Learning is generally conceived as active and purposive behavior, involv. ing motivation, practice, achievement. Here, the authors focus on "passive" learning, on what is "caught" rather than "taught," and on the processes by which such learning may take place. Passive learning is typically effortless, responsive to animated stimuli, amenable to artificial aid to relaxation, and characterized bv an absence of resistance to what is learned, thus opening up possibilities that, depending on one's point of view, one may welcome or deplore .

The Functioning of Social Norms WE HAVE examined the evolution of certain ways of behavior unique to a specific group, and we have considered the way in which these "norms" or "group ways" influence the behavior of individuals coming within their aegis. The development and perpetuation of customs and traditions in the life span of all kinds of groups is so common, and their influence so profound, that the study of the effect of "social norms" has been given a major emphasis in social psychology. Rules that guide behavior, together with group products (such as slogans, songs, values, and common ways of responding to situations), seem to be characteristic aspects of the existence of all group situations. These rules and products are frequently retained even after the conditions originally responsible for their emergence have disappeared. Our lives are so ubiquitously controlled by them, and our development early in life is so specified by them, that we rarely accord them a conscious recognition of their role in our behavior.

20 Ss, 10 Jewish and 10 Catholic, were exposed to a stereoscopic task and a test of open-mindedness. The stereoscopic task involved a series of 22 slides pairing Jewish and Catholic symbols, words and pictures, exposed under conditions of conflict thus calling for some form of binocular resolution by Ss. The test of open-mindedness was Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale, Form E. There was a statistically significant tendency to report seeing material related to one's own religion. This may be expressed in the form of a point biserial correlation coefficient of .95 ( p < .001). There was a significant correlation between open-mindedness and the tendency to report seeing material associated with the “other” religion ( r = .40, p < .025).