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Two enduring questions in psychology concern the effects on behavior of traits and of attitudes. One method of altering the relative influence of traits or attitudes is by manipulating the activity of those areas of the brain which attend more to the self or to the external environment. Two experiments were conducted to test whether manipulation of lateral orientation can alter patterns of brain activity and thereby produce greater or lesser contributions to behavior of previously measured traits and attitudes. In Experiment 1, 37 right-handed undergraduates completed the Private Self-Consciousness Scale several weeks prior to listening to taped messages and assigning attributions to outcomes described in the messages. Results indicated that subjects who listened only with their right ear produced self-attributions consistent with their trait of self-consciousness, while those who listened only with their left ear did not respond consistently with their self-consciousness trait. In Experiment 2, 28 right-handed undergraduates completed a measure assessing attitudinal orientation toward affirmative action. Subjects later listened with their right ear only, left ear only, or with both ears, to a taped, hypothetical court case involving affirmative action, and then responded as a juror. The results indicated that behavior varied directly with attitude for subjects who listened with their right ear only, but not for those who listened with their left ear only or with both ears. It is argued that consistency is a better explanation for these effects than is availability. (NRB)