Self and identity Attitudes and attitude change Reflective journal entry
Self identity is majorly concerned with answering the question, “who are you?” Furthermore, self identity tries to seek answers on what it means to be who you are. Knowing oneself is important since it relates to our basic values as human beings and it has in impact on the choice that we make in important aspects of our lives such as relationships as well as careers. Few people get to choose their identity and simply they internalize the values of their parents or even dormant cultures such as the pursuit of money, power or even self appearance. Unfortunately, such values are often not aligned to ones’ authentic identity. This leads most people who do not know their self identity to live unfulfilled lives. On the other hand, fulfilled people are those who live a life which is true to their values as individuals and such people often go ahead to pursue meaningful goals in their lives. Not knowing one’s self identity often leads to uncertainty about what an individual wants to do with their life.
Attitude change involves the general evaluation of and individual’s ideas, objects or even encounters with other people throughout one’s lifetime. Attitudes are very important as they help to guide and individual’s thoughts, feelings and behavior. Changes in attitude occur every time when a person’s attitude is modified. The changes occur when a person goes from having a positive to negative attitude or vice versa. Sometimes it is possible for people to change from having no attitude at all to having an attitude which could either be positive or negative.
There have been several scientific studies on the issue of self identity and attitude change and all of them have tried to get an insight on the importance of knowing oneself as well as the importance of attitude change to our everyday life. One of the most significant studies on this area is a study done by Murtagh, in 2012 which delved into self identity threats and resistance to change with particular focus on travel behavior. According to this study, despite the wide acceptance on the need or attitude change in individuals as a key factor towards sustainability, the resistance to attitude change remains to be a continuing challenge. Past attitudes and behaviors, habits as well as psychological resistance have been studied as components of resistance to attitude change. Over the years, there has been growing evidence on the influence of self identity on attitude which suggests that identity is a significant factor in attitude change.
The study carried out by Murtagh draw its basis on widespread knowledge on self identity to identify how identity plays a significant role in resistance to attitude change over and above the influence of past attitudes and behavior. By use of travel related vignettes to trigger a threat, the study had a sample of 295 parents who work in England to find evidence to support the relationship between self identity threats and the resistance to change travel related attitudes and behavior with past attitudes and behavior being a control. The findings of the study further suggest that identity threats are an alternative theoretical perspective on reactance. These results build upon theoretical understanding of resistance as a significant barrier to attitude change. This application of an identity theoretical framework to the understanding of resistance to attitude change is expected to add new potential ways to encourage change in attitude towards sustainable attitudes. Moreover, the findings of this study further suggest great avenues for future research on the theories and empirical effects of the relationship between self identity and change in attitudes towards sustainability.