Part of what makes each one of us unique is our combination of opinions and attitudes about the world around us. Every day, our attitudes about ideas, events, objects or people help determine the way we live and the choices we make. A major reason for this is attitudes have affective, behavioral and cognitive components. Moreover, attitudes can stem from each of these components. Once an attitude is formed, though, how is it manifested? Unless someone tells us, how do we know someone’s attitude toward something?[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FgqGAXvLB8[/embedyt]

Interestingly, an attitude can actually exist at two?different levels.?Explicit Attitudes?are attitudes that are at the conscious level, are deliberately formed and are easy to self-report. On the other hand, Implicit Attitudes are attitudes that are at the unconscious level, are involuntarily formed and are typically unknown to us.

Imagine you’re out with some friends and meet someone new. This new acquaintance is wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey, and they happen to be your favorite team. You decide you already like this person and start a friendly conversation. From an attitude perspective, you consciously noticed the jersey and determined that this was obviously someone with which you would get along. Your attitude is at the conscious level, was deliberately formed and you are able to tell someone else about your attitude.

Now, imagine the same scene. You are out with your friends. You vaguely notice some of the strangers around you but don’t meet anyone. You talk with your friends but feel extremely uncomfortable. Maybe your friend even notices and asks what’s wrong, but you have no idea. In this scenario, it would be possible that one of the strangers near you reminds you of someone from your past that you greatly disliked. Your attitude towards this person is what is making you feel uncomfortable. However, the attitude is at the unconscious level, was involuntarily formed, and you have no idea it’s there, so you couldn’t tell anyone about it.

It is possible and quite common for an explicit attitude and an implicit attitude to contradict each other. Prejudice is a frequently used example. Imagine Greg, a middle-class white man who genuinely believes that all races are equal and despises any kind of racial bias. This is Greg’s explicit attitude. He is aware of his strong opinion and can easily share this with others. Yet, he is unaware that any time he is around Hispanics, he acts rather nervous. If Greg grew up in a small town with strong negative stereotypes about Hispanic people, it’s possible that some of these negative ideas influenced him without his knowledge. He may subconsciously believe that Hispanics are dangerous. This is Greg’s contradicting implicit attitude. It was involuntarily created, and he is not aware of it.

The attached video explains Attitudes, Stereotypes and Biases by giving examples.? It gives insight into how implicit and explicit attitudes are created by biases and stereotypes.