Best wishes all!
Chris
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: IKStubbs <IKStubbs@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 08:28:58 EDT
To: pcp-request@mailbase.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Attitudes, beliefs and constructs
In a message dated 07/04/98 01:32:57 GMT, Jim Mancuso writes:
<< Should we start the discussion by talking about superordinate
constructs by
which one construes SELF.
E. G. -- "I am a political liberal." [construct =
conservative-liberal]. Thus, when I attempt to make a self
construction regarding the
relationship of
my self to government support of liberal education, to "those guys"
who spend
their
time talking about attitudes, I will reflect a liberal attitude. Or,
if
someone
hands me an "attitude scale," I will respond to the questions in
terms of
building
a construction of self, locating my self on the liberal end of the
conservative-liberal construct. Thus, the scale-giver will score the
scale
and
conclude that I HAVE "liberal attitudes."
Since I do not assume that I HAVE fixed constructions about
anything, I
would
not believe that it would be useful to talk about my [or any other
person's] attitudes.
>>
But could I use the term 'attitude' to refer to a cluster of
constructs that I tend to employ frequently in order to orient myself
in a particular domain eg.the political'? Another term might be
'perspective' or 'approach' - a construct sub-system that I employ to
position SELF in relation to others. There is no reason to see this
'fixed' though I may see recurring patterns.
Ian Stubbs
Adviser in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning
Church of England Board of Education
Church House
Great Smith Street
London, SW1P 3NZ
Chris Evans, Senior Lecturer in Psychotherapy,
Locum Consultant to the
Prudence Skynner Family Therapy Clinic,
St. George's Hospital Medical School, London University
C.Evans@sghms.ac.uk http://psyctc.sghms.ac.uk/
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