Your friend teaches preschool, and there is one little boy in her ...

[neverstopbelieb]

Your friend teaches preschool, and there is one little boy in her class who is giving her fits. He is constantly misbehaving, throwing toys, threatening other children, and sometimes even physically attacking them.
 
  So far, her stern punishment has stopped his destructive behavior when she's there, but when she leaves the room or when a substitute fills in, he's back to his old ways. You suggest that she use dissonance to change his behavior permanently. What would you tell her?
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

In terms of dissonance theory, what is the primary reason that we (our side) often dehumanize them, the enemy, seeing them as animals, brutes, or monsters?
 
  a. The enemy is violent and cruel and deserves whatever we do to them.
  b. The enemy started the war.
  c. Our side has treated the enemy brutally and needs to justify these actions.
  d. Our side is more moral and humane than their side.

[leahchrapun]

Answer to Question 1

Answer: When she punishes him sternly, she may change his behavior in positive ways, but he doesn't have sufficient internal justification for behaving well. That's why he tends to act up when she's not there to administer punishment. If she really wants to change his behavior over the long haul, she should remove the external justification for behaving appropriately and encourage him to develop an internal justification for his positive behavior. Thus, the threat of mild punishment is likely to work so long as the threat is just sufficient to stop his problematic behavior but not so strong that he has an external justification for behaving appropriately. In the absence of sufficient external justification, he will convince himselfthrough internal justificationsthat he likes or wants to behave in positive, prosocial ways.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: C