attitudes are learned, they are capable of being changed or reformed. Age, position, education, and
experience influence attitudinal development. Therefore, the prisoner with the bad attitude is not a
lost cause.
3. Adaptation. Attitudes are adaptive in that they help us adjust to the situation. We tend to
look forward to those things in our environment that reward us and avoid those things that penalize
us.
4. Ego-defense Mechanism. Attitudes help each of us defend our self-image, which protects
the way we think about ourselves.
5. An Expression of Our Value System. The attitudes a person has can serve the purpose of
informing his peers, superiors, and subordinates about what makes him tick as a person.
6. Interpretative. The way in which an individual views the world about him and the people
with whom he comes in contact is shaped or colored by the attitudes of the individual. An
individual's reality is that which he perceives and understands through his own faculties.
7. Some methods by which a leader can try and create better attitudes within his subordinates
include:
a. Motivation to Try. This is simply challenging the individual to experience the feeling
that he can succeed if he tries. The leader offers support, encouragement, and assistance to the
individual. This is important because, on difficult tasks, the encouraged person will tend to keep on
trying until he ultimately succeeds; without encouragement and support, he may simply quit.
b. Providing information.
c. Showing concern.
d. Changing a person's status.
e. Allowing discussion.
8. As a correctional supervisor working with junior enlisted personnel and military prisoners,
the attitudes that you personally have toward your work is a most significant factor bearing on how
successful you will be. A proper set of attitudes will produce tangible and observable results such
as:
a. Enabling your subordinates to maintain proper control of prisoners.
b. Helping attain desired correctional objectives.
c. Helping prisoners to change their attitudes and behaviors.
9. On the other hand, improper attitudes on your part may--
a. Cause prisoners to lose a healthy respect for authority.
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