Counterattitudinal Advocacy as a Means of Enhancing Instructional Effectiveness: How to Teach Students What They Do Not Want to Know

This study, was designed to determine the effectiveness of counterattitudinal advocacy in overcoming beginning students' erroneous beliefs about psychological phenomena. Introductory psychology students (N = 71) either wrote an essay (counterattitudinal advocacy) or read an essay supporting a s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teaching of psychology 1996-12, Vol.23 (4), p.215-219
Main Authors: Miller, Richard L., Wozniak, William J., Rust, Marci R., Miller, Beverly R., Slezak, Jennifer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocacy
Change Agents
Change Strategies
College Students
Higher Education
Instructional Effectiveness
Knowledge Level
Learning Strategies
Misconceptions
Persuasive Discourse
Psychology
Reading Writing Relationship
Resistance (Psychology)
Student Attitudes
Teaching Methods
Writing Assignments
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Summary:This study, was designed to determine the effectiveness of counterattitudinal advocacy in overcoming beginning students' erroneous beliefs about psychological phenomena. Introductory psychology students (N = 71) either wrote an essay (counterattitudinal advocacy) or read an essay supporting a scientifically acceptable position contrary to one of their beliefs. Writing a counterattitudinal essay was more effective in changing students' beliefs than either reading such an essay or learning about the topic through Standard pedagogical techniques. The method of delivering instructional materials (lecture vs. text vs. both lecture and text) made no significant difference in the elimination of erroneous beliefs.
ISSN:0098-6283
1532-8023
DOI:10.1207/s15328023top2304_2