Overview

Having a strong understanding of how we relate to others can not only help to mediate conflict, but can also make us more compassionate, empathic people. Here, we will review some of the ways that we interact with others, including ways to improve our interactions to make them healthier and more fruitful.

Teaching Outcomes

• Develop an understanding of the ABCs of attitudes, and how these influence the ways we interact with others
• Understand that although we interact with many different people, there are common elements to our interactions

Theory and Background Information

The ABCs of Attitudes

Attitudes are a set of beliefs towards a person or thing. Attitudes are said to be made up of three components, which we will review here:

Affect

Affect is a term used to describe one’s feelings towards someone or something. It is related to mood, but in this context is applied towards some object or person. If we have a negative attitude towards something, we also tend to have negative feelings towards it - this can be towards a person, a group of people, or an object.

Behaviour

Our attitudes towards something will change the way that we act towards it, as well. If we like something (i.e. have a positive attitude towards it), then it is likely we will act in a positive, constructive way regarding it, and the inverse is true as well.

Cognition

Finally, our attitudes towards something affect our thoughts about a thing or person. This too is intuitive, if we dislike something, we tend to think negatively about it.

These ABCs are best illustrated with an example. Consider a student disliking a subject in school, having a negative attitude towards it:

• Affect: They may feel bad/down when doing the work
• Behaviour: They may do other work/other things to distract themselves from their work
• Cognition: They may think they will never like the work/will always be bad at it

Evidence suggests that affect and cognition may not always match behaviour; these ABCs should be understood as a model of one’s attitudes, and like all models, have weaknesses.

Actions in Groups

People tend to behave differently in groups versus by themselves. Understanding some of these differences and being aware of how they make people act differently can have major consequences for how others are treated.

Bystander Effect

People tend not to help when in a group, as they believe others will help instead of them. Consider your own life, at some situation in which you believed someone else would likely come to another person’s aid (such as calling 911 when you witness a car crash). The bystander effect can also inform why students may not assist one of their peers when they are in distress. Overcoming the bystander effect can feel awkward, but you have the potential to really positively impact another person’s life. Just make sure you are not placing yourself in danger.

Deindividuation

When people believe they are acting anonymously, they often behave differently, under the belief that they cannot be identified and thus believe there is less accountability for their actions. This can especially take place on the Internet, where people sometimes say horrible things under the guise of being unidentifiable (have you ever read the comments on news sites or on YouTube?).

This “mob mentality” can be very dangerous - making sure that students are aware of the ways being anonymous may affect their actions is important to make sure they always act in considerate ways.

Groupthink

Making decisions in groups can lead to the group making a decision the individual members may not have, and it may not be the best choice, either.

Oftentimes, a group will more intensely end up choosing one option over another, and it can be very difficult to break groupthink. Breaking groupthink can lead the group to consider additional options they may not have thought about before, ultimately leading to a better outcome.

Healthy Relationships and Mental Wellness

Having a strong support network of friends and family can make difficult times easier to get through. For example, a death in the family is always difficult, but with the support of friends and family can make negotiating these difficult times much easier, by discussing good times the deceased, helping each other take care of work that must be done (housework, cooking, etc.), and also simply being in the same room showing solidarity. Relationships can help make difficult situations much easier to manage.

Preparations

• Print out this document, one per group, and cut it along the lines.

Activity

• Have students split into groups, and give them each one of the slips at a time (the order doesn’t matter)
• Have the students read and discuss the concepts, and write down situations in which they may have experienced this

• Alternatively, have students create and act out a scenario in which the listed situations may have taken place, and how their new knowledge of this will help them to overcome whatever different behaviour they may be doing as a result of the group mentality.    

Resources: Content

Social Psych Myers 10th

Resources: Images

Groupthink: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oscarberg/20322082659/in/photostream/ 

Liscence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/