Cognitive Dissonance and Education: Mars or the Moon?

Last week I had an interesting discussion in my astronomy class. Our job was to guess, using clues, where in the solar system our teacher was describing and then create clues describing our own place in the solar system for other students to guess. Stop me if I sound nerdy, but it was actually really fun! Anyway, using the prompt from our instructor, I guessed that she was describing Mars. It made sense to me. Most people including myself guessed that she was describing Mars.

Then, she informed the class that she was not describing Mars. This caused me to reevaluate and rewrite my initial conclusions and come up with a different solution: she was describing the Moon!

This discussion that my teacher created for our class was effective. Also, this discussion in my astronomy class is a perfect example of how the theory of cognitive dissonance can influence a student's motivation towards education.

Using the comical picture of "Cognitive Dissonance Man" to the left I will describe to you what this theory is all about. Did you look at it? Good. Now, in order to have cognitive dissonance you must keep in mind that the way we act and the way we think may not always convey the same attitude. This superhero does things for the good of humanity, but he does not have these same noble thoughts. This is how cognitive dissonance works.

Now that you understand cognitive dissonance a little better, consider the situation of the astronomy class discussion. How was cognitive dissonance used? If you need help on this one, here it is:

My professor told us to guess using clues. Guessing is the behavior and the clues are another part of the cognition. Probably knowing that most of us would guess Mars first, my teacher told us that Mars was the wrong answer after we had already made up our minds. After this, I found that my behavior and logic did not match. This is the cognitive dissonance I held, and I had a desire to change it.

So, I changed the behavior by rewriting my evaluation to match my cognition all in an attempt to resolve my cognitive dissonance. However, the desire to change this dissonance is what is most powerful to the student. This cause for change is a form of self-persuasion, or changing of attitudes. Also, it is a great motivator because motivation comes from a more implicit desire to find this knowledge.

To find out more information about this subject you can read about it in the sources and video below or you can ask me by commenting on this post. Please feel free to share your personal experiences, also! Cognitive dissonance is always an interesting topic for discussion.

Sources and More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
Social Psychology 8th Edition by Kassin, Fein, and Markus

Stereotypes and Leadership

Let's begin with the word "stereotypes". What does it mean? Our text says that a stereotype is a belief about a group of people who share one or more characteristics (Markus et al., 148). However, these beliefs are not always accurate. Some examples of stereotypes would be all Italians are in the Mob, most Irishmen are drunks, everyone from the South are rednecks, all Blonde women are stupid, and the list goes on.

These discrepancies are what causes social issues such as prejudice, discrimination, racism, etc. So, where do we get these stereotypes from?

In class, we discussed that we can get stereotypes from family, media, friends, and personal experiences. I think there is another, more specific origin of many stereotypes we have. If we consider that there are "ingroups" that use stereotypes to describe other "outgroups"(Markus et al., 148), I think that the most prominent figures in these "ingroups" must be the leaders that influence these groups. Some examples of these leaders would be any teachers/mentors, trend-setters, role-models, etc. Leaders influence the people in certain groups and can change people's ways of thinking.

Another thought to consider, who are the leaders in our society? In order to answer this question, we can look at common stereotypes. Who do these stereotypes favor? Many stereotypes have to do with gender, location, physical appearances, sexuality, religion, and many more. Just looking at the stereotypes I listed above you can tell who the stereotypes are against and who they favor. For example, the stereotype that all Blonde women are stupid is against women and favor men. From this we can determine that males are seen as the stereotypical leaders of our society.

How does this information help us? This determination of leadership from stereotypes can help us realize the influence of leadership and its positive and negative consequences when it comes to stereotypes. Hopefully this insight will help us make better decisions in leadership. Comment below so I can hear your insight! How do you feel stereotypes and leadership complement each other?

Social Perceptions and Autism: How are you feeling today?

When you see someone smiling, you know it means that they are happy; and when you see someone crying, you know they are sad. However, there are some people who are not able to distinguish these emotions as easily. Children diagnosed with Autism have difficulty with certain aspects of social perception. One aspect in particular is the nonverbal communication of emotion.

Many people attribute this difficulty of social perception in Autistic children to the "Theory of Mind". According to Wikipedia, the Theory of Mind is the "ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one's own". Individuals diagnosed with Autism are said to lack or have difficulties with this Theory of Mind process. Through studying behaviors of children with Autism in social situations, we can see evidence of this.

In class, we discussed the "scripts" of social situations. Scripts tell us what we should expect from certain social situations. According to a contributor of Yahoo!, children diagnosed with Autism tend to be reluctant to go outside their normal routines. I believe that Autistic children are often reluctant to go out of their routines because they may not have the necessary scripts to anticipate behaviors in different social situations. As a result, children with Autism tend to behave in ways that are consistent with difficulties in expressing emotion, paying attention, and use of language. To demonstrate this, I have provided a video for you. Watch the Youtube video of "Autistic Carter" and notice how he has these difficulties in expressing emotion, use of language, and paying attention.

The behavioral effects of Autism are clear. What can we do about it? Lucky for this kid, there are different ways of educating Autistic children to cope with social perceptions. I have a niece with Autism and she sees a speech therapist once a week. Also, some schools provide special educational instructors to help teach children with Autism. If you are a parent, there are various Internet resources to look into when helping your child cope with these social situations. Yet, you should always talk to a doctor first before diagnosing your child with Autism. Here is another Youtube video clip that promotes how to teach Autistic children about emotions. Don't forget to comment below for any contributions you would like to make to this blog entry.

Sources:

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-social-psychology-autism-2031496.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind