In determining whether an increase in student cognitions in the content area of international trade is correlated with an attitudinal change toward policy issues surrounding that subject, a microeconomics principles class at Riverside City College was used to test the hypothesis that a change in the cognitive component will cause a change in the affective component. Prior to and following instruction on foreign trade, the class was given a cognitive meaning device to test student knowledge of the subject and an attitudinal survey related to free trade and tariffs. Three control groups were used: an introductory college psychology class given no instruction on foreign trade but given the pre- post-tests, a small subset of the experimental group measured by post-test only (to control for "sensitizing" as a result of the pre-test), and a class of graduate students in economics (to check on the hypothesis that an increase in knowledge about foreign trade should result in an attitude supporting free trade). It was concluded that cognitive and attitudinal changes had a strong positive correlation and that perhaps just a basic understanding of facts about free trade is sufficient to elicit a definite change and a very "pro-free trade" attitude. (GC)