What’s Your Attitude? Find Out With This List Of 175 Attitudes

What can an attitude list do to help you become the person you want to be? 

To make positive changes in your life and how you respond to challenges, you need to see where you are now. 

How do you react when things go wrong?

How do you respond to people who criticize, undermine, or betray you

The attitudes you choose are the precursor to the actions you take.

Knowing your go-to attitudes can help you identify better ones.

What Are the Attitudes of a Human? 

Attitudes are situational mindsets that are separate from your character and personality, though often influenced by both. 

You might be more disposed, for example, to respond to criticism with an aggressive attitude, or you might respond by withdrawing and acting detached or defensive.

Unlike emotions, which are more often involuntary, attitudes are intentional; you choose to have a particular attitude. It doesn’t just surface in response to something else. 

woman opening gates list of attitudes

The good news? You can choose to adopt attitudes that give you a boost in life — instead of holding you back. 

What’s your attitude right now?

List of Attitudes: 175 Attitude Words to Describe Your State of Mind 

Enjoy the following list of words to describe attitude.

Make a note of the ones that sound most familiar to you — the ones you adopt most often — as well as those you’d like to use more often than you do. 

1. Abrasive 

2. Accepting

3. Adventurous

4. Affectionate

5. Aggressive

6. Agreeable

7. Aloof

8. Ambivalent

9. Angry

10. Angsty

11. Annoyed

12. Anxious or Worried

13. Antagonistic

14. Antisocial

15. Apathetic

16. Arrogant

17. Assertive

18. Avoidant 

19. Awestruck

20. Benevolent

21. Belligerent

22. Biased

23. Bigoted

24. Brave or Courageous

25. Broadminded

26. Buoyant

27. Callous

28. Calm

29. Caring

30. Cheerful

31. Cheerless

32. Closed-minded

33. Cold / Cold-hearted

34. Commanding

35. Competitive

36. Conceited

37. Concerned

38. Conciliatory

39. Condescending

40. Confident

41. Contrarian

42. Critical

43. Cynical

44. Dark

45. Daring

46. Defeatist

47. Defensive

48. Depressed

49. Detached

50. Determined

51. Diplomatic

52. Disdainful

53. Disgusted 

54. Disrespectful 

55. Distrustful

56. Empathetic

57. Energetic

58. Enterprising

59. Enthusiastic

60. Expectant

61. Fearful

62. Festive

63. Flexible

64. Flippant

65. Forgiving

66. Fretful

67. Friendly

68. Frustrated

69. Furtive

70. Gloomy

71. Glum

72. Grim

73. Grounded

74. Hesitant

75. Hopeful

76. Hopeless or Despairing

man and woman in business meeting list of attitudes

77. Hostile or Inhospitable

78. Humble

79. Impartial

80. Impatient

81. Imperious

82. Imperturbable

83. Indifferent (to others)

84. Indignant

85. Inquisitive

86. Insecure

87. Interested 

88. Intransigent

89. Intolerant 

90. Irresponsible 

91. Jealous

92. Joyful / Joyous

93. Judgmental

94. Lazy 

95. Liberal or Generous

96. Lighthearted

97. Lively

98. Loving 

99. Malevolent

100. Maternal or Maternalistic

101. Mean-spirited or Malicious

102. Miserable

103. Moralistic

104. Morose

105. Negative

106. Neutral

107. No-Nonsense

108. Nihilistic

109. Objective

110. Obnoxious

111. Obsequious 

112. Open / Open-minded

113. Optimistic 

114. Overconfident 

115. Parsimonious

116. Passionate 

117. Passive 

118. Patient

119. Paternal or Paternalistic

120. Patronizing

121. Pessimistic

122. Polite

123. Positive

124. Practical

125. Pragmatic

126. Professional

127. Querulous

128. Rational or Reasonable

129. Reluctant

130. Recalcitrant

131. Resentful or Bitter

132. Reserved

133. Resilient

134. Resistant

135. Respectful

136. Responsible

137. Reticent

138. Reverent

139. Sardonic (sharp/sarcastic)

140. Secretive

141. Selfish

142. Self-assured

143. Self-effacing

144. Selfless

145. Self-righteous 

146. Serious

147. Skeptical

148. Sneaky

149. Snobby / Snobbish

150. Solemn

151. Somber

152. Sorrowful

153. Spiteful

154. Stubborn or Obstinate or Inflexible

155. Suspicious

156. Sympathetic

157. Thoughtful

158. Timid or Timorous

159. Tireless or Indefatigable

160. Tolerant

161. Traumatized

162. Trusting

163. Unaffected

164. Unassuming

165. Unbiased or Impartial

166. Understanding

167. Unfriendly or Unsociable

168. Unwavering or Immovable

169. Unprofessional 

170. Vigilant or Hypervigilant

171. Volatile or Explosive

172. Warm or Compassionate

173. Whimsical

174. Willing

175. Withdrawn 


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How to Change Your Attitude 

Now that you’ve looked through the entire attitude words list and identified familiar attitudes, you might be wondering, “What if, instead of getting defensive when someone criticizes me, I adopt an open-minded or patient attitude?” 

Or, to put it more generally, how do you swap out one attitude for a contrary one? Attitudes are intentional, after all, though they can easily become a habit

How do you build better ones?

  • Visualize yourself responding to a situation with a different attitude. 
  • Write about the attitudes you take and why you take them. 
  • Practice responding differently to smaller challenges and build on those wins. 
  • Build habits (like meditation) that help you see each situation more objectively. 
  • Take better care of yourself with adequate sleep, optimal nutrition, and exercise.

You now have a long list of adjectives for attitude to reference when you’re describing an attitude of your own or someone else’s.

Which attitudes are you most proud of — and which would you like to exchange for others that might serve you better?