Effect of ‘attitudinal content’ on formation of professional attitudes in medical students

The findings of a previous paper by the authors published in the British Journal of Medical Education (1974, vol. 8, p. 13) are summarized. Its significance as a foundation for this report is developed. The nature of the attitudes under study, the methods and the analytical techniques employed in the analysis are discussed briefly. The proposition to be examined involves the effect of the attitudinal content as a predetermining factor in the formation of professional attitudes in medical students. The distribution of attitude scale scores for the three attitudes examined are reported tabularly for the faculty by career activity and specialty, and for students in their aspired-to career activity and specialty. The analysis conducted evaluates the relative importance of socialization, generational and self-selection factors in the development of professional attitudes in medical students, The findings indicate that generational effects are present with all three attitudes, that self-selection is operative in two, and socialization appears only to occur with regard to one of the attitudes.