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Throughout history, many of the most sensational events and changes have focused public attention on powerful attitudes. From the French Revolution to recent bombings of abortion clinics by right-to-life activists, the incidents that attract our attention are often those associated with strong sentiments. Furthermore, many of the most significant sea changes in U.S. society have involved the shifting of seemingly unmovable and highly consequential attitudes. Among the most notable of these transformations are the shift from the overt racist attitudes of the 1950s to the seemingly more tolerant stance of contemporary society, and the reshaping of traditionalist opposition to a significant role for women in positions of societal leadership into widespread acceptance of such a role. In these cases and various others like them, powerful attitudes were gradually transfigured as the result of intense social pressure and heated …