Psychology: Understanding Psychology: Student Web Activity: Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Attitudes and Social Influence

"Changing Attitudes"

Introduction
As you learned in this chapter, we use our attitudes to define our self-concept, evaluate others, and interpret our environment. Sometimes attitudes guide behavior with prejudice and compel us to see people in terms of stereotypes. A report of The National Advisory Mental Health Council details the findings of recent psychological research about how our attitudes shape our perceptions. By describing the experiments and their results, the report gives readers a telling picture of social cognition. Further, it suggests how future research could provide insight into some of our more troubling social problems.

Destination Title: National Institute of Mental Health: Social Influence and Social Cognition
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Directions

Start at the National Institute of Mental Health: Social Influence and Social Cognition Web site.
Browse through the site, taking notes as you go.

Read through the information, and then answer the following questions.

1. How can role-playing be used as a tool for attitudinal change?

2. Why do people respond differently to a given social situation?

3. How can causal attribution contribute to negative or self-defeating evaluations?

4. What factors contribute to the presence of stereotyping?

5. This report cites several examples of psychological experiments that gave researchers insight about social influence and attitudes. Imagine you are a member of a team assigned to research one of the topics under the "Research Directions." On a separate sheet of paper, formulate a hypothesis to research, and describe why your team will be researching that subject.