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Can we change attitude?

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Can we change attitude?

Solitude is a valuable resource when changes of mental attitude are required-"solitude can be as therapeutic as emotional support from a friend".

Our way of thinking about life and ourselves is so habitual that it takes time and effort to change attitudes-people find it difficult to make changes in attitude but solitude and perhaps changes in environment facilitate changes in attitude because habit is fortified by external environment-religion is well aware of these facts-only through experience of change in environment can one know if such change will facilitate change in attitude-"one needs not just solitude but one needs to be able to sink roots into some replenishing philosophy also".

Solitude is not to subject oneself to sensor deprivation, which can lead to hallucinations. One needs the stimulation of the senses and the intellect.

Imagination-solitude can facilitate the growth of imagination-imagination has given humans flexibility but has robbed her of contentment-our non-human ancestors are governed by pre-programmed patterns-- these preprogrammed patterns have inhibited growth when the environment changes-humans are governed primarily by learning and transmission of culture from generation to generation and is thus more able to adapt-"for humans so little is predetermined by nature and so much is dependent upon learning"-happiness, the contentment with the status quo is only a fleeting feeling-"divine discontent" is the gift of our nature that brings moments of ecstasy and a life time of discontent-the present is such a fleeting part of our reality that we are almost always in the past or the future.

I think that a regular dose of solitude is very important for everyone, young and old. Does that make sense to you? I think that each individual needs to make radical adjustments in their attitude toward learning when school dazes are over. Solitude might be helpful in facilitating such adjustments.

This stuff comes from reading "Solitude: A Return to the Self" by Anthony Storr. Most of this is snatches of text that is sometimes a paraphrase and sometimes a quotation

@coberst phil,

Some people think better when they're on their own. Some prefer a brainstorming session with friends. It depends.

@coberst phil,

So the hook for this thread apparently is the question if we can change attitude and the thesis is yes, best while spending some quality time locked up all by ourselves in our rooms and by a change of environment. Okay, yes we can!
Well, the text stresses how the environment has an enormous impact on our personality formation. So if we hide away we might succeed in overcoming habits linked to our ordinary environment and adapt new ones we aspire but once we return into our social circle don't we repick what we just tried to overcome so badly? Spending time alone surely allows reflecting life and realizing potential dreadful situations. In doing so, we can try to find a solution to a problem or make up a new concept of life, eventually with the help of literature, without being distracted by duties etc Still I think that external help also can be very helpful since the subject often.. naturally.. lacks an objective distance to its existence.
So once we changed our attitude, I believe that constant, long-lasting transformation needs an environment that embraces the new formed personality. Be it in a way that we lead the life of a recluse or that we immerge into a new surrounding.

Hm, somehow I am missing a point in my post. However, yes I think that being alone is important to maintain a balanced personality.

@coberst phil,

Some can be swayed by stupid group thinking, even if the tutoring is blatantly wrong. The urge of following the flow is too strong, contrary going solo.

Others need strong arguments

Others need to see how it's played out

Others are just refuding because they might not comprehend anything of the new things.

Others are just too scared of new things.

..it all depends heavily on motivational factor

@coberst phil,

I would say that in my life I have made several attitude changes.

My most dramatic attitude change was made when I went to army boot camp and my civilian attitude was changed into a military attitude. The primary purpose of boot camp, in my judgment, was to make this very dramatic attitude change. This required eight weeks of intensive 24/7 effort by a cadre of military officers and enlisted men.

My next big attitude change came with marriage and parenthood.

Wiki informs me that Jung's definition of attitude is "readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way". He thought that attitude often displayed itself in a dual manner: consciousness/unconsciousness, extraversion/introversion, thinking/feeling, rational/irrational, and individual/social.

@coberst phil,

As much as I can agree with many of the benefits of solitude and just spent the weekend in solitude, as a matter of fact, to let some things smooth over in my head, I can also tell you that it is vitally important to be able to adjust your attitude in public settings as well. A prime example of this is the work environment. When you have a career, you cannot tell your boss that you need some time alone in order to feel right about the work you are doing or about something which is stressing you. You must be able to act and react on the fly. Most of all, you must be able to go from hard headed to submissive without skipping a beat.

The real question is not we can change our attitude but rather; can we change our perception of events?

That is what will ultimately change our attitude toward any given situation.

@Icon,

Icon wrote:

The real question is not we can change our attitude but rather; can we change our perception of events?

That is what will ultimately change our attitude toward any given situation.

Good point!

Ernest Becker makes the point that the humanization process is one wherein the individual exchanges the natural organismic propensity for a mysterious symbolic dictation. The child in its very essential formative age is faced with denying that which 'comes naturally' for what are symbolic dictates that are far beyond its ability for comprehension. The child's formation of character is dictated by its need to be somebody in the symbolic world.

In the very essential formative years the child develops character traits that in many cases remain with that individual for the rest of their life.

What is character? Character is the network of habits that permeate all the intentional acts of an individual.

I am not using the word habit in the way we often do, as a technical ability existing apart from our wishes. These habits are an intimate and fundamental part of our selves. They are representations of our will. They rule our will, working in a coordinated way they dominate our way of acting. These habits are the results of repeated, intelligently controlled, actions.

Habits also control the formation of ideas as well as physical actions. We cannot perform a correct action or a correct idea without having already formed correct habits. "Reason pure of all influence from prior habit is a fiction." "The medium of habit filters all material that reaches our perception and thought." "Immediate, seemingly instinctive, feeling of the direction and end of various lines of behavior is in reality the feeling of habits working below direct consciousness." "Habit means special sensitiveness or accessibility to certain classes of stimuli, standing predilections and aversions, rather than bare recurrence of specific acts. It means will."

Britannica specifies that attitude is "a predisposition to classify objects and events and to react to them with some degree of evaluative consistency."

If I consult my inner self I cannot focus upon an attitude but can infer such an attitude based on behavior. If I wish to become conscious of my intuition I can through observation of behavior describe the attitude, which, in turn, allows me to ascertain the nature of my intuition.

When a mother tells her son "you must change your attitude". The son cannot change the attitude directly but the son must change his intuition from which the inferred attitude emanates. This does become a bit convoluted but in essence when we wish to change an attitude we are saying that our intuition must be modified. We can modify intuition only through habit directed by our will.

"Were it not for the continued operation of all habits in every act, no such thing as character would exist. There would be simply a bundle, an untied bundle at that, of isolated acts. Character is the interpenetrating of habits. If each habit in an insulated compartment and operated without affecting or being affected by others, character would not exist. That is conduct would lack unity being only juxtaposition of disconnected reactions to separated situations. But since environments overlap, since situations are continuous and those remote from one another contain like elements, a continuous modification of habits by one another is constantly going on."

My understanding of character and the quotations concerning the nature of character are taken from "Habits and Will" by John Dewey

@coberst phil,

Not an easy thing to do sometimes. We seem to be a product of our environment and circumstances. Perhaps the only way one can change their attitude, is to focus on the effect it has on others. Maybe then , yes, one can change.

@coberst phil,

I believe we can change anything at all from ourselves we want, what does not means we can change anything from us, because we will never want to change everthing.

kidzi wrote:

So the hook for this thread apparently is the question if we can change attitude and the thesis is yes, best while spending some quality time locked up all by ourselves in our rooms and by a change of environment. Okay, yes we can!
Well, the text stresses how the environment has an enormous impact on our personality formation. So if we hide away we might succeed in overcoming habits linked to our ordinary environment and adapt new ones we aspire but once we return into our social circle don't we repick what we just tried to overcome so badly? Spending time alone surely allows reflecting life and realizing potential dreadful situations. In doing so, we can try to find a solution to a problem or make up a new concept of life, eventually with the help of literature, without being distracted by duties etc Still I think that external help also can be very helpful since the subject often.. naturally.. lacks an objective distance to its existence.
So once we changed our attitude, I believe that constant, long-lasting transformation needs an environment that embraces the new formed personality. Be it in a way that we lead the life of a recluse or that we immerge into a new surrounding.

Hm, somehow I am missing a point in my post. However, yes I think that being alone is important to maintain a balanced personality.

There seen to be somethings one has to figure out by himself, after receving enough encouranging pushes from the world, and those things will forever change one's personality, such that even if he returns to the old enviroement his new habits will endure. At least, thats my personal experience.

Suddently realizing a view-point you had never seen from before is like suddently becoming capable of seeing a new color.

@manored,

manored wrote:

There seen to be somethings one has to figure out by himself, after receving enough encouranging pushes from the world, and those things will forever change one's personality, such that even if he returns to the old enviroement his new habits will endure. At least, thats my personal experience.

Suddently realizing a view-point you had never seen from before is like suddently becoming capable of seeing a new color.

Amen brother/sister

The first step toward solving our problems is to learn CT (Critical Thinking).

CT is an acronym for Critical Thinking. Everybody considers themselves to be a critical thinker. That is why we need to differentiate among different levels of critical thinking.

Most people fall in the category that I call Reagan thinkers-trust but verify. Then there are those who have taken the basic college course taught by the philosophy dept that I call Logic 101. This is a credit course that teaches the basic principles of reasoning. Of course, a person need not take the college course and can learn the matter on their own effort, but I suspect few do that.

The third level I call CT (Critical Thinking). CT includes the knowledge of Logic 101 and also the knowledge that focuses upon the intellectual character and attitude of critical thinking. It includes knowledge regarding the ego and social centric forces that impede rational thinking.

Most decisions we have to make are judgment calls. A judgment call is made when we must make a decision when there is no "true" or "false" answers. When we make a judgment call our decision is bad, good, or better.

Many factors are involved: there are the available facts, assumptions, skills, knowledge, and especially personal experience and attitude. I think that the two most important elements in the mix are personal experience and attitude.

When we study math we learn how to use various algorithms to facilitate our skill in dealing with quantities. If we never studied math we could deal with quantity on a primary level but our quantifying ability would be minimal. Likewise with making judgments; if we study the art and science of good judgment we can make better decisions and if we never study the art and science of judgment our decision ability will remain minimal.

I am convinced that a fundamental problem we have in this country (USA) is that our citizens have never learned the art and science of good judgment. Before the recent introduction of CT into our schools and colleges our young people have been taught primarily what to think and not how to think. All of us graduated with insufficient comprehension of the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary for the formulation of good judgment. The result of this inability to make good judgment is evident and is dangerous.

I am primarily interested in the judgment that adults exercise in regard to public issues. Of course, any improvement in judgment generally will affect both personal and community matters.

To put the matter into a nut shell:

Normal men and women can significantly improve their ability to make judgments.
CT is the domain of knowledge that delineates the knowledge, skills, and intellectual character demanded for good judgment.
CT has been introduced into our schools and colleges slowly in the last two or three decades.
Few of today's adults were ever taught CT.
I suspect that at least another two generations will pass before our society reaps significant rewards resulting from teaching CT to our children.
Can our democracy survive that long?
I think that every effort must be made to convince today's adults that they need to study and learn CT on their own. I am not suggesting that adults find a teacher but I am suggesting that adults become self-actualizing learners.
I am convinced that learning the art and science of Critical Thinking is an important step toward becoming a better citizen in today's democratic society.

@coberst phil,

Nice idea, tough implementation. I agree that critical thinking is a decisive ability since it is the premise to living as dependent, conscious and autonomic as possible. Questioning the Governments actions and the state of things so as to notice alarming developments at an early stage and thus taking measures against it assures Democracy.
In those days the real scenario tends to depict passive masses (including myself) falling into a state of indifference which makes trends such as the UK developing towards a surveillance state possible and is on the long run very harmful because more and more power is taken away from the citizen without them even noticing as they go along sticking to their television sets happily..

Surely critical thinking is important but what even tops that imo is the action evoked by it. And action can only grow out of the condition that one reflected sth which leads him to the action (okay, not great enlightenment haha!)

How can one possibly call the masses attention to political, social etc issues or just in general to critical thinking? No one can be forced to adapt it. Being is just much more comfy and easy.

And then again, why even bother getting your brain fried? Does it make any difference at all as long as we don't end up in a second V for Vendetta?

/// I thought over this matter and came to the conclusion that I am not sure in which sense you mean critical thinking. Are you speaking of dogmas, for instance religious ones? Are you referring to lacking resistance against educational systems, daily politics or are you talking about human together.. which means that I should think twice about what I am going to tell someone belonging to my surrounding so as not to insult someone etc?

And then I ask you.. how can we possibly not think critically? Doesn't thinking in general already imply that it is critical because it is colored by the subject and taken into consideration that we cannot experience sth without judging it? And if you disagree when does critical thinking start for you, where does it end?
...

@kidzi,

kidzi wrote:

Surely critical thinking is important but what even tops that imo is the action evoked by it. And action can only grow out of the condition that one reflected sth which leads him to the action (okay, not great enlightenment haha!)

How can one possibly call the masses attention to political, social etc issues or just in general to critical thinking? No one can be forced to adapt it. Being is just much more comfy and easy.

And then again, why even bother getting your brain fried? Does it make any difference at all as long as we don't end up in a second V for Vendetta?

I dont think "normal people" actually need to bother much with politic or social issues. If we just get everone to philosopy the guys sitting on top will realize happiness has little to do with money and start actually doing their jobs.

I myself never managed to grow an interest in politics, and in my opinion it shouldnt be split from social matters (because if the people do what the government should be doing the government will be even less likely to do it) so I never managed to grow an interest in either Smile

@kidzi,

kidzi wrote:

Nice idea, tough implementation. I agree that critical thinking is a decisive ability since it is the premise to living as dependent, conscious and autonomic as possible. Questioning the Governments actions and the state of things so as to notice alarming developments at an early stage and thus taking measures against it assures Democracy.
In those days the real scenario tends to depict passive masses (including myself) falling into a state of indifference which makes trends such as the UK developing towards a surveillance state possible and is on the long run very harmful because more and more power is taken away from the citizen without them even noticing as they go along sticking to their television sets happily..

Surely critical thinking is important but what even tops that imo is the action evoked by it. And action can only grow out of the condition that one reflected sth which leads him to the action (okay, not great enlightenment haha!)

How can one possibly call the masses attention to political, social etc issues or just in general to critical thinking? No one can be forced to adapt it. Being is just much more comfy and easy.

And then again, why even bother getting your brain fried? Does it make any difference at all as long as we don't end up in a second V for Vendetta?

/// I thought over this matter and came to the conclusion that I am not sure in which sense you mean critical thinking. Are you speaking of dogmas, for instance religious ones? Are you referring to lacking resistance against educational systems, daily politics or are you talking about human together.. which means that I should think twice about what I am going to tell someone belonging to my surrounding so as not to insult someone etc?

And then I ask you.. how can we possibly not think critically? Doesn't thinking in general already imply that it is critical because it is colored by the subject and taken into consideration that we cannot experience sth without judging it? And if you disagree when does critical thinking start for you, where does it end?
...

Your questions lead me to think that you did not read my last post.

@coberst phil,

Your last post (I read it more than once) was the trigger for my reply.

@kidzi,

kidzi wrote:

Your last post (I read it more than once) was the trigger for my reply.

People can gain knowledge about a subject matter only after they have gained consciousness of that idea. I seek to arouse that consciousness. I do not seek their imprisonment should they not become Critical Thinkers.

CT is the art and science of good judgment.

One can be critical minded at birth if one thinks that CT is "trust but verify", but CT is much more as I tried to say in my post.

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