Civic Engagement
Assignment 3: Attitude & Behavior Change
psy 200
Required text: the science of psychology Laura king 5e
Purpose:
The purpose is to help you identify and apply social psychological concepts, especially those associated with attitude and behavior change (and determine which is the easier to change – hence the title), and techniques used to persuade behavior.
Product:
A paper at least 2 pages long, not including any reference section, typed and double spaced, with Times New Roman (12- point font) and 1inch margins and proofread for spelling and grammatical errors. Provide in-text citations and reference any of your sources using APA format addressing the following:You are a professional change
agent and you have been hired to bring about change in one of the following areas:
➢ Get people to stop discriminating against a particular minority group (e.g., by hiring more people from this group or by changing their attitude toward it).➢ Get people to adopt one or more conservation behaviors (e.g., recycling, wearing seatbelts, volunteerism, reducing gasoline consumption, etc.).➢ Get people to vote for a particular candidate who is currently running far behind in the polls.➢ Some other problem that interests you.
Directions:
Develop your strategies for changing one of the above behaviors. Use the research and theories described in your text to back up your choices of strategies. Explain why you are using the various strategies. In addition, answer the following questions:
➢ What problem area have you chosen to work on?➢ List the specific goal(s) that you have set in this change program (this is like an operational definition!). In other words, what actual behavior(s) should show change as a result of your efforts (e.g., increased number of hours volunteered per week, reduced automobile driving, etc.).➢ What techniques would you use to produce the changes listed in question #2; give specific, concrete examples. For instance, what would the ad look like, what would you say to people as you conducted your door-to-doorcampaign, or what incentives or rewards would you give?➢ What are the theoretical principles on which your techniques are based? For example, giving everyone a nickel if they recycle a plastic or glass bottle is a technique based on reinforcement principles. ➢ How would you know if your program has been successful? That is, how will you assess the amount of change in the behavior(s) that you listed in question #2?
