Principles of Social Psychology Assignment

Principles of Social Psychology Assignment

Principles of Social Psychology Assignment

For this week’s Forum, respond to the following: This week, we are discussing attitudes, and one important point to remember is that attitudes can be very deeply entrenched and difficult to change. Yet, sometimes people engage in behavior that seems to clash with or is inconsistent with their attitudes. This phenomenon is often related to cognitive dissonance.

Pick one real-life example (it doesn’t have to be your own personal example, but it can be) of behavior that seems to reflect cognitive dissonance.

Speculate as to what you believe the person’s deeply entrenched belief or attitude was and then describe the inconsistent or incompatible behavior. If you were inside that person’s head, what could have been the dissonant cognitions he/she was likely having: Imagine a thought bubble above that person’s head: what would it say? Finally, how could the cognitive dissonance be resolved? If it could not be resolved, why not?

Reply to the following response with 200 words minimum. (please make response as if having a conversation, respond directly to some of the statements in below post. This is not providing an analysis of the original post. Respectfully address it and even ask clarifying or additional questions.)

In this week’s assignment I automatically started to think about the saying you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. However, with a lot of patience, time and discipline you really can teach an old dog something new. Although, cognitive dissonance is more human related it can be applied towards the mold that most people are stuck in.

For my real-life example, I would like to bring forth my father as exhibit A. My dad is a Vietnam Veteran who has seen a lot of personal racism and was never treated properly by society when he returned from the war. For as long as I can remember my father would say a lot of off handed remarks about different races, religions and sexuality. Being that we are a minority ourselves you would think he would be more accepting but has been set in his ways for a very long time. Over several years of counseling my dad has come a very long way from his remarks against everything and has become a lot more accepting of minorities and sexuality. In some instances, he had to become okay with people’s sexuality because he had no choice unless he wanted to lose three of his closest family member.

I have seen him start to say one thing derogatory but stop himself and think for a second before speaking. If I was inside my dad’s head and could show the world his thought bubble it would look something like this: “I should probably not agree with what my wife says because I know my sister and daughter is gay and I love them regardless of who they love. Okay tell her to stop that the way she feels is one of the reason’s they do not visit anymore.”

Cognitive dissonance can be resolved through changing our beliefs, perception and reactions towards things that we are normally against. This is usually accomplished through learning and understanding. If my dad can then maybe my mom can as well. It just takes a drive to achieve those goals.

Principals of Social Psychology. (2012). Attitudes, Behavior, and Persuasion. Saylor Academy. Retrieved from https://apus.intelluslearning.com/lti/#/document/44166476/1/901a01545f44322c5864915bde967ef5/55254a6008ae60349fc7d30f483758ee/browse_published_content/1983/4092/15861/1/lesson/lesson?hideClose=false&tagId=22434&external_course_id=361892&external_course_name=PSYC201%20I001%20Fall%2017

** Please don’t just rephrase their info, but respond to it. Remember to answer question at the end if there is one. **