it that you would order Lipton Ice?” and also to indicate how thirsty they were at this moment. The researchers found that the students who had been exposed to the Lipton Ice primes were significantly more likely to say that they would drink Lipton Ice than were those who had been exposed to the control words, but that this was only true for the participants who said that they were currently thirsty.

On the other hand, other research has not supported the effectiveness of subliminal advertising. Charles Trappey (1996) conducted a meta-analysis in which he combined 23 research studies that had tested the influence of subliminal advertising on consumer choice. The results showed that subliminal advertising had a negligible effect on consumer choice. Saegert (1987) concluded that “marketing should quit giving subliminal advertising the benefit of the doubt” (p. 107), arguing that the influences of subliminal stimuli are usually so weak that they are normally overshadowed by the person’s own decision making about the behavior.

Even if a subliminal or subtle advertisement is perceived, previous experience with the product or similar products—or even unrelated, more salient stimuli at the moment—may easily overshadow any effect the subliminal message would have had (Moore, 1988). That is, even if we do perceive the “hidden” message, our prior attitudes or our current situation will likely have a stronger influence on our choices, potentially nullifying any effect the subliminal message would have had.

Taken together, the evidence for the effectiveness of subliminal advertising is weak and its effects may be limited to only some people and only some conditions. You probably don’t have to worry too much about being subliminally persuaded in your everyday life even if subliminal ads are allowed in your country. Of course, although subliminal advertising is not that effective, there are plenty of other indirect advertising techniques that are. Many ads for automobiles and alcoholic beverages have sexual connotations, which indirectly (even if not subliminally) associate these positive features with their products. And there are the ever more frequent “product placement” techniques, where images of brands (cars, sodas, electronics, and so forth) are placed on websites and in popular TV shows and movies.

Key Takeaways

• Advertising is effective in changing attitudes, and principles of social psychology can help us understand when and how advertising works.
• Social psychologists study which communicators can deliver the most effective messages to which types of message recipients.
• Communicators are more effective when they help their recipients feel good about themselves. Attractive, similar, trustworthy, and expert communicators are examples of effective communicators.
• Attitude change that occurs over time, particularly when we no longer discount the impact of a low-credibility communicator, is known as the sleeper effect.
• The messages that we deliver may be processed either spontaneously or thoughtfully. When we are processing messages only spontaneously, our feelings are more likely to be important, but when we process the message thoughtfully, cognition prevails.
• Both thoughtful and spontaneous messages can be effective, in different situations and for different people.
• One approach to improving an individual’s ability to resist persuasion is to help the person create a strong attitude. Procedures such as forewarning and inoculation can help increase attitude strength and thus reduce subsequent persuasion.
• Taken together, the evidence for the effectiveness of subliminal advertising is weak, and its effects may be limited to only some people and only some conditions.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

• Reconsider the effectiveness of Apple’s marketing campaign for the latest iPhone in terms of the principles of persuasion that we have discussed.
• Find and discuss examples of web or TV ads that make use of the principles discussed in this section.
• Visit the Joe Chemo site , designed to highlight and counterargue the negative effects of the Joe Camel cigarette ads. Create a presentation that summarizes the influence of cigarette ads on children.
• Based on our discussion of resistance to persuasion, what techniques would you use to help a child resist the pressure to start smoking or start using recreational drugs?

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Kumkale, G. T., & Albarracín, D. (2004). The sleeper effect in persuasion: A meta-analytic review.  Psychological Bulletin, 130 (1), 143–172. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.130.1.143

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Media Attributions

• “ Oprah Winfrey at 2011 TCA ” by Greg Hernandez is licensed under a CC BY 2.0 licence.
• “ Federer WM16 (37) (28136155830) ” by si.robi is licensed under a CC BY-SA 2.0 licence.
• “ Bono at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival ” by David Shankbone is licensed under a CC BY 3.0 licence.
• “ Cigarettes brazil ” by Brazilian Health Ministry (MS) – Instituto Nacional do Câncer (INCA) is licensed under a Public domain licence.
• “Figure 4.8 Personal involvement as a determinant of argument-based persuasion” is based on data from Petty, Cacioppo, and Goldman (1981). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41(5), 847–855.

Attitude change that occurs over time.

We focus on whatever is most obvious or enjoyable, without much attention to the message itself.

Occurs when we think about how the message relates to our own beliefs and goals and involves our careful consideration of whether the persuasion attempt is valid or invalid.

The message contained either strong arguments (persuasive data and statistics about the positive effects of the exams at other universities) or weak arguments (relying only on individual quotations and personal opinions).

The message was supposedly prepared either by an expert source (the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, which was chaired by a professor of education at Princeton University) or by a nonexpert source (a class at a local high school).

The students were told either that the new exam would begin before they graduated (high personal relevance) or that it would not begin until after they had already graduated (low personal relevance).

giving people a chance to develop a resistance to persuasion by reminding them that they might someday receive a persuasive message, and allowing them to practice how they will respond to influence attempts

Involves building up defenses against persuasion by mildly attacking the attitude position.

The strong emotional response that we experience when we feel that our freedom of choice is being taken away when we expect that we should have choice.

Principles of Social Psychology - 1st International H5P Edition Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani and Dr. Hammond Tarry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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What Is Cognitive Dissonance Theory?

Saul McLeod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

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Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

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Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.

This produces a feeling of mental discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance.

For example, when people smoke (behavior) and they know that smoking causes cancer (cognition), they are in a state of cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Cognitive dissonance was first investigated by Leon Festinger, arising out of a participant observation study of a cult that believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood, and what happened to its members — particularly the really committed ones who had given up their homes and jobs to work for the cult — when the flood did not happen.

While fringe members were more inclined to recognize that they had made fools of themselves and to “put it down to experience,” committed members were more likely to re-interpret the evidence to show that they were right all along (the earth was not destroyed because of the faithfulness of the cult members).

How Attitude Change Takes Place

Festinger’s (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and behavior in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance). This is known as the principle of cognitive consistency.

When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors (dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance.

Notice that dissonance theory does not state that these modes of dissonance reduction will actually work, only that individuals who are in a state of cognitive dissonance will take steps to reduce the extent of their dissonance.

The theory of cognitive dissonance has been widely researched in a number of situations to develop the basic idea in more detail, and various factors have been identified which may be important in attitude change.

What Causes Cognitive Dissonance?

• Forced Compliance Behavior,
• Decision Making,

We will look at the main findings to have emerged from each area.

Forced Compliance Behavior

When someone is forced to do (publicly) something they (privately) really don’t want to do, dissonance is created between their cognition (I didn’t want to do this) and their behavior (I did it).

Forced compliance occurs when an individual performs an action that is inconsistent with his or her beliefs. The behavior can’t be changed since it was already in the past, so dissonance will need to be reduced by re-evaluating their attitude toward what they have done. This prediction has been tested experimentally:

In an intriguing experiment, Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) asked participants to perform a series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in a peg board for an hour). As you can imagine, participant’s attitudes toward this task were highly negative.

Example of Cognitive Dissonance

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) investigated if making people perform a dull task would create cognitive dissonance through forced compliance behavior.

In their laboratory experiment, they used 71 male students as participants to perform a series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in a peg board for an hour).

They were then paid either $1 or $20 to tell a waiting participant (a confederate) that the tasks were really interesting. Almost all of the participants agreed to walk into the waiting room and persuade the confederate that the boring experiment would be fun.

When the participants were asked to evaluate the experiment, the participants who were paid only $1 rated the tedious task as more fun and enjoyable than the participants who were paid $20 to lie.

Being paid only $1 is not sufficient incentive for lying and so those who were paid $1 experienced dissonance. They could only overcome that dissonance by coming to believe that the tasks really were interesting and enjoyable. Being paid $20 provides a reason for turning pegs, and there is, therefore, no dissonance.

Decision Making

Life is filled with decisions, and decisions (as a general rule) arouse dissonance.

For example, suppose you had to decide whether to accept a job in an absolutely beautiful area of the country or turn down the job so you could be near your friends and family.

Either way, you would experience dissonance. If you took the job you would miss your loved ones; if you turned the job down, you would pine for the beautiful streams, mountains, and valleys.

Both alternatives have their good points and bad points. The rub is that making a decision cuts off the possibility that you can enjoy the advantages of the unchosen alternative, yet it assures you that you must accept the disadvantages of the chosen alternative.

Brehm (1956) was the first to investigate the relationship between dissonance and decision-making.

Female participants were informed they would be helping out in a study funded by several manufacturers. Participants were also told that they would receive one of the products at the end of the experiment to compensate for their time and effort.

The women then rated the desirability of eight household products that ranged in price from $15 to $30. The products included an automatic coffee maker, an electric sandwich grill, an automatic toaster, and a portable radio.

Participants in the control group were simply given one of the products. Because these participants did not make a decision, they did not have any dissonance to reduce. Individuals in the low-dissonance group chose between a desirable product and one rated 3 points lower on an 8-point scale.

Participants in the high-dissonance condition chose between a highly desirable product and one rated just 1 point lower on the 8-point scale. After reading the reports about the various products, individuals rated the products again.

Participants in the high-dissonance condition spread apart the alternatives significantly more than the participants in the other two conditions.

In other words, they were more likely than participants in the other two conditions to increase the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and to decrease the attractiveness of the unchosen alternative.

It also seems to be the case that we value most highly those goals or items which have required considerable effort to achieve.

This is probably because dissonance would be caused if we spent a great effort to achieve something and then evaluated it negatively.

We could, of course, spend years of effort into achieving something which turns out to be a load of rubbish and then, in order to avoid the dissonance that produces, try to convince ourselves that we didn’t really spend years of effort or that the effort was really quite enjoyable, or that it wasn’t really a lot of effort.

In fact, though, it seems we find it easier to persuade ourselves that what we have achieved is worthwhile, and that’s what most of us do, evaluating highly something whose achievement has cost us dear – whether other people think it’s much cop or not!

This method of reducing dissonance is known as “effort justification.”

If we put effort into a task that we have chosen to carry out, and the task turns out badly, we experience dissonance. To reduce this dissonance, we are motivated to try to think that the task turned out well.

A classic dissonance experiment by Aronson and Mills (1959) demonstrates the basic idea.

To investigate the relationship between dissonance and effort.

Female students volunteered to take part in a discussion on the psychology of sex. In the “mild embarrassment” condition, participants read aloud to a male experimenter a list of sex-related words like “virgin” and “prostitute.”

In the “severe embarrassment” condition, they had to read aloud obscene words and a very explicit sexual passage.

In the control condition, they went straight into the main study. In all conditions, they then heard a very boring discussion about sex in lower animals. They were asked to rate how interesting they had found the discussion and how interesting they had found the people involved in it.

Participants in the “severe embarrassment” condition gave the most positive rating.

If a voluntary experience that has cost a lot of effort turns out badly, the dissonance is reduced by redefining the experience as interesting. This justifies the effort made.

How To Reduce Cognitive Dissonance

Dissonance can be reduced in one of three ways: a) changing existing beliefs, b) adding new beliefs, or c) reducing the importance of the beliefs.

Change one or more of the attitudes, behavior, beliefs, etc., to make the relationship between the two elements a consonant one.

When one of the dissonant elements is a behavior, the individual can change or eliminate the behavior.

However, this mode of dissonance reduction frequently presents problems for people, as it is often difficult for people to change well-learned behavioral responses (e.g., giving up smoking).

This is often very difficult, as people frequently employ a variety of mental maneuvers.

Acquire new information that outweighs the dissonant beliefs.

For example, thinking smoking causes lung cancer will cause dissonance if a person smokes.

However, new information such as “research has not proved definitely that smoking causes lung cancer” may reduce the dissonance.

Reduce the importance of the cognitions (i.e., beliefs, attitudes).

A common way to reduce dissonance is to increase the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and decrease the attractiveness of the rejected alternative. This is referred to as “spreading apart the alternatives.”

A person could convince themself that it is better to “live for today” than to “save for tomorrow.”

In other words, he could tell himself that a short life filled with smoking and sensual pleasures is better than a long life devoid of such joys. In this way, he would be decreasing the importance of dissonant cognition (smoking is bad for one’s health).

Critical Evaluation

There has been a great deal of research into cognitive dissonance, providing some interesting and sometimes unexpected findings.

It is a theory with very broad applications, showing that we aim for consistency between attitudes and behaviors and may not use very rational methods to achieve it. It has the advantage of being testable by scientific means (i.e., experiments).

However, there is a problem from a scientific point of view because we cannot physically observe cognitive dissonance, and therefore we cannot objectively measure it (re: behaviorism). Consequently, the term cognitive dissonance is somewhat subjective.

There is also some ambiguity (i.e., vagueness) about the term “dissonance” itself. Is it a perception (as “cognitive” suggests), a feeling, or a feeling about a perception? Aronson’s Revision of the idea of dissonance as an inconsistency between a person’s self-concept and a cognition about their behavior makes it seem likely that dissonance is really nothing more than guilt.

There are also individual differences in whether or not people act as this theory predicts. Highly anxious people are more likely to do so. Many people seem able to cope with considerable dissonance and not experience the tensions the theory predicts.

Finally, many of the studies supporting the theory of cognitive dissonance have low ecological validity. For example, turning pegs (as in Festinger’s experiment) is an artificial task that doesn’t happen in everyday life.

Also, the majority of experiments used students as participants, which raises issues of a biased sample . Could we generalize the results from such experiments?

What is the difference between cognitive dissonance theory and balance theory?

Cognitive dissonance theory, proposed by Festinger, focuses on the discomfort felt when holding conflicting beliefs or attitudes, leading individuals to seek consistency.

Heider’s Balance Theory , on the other hand, emphasizes the desire for balanced relations among triads of entities (like people and attitudes), with imbalances prompting changes in attitudes to restore balance. Both theories address cognitive consistency, but in different contexts.

Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59(2) , 177.

Brehm, J. W. (1956). Postdecision changes in the desirability of alternatives. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 52(3) , 384.

Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of cognitive dissonance . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Festinger, L. (1959). Some attitudinal consequences of forced decisions . Acta Psychologica , 15, 389-390.

Festinger, L. (Ed.). (1964). Conflict, decision, and dissonance (Vol. 3) . Stanford University Press.

Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58(2) , 203.

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How to Change Your Attitude

Last Updated: June 28, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Trudi Griffin, LPC, MS . Trudi Griffin is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Wisconsin specializing in Addictions and Mental Health. She provides therapy to people who struggle with addictions, mental health, and trauma in community health settings and private practice. She received her MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marquette University in 2011. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 398,033 times.

A negative outlook on life can have serious consequences to your health, your relationships, and your feelings of satisfaction in life. Changing your attitude can be achieved through mindful, conscious thought and attention. Generating a positive attitude, practicing gratitude, and selectively forming new habits that promote positivity is a life-long process that can result in a changed attitude.

Generating a Positive Attitude

• Consider joining a support group for people who are similarly motivated to change their lives for the better.
• In making these changes, chances are you'll notice some patterns of positivity in your life. No one's life is all bad, and by letting go of the parts of your life that no longer serve you, you'll become more aware of the habits you want to strengthen.

• Some disagreement is natural in healthy relationships. Most relationships have some combination of healthy and unhealthy characteristics.
• Talk to a counselor together with your partner if you find yourself unable to change the unhealthy patterns on your own.
• If you are in a relationship that is violent, or emotionally or physically abusive, seek help with a local domestic violence agency. You can find these agencies in the United States by calling 211.

• Make sure to look for the positive in yourself as well.
• Remember that everything is an opportunity to learn new skills, especially the things that feel most difficult at first. If nothing else, you can be grateful for the chance to learn new things in a bad situation.
• Never stay in a situation simply because it's bad. You may be tempted to pretend that unhealthy behavior — a racist boss, an abusive partner, an emotionally manipulative friend — is providing a good opportunity for you to learn patience and tolerance. While this may be true, staying may not be the healthiest choice. One of the most positive things to learn from a bad situation is that you can leave.

• For best results, find ways to do kind things for others in a way that is completely anonymous. For example, fill up all the coin slots in a laundromat with quarters when no one is looking.
• Don't just think of how you would want to be treated; imagine the way another person might want to be treated. For someone who's very shy, perhaps writing him a note to congratulate him on his presentation might be kinder than giving him a loud compliment and hug in front of others.

wikiHow Quiz: What Kind of Reality Check Do I Need?

Pick a sea creature:, developing an attitude of gratitude.

• Some research suggests that writing gratitude lists by hand is a valuable part of this process. The physical act of writing by hand slows down your attention in a meaningful way.
• If you really can't think of anything to be grateful about, pretend to feel grateful. Remember, you're still learning to change your attitude. Consider gratitude as, "Hey, it could be worse."

Moshe Ratson, MFT, PCC

Alternatively, think about starting a gratitude journal. Each day, use your journal to reflect on what you're thankful for. Doing so can improve your mood and help you see things in a more positive way.

• If you want to write the note, but not send it, that's fine. The purpose of writing thank you notes is mostly to practice articulating appreciation. It might not be possible to find people from your past, or the person might be deceased.
• Research shows that people who spend at least 15 minutes per week writing gratitude letters, over 8 weeks, show a demonstrable increase in positivity.

• If you practice a religion, you might turn to prayers found in this religion. If you don't consider yourself a religious person, practices of meditation might be more valuable.
• Even though it may not feel like it, practicing meditation and prayer is a kind of exercise. The more you practice, the better you will become. You may not notice the difference at first, but over time you will be able to maintain a calm, peaceful attitude no matter what's going on around you.

• For another kind of gratitude jar, try adding some change or a dollar to the jar every day when you write in your gratitude journal. When the jar is full, use the money to find creative ways to "pay it forward:" buying gift cards for unsuspecting people who might need the help, or buying flowers for someone who rarely receives recognition.
• If you're a crafty person, decorate your gratitude jar with ribbon, paint, or stickers.

• Notice when you're tempted to complain, and try to find something positive to turn your attention to.
• Complaining focuses your attention on what you'd rather have different without actually requiring you to do anything different. It keeps you in a position of powerlessness.

• Knowing more about why you've made the choices you've made may help you to avoid making bad choices in the future.
• Remember that while most negative circumstances are the result of a conscious choice made on your part, sometimes bad things happen despite careful planning. No one is immune from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• If you can't find another way to think about a bad situation, ask someone for help. Talk to a counselor, a therapist, a trusted friend or another person. You don't have to face this alone.

Forming New Habits

• If it's easier for you to take an additional hour at the end of the day, you can try this. Most, but not all, people find it more productive to take time in the early morning hours.
• Don't allow yourself to waste the morning time in negative mind traps, like reading depressing news or scrolling through social media.

• This doesn't mean to abandon a friend who may be having a hard time, but if your friend's life is always full of drama and hardship, you may need to take a break.
• If being around negative people is unavoidable (for instance, if it's your boss or supervisor) you may be able to put their negativity to use. Try to understand where it's coming from, and counter it with positivity.

• Think about what adjustments you can make to your daily routine to include more things that bring you happiness.
• Pause several times per day to take your happiness level. If you're feeling happy, think about the circumstances that have contributed to this feeling.

• When you're in a new, stressful situation, pause and take a deep breath before doing or saying anything.
• If you can, take the time to think something out before giving an answer. Say, "I need to think about it."

• You might use a particular word or phrase to return your attention to the present, such as "now" or "present" or "return."
• Don't berate yourself for losing focus. Remember, kindness is essential to developing a positive attitude.

• Try not to keep multiple tabs up on your internet browser, and turn off your phone when you're watching television. If you are washing dishes, turn off the news. Doing one thing at a time, and doing it well, will increase your positive attitude. [15] X Research source
• If you have to multitask, set aside specific times for it. When the time is up, return to your single-task outlook.
• When you're having a conversation with a friend, turn off your phone.
• Slow down your attention to be more fully present in every activity.

Find Happiness with Bestselling Author & TEDx Speaker Shawn Achor

We teamed up with Shawn Achor to bring you a powerful new tool and quiz designed to elevate your happiness.

Expert Q&A

• Don't worry if you have a hard time changing your attitude. This is a long-term process, and won't be different immediately. Be patient with yourself as you change. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 1

• If you have signs of clinical depression or anxiety, you may need professional help to change your attitude. Check with your medical health provider, or call 211 (in the United States) to find local resources. Thanks Helpful 22 Not Helpful 8

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/happiness-purpose/201503/happiness-life-7-rid-lifes-unnecessary-negatives
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/notes-self/201310/8-keys-healthy-relationships
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/click-here-happiness/202101/the-power-positivity
• ↑ https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/gratitude_journal
• ↑ https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/21/11/gratitude-more-just-saying-thank-you
• ↑ https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2015/08/positive-emotions-your-health
• ↑ https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good
• ↑ https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_trick_your_brain_for_happiness
• ↑ https://positivepsychology.com/gratitude-exercises/
• ↑ https://psychcentral.com/blog/best-self/2014/08/6-strategies-to-take-control-of-your-attitude-and-stay-positive
• ↑ https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier
• ↑ https://positivepsychology.com/present-moment/
• ↑ https://hbr.org/2012/03/the-magic-of-doing-one-thing-a
• ↑ https://www.teachthought.com/technology/25-tips-to-deal-with-digital-distractions/

About This Article

To change your attitude, start by taking action to be kind to others on a regular basis. Just small things filling up the laundromat dryer with quarters for the next person or writing a quick note to cheer up a friend will increase your own positivity. Another key to having a positive mindset is practicing gratitude. Cultivate the discipline of gratitude by keeping a journal where you write down something from each day that you are grateful for. Extend that gratitude to others by sending thank you cards to the people who have helped you, whether it be for something that happened recently years ago. For more tips from our Counseling co-author, like how to improve your attitude with mindfulness and meditation, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Cabinet minister tells Liberals to 'change their attitude' as MPs return to Commons

'to come in there and and scold mps is really out of place,' one mp said..

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A cabinet minister who serves as the federal Liberals' national campaign co-chair told MPs at the party's recent caucus retreat that they need to "change their attitudes" if they want to turn around their dismal polling numbers, sources tell CBC News.

More than half-a-dozen Liberal MPs asked CBC News for confidentiality in order to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the recent two-day caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C.

Three of them said Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada, national campaign co-chair, told them during her presentation that if they "want something to change" in their political prospects, they should change their "attitudes" first.

Two of those three MPs said the comment was poorly received by caucus members in the room. One said the statement was particularly galling because backbench MPs have been bearing the brunt of voters' dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government.

• Liberal MP says her constituents are 'very adamant' Justin Trudeau needs to go
• Mark Carney joins Liberals' economic growth task force
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"To come in there and scold MPs is really out of place," the MP said.

A third MP, meanwhile, said they were not bothered by Ferrada's message.

"Recognizing that one's attitude plays a role in [public] perception" is a valid point, the MP said.

Sources said that Quebec Liberal MP Alexandra Mendès — who recently told multiple media outlets that voters in her riding want Trudeau to step down — did not air her views at the meeting.

Before the retreat began, Mendès told Radio-Canada that she would be expressing her constituents' views to her caucus colleagues in Nanaimo.

"It's a very generalized …'We're tired of his face' kind of thing," she told  Power & Politics.

Mendès confirmed to CBC News that she never raised the issue behind closed doors.

"During Quebec caucus, other matters were more pressing and we only had an hour," she said in an email.

Mendès said she had to leave the caucus gathering Wednesday morning before the Q&A session.

All the MPs who spoke to CBC News said representatives of Trudeau's office and the party leadership in Nanaimo wanted to assure caucus they have a plan for when MPs return to Parliament this week. They said the overall mood at the meeting was positive.

The MPs said the plan presented to them had three parts: House of Commons strategy, policy and communications. 

MPs said the communications section of the plan was presented to caucus by Max Valiquette, an executive director of communications hired by Prime Minister Trudeau in November 2023, months after polls started showing the Liberals trailing far behind the Conservatives in voter intentions.

Three MPs said that while the plan pitched stronger messaging to push back against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, they were not told when the party would start releasing new ads.

By the second day of the retreat, one MP said, "there were hardly any questions about what are we going to do and what should change."

That MP also said that during the retreat, Trudeau and his team acknowledged the negative public perceptions of the government.

Another MP said Valiquette told caucus during his presentation that Canadians are feeling more positive about government policies — although they weren't sure where the data supporting the claim was coming from.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Senior reporter

Raffy Boudjikanian is a senior reporter with the CBC's Parliamentary Bureau in Ottawa. He has also worked in Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal for the public broadcaster.

With files from Olivia Stefanovich