Attitudes and persuasion

Question 1

Attitude

Answer 1

A settled way of thinking or feeling about something

Question 2

Balance theory

Answer 2

Fritz Heider
Cognitive consistency
People prefer elements within a cognitive system to be internally consistent with one another (balanced)

Question 3

Central processing route

Answer 3

Message recipient fully engaged with the message and information it contains

Question 4

Classical conditioning

Answer 4

Pavlov’s dogs
Established attitudes available as unconditioned stimuli and when paired with other conditioned stimuli it produces a new conditioned response

Question 5

Co-occurrence hypothesis

Answer 5

Interaction between processing types

E.g message contains strong and weak points = initial heuristic processing will bias subsequent systematic processing

Question 6

Cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 6

Mental conflict that occurs when a persons behaviour and beliefs do not align
When a person holds 2 beliefs that contradict one another

Question 7

Consistency theories

Answer 7

Humans motivated to maintain consistency between their different beliefs and attitudes and between these beliefs and their behaviour

Question 8

Correspondence hypothesis

Answer 8

Attitudes do predict behaviour
Specific behaviours are predicted from specific attitudes
AKA: principles of compatibility

Question 9

Deliberative processing

Answer 9

Receive info, critically examine and make an informed decision

Question 10

Elaboration likelihood model

Answer 10

ELM
Dual process theory describing the change of attitudes
Bicycle helmets

Question 11

Expectancy-value approach

Answer 11

Motivation for a behaviour or action that is determined by how probable it is that a wanted outcome is achieve and how much the individual values the desired outcome

Question 12

Fear appeals

Answer 12

Evoking fear when attempting to persuade individuals to change
E.g stop smoking ads

Question 13

Festingers theory of cognitive dissonance

Answer 13

Inconsistency among beliefs/behaviours leads to psychological discomfort and therefore motivation to change
Reduce dissonance
Restore consonance

Question 14

Heuristic-systematic model

Answer 14

2 ways individuals can process messages

Explains how people receive and process persuasive messages

Question 15

Implicit association test

Answer 15

Measures people’s implicit attitudes

Measures the strength of association between a category, concept or person and an evaluation/ stereotype

Question 16

Implicit attitudes

Answer 16

Attitude activated without conscious awareness by memory of past experiences
E.g woman takes instant to desire to man because he reminds her of horrible uncle or
You like maths but still associate it with negativity
not actively aware of it

Question 17

Impression management

Answer 17

Processes people use to present a desirable image of themselves to others when in social interactions
Avoid anxiety / embarrassment

Question 18

Induced compliance experiment

Answer 18

Lying about a study
£1 - higher level of cognitive dissonance as insufficient justification as opposed to £20 group
£1 - change attitude to restore consonance
£20 wouldn’t

Question 19

Likert scale

Answer 19

Scale used to represent peoples attitudes to a topic
1-7 disagree - agree
Higher = more favourable attitude
* reverse scored before analysis

Question 20

MODE model

Answer 20

Motivation and opportunities as determinants

Studied conditions under which attitudes towards an object predict behaviour automatically

Question 21

Multidimensional approach

Answer 21

3 types of responses that are used when we evaluate another persons behaviour or other attitude object
ABC - affective, behavioural, cognitive

Question 22

Operant conditioning

Answer 22

Method of learning
Employs rewards and punishments for behaviour
Association made between a behaviour and a consequence

Question 23

Peripheral processing route

Answer 23

Dependent on resources that require little cognitive effort

Peripheral cues e.g what experts say is always correct

Question 24

Persuasion

Answer 24

How attitudes change as a result of exposure to messages and information about the attitude object

Question 25

Priming paradigm

Answer 25

Activating an association or representation in memory just before another stimulus or task is introduced

Question 26

Self-perception theory

Answer 26

People act as observers of their own behaviour and only infer their attitudes from this observation
Bem.

Question 27

Semantic differential scale

Answer 27

Bipolar adjective scales 
Statement: …..
Pleasant - unpleasant 
Bad - good
-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3  vice versa 
Higher scores = a more positive attitude towards the statement

Question 28

Sufficiency principle

Answer 28

People want to have confidence in their attitudes but whether or not this confidence is sufficient depends on sufficiency threshold
Desired confidence - actual confidence
Bigger the gap- more processing needed

Question 29

Theory of planned behaviour

Answer 29

Intention to behave determined by 3 belief factors:

Attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control

Question 30

Theory of reasoned action

Answer 30

A persons behaviour is determined by their intention to perform behaviour and this in turn is a function of their attitude toward the behaviour and subjective norms

Question 31

Unidimensional approach

Answer 31

Attitude = general evaluation of object 
Evaluation = an emotional judgement - how an individual feels towards an object