Attitudes in Psychology
Thus far, this chapter has implicitly used an everyday understanding of the term attitude, assuming the common sense meaning that takes it as a simple measure of whether an individual liked or disliked something.
However, attitude is a psychological construct. As such, it should be noted that most technical definitions also tally with this notion of deducing fondness. The psychologists, Bohner and Wanke (2002: 5) define an attitude as ‘a summary evaluation of an object or thought'. Under this conception, attitude relies on two components: an object, and a response to that object. The former appears straightforward and can refer to any number of stimuli, from the inanimate to the individual, the abstract to the concrete. It is the latter facet that requires a little more unpacking. A three-component model is presented by Rosenberg and Hovland (1960) whereby the evaluative aspect of the attitude consists of cognitive, affective and behavioural parts - which essentially amounts to beliefs, emotions and responses.With attitude so defined, the question arises as to how these attitudes are determined. Persuasion is essential to the process of attitude formation and development, according to Bohner and Wanke (2002: 69-186). They identify a number of means of persuasion, categorised by the amount of mental effort required on the part of the individual. However, prominent among these - and necessitating little effort - is the process of classical conditioning; an evaluative response to an object is brought about, and changed, through repeated connection between object and a positive or negative stimuli. An individual gradually learns to take a particular attitude as a result of certain associations. So it is that Berkowitz and Knurek (1969) managed to elicit consistently positive or negative responses to individuals named Ed and Ben among a research group to whom the names had been variously paired with positive or negative adjectives.
This understanding could be applied to the lawyers in this research. Through years of practice, the lawyers had learnt to hold particular attitudes towards their clients. These, though, were conflicted, as explored later in this discussion. For now, it is necessary to comprehend the course by which these attitudes became conflicted. This process is posited to have arisen from a challenge to the self-image of these lawyers.