The two are pretty much overlapping constructs. However, a construct of stereotype can serve to highlight the difference between beliefs and attitudes. Stereotype content (i.e., mental images and representations about  a stereotyped entity) or what a stereotype consists of is a set of beliefs. These beliefs are often explored qualitatively, especially if little is known about a certain type of stereotype or stereotyped entity. 

These beliefs incorporate attitudes (i.e., a degree of favour or disfavour) and these attitudes are measured quantitatively. I have done some work on country stereotypes (i.e., beliefs about and attitudes towards various countries). For example, you can see this paper

http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/rla/v52n2/art_06.pdf

(Nikitina, L., Zuraida Md Don, Loh S.C. (2014). Investigating stereotypes about the target language country: A case of German language learners. RLA. Revista de Lingüística Teórica y Aplicada, 52 (2), pp. 113-131). .

As to the factors that shape beliefs and attitudes, there are plenty (you can refer to a paper by Bar-Tal that I mention below). And these factors are of a dynamic nature. In a nutshell, much of the beliefs and attitudes stem from one' s cultural milieu. See:

Bar-Tal, Daniel (1997) “Formation and change of ethnic and national stereotypes: An integrative model”. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 21(4), 491–523. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0147-1767(97)00022-9

Hope this might be useful.

Thank very much you for your answer and suggested readings. I understand "attitudes" are more constant and secondary to "beliefs". We first have a "belief" about something in order to develop "attitude" towards something, which is then a prerequisite for "behaviour" and "decisions". Am I right? 

Generally, yes. Here is a quotation in support of this approach taken from well-established researchers who are authorities in the field: 

"...attitudes do not exist at all until an individual perceives an attitude

object (on a conscious or unconscious basis) and responds to it on

an explicit or implicit basis" (Eagly and Chaiken, 2007, p.584).  

And further, as a concrete example:

"An individual who had no (conscious or nonconscious) exposure to snakes could not be said to have a negative attitude toward them but instead likely has the potential for an easily acquired negative attitude" (Eagly and Chaiken, 2007, p.584). 

Arguments on the behavioural aspect of attitudes may be more diverse. As a whole research literature on attitudes is really immense in volume.  An as introduction to this literature and as a feasible way to find theories that could suit your particular research problem you may want to begin from reading relevant entries in Encyclopedias on behavioral sciences  (e.g., SAGE publishes such encyclopedias). These entries can point to more concrete works to fit your research vector. In addition to Encyclopedias, various handbooks on attitudes contain collections of articles with extensive literature reviews, which also helps to navigate the field. 

Good luck!  

Larisa 

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References

Alice H. Eagly, Shelly Chaiken (2007). The advantages of an Inclusive definition of attitude. Social Cognition,  25(2), 582-602  

Dear Larisa,

Thank you very much for all your help. I plan to examine beliefs about medication (with the BMQ questionnaire). As I am a pharmacologist, but not a psychologist, I need some background on the basic concepts such as beliefs, attitudes etc. The encyclopedias you recommended are not of free access. I found also these terms in Wikipedia. Do you think they are reliably described there and would you recommend reading?

Hello Michal,

Wikipedia can be useful. It does introduce important aspects of attitudes. However, I cannot wholly endorse Wiki because for academic research the reading of relevant academic literature is crucial. This is because you would want to use these constructs according to the conventions in your field. (For example, maybe the research problem  does not require much reading on beliefs per se;  but a discussion of a tripartite structure of attitudes -- with a special focus on beliefs as an attitudinal aspect -- would be sufficient). I have no knowledge of your area, so really cannot help much.

Other thing is that you might want to check articles in scholarly pharmacological journals that used the same instrument. They might have discussions on attitudes and beliefs (and mention some useful literature).  

Some of the papers would surely be freely available on the Internet. If not -- check whether the authors are on Research Gate. You can contact them and ask for their paper or seek their advice (I have done this and almost always received a positive response).

Good luck!

Larisa

Thank you again!

Belief & believe are the words of same companion .Our belief takes a shape with our mind & help to decide or otherwise of our thinking phase .If our belief is acceptable to our mind , it may remain with us to all the time to come unless otherwise some negative reaction of our thinking has taken a base .

Attitude has direct or indirect reference with our behavior for which we carry out the action both in our working environment . family , & also in our society . It is to our attitude people may help to judge us or to evaluate us .

This is my personal opinion 

Thanks all,

Hi, i am facing a confusion about which one to use in my research "beliefs or attitudes .

i want to investigate teachers' (attitudes or /beliefs) towards team teaching in ESP Courses. is it necessary that this method (i mean team teaching) should be implemented in order to investigate teachers' ( attitudes/ beliefs) towards it. the aim here is to investigate what internal ideas teachers hold about team teaching and whether they will apply and use this method in their teaching.

PS: I already know that these teachers are using traditional solitary teaching, however the aim is to explore their internal ideas and thought and apptitude to use this method.

so, i use teachers' beliefs or teachers' attitudes. and is designing a questionnaire the suitable research tool?

Beliefs play an effective role in shaping attitudes