Few studies on teaching culture have empirically investigated the significance between the teaching methodology and the results. To investigate the influence of specificity of cultural information and mode of presentation on attitudes toward South Americans, 113 college students in introductory Spanish classes (21 male, 92 female) participated in two treatment conditions (cultural instruction/no cultural instruction) over a 6-week period. Under the treatment condition the last 10 minutes of each 50 minute class were devoted to cultural instruction presented through discussions. To assess attitude changes the subjects completed the Revised Bogardus Social Distance Scale (RBSDS) and the How North Americans Perceive South Americans questionnaire (HNAPSA). An analysis of the results showed that the teaching of cultural information about South Americans through discussions significantly increased the students' acceptance of closer social ties with people from South America. Females were more willing to accept a closer social relationship to South Americans than were males. Subjects in the treatment condition also perceived more similarities between the cultures than those in the control group. Again, females were more affected by cultural information, with females in the treatment group perceiving more similarities than males. Females in the control group also perceived more differences between the cultures than control group males, which suggests that more research is needed on gender-related responses to cultural information. (BL)