What Is The Difference Between Attitude And Aptitude?

What Is The Difference Between Attitude And Aptitude?

Many people confuse these words for their phonetic resemblance despite having very different meanings.

Companies are constantly looking for efficient employees who have knowledge in the area that is needed. However, a professional profile is defined not only by technical training, but also by a list of attitudes and skills that are consistent with the objectives of the company.

Many people confuse both words because they closely resemble their pronunciation, although in reality they are very different in their meaning. Both are characteristics and behaviors of a good worker that companies look for to be part of their team.

What Is Attitude?

Before entering to evaluate different types of attitudes, it is necessary to take into account what we can consider attitude itself.

In this sense, it is called an attitude to the effect of the set of relatively stable beliefs and values ​​over time in the willingness or tendency to act in a certain way or undertake some type of action. It is a determining aspect when carrying out an action and the type of emotion generated by said activity or way of interacting with a specific situation or stimulus.

An attitude can be more or less generalized, being able to refer to a wide scope or even to a specific type of stimulus (this is the case, for example, with ethnic or racial prejudices).

The attitude towards the world arises from the interaction between biological and hereditary factors (as well as the aptitudes or personality traits, some of them are favored by the genetics of each subject) and environmental factors such as learning along subject's life

Likewise, they can be actively modified through training or mere exposure to the topic that generates the attitude, for example by associating the activity in question with positive or negative reinforcements based on experience.

Attitude refers to the behavior a person has to perform a task. Attitude is what defines a person through their personality or their ability to solve problems, their reactions and how they face adversities in their work environment.

There are many workers who have an impressive resume, with various studies and degrees, but who remain in the midst of the selection of staff for a poor attitude. Even people who have a negative attitude are quickly separated to avoid problems within a work team.

The Types Of Attitudes

It is possible to find a wide variety of types of attitudes, classified according to various criteria and without being mutually exclusive. Among them we can observe the following.

1. According To His Effective Valence

One of the possible ways of classifying emotions is through their affective valence, in the sense of how they allow to assess the environment and the situation. We can find the following three types of attitudes.

1.1. Positive Attitude

One of the most flattering types of attitude is the positive attitude, through which the situation or exposure to a stimulus is visualized so that positive and optimistic interpretation is favored regardless of the difficulties faced, bringing the subject closer to stimulation. or action and in search of the achievement of the objectives in a healthy, confident and generally disciplined manner. It is usually contagious.

1.2. Negative Attitude

Type of attitude that generates a negative and pessimistic view of reality, generally maximizing the aversive experience and giving little value or directly not seeing the positive aspects of the situation. It usually generates an avoidance of acting or complaining behavior beyond the rational, making it difficult to achieve goals. Like the positive is usually contagious.

1.3. Neutral Attitude

We can consider as neutral attitude that in which the judgment and the thought is not tinged by an emotionality neither positive nor negative. It is one of the least frequent types of attitude and is usually typical of people who pretend to be impartial in their judgments.

2. Classification According To Its Orientation To The Activity

Another type of classification, not at odds with the previous one, refers to the way in which individual provisions generate a specific approach or orientation towards the idea of ​​carrying out a conduct or activity. In this regard and we can highlight the following.

2.1. Proactive Attitude

A type of attitude in which the action and the autonomous and active search for an improvement in the performance or performance of the activity or an autonomous search for the solution of problems that may arise are prioritized. It is a type of mentality that promotes creativity and the generation of added value, as well as the pursuit of achieving the present objectives and even looking for new challenges to be achieved after that. It is highly quoted in the labor market.

2.2. Reactive Attitude

This type of attitude is also linked to the performance and implementation of behavior, but with a more passive mentality and dependent on what is established. A reactive person will depend heavily on instructions and resources and will have more difficulty coping with unforeseen problems, not being autonomous. It predisposes to conformity and non-action if there is nothing that compels it.

3. Classification According To The Motivation To Act

Other types of attitudes that can be considered arise not so much from how we orient towards the activity but what motivates us to do so. In this sense we can find the following types of attitudes.

3.1. Interested Attitude

This type of attitude implies that what you are looking for in the subject in your action is the achievement of your own individual objectives, not taking into account or valuing the needs of others very little.

The benefit itself is sought, either directly or indirectly and may be more or less obvious. You can also seek the benefit of others, but you must always report some kind of personal benefit (even at the level of social consideration). It promotes another type of attitude that we will see later, the manipulative one.

3.2. Selfless / Altruistic Attitude

The subject with this type of attitude carries out his actions with the purpose of generating a benefit for others or regardless of whether he may not generate profits or even that may cause losses. It is unusual, since most actions generate secondary benefits to the subject himself, even at the psychic level.

4. Depending On The relationship with others

In addition to the objectives themselves, attitudes can also be classified according to how they interact with others.

4.1. Collaborating / Integrative Attitude

A kind of attitude of great use, promotes interaction with others so that everyone can achieve their goals and achieve their goals both shared and individual.

4.2. Manipulative Attitude

This type of attitude is the one that has who voluntarily and consciously uses others, making them face to obtain their own objectives, favor their interests or direct the situation towards a point desired by them.

4.3. Passive Attitude

It is a type of attitude derived from a negative vision of reality, in which there is an absence of initiative and activity, not seeking the approach to action but its avoidance. On a personal level, they may subject their wishes to those of others, being dependent and not defending their rights.

4.4. Aggressive Attitude

A way of acting and taking situations in such a way that their own rights are defended independently of those of others, coming to ignore or underestimate them if they are contrary to those of the subject.

4.5. Assertive Attitude

A type of attitude in which the subject defends their own opinions and rights consistently, but respecting those of others and being flexible in such a way that respects the other and gives space for negotiation.

4.6. Permissive Attitude

This type of attitude is largely linked to the propensity to be highly flexible, allowing and assessing deviations from the norm.

5. Depending On The Type Of Elements Used To Assess The Stimuli

Other types of attitudes are linked to our way of processing reality or the type of aspects used to assess each situation.

5.1. Emotional / Emotional Attitude

The emotional or emotional attitude is that of those who tend to rely on the emotional and assess their own and others' affections. They are usually more generous, romantic and effective both in their interactions and when assessing situations (sometimes even in a manner contrary to rationality).

5.2. Rational Attitude

They have people who rely on the use of logic and reason when assessing reality, often ignoring irrational or emotional aspects.

What Is Fitness?

Meaning of Fitness: Aptitude is the ability or posture that a person or thing possesses to carry out a certain activity or the capacity and skill that is had for the development and good performance of a business, industry, art, sport, among others.

The word aptitude comes from the Latin aptus which means "capable for".

In this way, it is understood that the term fitness can be applied in different environments in which the human being develops, both in which cognitive, physical, biological, labor, analytical, and other abilities are involved.

For example, when looking for a job, a resume or resume must be prepared and delivered or sent, in which the professional or outstanding aptitudes that identify the candidate who is running for a specific position are exposed.

These qualities are what describe the individual as the ideal and competent candidate to obtain the requested job, they seek to stand out from the other candidates. Some professional skills may be responsibility, honesty, ability to work in groups and under pressure, creativity, dynamism, among others.

On the other hand, aptitude refers to a series of psychological characteristics or faculties that allow a person to develop a specific activity. It is the ability of a person to perform a task effectively.

As his concept says, there are several types of skills that differ in a wide variety of skills that define a worker more suitable for a certain job than another, since people have different skills among all.

1. Aptitude In Psychology

Aptitude in the psychological context refers to the cognitive skills and abilities that a person possesses or develops to link their skills in the field of learning, understanding texts and about the various types of reasoning.

For example: A person who learns quickly and at the same time has the ability to apply new knowledge in the context of their reality, is an individual who stands out for possessing such aptitude.

Likewise, aptitude refers in psychology to the possibility of making some prognosis of someone with remarkable abilities to perform one or more activities effectively and effectively.

For example: When you see that a child plays football very well, one can say that he has the aptitude to be a professional player in that area.

2. Fitness In Biology

Aptitude in biology refers to the characteristics and capabilities of a living being to survive and adapt to a particular environment. It can be related to theories of evolution.

That is, it indicates all those characteristics or circumstances in which an individual demonstrates their strengths and abilities to overcome adversities or new natural changes for various reasons or factors.

3. Physical Aptitude

Physical fitness is the ability or ability of a human being to perform different physical activities with a good performance and minimizing the effects of exhaustion, fatigue and weakness, as a result of the proper functioning of the body.

4. Verbal Aptitude

Verbal aptitude is the ability to perceive or understand, reason, relate sentences and texts.

For example: Students undergo various tests of verbal aptitude that consist of writing texts, understanding diverse texts and verbal analogies, the latter are a set of exercises to complete and order sentences.

Verbal aptitude is associated with the cognitive ability of the individual and the knowledge acquired through learning and intelligence.

5. Fitness And Attitude

Sometimes people tend to confuse two terms that are different because of the similarity of their pronunciation, such as aptitude and attitude.

Aptitude, as already mentioned, indicates the posture, quality ability of a person or thing to perform or carry out a certain activity. It also refers to the willingness to do something. 

On the contrary, attitude indicates the way in which different day-to-day circumstances are faced. The attitude is related to education, culture, the society in which an individual develops. For example, "Your brother's attitude demonstrates his generosity".

What Is The Difference Between Attitude And Aptitude?

While attitude refers to a trait of human personality and its way of reacting to problems, aptitude refers more to the ability of an employee to fulfill a specific function and role.