An attitude can be defined as a tendency to respond positively or negatively toward a certain idea, person, object, or situation (Triandis, 1971). This tendency, developed through peoples’ experiences as they live and work with others, can affect the way they behave toward those ideas, people, objects, and situations and can include opinions, beliefs, and biases.

Attitudes are not something people have when they are born. They are learned through experiences and contact with others and even through direct instruction from parents, teachers, and other important people in a person’s life. Because attitudes involve a positive or negative evaluation of things, it’s possible to go into a new situation, meet a new person, or be exposed to a new idea with one’s “mind already made up” to like or dislike, agree or disagree, and so on.