Attitude Change

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Therapy questions:

1 Have you ever changed a strongly held attitude? What caused the change for you?

This is a very subjective question. You are to reflect on your own prejudice and/or biases and attitudes if you hold any.

2 Do you believe that you are free of prejudice? After reading this chapter, which of the many factors that cause prejudice do you think is most important to change?

I offer insights for this question:

Prejudice is a negative attitude held toward a person or group. Studies show that prejudice is a major social problem, Ethnic and racial groups are often the targets of widespread prejudice. According to Altemeyer (1981) prejudice arises from attitudes related to the following: (a) conventionalism, (b) authoritarian submission, and (c) authoritarian aggression. Several factors may attribute to different forms of prejudice including stereotyping in person perceptions; (how persons view others); making biased attributions (unfair characterization and attributing negative behaviors to others based on discrimination and stereotyping); forming prejudices based on in-group and out-group divisions; and perceptions of social groups as inferior and superior. Thus, an example (given your position) what do you think is important to change, stereotyping, unfair attribution, etc.?

3 How do Milgram's results particularly the finding that the remoteness of the victim affected obedience relates to some aspects of modern warfare?

Milgram conducted his study to demonstrate that normal people do evil things under the influence of authority. Patros, J .Abrahamson, A., MacIntosh, S. & Potter, S (n.d.), point to Alexander' study in which he suggested that "group members cannot resist the pressure of assumed stations, and brutality is the natural expression of roles associated with groups that have unequal power. Although people who share a sense of identity in a group or reasoning, they arrive at decisions based on the ...