A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT OF “AlTITUDES” PART II: A NATURALISTIC PERSPECTIVE
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Abstract
An alternative view of the conventional, mentalistic notion of the concept “attitudes” is presented and discussed. This alternative view stresses the need to study evaluative tendencies as sets of events in which individuals choose or prefer objects, events or situations; instead of conceiving attitudes as ‘internal” entities energizing a person’s actions. Since these sets of events occur in spatio-temporal coordinates, attitudes would be approached En a naturalistic way. It Es proposed that, within this naturaList perspective, research should consider the rational and irrational components of attitudes as well as the relevant role of situations in the origin and manifestation of attitudes. Consequently, methods assessing these two aspects should be developed and used in the study of attitudes.