Chap20

Chapter Overview Visit the Understanding PsychologyWeb site at psychology.glencoe.comand click on Chapter 20—ChapterOverviews to preview the chapter.

PSYCHOLOGY

576

Psychology JournalWrite a definition of preju-

dice in your journal. In addi-tion, list at least four examplesof prejudiced thinking. �

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/psychology/psych2001/chapter20/overview.html

What do you accept as fact? What do you call products of fan-tasy? Your attitudes can lead you to believe that something isfact when it is really imaginary or that something is not real

when it really is fact. An attitude is a predisposition to respond in par-ticular ways toward specific things. It has three main elements: (1) a beliefor opinion about something, (2) feelings about that thing, and (3) a ten-dency to act toward that thing in certain ways. For example, what is yourattitude toward the senators from your state? Do you believe they aredoing a good job? Do you feel you trust or distrust them? Would you actto vote for them?

Attitude Formation

attitude: predisposition toact, think, and feel in particularways toward a class of people,objects, or an idea

� Main IdeaOur attitudes are the result of condition-ing, observational learning, and cogni-tive evaluation. Our attitudes help usdefine ourselves and our place in soci-ety, evaluate people and events, andguide our behavior.

� Vocabulary• attitude• self-concept

� Objectives• Trace the origin of attitudes.• Describe the functions of attitudes.

Reader’s Guide

An Attitude of DisbeliefOn July 20, 1969, Astronaut Neil

Armstrong emerged from a space capsulesome 250,000 miles from Earth and, whilemillions of television viewers watched,became the first man to set foot upon themoon. Since that time other astronautshave experienced that same monumentalunique experience in space, yet there arein existence today numerous relativelyintelligent, otherwise normal humans whoinsist it never happened—that the masseshave been completely deluded by someweird government hoax—a conspiracy ofmonumental proportions! There is even awell-publicized organization in Englandnamed “The Flat Earth Society,” whichseriously challenges with interesting logicall such claims of space travel and evi-dence that the earth is round.

—from Story of Attitudes and Emotions byEdgar Cayce, 1972

Chapter 20 / Attitudes and Social Influence 577

Exploring Psychology

WHERE ATTITUDES COME FROM We have very definite beliefs, feelings, and responses to things about

which we have no firsthand knowledge. Where do these attitudes comefrom? Attitudes are formed through conditioning, observational learning,and cognitive evaluation.

Conditioning Classical conditioning (discussed in Chapter 9) can help you form

attitudes automatically (see Figure 20.1). When a new stimulus (theconditioned stimulus) is paired with a stimulus that already causes acertain reaction (the unconditioned stimulus), the new stimulus beginsto cause a reaction similar to the one caused by the original stimulus.For instance, scientist Ivan Pavlov’s dog had a positive attitude towardmeat (he liked to eat it). When Pavlov paired the meat with the ringingof the tuning fork, the dog formed a positive attitude toward the soundof the tuning fork. So when Pavlov’s dog heard the sound of the tuningfork, he wagged his tail and salivated. We also acquire attitudes throughoperant conditioning—we receive praise, approval, or acceptance forexpressing certain attitudes or we may be punished for expressing other attitudes.

Cognitive Evaluation Sometimes we develop attitudes toward something without stopping

to think about it. For example, if our friend feels strongly about politicsand uses many statistics or big words when speaking about a specificpolitical issue, we may agree with her simply because she sounds like sheknows what she is talking about. If we do this, we have used a heuristic,a mental shortcut to form an attitude.

However, we may sit down and systematically think about an issuethat affects us directly. For example, if your friend speaks strongly aboutState College and its credentials, you may not simply accept her

578 Chapter 20 / Attitudes and Social Influence

Attitude Formation Through Classical ConditioningSuppose you meet Jane. Jane seems to enjoy making commentsthat embarrass you. After a few encounters with Jane, even thesound of her voice upsets you. So you learn to avoid her. What factors were paired to produce your avoidance response?

Figure 20.1

argument. You may list and evaluate the pros andcons of State College versus State University whenyou are selecting the college to attend. This matter isimportant, and you do not want to rely on shortcuts.

Other Sources Your attitudes are shaped by other forces. You

may develop your attitudes by watching and imitat-ing others—through observational learning. Theseforces are at work when you interact with others. Forexample, you may adopt your parents’ political viewsor dress very much like your friends do. The culturein which you grew up, the people who raised you, and those with whomyou associate all shape your attitudes. You also learn many of your atti-tudes through direct experience. For instance, once you drive the newBMW, you may develop a favorable attitude toward it.

Culture Culture influences everything from our taste in food to our atti-tudes toward human relationships and our political opinions. For exam-ple, most (if not all) Americans would consider eating grubs, curdled milkspiced with cattle blood, or monkey meat disgusting. Yet in some parts ofthe world these are considered delicacies.

The list of culturally derived attitudes is endless. Indeed, it isonly by traveling and reading about other ways of life that we discover how many of the things we take for granted are attitudes,not facts.

Parents There is abundant evidence that all of us acquire manybasic attitudes from our parents (see Figure 20.2). How else wouldyou account for the finding that a high percentage of elementaryschoolchildren favor the same political party as their parents? Asadults, more than two-thirds of all voters continue to favor thepolitical party their parents supported. Parental influence wanes aschildren get older, of course.

Peers It is not surprising that parental influence declines as chil-dren get older and are exposed to many other sources of influence.In a now classic study, Theodore Newcomb (1943) questioned andrequestioned students at Bennington College in Vermont abouttheir political attitudes over a period of four years. Most of theyoung women came from wealthy, staunchly conservative families.In contrast, most Bennington faculty members were outspoken lib-erals. Newcomb found that many of the students were “con-verted” to the liberal point of view. In 1936, 54 percent of thejuniors and seniors supported Franklin D. Roosevelt and the NewDeal over the conservative Republican candidate Alf Landon.Newcomb contacted the participants of his study 25 years after theyhad graduated and found that most had maintained the attitudes


?Did You Know?Did You Know?The Exposure Effect One determinant ofattitudes is the mere exposure effect—themore frequently people encounter an objector idea, the more favorably they evaluate it.You may have experienced this by listeningto a song over and over again and growingto like that song. Candidates for politicaloffice use this effect by constantly advertis-ing during political campaigns.

Children are skilled at detect-ing their parents’ attitudes.Often children learn to reactin the same way as their parents to various events orthings. How do we developattitudes through observa-tional learning?

Learning AttitudesFigure 20.2

self-concept: how we see or describe ourselves; our self-perceptions

they had acquired in college. One reason was thatthey had chosen friends, spouses, and careers thatsupported liberal values (Newcomb et al., 1967).People tend to adopt the likes and dislikes ofgroups whose approval and acceptance they seek.

FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDES Why do we have attitudes? How do they

help us function and interact with others?Attitudes help us evaluate our own beliefs andvalues to define ourselves, interpret the objectsand events we encounter, and determine how toact in given situations.

Attitudes as a Self-Defining MechanismAsk a friend to describe herself. How does

she do it? Along with a physical description, shemay include her attitudes, or values, about cer-tain things. For example, she may claim that she

likes helping others, tries to be a good student, oris a strong supporter of equal rights. These atti-

tudes help her define who she is. They refer towhat she considers right or wrong and establish her

goals. These attitudes make up her self-concept. Ourself-concept refers to how we see or describe our-

selves. If you have a positive self-concept, you will tendto act and feel optimistically and constructively; whereas

if you have a negative self-concept, you will tend to act andfeel pessimistically or self-destructively.Social groups as well as individuals hold attitudes. People liv-

ing in the same conditions and who frequently communicate withone another have attitudes in common because they are exposed to thesame information and may have formed as a group partly because oftheir similar attitudes.

Attitudes as Cognitive Guidelines and Guides to Action Our attitudes serve as guidelines for interpreting and categorizing

people, objects, and events. Attitudes also guide us to behave in certainways (see Figure 20.3). In effect, attitudes guide us toward or away fromparticular people, objects, and events. For instance, we may link negativefeelings with walking in unlit and dirty alleyways or we may link positivefeelings with friendly and happy people. These attitudes tell us to avoidthe former and approach the latter.

Sometimes, though, our attitudes are not consistent with our behav-iors. For example, although we may disagree with littering, we may throwa candy wrapper on the ground. Your behavior may reflect your attitudes


How similar are your views toyour parents’ views? Studies have shown that parents are animportant source of many of our basic atti-tudes and beliefs. What is the degree of simi-larity between your parents’ views and yourviews on selected issues?

Procedure1. Generate a list of 10 statements about

social issues, such as political affiliation,nuclear energy, mandatory retirement,equal pay, and paternity leave.

2. Develop a questionnaire based on theseissues in which a person can respond by agreeing or disagreeing with the statements. Use a five-point scale rangingfrom 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly dis-agree) to rate your opinions.

3. Complete the questionnaire and ask your parents to do the same.

Analysis1. Analyze your parents’ responses. On what

issues did you agree and disagree?

2. Why do you think your parents have been influential in shaping some of your attitudes and not others?

See the SkillsHandbook, page 622,

for an explanation of de-signing an experiment.

more strongly, though, depending on why you have formed a certain atti-tude. Many psychologists argue that the attitudes that most strongly pre-dict behavior are those that are acquired through direct experience. Forexample, if you disagree with eating meat because when you have eaten itbefore you felt sick, the smell and sight of meat may automatically remindyou of this negative attitude, so you do not eat meat. If you disagree witheating meat because of strictly moral reasons, however, you may not auto-matically remember your attitude when you smell and see meat. So,although attitudes do play a role in determining behavior, when and underwhat circumstances certain attitudes affect our behavior may vary.


Reading CheckHow do our attitudes

help us organize our reality?

A Theory of Planned BehaviorPsychologists have proposed a theory that three factors determine aperson’s behavior. The strength or weakness of each of these threefactors explains why certain people behave differently despite sharedattitudes (Ajzen, 1991; Sheppard, Hartwick, & Warshaw, 1988). Whatfactors other than attitude determine a person’s behavior?

Figure 20.3

My attitude toward behaviorExample A: I want to be a doctor.Example B: I want to become a vegetarian. Intended

BehaviorExample A: Become a doctor.Example B: Become a vegetarian.

ActualBehaviorExample A: Goes to medical school.Example B: Continues to eat meat.

My belief about what others who are importantwould think about the behaviorExample A: My friends and parents will support me.Example B: My friends will think that it is unusual not toeat meat.

My perceived ability or inability to carry out the behaviorExample A: I don’t know if I can make it through medical school.Example B: I don’t think that I can give up hamburgers.

1. Review the Vocabulary What are thethree elements of an attitude?

2. Visualize the Main Idea Using a dia-gram similar to the one below, list anddescribe the functions of attitudes.

3. Recall Information How does one’sculture influence one’s attitudes?

4. Think Critically How can attitudeshelp keep us out of dangerous situations?

Assessment

Functions of Attitudes

5. Application Activity Investigate how advertis-ers use classical conditioning to influence our atti-tudes. Bring an example of such an advertisementto class and, in a brief report, analyze the adver-tiser’s technique.

Did you figure out the answer to the thought problem above? Yousee, the author knew the name of the little girl because the testpilot was a woman—the little girl’s mother. Thus the mother and

daughter share the same first name. You may have had trouble comingup with the answer because you assumed that the test pilot was male.Also, we usually do not expect women to name their daughters afterthemselves. If you had trouble with this thought problem, you were thevictim of cognitive consistency—that is, you tried to fit this new situationinto your existing assumptions. You made a prejudgment about the situ-ation that prevented you from considering all the possibilities.

ATTITUDE CHANGE Having suggested where attitudes come from, we can now look at how

they develop. The three main processes involved in forming or changingattitudes are compliance, identification, and internalization (Kelman, 1961).

Attitude Change and Prejudice

� Main IdeaAttitudes are formed through compli-ance, identification, and internalization.Attitudes may be changed as a result ofcognitive dissonance.

� Vocabulary• compliance• identification• internalization• cognitive dissonance• counterattitudinal behavior• self-justification• self-fulfilling prophecy• prejudice• discrimination

� Objectives• Cite the sources of attitude change.• Describe prejudice and its relationship

to stereotypes and roles.

Reader’s GuideExploring Psychology

Can You Figure It Out?I met my friend the test pilot, who

had just completed an around-the-worldflight by balloon. With the pilot was a lit-tle girl of about two.

“What’s her name?” I asked my friend,whom I hadn’t seen in five years and whohad married in that time.

“Same as her mother,” the pilot replied.“Hello, Susan,” I said to the little girl.How did I know her name if I never

saw the wedding announcement?

—from “Steve’s Primer of PracticalPersuasion and Influence” [Web site], 1996


If you praise a certain film director because everyone else does, you arecomplying. If you find yourself agreeing with everything a friend you par-ticularly admire says about the director, you are identifying with yourfriend’s attitudes. If you genuinely like the director’s work and, regardlessof what other people think, regard it as brilliant, you are expressing aninternalized attitude.

Compliance One of the best measures of attitude is behavior. If a man settles back

into his chair after dinner, launches into a discussion of his support of thewomen’s rights movement, then shouts to his wife—who is in the kitchenwashing the dishes—to bring more coffee, you probably would not believewhat he had been saying. His actions speak louder than his words. Yet thesame man might hire women for jobs he has always considered “men’swork” because the law requires him to do so. He also might finally accepthis wife’s going to work because he knows that she, their children, andmany of their friends would consider him old-fashioned if he did not.People often adapt their actions to the wishes of others to avoid discom-fort or rejection and to gain support. This is called compliance. Undersuch circumstances, social pressure often results in only temporary com-pliance, and attitudes do not really change. Later in this chapter, how-ever, we shall see that compliance can sometimes affect one’s beliefs.

Identification One way in which attitudes may really be formed or changed is

through the process of identification. Suppose you have a favorite unclewho is everything you hope to be. He is a successful musician, has manyfamous friends, and seems to know a great deal about everything. Inmany ways you identify with him and copy his behavior. One night, during an intense conversation, your uncle asks you why you do not vote.At first, you feel defensive and argumentative. You contend that it doesnot matter, that your vote would not make a difference. As you listen toyour uncle, however, you find yourself starting to agree with him. If a per-son as knowledgeable and respectable as your uncle believes it is impor-tant to vote, then perhaps you should, too. Later you find yourself eagerto take part in the political process. You have adopted a new attitudebecause of your identification with your uncle.

Identification occurs when a person wants to define himself or herselfin terms of a person or group and therefore adopts the person’s or group’sattitudes and ways of behaving. Identification is different from compliancebecause the individual actually believes the newly adopted views. Yetbecause these attitudes are based on emotional attachment to another per-son or group rather than the person’s own assessment of the issues, theyare fragile. If the person’s attachment to that person or group fades, theattitudes may also weaken.

Previously, you read that adolescents move away from peer groupsand toward independence as they grow older. If this is true, do attitudesstabilize with age? Two psychologists (Krosnick & Alwin, 1989) studied

compliance: a change ofbehavior to avoid discomfort orrejection and gain approval


identification: seeing one-self as similar to another personor group and accepting the atti-tudes of another person orgroup as one’s own

cognitive dissonance: theuncomfortable feeling when aperson experiences contradic-tory or conflicting thoughts,attitudes, beliefs, or feelings

internalization: incorporat-ing the values, ideas, and stan-dards of others as a part ofoneself

the political and social attitudes of groups of people of various ages overan extended period. Those in the 18 to 25 age group were the most likely to change their attitudes; those age 34 and older held attitudes thatwere essentially stable. So as identification with peer groups declinesthrough late adolescence and into adulthood, attitudes become more stable.

Internalization The wholehearted acceptance of an attitude is internalization. The

attitude becomes an integral part of the person. Internalization is mostlikely to occur when an attitude is consistent with a person’s basic beliefsand values and supports his or her self-image. The person adopts a newattitude because he or she believes it is right to do so—not because he orshe wants to be like someone else.

Internalization is the most lasting of the three sources of attitude for-mation or change. Your internalized attitudes will be more resistant topressure from other people because your reasons for holding these viewshave nothing to do with other people. They are based on your own eval-uation of the merits of the issue. A Bennington student put it this way: “Ibecame liberal at first because of its prestige value; I remain so becausethe problems around which my liberalism centers are important. What Iwant now is to be effective in solving problems” (Newcomb, 1943).

As this example suggests, compliance or identification may lead to theinternalization of an attitude. Often the three overlap. You may support apolitical candidate in part because you know your friends will approve, inpart because someone you admire speaks highly of the candidate, and inpart because you believe his or her ideals are consistent with your own.

COGNITIVE CONSISTENCY Many social psychologists have theorized that people’s attitudes change

because they are always trying to get things to fit together logically insidetheir heads. This is called cognitive consistency (see Figure 20.4). Holding twoopposing attitudes can create great conflict in an individual, throwing himor her off balance. A doctor who smokes and a parent who is uncomfort-able with children have one thing in common: they are in conflict.

According to Leon Festinger (1957), people in such situations experi-ence cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the uncomfortablefeeling that arises when a person experiences contradictory or conflictingthoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or feelings. To reduce dissonance, it is necessaryto change one or both of the conflicting attitudes.

People get rid of dissonance in several ways. First, some people justdeny the dissonance. They pretend it did not happen. When faced withinformation on the health hazards of smoking, a smoker simply treats theinformation as nonsense—propaganda by antismoking groups. Some peo-ple attempt to evade dissonance by avoiding situations or exposure to infor-mation that would create conflict. For example, they may make a point ofsubscribing to newspapers and magazines that uphold their political


Reading CheckWhich attitudes are the

most stable and long-lasting—those formed by compliance,identification, or internalization?

attitudes, of surroundingthemselves with peoplewho share the same ideas,and of attending only thosespeeches and lectures thatsupport their views. It is notsurprising that such peopleget quite upset when a pieceof conflicting informationfinally does get through.Some people change theirattitude and/or reevaluatethe event. Because the newinformation they receiveddoes not agree with theirold attitude, they revisetheir attitude. The smokermight consider the researchon the dangers of smokingand make an attempt to quitsmoking. The process ofdissonance reduction doesnot always take place con-sciously, but it is a frequentand powerful occurrence.

ATTITUDES AND ACTIONSSocial psychologists have discovered several interesting relationships

between attitudes and actions. Obviously, your attitudes affect youractions: if you like Fords, you will buy a Ford. Some of the other rela-tionships are not so obvious.

Doing Is Believing It turns out, for example, that if you like Fords but buy a Chevrolet

for some reason (perhaps you can get a better deal on a Chevy), you willend up liking Fords less. In other words, actions affect attitudes.

In many instances, if you act and speak as though you have certainbeliefs and feelings, you may begin to really feel and believe this way. Thisphenomenon is called counterattitudinal behavior, and it is a methodof reducing cognitive dissonance. For example, people accused of a crimehave confessed to crimes they did not commit. They confessed to relievethe pressure; but having said that they did the deed, they begin to believethat they really are guilty.

One explanation for this phenomenon comes from the theory of cog-nitive dissonance. If a person acts one way but thinks another, he or shewill experience dissonance. To reduce the dissonance, the person will


Balance Theory

According to the balance theory, people are inclined to achieve con-sistency in their attitudes by balancing their beliefs and feelings about an object, person, or event against their attitudes about other people.When someone we care about strongly disagrees with us, an uncom-fortable state of imbalance occurs. What do you think we do whenwe become involved in a state of imbalance?

Figure 20.4

counterattitudinal behav-ior: the process of taking apublic position that contradictsone’s private attitude

have to change either the behavior or the attitude. Asimilar explanation is that people have a need for self-justification—a need to justify their behavior.

In an experiment that demonstrated these princi-ples, participants were paid either $1 or $20 (roughly$5 and $100 in today’s currency) to tell another personthat a boring experiment in which they both had toparticipate was really a lot of fun. Afterward, the ex-perimenters asked the participants how they felt aboutthe experiment. They found that the participants whohad been paid $20 to lie about the experiment contin-ued to believe that it had been boring. Those who hadbeen paid $1, however, came to believe that the exper-iment had actually been fairly enjoyable. These peoplehad less reason to tell the lie, so they experienced moredissonance when they did so. To justify their lie, theyhad to believe that they had actually enjoyed the exper-iment (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959).

The phenomenon of self-justification has seriousimplications. For example, how would you justify toyourself that you had intentionally injured anotherhuman being? In another psychological experiment,participants were led to believe that they had injuredor hurt other participants in some way (Glass, 1964).The aggressors were then asked how they felt aboutthe victims they had just harmed. It was found thatthe aggressors had convinced themselves that theydid not like the victims of their cruelty. In otherwords, the aggressors talked themselves into believingthat their defenseless victims had deserved their

injury. The aggressors also considered their victims to be less attractiveafter the experiment than before—their self-justification for hurtinganother person was something like “Oh, well, this person doesn’tamount to much, anyway.”

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Another relationship between attitudes and actions is rather subtle but

extremely widespread. It is possible, it seems, for a person to act in such away as to make his or her attitudes come true. This phenomenon is calleda self-fulfilling prophecy. Self-fulfilling prophecies can influence all kindsof human activity. Suppose you believe that people are basically friendlyand generous. Whenever you approach other people, you are friendly andopen. Because of your smile and positive attitude toward yourself and theworld, people like you. Thus your attitude that people are friendly producesyour friendly behavior, which in turn causes people to respond favorablytoward you. Suppose you turn this example around. Imagine that youbelieve people are selfish and cold. Because of your negative attitude, youtend to avert your eyes from other people, to act gloomy, and to appear


The Just-World BiasWhen watching some movies, we

expect the evil character to get punished.Sometimes we may even hear ourselvessaying, “He’ll get what he deserves.”Psychologists label this tendency the just-world bias (Lerner, 1980). We need tobelieve that life is fair, that the world isorderly, and that we have control over ourenvironment, because to think otherwisewould cause too much cognitive disso-nance. For instance, if we believe life isunfair, then no matter what we do, some-thing terrible could happen to us. Thatthought is an extremely uncomfortablenotion. The just-world hypothesis, then,motivates us to work hard and be good toensure our survival and well-being. How-ever, the just-world hypothesis may causeus to develop prejudice against those whosuffer misfortunes or mistreatment.

To maintain our belief that life is fair, wereason that those who are worse off thanwe are somehow deserve their lot. Weblame the victim. For example, we may say that the woman who was robbed lastnight should not have been walking alone at night.

self-justification: the needto rationalize one’s attitude andbehavior

self-fulfilling prophecy: abelief, prediction, or expecta-tion that operates to bringabout its own fulfillment

rather unfriendly. People think your actions are strange, and consequently,they act coldly toward you. Your attitude has produced the kind of behav-ior that makes the attitude come true (Fiske & Taylor, 1991).

PREJUDICE Prejudice means, literally, prejudgment. Prejudice means deciding

beforehand what a person will be like instead of withholding judgmentuntil it can be based on his or her individual qualities. To hold stereotypesabout a group of people is to be prejudiced about them. Prejudice is notnecessarily negative—men who are prejudiced against women are oftenequally prejudiced in favor of men, for example.

Stereotypes and Roles Prejudice is strengthened and maintained by the existence of stereo-

types and roles. A stereotype is an oversimplified, hard-to-change way ofseeing people who belong to some group or category. Racial groups,scientists, women, and the rich, for example, often have been seen incertain rigid ways rather than as individuals. A role is an oversimplified,hard-to-change way of acting. Stereotypes and roles can act together ina way that makes them difficult to break down. For example, manywhites once had a stereotype of minority racial groups, believing themto be irresponsible, superstitious, or unintelligent. Whites who believedthis expected members of the racial group to act out a role that wasconsistent with a stereotype. Members of the racial group were ex-pected to be submissive, deferential, and respectful toward whites, whoacted out the role of the superior, condescending parent. In the past,many people accepted these roles and looked at themselves and eachother according to these stereotypes. In the past several decades, how-ever, many people have worked tostep out of these roles and drop thesestereotypes, and to some extent theyhave been successful.

Patricia Devine (1989) proposed amodel to explain the relationshipsbetween stereotypes and prejudice. Shetheorizes that if a specific stimulus isencountered, it automatically activatesyour stereotype mechanism. For exam-ple, if you see an old man or woman, itactivates your stereotype of old people.Devine suggests that what separatesprejudiced from nonprejudiced peopleis their ability to inhibit negative atti-tudes. If you can do so, your responsewill be nonprejudiced; if you cannotrestrain your negative beliefs, you willbehave in a prejudiced manner.


IllusoryCorrelation

An illusory correlation occurs when we see relation-ships that match our set beliefs while ignoring other rela-tionships. For example, suppose that you believe that allwomen are bad drivers. You can name several instances inwhich you recall witnessing a female driver do somethingirresponsible while behind the wheel. However, you ignoreall the times you have seen bad male drivers. If you noticea female driving well, you claim that this is a chance hap-pening—this female driver is an exception to all otherfemale drivers. In this way you maintain your (inaccurate)stereotype of bad female drivers.

prejudice: preconceived atti-tudes toward a person or groupthat have been formed withoutsufficient evidence and are noteasily changed

Another psychologist, Thomas Pettigrew, suggests that in situationswhere members of a dominant and a deferential group can be identified,each group may play a role that fosters and maintains its respective posi-tion. A member of a dominating group, for example, will speak first, inter-rupt more often, and talk louder and longer. A member of the deferentialgroup will show courtesy and concern for the dominant member and domore listening and less interrupting.

Prejudice and Discrimination There are many possible causes for prejudice. Prejudice can be based on

social, economic, or physical factors. Psychologists have found that peoplemay be prejudiced against those less well-off than themselves—these peopleseem to justify being on top by assuming that anyone of lower status orincome must be inferior. People who have suffered economic setbacks alsotend to be prejudiced—they blame others for their misfortune. Prejudice alsoarises from “guilt by association.” People who dislike cities and urban living,for example, tend to distrust people associated with cities. Also, people maybe prejudiced in favor of those they see as similar to themselves and againstthose who seem different. Whatever the original cause, prejudice seems topersist. One reason is that children who grow up in an atmosphere of preju-dice conform to the prejudicial norm. That is, they are encouraged to con-form to the thoughts and practices of their parents and other teachers.

Prejudice, which is an attitude, should be distinguished from discrimination, the unequal treatment of members of certain groups. Itis possible for a prejudiced person not to discriminate. He or she may rec-ognize his or her prejudice and try not to act on it. Similarly, a personmay discriminate, not out of prejudice, but in compliance with social oreconomic pressures.


discrimination: the unequaltreatment of individuals on thebasis of their race, ethnicgroup, age, gender, or member-ship in another category ratherthan on the basis of individual characteristics

1. Review the Vocabulary Describe therelationship between attitudes andbehavior in counterattitudinal behavior,self-justification, and self-fulfillingprophecy.

2. Visualize the Main Idea Using a dia-gram similar to the one below, list anddescribe the three main processesinvolved in forming or changing attitudes.

3. Recall Information How do stereo-types and roles strengthen prejudice?

4. Think Critically How do theories ofcognitive dissonance explain why cer-tain people may be attracted to someinformation while they avoid otherinformation? Explain.

Assessment

5. Application Activity List 10 makes and mod-els of cars (such as Saturn SL2, Honda Civic) andask 15 people to choose from a wide range ofadjectives (such as serious, reliable, dishonest) thatbest describes someone who drives that type ofcar. Analyze the results of your survey to see ifpeople are stereotyped by the cars they drive.

1

2

3Processes of Forming/Changing

Attitudes


other important information. It took just under three years to complete this part of the experiment.

Next LaPiere sent questionnaires to theestablishments that the Chinese couple had vis-ited. The straightforward questionnaires simplyinquired if that establishment would provide ser-vices to a Chinese husband and wife. To ensurethat the opinions of those establishments werenot affected by the Chinese couple’s visit,LaPiere also sent a number of questionnaires toother businesses in that Pacific coast region.

LaPiere received back 51percent of the surveys.

Results: Of the 251establishments patronizedby the Chinese couple, onlyone denied them servicebecause of their race.Compared with the question-naires LaPiere had sent, the symbolic behaviors andactual behaviors of thoseestablishments seemed to

correlate remarkably. Only one establishmentadmitted that it would not serve a Chinese couple.This was the same place that had refused serviceto the Chinese couple.

LaPiere’s hypothesis had not been proven.He still believed, though, that symbolic behaviorand actual behavior did not correspond, espe-cially when concerning racial prejudice. He real-ized that mailing questionnaires was not an idealway of measuring symbolic behavior responses.Even though LaPiere performed this study morethan 60 years ago, one might wonder what kind ofresults a study similar to LaPiere’s would producetoday.

Feelings VS. ActionsPeriod of Study: 1934

Introduction: In 1934 Richard LaPiereconducted a study designed to evaluate a per-son’s feelings and actions with situationsregarding race. He studied the social attitudesof individuals and examined the connectionbetween an individual’s real behavior and anindividual’s symbolic behavior. Symbolicbehavior refers to a personstating how he or shewould react in any given sit-uation without it actuallyoccurring. With this idea inmind, LaPiere set out totest individuals’ symbolicracial responses comparedwith their actual racialresponses.

Hypothesis: LaPierecame up with the idea ofstudying racial behavior when he traveledacross the United States to conduct research ona different topic with his wife and a youngChinese student. During the 1930s, much racialprejudice targeted Asian Americans. LaPiereand his traveling companions became the tar-gets of prejudice in many situations. Therefore,LaPiere hypothesized that when dealing with theissue of race, people’s actions do not alwayscoincide with what they profess as their beliefs.

Method: LaPiere needed a control variablefor his experiment. LaPiere chose the unusualcontrol variable of a Chinese husband and wife.The Chinese couple, along with LaPiere,traveled along the Pacific coast. The cou-ple visited various restaurants, attemptedto check in to hotels, and frequentedother public service businesses. LaPierewent where the couple went but dis-tanced himself from them and recordedsignificant data. LaPiere focused on howthe couple was treated, if they wereserved, if they were asked to leave, and

Analyzing the Case Study 1. What is the difference between symbolic behavior andactual behavior? Explain.

2. What was LaPiere’s hypothesis?

3. Critical Thinking If LaPiere performed this experimenttoday, do you think that his results would be the same?Why or why not?

Advertisers use persuasion to encourage consumers to buy theirproducts. McDonalds uses at least one method of persuasion—familiarity. Most American kids know what McDonalds is; most

American kids have seen a McDonalds commercial or advertisement.What methods of persuasion lure you?

PERSUASIONPersuasion is a direct attempt to influence attitudes. At one time or

another everyone engages in persuasion. When a smiling student who isworking her way through college by selling magazine subscriptions comesto the door, she attempts to persuade you that reading Newsweek or SportsIllustrated will make you better informed and give you lots to talk about atparties. Parents often attempt to persuade a son or daughter to conform totheir values about life. Similarly, some young people try to persuade theirparents that all their friends’ parents are buying them home computers. Ineach case, the persuader’s main hope is that by changing the other per-son’s attitudes, he or she can change that person’s behavior as well.

Persuasion

� Main IdeaPersuasion is a direct attempt to influ-ence attitudes. We evaluate when, where,and how a message is presented, as wellas the message itself, when determiningthe credibility of the message.

� Vocabulary• persuasion• boomerang effect• sleeper effect• inoculation effect• brainwashing

� Objectives• Describe the factors involved in the

communication process.• Explain the different types of persua-

sion processes.

Reader’s GuideExploring Psychology

Why Do Kids Love McDonalds?By switching the channel on a

Saturday morning, a child can watch“Ronald McDonald” in up to a dozen, col-orful, fast-paced commercials each hour;perhaps this is one reason why the chainsells so many billions of hamburgers.

—from The Social Animal by Elliot Aronson,1995


persuasion: the directattempt to influence attitudes

The Communication Process Enormous amounts of time, money, and effort go into campaigns to

persuade people to change their attitudes and behavior. Some succeed ona grand scale, while others seem to have no effect. One of the most diffi-cult questions social psychologists have tried to answer is this: Whatmakes a persuasive communication effective?

The communication process can be broken down into four parts. Themessage itself is only one part. It is also important to consider the source ofthe message, the channel through which it is delivered, and the audiencethat receives it.

The Source How a person sees the source, or originator, of a messagemay be a critical factor in his or her acceptance or rejection of it. The per-son receiving the message asks himself or herself two basic questions: Isthe person giving the message trustworthy and sincere? Does he or sheknow anything about the subject? If the source seems reliable and knowl-edgeable, the message is likely to be accepted (see Figure 20.5).

Suppose, for example, that you have written for your English class apaper criticizing a short story. A friend who reads the paper tells youabout an article that praises the story and asks you to reconsider yourview. The article was written by Agnes Stearn, acollege student. You might change your opinion, oryou might not. Suppose your friend tells you thesame critique was written by Stephen King.Chances are that you would begin to doubt yourown judgment. Three psychologists tried thisexperiment. Not surprisingly, many more studentschanged their minds about a piece of writing whenthey thought the criticism was written by a famouswriter (Aronson, Turner, & Carlsmith, 1963).

A person receiving the message also asks this:Do I like the source? If the communicator is re-spected and admired, people will tend to go alongwith the message, either because they believe in hisor her judgment or because they want to be like himor her. This identification phenomenon explains thefrequent use of athletes in advertisements. Footballplayers and Olympic champions are not (in mostcases) experts on deodorants, electric razors, ormilk. Indeed, when an athlete endorses a particularbrand of deodorant on television, we all know he orshe is doing it for the money. Nevertheless, theprocess of identification makes these sales pitcheshighly effective (Wu & Shaffer, 1987).

However, attempts to be friendly and personalcan backfire. When people dislike the individual orgroup delivering a message, they are likely torespond by taking the opposite point of view. This


The Source

National newscasters, such as Peter Jennings,appear attractive, honest, and credible. We arelikely to believe sources that seem trustworthyand are attractive. What is the identificationphenomenon?

Figure 20.5

boomerang effect: achange in attitude or behavioropposite of the one desired bythe persuader

is known as the boomerang effect. For example, the sales of a product may go down after the well-known spokesperson for the product is arrested for breaking the law, or the well-intentioned com-ments of a politician may offend certain groups and, thereby, damage hispopular appeal.

The Message Suppose two people with opposing viewpoints are try-ing to persuade you to agree with them. Suppose further that you likeand trust both of them. In this situation, the message becomes moreimportant than the source. The persuasiveness of a message depends on the way in which it is composed and organized as well as on theactual content.

There are two ways to deliver a message. The central route for persua-sion focuses on presenting information consisting of strong arguments andfacts—it is a focus on logic. The peripheral route for persuasion relies onemotional appeals, emphasizing personal traits or positive feelings.

Should the message arouse emotion? Are people more likely to changetheir attitudes if they are afraid or angry or pleased? The answer is yes, butthe most effective messages combine emotional appeal with factual infor-mation and argument. A moderately arousing message typically causes thelargest shift of opinion. Similarly, a message that deviates moderately fromthe attitudes of the target audience will tend to move that audience furthest.A communication that overemphasizes the emotional side of an issue mayboomerang. The peripheral route sometimes arouses fear (see Figure 20.6).If the message is too upsetting, people may reject it. For example, showingpictures of accident victims to people who have been arrested for drunkendriving may convince them not to drive when they have been drinking. Yetif the film is so bloody that people are frightened or disgusted, they may

also stop listening to the message. On the otherhand, a communication that includes only logic andinformation may miss its mark because the audiencedoes not relate the facts to their personal lives.

When presenting an argument, is it moreeffective to present both sides of an issue or onlyone side? For the most part, a two-sided commu-nication is more effective because the audiencetends to believe that the speaker is objective andfair-minded. A slight hazard of presenting oppos-ing arguments is that they might undercut themessage or suggest that the whole issue is toocontroversial to make a decision about.

People usually respond positively to a messagethat is structured and delivered in a dynamic way. Acommunication that is forceful to the point of beingpushy, however, may produce negative results.People generally resent being pressured. If listenersinfer from a message that they are being left with nochoice but to agree with the speaker’s viewpoint,they may reject an opinion for this reason alone.


Appealing to Your Fears

Advertisements, such as this, are effectiveonly if you believe the danger is real and ifyou believe that you can do something toreduce the danger. Is this an example of acentral or peripheral route for persuasion?

Figure 20.6

The Channel Where, when, and how a message is presented also influ-ences the audience’s response. In general, personal contact is the mosteffective approach to an audience. For example, in one study in AnnArbor, Michigan, 75 percent of voters who had been contacted person-ally voted in favor of a change in the city charter. Only 45 percent ofthose who had received the message in the mail and 19 percent of thosewho had seen only ads in the media voted for the change (Eldersveld &Dodge, 1954).

As we saw earlier, however, personal contact may boomerang: peo-ple may dislike the communicator or feel that they are being pressured.Besides, you can reach a great many more people through mailings andradio and television broadcasts than you can in person.

There is some evidence that television and films are more effectivemedia of persuasion than printed matter. People tend to believe whatthey see and hear with their own senses (even if they know the informa-tion has been edited before it is broadcast). In one experiment, 51 percentof people who had watched a film could answer factual questions aboutthe issue in question—compared to 29 percent of those who had seenonly printed material. In addition, more of the people who had viewedthe film altered their viewpoints than did people who had read about theissue (Hovland, Lumsdaine, & Sheffield, 1949). The most effective chan-nel also depends in part on the audience.

The Audience The audience includes all those people whose attitudesthe communicator is trying to change. Being able to persuade people toalter their views depends on knowing who the audience is and why theyhold the attitudes they do. Suppose, for example, you are involved in aprogram to reduce the birthrate in a population that is outgrowing itsfood supply. The first step would be to inform people of various methodsof birth control as well as how and where to obtain them. That peopleknow how to limit their families, however, does not mean that they willdo so. To persuade them to use available contraceptives, you need toknow why they value large families. In some areas of the world, peoplehave as many children as they can because they do not expect mostbabies to survive early childhood. In this case, you might want to tie thefamily-planning campaign to programs of infant care. In some areas, chil-dren begin working at odd jobs at an early age and bring in neededincome. In this case, you might want to promote an incentive system forfamilies who limit themselves to two or three children.

If the people are not taking advantage of available means of birth con-trol, you will want to know who is resisting. Perhaps men believe father-ing a child is a sign of virility. Perhaps women consider motherhood anessential element of femininity. Perhaps both sexes see parenthood as asymbol of maturity and adulthood (Coale, 1973). Knowing who youraudience is and what motivates them are crucial.

Several strategies effectively involve the audience. One strategy that hasbeen studied extensively is the foot-in-the-door technique, which involves firstmaking a very small request that someone is almost sure to agree to andthen making a much more demanding request (Dillard, 1991). In one


experiment, two researchers (Freedman & Fraser, 1966) asked residents ofPalo Alto, California, for permission to place a small sign reading “Be a SafeDriver” in a window of their homes. Two weeks later, another person askedresidents for permission to stake a large “Drive Carefully” sign in the frontyard. Nearly 56 percent of those who had agreed to the first request alsoagreed to the second request. However, only 17 percent of the residentswho heard only the second request but not the first agreed to put the signin their yard.

Another strategy is sometimes called the door-in-the-face technique. Itworks like this: To encourage people to agree to a moderate request thatmight otherwise be rejected, you make a major request—likely to berejected. When it is, you follow up immediately with a more minorrequest. For example, you might ask a friend, “I’m helping my parentsmove this weekend. Would you come over and help us Saturday andSunday until we’re done?” “No? Well, then, could you come over Saturdaymorning and just help me move our grand piano?” You have a muchhigher likelihood of success on the second request following the first thanif you had made only the second request.

Models of Persuasion As discussed earlier, a message leads to thinking, but how much and at

what depth are determined both by the message and the needs of the per-son receiving it. Two different levels of activity are possible—central routeprocessing (when the recipient thoughtfully considers the issues and argu-ments) and peripheral route processing (characterized by considering othercues rather than the message itself ). Another model of persuasion is theheuristic model (Chaiken, 1987). A heuristic is a rule of thumb or a shortcutthat may lead to but does not guarantee a solution (see Figure 20.7).

The heuristic model proposes two ways in which attitudes may bechanged. If an individual is not interested in an issue under discussion, heor she is likely to rely on heuristic processing, a very casual, low-attentionform of analyzing evidence. In this kind of processing, the recipient tunesin to the peripheral aspects of the message—the likability of the source,the number of arguments, and the tone of voice.

On the other hand, if the recipient is deeply interested or curious aboutthe topic of a message, the likely result is sometimes called systematic pro-cessing, or central route processing. Advertisers use heuristics to get you tobuy their products. For instance, they may sprinkle their ads with numbersand nice-sounding words such as “integrity,” employ celebrities to endorsetheir products, or state that their product is the most popular one.

The Sleeper Effect Changes in attitudes are not always permanent. In fact,efforts at persuasion usually have their greatest impact immediately andthen fade away. However, sometimes people seem to reach different con-clusions about a message after a period of time has elapsed. This curioussleeper effect has been explained in several ways.

One explanation of the delayed-action impact depends on the ten-dency to retain the message but forget the source. As time goes by, a pos-itive source no longer holds power to persuade nor does a negative


Reading CheckHow does the foot-in-

the-door technique differ fromthe door-in-the-face technique?

PSYCHOLOGY

Student Web Activity Visit the UnderstandingPsychology Web site at psychology.glencoe.com andclick on Chapter 20—StudentWeb Activities for an activityon attitudes and influence.

sleeper effect: the delayedimpact on attitude change of apersuasive communication

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/psychology/psych2001/chapter20/webact.html

source undercut the message. When the source is nega-tive and the memory of the source fades, the messagethen “speaks for itself ” and more people may accept it(Kelman & Hovland, 1953).

The problem is that this requires forgetting onething and retaining another, with no obvious reasonwhy that should occur. Researchers (Pratkanis et al.,1988) conducted experiments to verify their differentialdecay hypothesis. They argued that if the message isheard first, followed by a discounting cue (such as alow-credibility source), the two balance each otherout—no effect is observed. At the same time, however,the negative aspects of the cue dissipate more rapidlythan the impact of the highly elaborated message. It iseasier to remember your own position than the detailsof an argument. If the cue decays rapidly and the argu-ment more slowly, what remains is the effect on an atti-tude. It may also be that it simply takes time for peopleto change their minds. As the message “sinks in,” atti-tudes change more.

The Inoculation Effect What can you do to resist persuasion? Research

has shown that people can be educated to resist atti-tude change. This technique can be compared to aninoculation (McGuire, 1970). Inoculation against per-suasion works in much the same way as inoculationagainst certain diseases. When a person is vaccinated,he is given a weakened or dead form of the disease-causing agent, which stimulates his body to manufac-ture defenses. Then, if a person is attacked by a morepotent form of the agent, his defenses make himimmune to infection. Similarly, a person who hasresisted a mild attack on his or her beliefs is ready todefend them against an onslaught that might otherwisehave been overwhelming.

The inoculation effect can be explained in twoways: it motivates individuals to defend their beliefsmore strongly, and it gives them some practice indefending those beliefs. The most vulnerable attitudes you have, there-fore, are the ones that you have never had to defend. For example, youmight find yourself hard put to defend your faith in democracy or in thehealthfulness of vegetables if you have never had these beliefs questioned.

BrainwashingThe most extreme means of changing attitudes involves a combination

of psychological gamesmanship and physical torture, aptly called brain-washing. The most extensive studies of brainwashing have been done on


Using HeuristicsWe use heuristics, or shortcuts, to eval-uate many messages. This saves ustime and energy. Which heuristic isthis advertiser using?

Figure 20.7

1. If the message contains many numbers andlarge words, it must be based on facts.

2. If the message focuses on values I have, itis probably right.

3. Famous or successful people conveying themessage are probably right.

4. If most people support this product orbelieve this, it is probably true.

inoculation effect: develop-ing resistance to persuasion byexposing a person to argu-ments that challenge his or herbeliefs so that he or she canpractice defending them

brainwashing: extreme formof attitude change; uses peerpressure, physical suffering,threats, rewards, guilt, and inten-sive indoctrination

Westerners who had been captured by the Chinese during the Korean Warand subjected to “thought reform.” Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton (1963)interviewed several dozen prisoners released by the Chinese, and from theiraccounts, he outlined the methods used to break down people’s convictionsand introduce new patterns of belief, feeling, and behavior.

The aim in brainwashing is as much to create a new person as tochange attitudes. So the first step is to strip away all identity and thensubject the person to intense social pressure and physical stress. Prisonis a perfect setting for this process. The person is isolated from socialsupport, is a number not a name, is clothed like everyone else, and canbe surrounded by people who have had their thoughts “reformed” andare contemptuous of “reactionaries.” So long as the prisoner holds out,he is treated with contempt or exhorted to confess by his fellow pris-oners. He is interrogated past the point of exhaustion and is humiliatedand discomfited by being bound at all times, even during meals or elim-ination. The prisoner is rewarded for cooperating. Cooperation involvesconfessing to crimes against the people in his former way of life. Withevery “improvement” in his attitudes, prison life is made a little morepleasant. Finally, by a combination of threat, peer pressure, systematicrewards, and other psychological means, the prisoner comes to believehis confession.

It is difficult to say where persuasion ends and brainwashing begins.Some researchers believe that brainwashing is just a very intense form ofpersuasion. Drawing this line has become particularly important to thecourts—especially in cases such as lawsuits regarding the deprogrammingof members of religious cults. A cult is a group of people who organizearound a strong authority figure. Cults use influence techniques anddeception to attain psychological control over members and new recruits.


1. Review the Vocabulary Explain howthe boomerang, sleeper, and inoculationeffects influence your attitudes.

2. Visualize the Main Idea Use a diagramsimilar to the one below to outline theparts of the communication process.

3. Recall Information How does brain-washing work? Why is it used?

4. Think Critically When evaluating amessage that is very important to you,do you rely on systematic processing orheuristics? Explain.

Assessment

5. Application Activity Pretend that you are acar dealer and you are persuading a young coupleto purchase an automobile from your dealership.Write a brief script between the dealer and thecouple that incorporates aspects of persuasiontechniques both might use.

The Communication Process Involves:

Summary and Vocabulary

Chapter Vocabularyattitude (p. 577)self-concept (p. 580)compliance (p. 583)identification (p. 583)internalization (p. 584)cognitive dissonance (p. 584)counterattitudinal behavior (p. 585)self-justification (p. 586)self-fulfilling prophecy (p. 586)prejudice (p. 587)discrimination (p. 588)persuasion (p. 590)boomerang effect (p. 592)sleeper effect (p. 594)inoculation effect (p. 595)brainwashing (p. 595)

Attitude Formation� Classical conditioning helps you form attitudes

automatically.� The culture in which you grew up, the people

who raised you, and those with whom you associ-ate all shape your attitudes.

� People living in the same conditions and who fre-quently communicate with one another have atti-tudes in common because they are exposed to thesame information.

� Our attitudes serve as guidelines for interpretingand categorizing people, objects, and events.

Everyone has a variety of opinions, attitudes, and beliefs.Psychologists study where they come from and how they change.

Main Idea: Our atti-tudes are the result ofconditioning, observa-tional learning, and cog-nitive evaluation. Ourattitudes help us defineourselves and our placein society, evaluate peo-ple and events, andguide our behavior.

Attitude Change and Prejudice� People often adapt their actions to the wishes of

others to avoid discomfort or rejection and to gain support.

� Identification occurs when a person wants todefine himself or herself in terms of a person orgroup and therefore adopts the person’s orgroup’s attitudes and ways of behaving.

� Internalization is the most lasting of the threesources of attitude formation or change.

� People’s attitudes change because they are alwaystrying to get things to fit together logically.

� A person’s actions can affect his or her attitudes.� Prejudice means deciding beforehand what a per-

son will be like instead of withholding judgmentuntil it can be based on a person’s individual qualities.

Main Idea: Attitudesare formed throughcompliance, identifica-tion, and internalization.Attitudes may bechanged as a result ofcognitive dissonance.

Persuasion� The process of communication can be broken

down into four parts: the message itself, thesource of the message, the channel through whichit is delivered, and the audience that receives it.

� The audience may process a message in twoways—by systematically thinking about it or byusing heuristics.

� The most effective messages combine moderateemotional appeal with factual information andargument.

Main Idea: Persuasionis a direct attempt toinfluence attitudes. Weevaluate when, where,and how a message ispresented, as well asthe message itself, whendetermining the credibil-ity of the message.


Assessment

Reviewing VocabularyChoose the letter of the correct term or conceptbelow to complete the sentence.

1. A(n) __________ is a predisposition to respondin particular ways toward specific things.

2. A(n) __________ occurs when people seem toreach different conclusions about a message aftera period of time has elapsed.

3. Justifying one’s behavior to reduce cognitive dis-sonance is called __________.

4. __________ occurs when a person wants todefine himself or herself in terms of a person orgroup and therefore adopts the person’s orgroup’s attitudes.

5. Your __________ is how you see or describeyourself.

6. The most extreme means of changing attitudes iscalled __________.

7. __________ occurs when a person adapts his orher action to the wishes of others to avoid dis-comfort or rejection and to gain support.

8. A(n) __________ occurs when people dislike theindividual delivering a message and respond bytaking the opposite point of view.

9. The unequal treatment of members of certaingroups is called __________.

10. __________ occurs when a person wholeheart-edly accepts an attitude and the attitude becomesan integral part of the person.

Self-Check QuizVisit the Understanding Psychology Web site at psychology.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 20—Self-Check Quizzes to prepare for the Chapter Test.

a. attitudeb. compliancec. identificationd. internalizatione. self-justification

f. discriminationg. self-concepth. boomerang effecti. sleeper effectj. brainwashing

Recalling Facts1. In what three ways are attitudes formed?2. Using a diagram similar to the one below, iden-

tify and describe two methods of delivering apersuasive message.

3. Which cognitive act are people engaging inwhen they convince themselves that they didnot like the victim of their aggressive act?

4. What will be the effect on listeners if you use avery emotional appeal or if you pressure them toadopt your point of view?

5. What is the goal of brainwashing? How doesbrainwashing work?

Critical Thinking1. Evaluating Information Attitudes come from a

variety of sources. Using the information in thechapter, what source do you think was mostinfluential in establishing your attitudes? Why doyou think so?

2. Analyzing Information There are three process-es involved in changing attitudes. Provide exam-ples of an attitude being changed in each of thethree ways. Explain which process is the mostlasting process for changing attitudes and why.

3. Applying Concepts What are two ways thatyou can help reduce prejudice in your school orcommunity?

4. Making Inferences One of the primary objec-tives of advertising is to get the viewers or listen-ers to remember the product. To what extent doyou think familiarity with brand names influ-ences your choices in the market?

5. Synthesizing Information Think of a recentlocal or national political campaign. Focus onthe kinds of persuasion techniques used by thecandidates. How did they use central route pro-cessing? Peripheral route processing?

PSYCHOLOGY


Methods of Message Delivery

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/psychology/psych2001/quiz.shtml?BOOK=006&CHAPTER=20&TITLE=Attitudes+and+Social+Influence

Psychology Projects1. Attitude Formation Use a variety of sources to

find examples of the ways in which culture influ-ences attitudes. Find out about attitudes in otherplaces of the world and compare those attitudesto ones in this country. Present your findings inan illustrated, captioned poster.

2. Prejudice Use magazine and newspaper arti-cles to find out about common stereotypestoward groups such as teenagers and the elderly.Create a cartoon illustrating these stereotypesand provide suggestions for eliminating them.

3. Persuasion Choose some issue on which youhave a strong opinion. If you were given an unlimited budget, how would you go aboutpersuading people to agree with you? In a written report, describe the sources you wouldemploy, the channels you would use, the con-tent of your message, and the audience youwould try to reach.

4. Attitude Change Study a recent or ongoingpolitical campaign. What attitudinal change andpersuasive strategies are being used? Collectexamples of the strategies and report your find-ings in a brief presentation.

Technology ActivityLocate examples of persuasion tech-niques used by advertisers on the

Internet. Print out pages of the advertisements andexplain the techniques used to influence consumers.Evaluate the effectiveness of the advertisements inchanging people’s attitudes.

Psychology Journal After reading the chapter and class discus-sions, would you revise the definition of

prejudice that you wrote at the beginning of thischapter’s study? In your journal, write a one-pagepaper explaining whether or not prejudice isunavoidable.

Assessment


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Practice and assess key social studiesskills with Glencoe SkillbuilderInteractive Workbook CD-ROM, Level 2.

Building SkillsIdentifying Cause-and-Effect Relationships Reviewthe advertisement below, then answer the questionsthat follow.

1. Which function of attitudes does this advertise-ment illustrate?

2. Do you think this advertisement is an effectivepersuasive communication tool? Why do youthink so?

See the Skills Handbook, page 624, for anexplanation of identifying cause-and-effect

relationships.

odney gullatte jr., 17, anAfrican-American student atSprayberry High School inMarietta, Ga., was still in middle

school when he got his first lesson inracism. It was then that a group ofwhite kids, whom he describes as partof a growing “skinhead” element in hisschool, began to harass him. After atime Gullatte punched one of the whitekids in the face. That earned Gullatte anin-school suspension. Worse, nobodybelieved him when he explained whyhe had lashed out. “They kept sayingthe kid would not say something likethat, that stuff like that doesn’t happenin the Cobb County public schools,”says Gullatte. “But people don’t knowwhat really goes on.”

What does go on? With the numberof hate crimes on the rise nationwide,what do today’s children really thinkabout the racial chasm that has dividedthis country since its inception?

The days of Bull Connor, policedogs and fire hoses are long gone, andmany would find it comforting tobelieve that skin color is no longer anissue for kids. Has the newest genera-tion of Americans finally arrived atthat melanin-friendly Promised Land?No. But a new Time/cnn poll of 1,282adults and 601 teens (ages 12 to 17) hasfound a startling number of young-sters, black and white, who seem to

have moved beyond their parents’views of race. These kids say race isless important to them, both on a per-sonal level and as a social divide, thanit is for adults. It must be noted thatmore than half of both white kids andblack still consider racism “a big prob-lem” in America—however, more thana third classify it as “a small problem.”Asked about the impact of racism intheir own lives, a startling 89% of

black teens call it “a small problem” or“not a problem at all.” In fact, whiteadults and white teens are more con-vinced than black teens that racism inAmerica remains a dominant issue.

Furthermore, black teens are morereluctant than others to blame racismfor problems. Indeed, nearly twice asmany black kids as white believe “fail-ure to take advantage of availableopportunities” is more of a problemfor blacks than discrimination. That’sespecially extraordinary given the factthat 40% of the black teens surveyedbelieve sats are loaded against them,and that blacks have to be better qual-ified than whites to get a job. Theseresponses seem to indicate that blackteens believe color barriers exist, but,despite that, they retain an admirablydogged belief in self-determination.

Is this surprising portrait a sign ofhope? Or is it just an example of youth-ful naiveté? Probably both. “One wordexplains it—experience,” speculatessociologist Joe R. Feagin. “You have tobe out looking for jobs and housing toknow how much discrimination is outthere. People doing that are usuallyover 19.” Sure enough, only a quarter of

A new poll shows teenagers, black and white, have moved beyond their parents’ views of race

RBy CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

600 TIME, November 24, 1997

Which of the following is more of aproblem for blacks today?

Failure to take advantage of available opportunities

Whites: 31% Whites: 52% Blacks: 58% Blacks: 51%Discrimination by whites

Whites: 47% Whites: 22% Blacks: 26% Blacks: 26%

Is racism a big problem or a smallproblem?

Big problemWhites: 58% Whites: 64% Blacks: 62% Blacks: 78%

Small problemWhites: 34% Whites: 27% Blacks: 34% Blacks: 17%

Have you ever been a victim of dis-crimination because you are black?

Yes: 23% Yes: 53% No: 77% No: 45%

Have you ever been a victim ofdiscrimination because you arewhite?

Yes: 16% Yes: 20% No: 83% No: 79%

Will race relations in this countryever get better?

YesWhites: 76% Whites: 60% Blacks: 55% Blacks: 43%

ADULTSTEENS

WHITE ADULTSWHITE TEENS

BLACK ADULTSBLACK TEENS

ADULTSTEENS

ADULTSTEENS

SPEAKING OUT: Teens and Adults See Different Worlds

From a telephone poll of 816 white adults, 374 black adults, 301 white teens and 300 black teens taken forTIME/CNN from Sept. 23 to Oct. 2 by Yankelovich Partners Inc. Margins of error are [±]3.4%, 5.1%, 5.6%and 5.6% respectively

Kids and Race

black teens surveyed said they hadbeen victims of discrimination, where-as half of black adults say they have.For all that, these kids remain astonish-ingly optimistic: 95% of the blackyoungsters think they’re going on tocollege, as do 93% of the whites.

But is that gullibility? Or gutsiness?Today’s teens have respect for the past,faith in the future—and a distaste forscapegoating that outstrips that oftheir parents. One of the survey’s more

notable findings: even though neitherblack teens nor whites tend to blameracism as a cause of problems facingblacks, they nonetheless support gen-der- and race-based scholarships ingreater numbers than adults.

People don’t always level with poll-sters; they’re notorious in fact for giv-ing answers they believe to be sociallyacceptable at the expense of revealingtheir true feelings. But teens are lesslikely to do that than adults.Sociologist Howard Pinderhughes,author of the new book Race in theHood: Conflict and Violence AmongUrban Youth, says, “Teenagers are amirror of our souls. They speak plain-ly about things that adults would liketo hide. Political correctness isn’t anissue to them. You’re more likely toget what they think unfiltered.”Extensive interviews with children,parents, educators, researchers andlaw-enforcement officials make clearthat the new optimism takes placeagainst a backdrop of a number ofnew challenges, such as the growingpresence of hate groups on theInternet, and old ones, such as inter-racial dating and ethnic turf wars.

A disinclination to blame problemson racism does not mean a reducedsense of racial identity. PsychologistBeverly Tatum, author of the recentlypublished Why Are All the Black KidsSitting Together in the Cafeteria?, saysshe often asks her psychology stu-dents to complete this sentence: “I am______.” White students tend toanswer with personality traits: “I am

friendly,” “I am shy,” etc. Students ofcolor tend to fill in the blank withtheir ethnicity: “I am black” or “I amPuerto Rican.” The foundation forracial identity, Tatum argues, is con-structed in adolescence by peer pres-sure, societal influences and self-reflection; it is a time when childrenmake choices about who they are.

The attitudes expressed by respon-dents to the Time/cnn poll are all themore remarkable given that outside of

school, black teens and white teensmost often live in separate neighbor-hoods and sometimes, it seems, on sep-arate planets. Danny, 17, a whiteChicago youngster interviewed byTime, professed to having “more blackfriends than I do white friends” but alsoadmitted that “we just talk in school”and that he never visits the homes of hisblack buddies, who tend to live incrime-plagued housing projects.

Danny’s situation is not uncommon.While few teens view their neighbor-hood as dangerous, 40% of black teensreported that they knew someone theirage who had been murdered, in con-trast to only 15% of white teens. Blackteens also feel they don’t get a fairshake from the police: one-third ofthem feel they are at risk of being treat-ed unfairly by cops, while only 1 out of5 white teens shares that fear.

Three-fourths of the white teen-agers polled by Time/cnn believe racerelations will get better, as do morethan half of the black teens. “Whatwe’re seeing here is a hidden aspect ofthe black survival process,” saysMichael Eric Dyson, author of RaceRules: Navigating the Color Line. “Youimagine a reality better than the one in

which you presently live. I wouldn’t callit optimism; it goes too deep. It’s hope.Hope goes against everything you see.”

One black Newark, N.J., teen inter-viewed by Time launched into an uglytirade about Jews—but many moreexpressed a sense of catharsis simply tobe talking about the racial difficultiesthey face. On the other hand, whiteteens interviewed seemed to have moretrouble discussing racial issues, andwere often unable to even find thewords to describe their feelings aboutethnicity. According to psychologistTatum, some parents, particularly whiteones, silence their children when racialissues are raised. This is done, some-times, as part of a well-meaning effort toteach children that such distinctionsdon’t matter. But as a result of suchsilencing, children are left withoutanswers to their questions and withoutthe social skills to deal with racial issues.

Some youngsters are trying to reachbeyond the silence. After Gullatte hadhis fight with skinheads in his school,he felt he had no one to talk to. He hassince joined Group X, a program start-ed in the Cobb County school systemin 1993 in which students meet on asemiregular basis and discuss race.Some 450 students are signed up. The meetings, held in groups of about20, can get emotional. At a recent ses-sion, Alison Garcia, 12, stood up, tearsin her eyes, and exclaimed, “AllHispanics are not dumb! You don’tknow me. My father and my unclewere part of the Cherokee tribe, andmy uncle had the highest scores inschool.” Says Gullatte: “What theGroup X project did was help me to beable to tell other people about [myexperiences] and say what I really feel.”It’s just talk. But it’s a start. π

—For the complete text of this article and related

articles from TIME, please visit www.time.com/teach

A n a l y z i n g t h e A r t i c l e

1. Why do kids' views on race relations differ from adults’?2. CRITICAL THINKING Do you believe that race

barriers exist in your world? Do you think the adults you know would disagree with you? Explain.

TIME, November 24, 1997 601

Teenagers are a mirror of our souls. They speakplainly about things that adults would like to hide.“ “

http://www.time.com/teach