“Heres a statement that I came across that appealed a lot. I wrote an opinion on it >>
“”People’s attitudes are determined more by their immediate situation or surroundings than by any internal characteristic.””
Attitude maybe defined as the way of thinking of an person. Attitude is an intrinsic value that is contingent upon myriads of factors such as the situation, or maybe the predicament for that matter, in which the individual finds himself in. Attitude maybe inherent in an individual but as the scope of ones life subsumes the world around him, the attitude tends to change radically.
Every human being is gifted with a basic quality of orienting himself with respect to the surroundings. This is called adaptation. The process of adapting to the surroundings need not be only physical. In fact during the process of doing so, the mindset of the individual is altered significantly and thus is his attitude. For example consider an individual who is living a lavish life in a big mansion in some city. Suppose he has to move to a smaller house, may be somewhere in the country side, then he adapts himslef to the compact situation. In the process the same individual who would have complained about some trivial shortcomings of his mansion, would learn to live with the same in his smaller house. This shows a marked change in the attitude or the mindset of the person.
The other, and probably one of the most significant factor, would be the cultural differences. Culture is something that varies with region, race and society. A person with a fixed attitude would not be able to blend himself with a new culture in which he is living. The point that is coming to light here is that even if an individual has an attitude developed through internal characteristics, it becomes redundant due to the extrinsic factors. For instance, the number of students who come to the US every year have to change their attitude and the way they think of things to better suit their surroundings. It would become almost impossible to blend in if they carry forward their native attitude.
A subordinate factor to the above mentioned would be age. A persons attitude changes with age. It would be very clear that a person would not have the same attitude when he is 20 and when he is at 40. At 20 an individual would have a carefree attitude and tends to take things for granted. However at 40, things are a lot different and the same attitude would put one in an imbroglio. When responsibilities are thrust upon someone there is bound to be what we can call an ‘attitude-adaptation’.
Attitude is a mirror of the surroundings and the situation in which a person lives. The closer you get to the reflection, the clearer the image is. Hence, if you know your surroundings better, the better you can suit your attitude so as to be in accord with them. Inherent attitude tends to become redundant as the various factors around a person change. Conclusively, attitude is solely determined by extrinsic factors.
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