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group, but later you diversify your experience and expand the number of
groups with which you identify.
These non-primitive beliefs do not have the same taken-for-granted
character that primitive beliefs have.

Derived Beliefs
Once you put stock in an authority for a particular belief, you tend to buy
other beliefs from that authority, even in unrelated areas. The derived beliefs
may not be based on any direct experience, but they may be held simply on
the strength of the trust put in the authoritative source. This is the principle
behind endorsement practices in advertising. If your favourite actor shaves
with a particular brand of shaving cream, you may believe his testimonial
and buy the product out of faith.

Inconsequential Beliefs
Matters of taste are usually considered inconsequential because they seldom
have connections with other beliefs. If and when they change, there are usually
few consequences on other beliefs that you hold. To say that these are incon-
sequential beliefs does not mean that they may not be held strongly. Nor
does it mean that you don’t think of them as important. They are occasionally
important. You may be absolutely convinced that vacations in the mountains
are better than vacations at the shore. This belief is inconsequential, however,
because if you change your mind, it will not necessitate a massive reorganization
of your belief system

Attitudes

Attitudes are relatively lasting organizations of beliefs which make you tend
to respond to things in particular ways. Actually, attitudes are never seen
directly. You infer their existence from what people do. If people seem to act
consistently in a similar fashion in a particular set of circumstances, you infer
the existence of an attitude which predisposes them to act that way. Attitudes
include positive or negative evaluations, emotional feelings, and certain posi-
tive or negative tendencies in relation to objects, people, and events.
Attitudes are human responses and they can be examined along three
dimensions: their direction, their intensity, and their salience.

Direction
‘Direction’ of an attitude refers simply to how favourable, unfavourable, or
neutral one tends to be in relation to an object, person, or situation. It refers

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