Attitudes in a psychological context are defined as "the tendency to
             respond in a certain way toward certain issues, products, objects, or
             events" (Seamon & Kenrick 661). This consideration puts the focus on how
             attitudes impact on how people think. However, as Seamon & Kenrick note,
             psychologists studying attitudes are also particularly interested in how
             The first interest in attitudes occurred in the 1920s. At this
             point, the interest in psychology was largely confined to experimental
             techniques, where aspects of psychology were tested and measured.
             Thurstone used this approach to test people's attitude toward different
             ethnic groups, with people asked to rate various statements about the
             Chinese (Jones). This method was essential a survey, with the survey a
             rating tool for recognizing people's attitudes. While this method
             identified attitudes, it did nothing to try and explain how attitudes were
             This focus on how attitudes are formed came later. Zimbardo and
             Leippe described what they termed an attitude system. This system
             describes four components that make up an attitude. The first component is
             cognition, which refers to beliefs, thoughts, or ideas. The second
             component is affect, which refers to feelings and emotions. The third
             component is behavioral intentions, which refers to decisions to act in
             certain ways. The fourth component is the behavior, which refers to the
             actual actions taken. To explain how these components combine, it is
             useful to offer an example. Consider the case of a person who has an
             attitude about saving the rainforests. This attitude would be based on
             some kind of cognition. For example, the person might think that the
             rainforests are being destroyed and that future generations will suffer
             because of this. This attitude would also be likely to involve emotions,
             such as the person feeling sad about the destruction, or ang...