ESOL Orientation

What Is an Attitude?

Have you ever asked your children or your wife or husband to change their attitude? Many of us have. Attitude often determines how we act or react to something. In fact, how we feel or think about something we experience, often determines how we experience it. So, when we ask someone to change their attitude, we really are asking that they change how they are experiencing something.

Perhaps, you have heard of the story of a little boy who takes a glass filled half-way with water to his mother. He holds it up and asks her, "Mother, is this glass half-full or half-empty?" Of course, her answer depends on her attitude.

Attitude shapes our experience. It can shape our experience in positive or negative ways. Some of the things that influence our attitude about different experiences are:

1) Our previous experience

2) What someone else has told us

3) What we have read about something

4) How we feel about ourselves and others (family, friends, teachers, coworkers)

5) What we think of ourselves and others

6) How we think others think of us

7) How we feel and think about our environment (home, neighborhood, workplace, classroom, town, country, world)

8) Our cultural values

9) Social institutions of law, education and church

10) And, perhaps, most importantly whether we feel we have the power to make positive choices in our lives that will help us reach our goals

Remember, our attitude often determines:

How we feel mentally / How we feel physically / How we express ourselves / How we dress / How we walk / What we say and how we say it / How well we get along with others / Our job, our marriage, our success in school / Our life

Think a moment about your attitude toward learning English. Consider the ten elements above and try to understand how each one might shape your attitude toward your experience here at Odessa College. Get with a partner and discuss.

Back to Table of Contents | Next