Expressing Attitude on Forum Discussion Boards - Dissertation Example

It thus exclusively depends on reviewing and analysis of secondary data in the form of well-documented information on this subject matter. To achieve a level of analysis that is appropriate for the level of this study, a review of the existing literature is conducted. Past studies are analyzed to establish any trend within the discussion forums and how such communications and interactions have affected the attitudes of people involve (Leafman, Mathieson, & Ewing, 2012). Reviews by other scholars are also examined to determine whether the perception of others captures what is transpiring between the other partisans to the discussion forums.

It is envisaged that this will delineate the new aspects that could have been added to the discussion forums and any possible additional aspects that the social media users are considering (Huesmann & Chow, 2009).To accomplish this, the researcher will use sources of information from a range of scholarly articles including journals, books, websites, and other research reports by individuals over the same topic. These resources will offer a proper basis for analyzing the attitudes expressed in the discussion forums.

This dissertation comprises five chapters. Chapter 2 examines a selection of existing theories, among them being the Theory of reasoned action, social cognitive theory, and the theory of planned behavior. The chapter specifically focuses on the social cognitive theory since the attitude – opinion relationship is examined in light of this theory during the later chapters. In addition, the chapter provides a comprehensive theoretical literature review. Chapter 3 presents the results of the study, whilst the fourth chapter forms analysis and discussion of these findings.

The final chapter sums up the dissertation in a conclusion.As articulated in a number of studies, the attitude has played a significant function in determining the nature of comments that people give on the discussion boards in various levels of discussions that are undertaken on the online domains. Expression of attitude on various online domains has elicited a series of responses most of which revolve around the major role that attitude plays in the determination of what people perceive and the manner in which they respond to the phenomenon that is subject to discussion.

Many theories have attempted to offer an explanation of the process of attitude expressions and to relate the manner in which the responses give by people is subjective to their attitudes. The current social setting has an inclination towards the expression of attitudes in discussion forums, which occurs in many phases and inviting people to participate either voluntarily or involuntarily. Attitude and opinion expression appear to be a dependent human strategy socially to establish the self among others in society.

Attitude can be realized and can be interpreted in many fashions and processes. Differing perspectives of attitude, as a system of human social behavior, therefore, exist. In this section, we will analyze attitude in terms of the perspective of various disciplines such as anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. The section provides a brief description of attitude from the point of view of different disciplines and discusses various theories that pertain to this.

2.2 Attitude and anthropology Anthropological studies have mainly been concerned with the study and interpretation of human behaviors within the social paradigms. Most socials behaviors are influenced with the attitude that people have developed towards certain phenomenon in a given time. Anthropology tends to study how and why people relate to certain social values; in the same perspective, it expresses the reasons for certain attitudes and why they apply within any community setting. Cultural background of an individual also affects their attitudes towards certain social issues.

Cultural beliefs differ within social settings, and as one community may uphold certain beliefs, another may not easily uphold the same. Therefore, in the discussion boards, people often contribute their thoughts depending on their cultural affiliations and beliefs and then keeping in mind that these beliefs are their major basis for decision making. In other cultural settings, there are also the elements of communication where the language used play a very vital role in determining the direction of the conversation.

A language that a person uses mainly depends on the cultural and social background of an individual. Different words ad phases may not imply similar meaning in different conversations and speech contexts. Most people, therefore, are often curious about the nature of language used in any discussion board and such may influence their levels of contribution towards the ongoing discussion. Anthropologists have often engaged in the study on how culture and the social set up affects people’s attitude towards certain phenomenon.

Eagly and Chaiken studied attitude and used it as a process of either showing or describing the subject of concern as positive or negative. Through the analysis of attitude, they further attempted to show how humans evaluate subjects as positive or negative. Its is this aspect of Eagly and Chaiken’s work that is regarded as important in the field of anthropology (OR Psychology) as the processes of human evaluation behaviour is immediate to a social experience, indicating social semiotic learning and behaviour (Doob 1947).

Although Eagly and Chaiken’s studies contributed to a better understanding of attitude, they still did not have the tools to carry out a consistent analysis of attitude through the analysis of discourse. Moreover, this is where this research project is focusing on. 2.3 Attitude and psychology A number of psychological studies have been ventured into establishing the manner in which psychology and attitudes are related to each other. The concept of attitude formation and change is purely psychological and may take place consciously or unconsciously and may not be largely dependable on the victims’ consent.

Psychologists have gone in depth in analyzing the manner in which people comprehend issues and opinions before expressing their favor or disfavor of the same. According to Fredrick Rayne, a prominent psychologist, attitude is simply a learned tendency in which an individual evaluates issues in a certain way. The nature of this evaluation may encompass people, events, situations, objects and issues among others. The evaluations may also be considered positive or negative; however, in other instances it is not easy to tell whether they are positive or negative.

Psychological studies suggest that attitude is made up of various components and these include the emotional components, cognitive components and behavioral components. The emotional components are mainly reflected on how an object, issue, event or person makes you feel. The emotions projected by these forms the attitude towards them and such may influence the levels of an individual’s perceptions towards such. The cognitive component, on the other hand, reflects the thoughts and beliefs that a person has developed about an object or the subject matter.

Such beliefs and thoughts could be as a result of or happenings that could have changes their opinion regarding the subjects.