Imagine that you are asked by the chair of the political science department at your local college to provide an article for an upcoming student publication, providing a social psychological perspective on human behavior. Select a topic from the list of current or historical social movements, issues, events, or ideas provided by your instructor to form the basis of your analysis.
Locate at least three popular sources (news articles, etc.) that portray the topic differently (i.e., opposite points of view; preferably, you will locate at least one article from left, right, and center). You will find Media Bias Ratings (Links to an external site.) useful for identifying diverse sources and searching for articles on a specific topic via the “Balanced Search” option. In your initial post,
Summarize the different perspectives, interpreting the social cognitive principles that explain how those on both sides of the selected topic maintain and support their views. Although not a comprehensive list, the following concepts may be appropriate to consider: attribution, belief perseverance, confirmation bias, heuristics, cognitive dissonance, self-esteem, impression management, and so on.
Predict the role of context (including culture). How do differing circumstances explain the variation in viewpoints?
Discriminate potential career applications of this insight. What are some professions that may benefit from recognition of the social cognitive principles to help explain or lead to different perspectives?