Penn Professor Addresses the 1973 Penn Class to Analyze Social and Psychological Threats to Change

On May 13th, the University of Pennsylvania hosted the 50-year reunion for the class of 1973, a massive event which, as one of the organizers recalled, required them to “work hard for [about] 18 months.” The 1973 class, along with many other classes, gathered all over campus for events that a passerby might have confused for an academic conference. The occasion, however, brought good food and company, fun parades, and peace sign buttons. More than anything, it provided an excellent reminder of the effect Penn had and continues to have on generations of students.

In one corner of the campus, within the Penn Museum, PIK Professor Dolores Albarracin, addressed the 1973 class to celebrate their contributions and reflect on mechanisms of social change, as well as to discuss the extensive research she and her team had done on attitude change. It was this research, specifically, that convinced the organizers to ask her to speak, because, as Bill Keller, one of the reunion organizers, put it “The class of ‘73 experienced great change during our 4 years at Penn. When we entered, Hill House was all women and the Quad all men. The women were separately enrolled in the College for Women. The Roe v. Wade decision was issued by the Supreme Court making abortion legal throughout the US, and civil rights protests were continuing both at Penn and throughout the U.S.”

She first described the optimism of a generation that had heard JFK motivate America to pursue moon-landing goals, “not because [they are] easy, but because [they are] hard;” and listened to Martin Luther King, Jr. urging them to share his Dream. The class arrived on campus and proceeded to participate in the creation of Earth Day, was involved in the anti-war movement, and contributed to the end of gender-specific job recruitment and other advances for women. These changes, as Dr. Albarracin put it, “are achievements of your generation, which we celebrate today.”

After reviewing social and policy changes that transpired in the half century after the 1973 class left college, Dr. Albarracin discussed the social and psychological threats that challenge-change to this day. These threats have been uncovered through the research she has performed at Penn.

Threat 1: Seeking Congenial Information

One of the most significant barriers to change is people’s tendency to only look for information that matches their beliefs. This provides an obvious barrier to change but it can be overcome if people gain the confidence to defend their beliefs from external challenges. Once they increase their confidence, they can become emboldened to approach uncongenial information. This uncongenial information contains the seed of change.

Assuming, though, that we can drive a person to seek challenging information, other threats can still undermine change efforts.

Threat 2: Focusing on Changes

People focus on changes rather than absolute levels. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, people reported less infection risk as cases were declining, even when cases were still high. They made masking and vaccination decisions based on whether cases were going up or down rather than on whether we had 1,000 or 100,000 new COVID-19 cases a day. Thus, to maintain changes, we must set absolute goals, in addition to monitoring change.

Threat 3: Inaccurate Assessment of Changes

People overestimate how much change has occurred in society, with many believing that gender and racial discrimination is a thing of the past. People imagine these levels of change based on intuitions, often ideological narratives, rather than reality.

Threat 4: Need for Action Messages

Most importantly, messages cannot simply highlight the risk of a situation. Messages spread, and are persuasive, when they clearly indicate actions that people can execute today.  Thus, to promote change, we need actionable messages.

None of this was to say that the changes the class of ‘73 enacted over the years weren’t successful. Rather, efforts to promote changes require intense and sustained efforts. As Dr. Albarracin quoted “Not all labors can be done in a lifetime” (Gorreksson, 2015), “Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty” (Jefferson, 1817). The next generation must heed the call to action left by those who preceded them and work to complete the changes their parents and grandparents initiated. This must be done, and it must be done by the young of today “not because it is easy, and not because it is hard, but because making these changes is simply right.”

Martin P. Repetto

Writer, Media Contact

Philadelphia, PA