An Intense Experience, An Intensified Attitude

Attitudes are opinions of, or responses to, people, objects, and ideas. Attitudes can be positive, negative, ambivalent, or indifferent, and there are various concepts that have been shown to strengthen our attitudes. For example, attitudes that affect our self-interests, relate to our values, and concern our family and close friends tend to be stronger and evoke feelings of deeper passion within us (Boninger et al., 1995). Among other strengthening factors, it has also been found that personal experiences can intensify and support an attitude even more (Fazio & Zanna, 1981).

Taking two of these concepts into account, an attitude that my Mom has held for most of her life was strengthened by a personal experience that concerned her family. When my Mom was pregnant with me in 1988, her doctor recommended that she have diagnostic testing done, specifically chorionic villus sampling. My Dad’s family is Eastern European Jewish, so there was an obvious risk of Tay-Sachs disease (a metabolic defect that leads to early death), which made diagnostic testing seem like the right decision.

My Dad liked the idea of chorionic villus sampling, because he wanted the pregnancy to contribute to science, but my Mom felt unsure about the procedure because she has always had a negative attitude towards elective medical procedures for the sole reason that they are unnecessary and potentially dangerous. She called the March of Dimes and spoke with a woman who had just had a baby. The woman told her that chorionic villus sampling was still very experimental and that my Mom should just wait and then have amniocentesis done. My Mom then called and canceled the chorionic villus sampling. I was born healthy for the most part, and my Mom never regretted the cancellation. Then about two years later, my Mom saw news reports about women who had had chorionic villus sampling and had then given birth to babies without limbs, even though the chorionic villus sampling had shown no diseases or defects in the fetuses.

My Mom has recounted this story to me multiple times because the experience really affected her attitude towards experimental medical procedures. She knew that if she had had the chorionic villus sampling, there would have been a chance that I could have been born without arms or legs, and to this day, that still brings her to tears. Even twenty years later, when she tells me this story, she says that she still thinks about the possibility that I never would have walked, and never would have danced.

Prior to her cancellation of the chorionic villus sampling, my birth, and the news story she saw, my Mom had already been skeptical of elective procedures, and after having had a very personal experience that concerned her family (me!), her negative attitude towards experimental procedures became that much stronger. It was definitely an experience big enough to strengthen her attitude towards experimental elective medical procedures for the long-term.

Boninger, D. S., Krosnick, J. A., & Berent, M. K. (1995). Origins of attitude importance: Self-interest, social identification, and value relevance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 61-80.

Fazio, R. H., & Zanna, M. P. (1981). Direct experience and attitude-behavior consistency. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 14, pp. 162-202). New York: Academic Press.