Three-Component Model of Attitude
The problem of social attitude plays an important role in the research of the individual in social psychology. Personality does not only have a particular place in the system of social relations, but it establishes a certain relationship with the social institutions, norms, values, and people. This subjective aspect of human relationships forms a system of social attitudes of the individual (Hogg and Vaughan, 2005). In 1942 M. Smith defined the three-component structure of attitude, which consisted of the affective, behavioural, and cognitive components. This structure was also known as the ABC model of attitudes (Smith, Bruner and White, 1956). Thus, the concept of attitude was defined as the awareness, assessment, and readiness to act.
The affective component of the attitude model involves person’s feelings and emotions about the social objects. The behavioural component involves the tendencies of the person’s readiness to act towards social objects. The cognitive component of the attitude structure involves person’s evaluative judgments and opinions about objects. (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993). All three components of the attitude model are completely dependent upon each other. They are interconnected in such a manner that the change of one of them will inevitably lead to the change of the entire system (Katz, 1960). Thus, it may be stated that the significantly positive correlation is found between all three attitude components.
References
Eagly, A.H. and Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
Hogg, M. and Vaughan, G. (2005). Social Psychology. 4th ed. London: Prentice-Hall.
Katz, D. (1960). The functional approach to the study of attitudes. Public opinion quarterly, 24, pp. 163 - 204.
Smith, M.B., Bruner, J.S. and White, R.W. (1956). Opinions and Personality. New York: …
