Attitude: Structure, Formation, Influence & Persuasion

1. Structure, Components & Formation of Attitude

Cue Words	Notes
Definition of Attitude	An enduring psychological orientation—an evaluation of a person, object, group, idea, or situation ranging from extremely positive to extremely negative.
CAB / ABC Model of Attitude	Composed of three interrelated components: Cognitive Component (C): Beliefs, thoughts, and information about the object (e.g., belief that corruption harms national development). Affective Component (A): Emotional feelings and evaluations (e.g., feeling anger toward corrupt officials). Behavioral / Conative Component (B): Tendency to act in a particular way (e.g., filing an RTI or refusing to pay a bribe).
Cognitive Dissonance (Leon Festinger)	Psychological discomfort experienced when a person holds conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or when behavior contradicts attitude. People reduce dissonance by changing behavior, altering beliefs, or rationalizing actions.

2. Types of Attitude & Relation to Behavior

Cue Words	Notes
Categories of Attitude	Moral Attitude: Attitudes grounded in moral conviction about right/wrong (e.g., anti-untouchability attitude). Political Attitude: Views on governance, authority, rights, and political parties (e.g., democratic vs authoritarian attitude). Bureaucratic Attitude: Rigid adherence to rules, hierarchy, and procedural formality vs responsive, empathetic public service orientation.
Attitude-Behavior Relationship	Attitude predicts behavior when: attitude is strong and self-relevant, specific to the behavior, formed through direct personal experience, and when external social pressure is low.

3. Social Influence & Persuasion

Cue Words	Notes
Social Influence	Process by which individual attitudes or behaviors are affected by real or imagined presence of others (Conformity, Compliance, Obedience).
Persuasion & Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)	Effort to intentionally change a person's attitude through communication. Central Route: High elaboration; audience carefully evaluates logical arguments and facts. Produces lasting attitude change. Peripheral Route: Low elaboration; audience influenced by superficial cues (celebrity endorsements, emotional appeal, attractive speaker). Elixir in Public Admin: Used in campaigns like Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (combating open defecation via social shame/dignity appeals) and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.

4. Classic Social Psychology Studies on Attitude & Influence

Cue Words	Notes
Solomon Asch Conformity Experiments (1950s)	Demonstrated that individuals will conform to an obviously incorrect group judgment (on line-length comparisons) due to normative social pressure — a real, textbook-recognized study frequently cited to explain why bureaucratic groupthink or "yes-man" culture forms in hierarchical administration.
Stanley Milgram Obedience Experiments (1961-63)	Showed a majority of ordinary participants would administer what they believed were dangerous electric shocks when instructed by an authority figure — a classic reference point for discussing blind obedience to unlawful superior orders versus conscience-driven civil disobedience in the civil services.