Review of Related Literature and Studies
Foreign
Psychologists and educators alike recognize several factors affecting student’s achievements or academic performance. It is also a universally accepted fact that the students differ in their performance because of direct or indirect influence of these factors. Stephen Covey (2003) stressed that, our character, basically a composite of our habits. Habits are powerful factors in our lives. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character and produce our effectiveness of ineffectiveness. Gagne (1977) defines attitude as an internal state that influences the choices of personal action made by the individual. Cronback (1963) identifies attitudes as meanings one associates with certain objects which influence his acceptance of that object. Attitudinal meanings are largely personal and there is no standard of right or wrong. Attitudes are generally considered to have an affective component, cognitive aspects and behavioral consequences. Some investigators consider attitudes to have their origin in discrepancies of beliefs and ideas. Others presume that attitudes arise from emotional states. The internal states that influence these actions may well posses both intellectual and emotional aspects. However, Gagne (1977) further states that the point of reference for describing attitudes as learned dispositions is provided by the outcomes in human performance. One of the most dependable learning dispositions is human modeling which requires pre-existing or previously learned aspect for a real or imagined person. The child observes what others do, that seem to produce reward or punishment. The identifying figure is generally a person regarded as successful, supportive and consistently within the learner’s self-concept. When this method of attitude change is employed, the