Juanita Has Taken Six Courses at Valley Community College, and She

question 135

Essay

Juanita has taken six courses at Valley Community College, and she has a grade average of B so far. All the courses she has taken have been in sociology and psychology. She's thinking of enrolling in another course next term, and she expects to make at least a B in whatever she takes. Suppose that when she took the previous courses, Juanita had done all her studying alone because she didn't know any of the other students at Valley but that now she knows several good students and plans to study with them when she takes her next course. Would her argument be stronger or weaker?

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Definitions:

Dual Attitude Theory

A psychological concept suggesting that people can hold two different evaluations (positive and negative) about the same object at the same time.

Downward Comparison

The act of comparing oneself to people who are worse off.

Upward Comparison

The act of comparing oneself to people who are better off.

Assumptive Worlds

The set of beliefs and assumptions through which an individual perceives and interacts with the world.