Homework answers / question archive / PROMPT: Well-Known Examples of Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency You will select ONE of two topics below to discuss/summarize

PROMPT: Well-Known Examples of Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency You will select ONE of two topics below to discuss/summarize

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PROMPT: Well-Known Examples of Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency

You will select ONE of two topics below to discuss/summarize.  PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.  Failure to do so will result in a grade of "0".

**Copy and paste each question and post its answer.

**You must post your topic before you can reply to 2 of your classmates.**  YOU WILL FORFEIT ALL POINTS IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!

How Well Do Our Attitudes Predict Our Behavior:  *Well-Known Examples of Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency

Understanding the attitude-behavior relationship is to provide well-known examples of attitude-behavior inconsistencies, which have very obvious and negative repercussions. One example is the infamous Biblical story of Peter’s denial of knowing Jesus. In Matthew 26:31–35 we read an account of Peter’s attitude toward Jesus. At the end of this passage Peter says, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (New King James Version). Later in the chapter, however, Peter denies knowing Jesus three times—twice to young servant girls. This can be found in Matthew 26:69–75. Additionally, this story introduces controlling features of the attitude-behavior relationship such as...CONSIDER: 1) the role of external influences of attitude; 2) the role of external influences on behavior; and 3) the importance of attitude awareness (Snyder & Swann, 1976). For example, in most translations, verse 75 uses the word “remembered,” clearly suggesting Peter was not aware of his attitude when he was acting until he heard the rooster crow. Other instructive questions for this example include:  Answer the following questions and post your thoughts.

1.  What external forces may have been influencing the attitude that Peter expressed?
2.  What external forces may have been influencing Peter’s behavior?
3.  Does this example give you a new appreciation for studying what is known about the attitude-behavior relationship?
4.  Have you experienced anything similar to the above when the role of external influences of attitude contributed to you making a personal commitment to someone or something, only to find the situation fogged you memory and you reneged on you promise?
5.  How did you feel once you realized the role of external influences on behavior that contributed to your going back on your word?
6.  How can one be more cognizant of expressed attitude and behavior reactions?

SUMMARIZE  THE TOPIC WITH 10 OR MORE COMPLETE SENTENCES AND POST YOUR THOUGHTS.    Failure to do so will result in a score of "0".

                                                           -OR-

When Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes:  “Attitudes Follow Behavior”—in Religion, Too

There is social psychological evidence that action and attitudes generate one another in an endless chain—like the chicken and the egg—which parallels the interplay between people’s rituals and their identity. Those who associate ritual with hocus pocus are unaware of the extent to which the natural rituals of our personal histories have shaped who we are. Many of the things we did without question in childhood have long since become an enduring part of our identities. Our lives are saturated with rituals—and not just those carried out at football games, weddings, and worship services. Our daily rituals are harder for us to recognize than the rituals of societies we call “primitive.” This is why some sociologists have written books on the rituals going on right under our noses—the way we eat, the way we meet, the way we greet. As Tevye exclaims in Fiddler on the Roof, “Because of our traditions every one of us knows who he is.” Judaic religious traditions insist that we know reality not only by intellectual contemplation, but also through our acts of commitment. Pascal argued the same point. In his Pensees (Thoughts) he stated his famous wager: “We must wager either that God is or that God isn’t; reason cannot prove which is true.” Considering the potential gains and losses of both wagers should motivate any sensible person to bet that God does exist, or so Pascal thought. He recognized, though, that his calculating analysis probably wouldn’t enable many people to really believe. What then? Pascal’s advice:

"You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which  you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, etc. Even this will naturally make you believe. . . ." 

Such convergence of thinking from different disciplines can be used to reinforce the concept of “levels of explanation.” When we discover psychology, sociology, and theology expressing the same idea, each in its own words, we should not feel tension (as if one perspective competes with the others), but rather a sense of intellectual exhilaration at having uncovered a powerful idea.

1. What are some things from your childhood that have become a part of your identity?
2.  What rituals have been pasted down through generations that have endured in your life?
3.  What rituals and traditions will/have you continue and passed to your children.
4.  Which rituals and/or traditions will you eliminate and NOT pass to your children.
5.  What are some of your daily rituals that go unrecognized?  Think before you answer this question.
6.   Do you know reality not only by intellectual contemplation, but also through your acts of commitment?