The difference between attitude and aptitude is that attitude refers to the temperament of a person in certain situations and aptitude is the talent, ability or skill that one has for something.
What is the Difference between Attitude and Aptitude
These two concepts are often confused due to their written similarity and because both are important qualities for an optimal interrelation with the environment, in addition to being qualities valued in the organizational field.
What is Attitude
In psychology, attitude is understood as the predisposition of a subject to respond to situations consistently and therefore, it is considered an important variable to predict behaviors.
In other words, attitude can be considered a learned tendency or predisposition of a cognitive and affective nature in the face of circumstances, people or objects that trigger a response from the subject.
The attitude is based on biological factors (primary response of the body to a stimulus), emotional and belief system, and can be triggered by a specific or generalized stimulus. In addition, it can be reinforced in a positive or negative way, according to experience.
Attitude types
There are five main types of attitude, which in turn are subdivided into new categories:
Attitude according to affective valence
They are the attitudes of people according to the assessment they have of their environment.
- Positive attitude: reality is interpreted optimistically, which is why the behavior is aimed at achieving the objectives in a healthy way.
- Negative attitude: pessimistic interpretation of reality. It is impossible for the individual to see the positive aspects of reality.
- Neutral attitude: it is the attitude of those who wish to project impartiality; however it is not a frequent type of attitude.
Attitude according to the orientation to the activity
- They are the attitudes that are developed with respect to the execution of a task.
- Proactive attitude: the person is capable of generating solutions autonomously and creatively.
- Reactive attitude: the person avoids problem or task resolution and tends to conform.
Attitude according to Motivation
- As its name indicates, they are the attitudes that are generated according to what motivates the individual.
- Interested attitude: it is typical of people who seek to satisfy their needs, without considering the motivations and interests of others.
- Altruistic attitude: the person acts for the benefit of the other, beyond their own interests.
Attitude based on the relationship with the other
They are attitudes that arise based on experiences, relationships and social ties.
- Collaborative attitude: it stimulates the integration of the other or the group based on the achievement of a common goal.
- Passive attitude: there is a lack of initiative, and even the person can put aside their interests to subordinate them to what the group decides.
- Aggressive attitude: the person can use physical, psychological or verbal violence to achieve their goals.
- Assertive attitude: own and others’ interests are considered an agreement is sought.
- Attitude based on the assessment of reality
- They are attitudes determined according to the emotionality or rationality with which reality is perceived.
- Emotional attitude: as its name indicates, the person perceives reality solely based on their emotions, leaving rational assessment in the background.
- Rational attitude: reason and logic are taken into account to assess reality, ignoring or suppressing emotionality.
Components of Attitude
In the field of psychology, attitude is considered to have three essential components:
- Cognitive component: for a subject to develop an attitude towards something or someone, it is necessary that they have a cognitive representation about it. That is, you have to have information about that object, as well as perceptions and beliefs about it, to be able to form your attitude. In this sense, it is not possible to have an attitude about what is unknown.
- Affective component: it is the positive or negative feeling that develops towards the object, person or event on which an attitude is generated.
- Behavioral component: it is the predisposition or consistent response of the subject to the same object, person or event.
Attitude Functions
Attitudes fulfill four basic functions:
- The attitude allows the person to approach the fulfillment of their objective, so it has an instrumental function.
- Helps the individual to process information from the environment.
- The attitude contributes to make visible the beliefs and the scale of values of the person.
- The attitude acts as a resource for the reaffirmation of the subject’s self-esteem and the justification of their actions.
What is Aptitude
In psychology, aptitude is the ability to achieve something. It can also be defined as the series of conditions or requirements that a person has to fulfill a specific function or objective.
For example, a communicator must have verbal skills, a programmer must have logical analysis and problem-solving skills, an illustrator must have artistic skills, and so on.
Types of Aptitude
These are some general skills that a person can develop, according to psychology:
- Abstract ability: ability to understand complex concepts.
- Social aptitude: refers to all the skills that allow interaction with other people or groups of people according to the norm.
- Mechanical aptitude: ability to understand movement.
- Artistic – plastic aptitude: understanding of the use of shapes and colors.
- Spatial aptitude: understanding and proper use of space.
- Visual-motor aptitude: coordination of eye and hand movements.
- Verbal ability: understanding and proper use of words.
- Numerical aptitude: understanding and execution of operations with numbers.
Both attitude and aptitude can be natural or acquired. Natural attitudes are those that are part of the personality, while natural aptitudes are what we call talent, that is, an innate facility to do something well.
On the other hand, the attitudes acquired are those learned by deconstructing behavior to change the response to different situations. While the skills learned are those that are acquired with specific knowledge and its practical application.
