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Formation of values, Beliefs, and Attitudes
The point we wish to emphasize strongly here is that values, beliefs, and attitudes
are learned. People are not born prejudiced, conservatives, atheists, or foot-
ball fans. They are not born fearing God and valuing freedom and human
dignity; nor are they born convinced that a steady use of mouthwash will
make them social successes. All values, beliefs, and attitudes are learned from
the people with whom you live and associate. Because they are learned, they
can be unlearned, that is, changed, although change may often be resisted.
It is essentially through interpersonal communication that people
develop prejudices, assumptions, and outlooks on what life is like or ought
to be like. Your values, beliefs, and attitudes were formed through the various
human groups you were and are exposed to, which ‘indoctrinated’ or ‘social-
ized’ you—and still do—in those values, beliefs, and attitudes they hold dear.
To communicate with others is to influence them and to be influenced
by them, because any time that you have human contact with others, their
behaviour and what they tell you affect you. Any time you learn something
new, you change and become a little more like those who taught you. This
is what makes society possible. Interpersonal communication, thus, fosters
the minimum uniformity necessary for people to live and work together.
Sometimes the indoctrination is successful. Sometimes it has a reverse effect;
the child of an ultraconservative parent becomes a radical. This common
phenomenon may be explained in terms of what social psychologists call
‘reference group theory’.

EMOTION ANd COMMUNICATION

No feature of communication has more meaning and significance than the
one identified by the word emotion or affect—love, hatred, anger, sadness,
courage, anxiety, and frustration are emotional states or feelings. Positive
or negative emotion constitutes a very general predisposition. Individuals
with positive affect are marked more by enthusiasm, favourable expectations,
and general optimism, than individuals with negative affect. The communication-
related outcomes of emotion are that people with positive emotions are
better communicators because positive emotions are highly correlated with
concept of self, sensitivity, empathy, and interpersonal skills. The impact of
negative emotion in communication can lead to communication apprehen-
sion, miscommunication, aggression, etc. The impact of negative emotion in
teaching is far more critical for it involves a teacher’s overall attitudes about
students and teaching. Emotion is the source for the words and expressions
we use, and since we know the relation of emotion with communication,
negative emotions also disrupt relationships between the teachers and the

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