Learning Good Attitudes

     One grand division of the art of learning is concerned with the acquiring of good attitudes. Here we distinguish between the learning of attitudes toward things in the world about us, such as the attitudes of good citizenship, loyalty, and so on, and learning attitudes toward the learning process itself . . .

     Now, attitudes link intimately with emotions. Indeed some psychologists believe, with a good show of evidence, that the two are one and the same thing. An attitude is an act in embryo. It is the inner set of nerve and muscle which occurs when, for instance, the runner in a race ”gets ready and gets set.” As soon as he goes, he no longer takes an attitude; he is doing the thing he set out to do.

     Thus every act of will develops as an attitude. Some emotional tone merges with this attitude. And by the one, you may know the other . . .

(Walter B. Pitkin, The Art of Learning, New York: Whittlesey House, 1931, 183)