Answer to Question #282405 in Other for Tzuyu

Question

Timothy Wilson, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, studies the effect of "personal narratives" on people's behavior. For example, if the "story" you have about your academic ability is positive, you do better in school than if your "story" is negative. Something as simple as hearing older students describe overcoming challenges similar to yours can help you change your story and improve your performance.

A) Suppose you have reason to believe that students with a history of strong academic performance respond different than those with a history of modest performance. Describe how you would incorporate blocking to address this difference in response.

Answer 1

The idea is that if we want to change people's behaviors, we need to try to get inside their heads and understand how they see the world—the stories and narratives they tell themselves about who they are and why they do what they do.

first approach: people are given information that prompts them to change the way they view themselves and the causes of their behavior

second approach: writing exercises that people can do on their own to revise their narratives

third approach: "do good, be good" method. It capitalizes on the tried-and-true psychological principle that our attitudes and beliefs often follow from our behaviors, rather than precede them