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Frankl's (1970) Logotherapy, means "health through meaning." In
chapters 2 and 4, the belief that you can change your behavior, that
your problems are solvable by you, leads to better problem solving. In
chapters 5 and 6, the expectation that things will get worse and that
you will be helpless produce anxiety and depression or a pessimistic
attitude. In chapter 7, the view that others should have behaved
differently leads to anger (and as we have seen in this chapter,
determinism leads to tolerance). In chapter 8, the submissive person
must start to believe she/he has a right to equal treatment in order to
effectively demand her/his rights. In chapter 9, if we think of ourselves
as being the result of several constantly competing parts, we will have
more self-understanding. In chapter 10, we will see that our attitudes
toward the opposite sex, marriage, and sexuality have great impact on
our interpersonal relations, sexual preferences, commitment, etc.
An attitude is defined as a manner, disposition, or feeling about a
person, event, or thing. Recognizing the three components of every
attitude may be helpful: (1) the cognitive or knowledge part (what
you know, think, or believe about the person or situation), (2) the
feeling or evaluative part (what emotions you have towards the
person or situation), and (3) the behavioral part (your actions with
the person or in the situation). Ordinarily, the cognitive aspect of an
attitude is much more complex than the feeling aspect, e.g. our
positive or negative thoughts about virginity are much more complex
than our emotional or behavioral reactions in sexual situations.
Perhaps because of it's simplicity, the emotional part of an attitude
usually has more influence over our behavior than the complex,
ambivalent, and easily overlooked cognitive part has, but each part
may affect the other two parts (Sears, Peplau, Freedman & Taylor,
1988).
Any one of the three parts of an attitude may be changed as part
of a self-help effort to change the other two parts. Examples: First,
changing your cognition or viewpoint may change your feelings and
action. Most of the suggestions given below in this method illustrate
this approach. Secondly, changing your behavior may also change the
feeling and cognitive part of your attitude. This occurs primarily when
you feel personally responsible for your decision to change (not forced
or bought off--you had a choice, made it, and could have foreseen the
consequences). For example, if you have had to choose--and it's a
close call--between two schools or two friends or two boy-girlfriends,
afterwards your thoughts and feelings about the chosen one become
more positive while the rejected one is seen more negatively. Another
example: If a poor student decided to study much harder next
semester, managed to do so, and got better grades, his/her attitude
toward studying would become more positive and his/her attitude
towards socializing, TV, etc. would become more negative. Thirdly,
changing the strong emotions you have about something will, of
course, change your behavior and your cognition. Example: If a
certain kind of sexual activity, say mouth-genital contact, were
repulsive to you, but you desensitized (extinguished) this emotion,
then your thoughts about this activity would change and so might your
actions. Obviously, there are many ways to change attitudes.
