Critical and Creative Thinking Questions

1. Have you ever changed a strongly held attitude? What caused the change for you?

I always thought that Pit Bulls were a dangerous and aggressive breed. I feared this type of animal for so many years and did not realize that these animals were like others until the day I met the most docile of all of them. That attitude toward a particular breed of animal changed when I met my husband. He had an eleven year old Pit Bull who as soon as you walk up to her will roll over on her back and want you to rub her belly. I guess this would be considered a form of cognitive dissonance by me meeting Trixie then being more and more around the breed and now I support any type of advocacy program for the breed.

2. Do you believe that you are free of prejudice? After reading this chapter, which of the many factors that cause prejudice do you think is most important to change?

Nobody is completely free of prejudice. With society the way it is today, everybody is prejudice of something. Prejudice can be placed on an object or placed on a person. It can be learned, or it could be repressed and displaced aggression toward a certain thing. Honestly, the most important factors that cause prejudice that actually needs to change is the learning. If children did not see what their idols or mentors thought was good or bad then they would not be prejudice to certain things. For instance, I was always told that Mexican Americans were not supposed to date an American girl. So, I thought for years that it was not right and that they would never be good workers. Yet, I learned as I got older that this was not true.