Homework answers / question archive / To prepare for this discussion, please read Chapter 4: Attitudes, Attributions, and Behaviors; Chapter 5: Making Judgments; and Chapter 6: Prejudice of your textbook, and Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases and Intergroup Contact Theory articles

To prepare for this discussion, please read Chapter 4: Attitudes, Attributions, and Behaviors; Chapter 5: Making Judgments; and Chapter 6: Prejudice of your textbook, and Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases and Intergroup Contact Theory articles

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To prepare for this discussion, please read Chapter 4: Attitudes, Attributions, and Behaviors; Chapter 5: Making Judgments; and Chapter 6: Prejudice of your textbook, and Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases and Intergroup Contact Theory articles. In addition, watch A Class Divided.

In this discussion, you will consider theoretical perspectives on the formation, maintenance, and change of attitudes and the cognitive processes that support these thoughts, feelings, and actions.

• Choose any group toward which you have a strong attitude, positive or negative.
  • Possible dimensions from which you may select your group include: appearance, race or ethnicity, gender, social class, nationality, sexual identity, (dis)ability, rural versus urban status, geographic region, religious belief, political ideology, incarceration/criminal history, occupational status, military status, and so on.
• Relate stereotypes (thoughts about), prejudice (feelings toward), and/or discrimination (actions) directed toward members of this group on a societal or cultural level, explaining potential causal mechanisms (categorization, social norms, inequality, etc.; see Chapter 6). You may elect to identify your own implicit and explicit attitudes, as well, though this is not required.
  • Use concrete examples to illustrate (e.g., advertisements that depict members of the group in a stereotypical manner, statements you have overheard expressing affective reactions to the group, policies that discriminate in favor or/against the group, etc.). Consider both negative and positive elements.
• Identify situational and social/cultural factors that may influence attitudes toward this group.
• Analyze attitudes toward this group using one or more relevant theoretical perspectives (self-perception theory, cognitive dissonance, theory of planned behavior, etc.; see Chapter 4).
  • Examine the use of heuristics (availability, representativeness, etc.) and errors in judgment (belief perseverance, confirmation bias, illusion of control, etc.) with regard to this attitude (see Chapter 5).
• Consider how positive or negative attitudes toward this or another group might be implicated in a professional setting (see A Class Divided). Identify realistic suggestions to eliminate as much bias as possible in this context (see Pettigrew, 1998).