Amita is a student council member of her school who takes her commitment towards environmental preservation very seriously. She organises various plantation drives and also is in charge of the school recycle plant. She gets very upset and sad when she sees people wasting or misusing paper or cutting trees. Her parents are also famous environmentalists who campaigned for a ban of plastics in the hill areas. They always praised and motivated Amita to continue to be a pro-environment person.
What factors have influenced Amita's attitude formation?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Family and School environment
Option (1) Family and School environment — Correct. In the early years of life, parents and other family members play a significant role in shaping attitudes; later the school environment becomes an important background. Amita’s parents are environmentalists who always praised and motivated her, and at school she works on the student council and runs the recycle plant, so both settings have shaped her pro-environment attitude.
Option (2) Reference groups — Incorrect. Reference groups show a person the norms of acceptable behaviour and ways of thinking of a group she wants to belong to, and their influence is strongest at the beginning of adolescence. The case names no such group whose norms Amita follows; the influences it names are her parents and her school.
Option (3) Personal experiences — Incorrect. Here an attitude forms through a direct personal experience that brings a drastic change, like the army driver who narrowly escaped death and then devoted his life to his village. Amita has had no such life-changing event; her attitude grew steadily at home and at school.
Option (4) Media-related influences — Incorrect. Audio-visual media, the Internet and the books read at school are sources of information that first strengthen the cognitive and affective components of attitudes. The case says nothing about what Amita reads or watches.
NCERT (2025-26): “Factors that Influence Attitude Formation … The following factors provide the context for the learning of attitudes through the processes described above. 1. Family and School Environment : Particularly in the early years of life, parents and other family members play a significant role in shaping attitude formation. Later, the school environment becomes an important background for attitude formation. Learning of attitudes within the family and school usually takes place by association, through rewards and punishments, and through modelling.…” “Factors that Influence Attitude Formation … 2. Reference Groups : Reference groups indicate to an individual the norms regarding acceptable behaviour and ways of thinking. Thus, they reflect learning of attitudes through group or cultural norms.…” “Factors that Influence Attitude Formation … 3. Personal Experiences : Many attitudes are formed, not in the family environment or through reference groups, but through direct personal experiences which bring about a drastic change in our attitude towards people and our own life.…” “Factors that Influence Attitude Formation … Media-related Influences : Technological advances in recent times have made audio-visual media and the Internet very powerful sources of information that lead to attitude formation and change.…” |