Attitudes and Persuasion Flashcards
What are the three categories of Social influence
- Persuasion: guiding others towards some attitudes
- Conformity: Aligning attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour’s with those of people around us
- Obedience: Why we do what authority figures tell us to do
What are attitudes?
Evaluation of attitude objects (people, products, social group)
involves a preference (of the self) for or against the attitude object
Can be inherited or learned
individual or collective
What are the three components of attitudes?
- Affect (emotions
- Behaviors (actions)
- Cognitive (beliefs)
Why do we hold attitudes?
Because it enables us to determine, quickly and effortlessly which behaviors to engage in, which people to approach/avoid, which products to buy.
What are superstitions often based on?
Religion
Associations
Coincidences
Why do we practice/believe in superstitions?
More based on culture and habits Usually easier to practice than to consciously avoid it Give confidence (and therefore allows us to perform better)
What is an attitude strength
How quickly the attitude comes to mind
Why can strong attitudes guide our behavior
They are important, we hold them with confidence, don’t change a lot, use them frequently to guide our actions
What 3 concepts enables our attitudes to guide our behavior?
- Cognitive accessibility: come to mind quickly, easily and regularly
- Attitudes become stronger when they are related to direct positive/negative experiences
- When ABC’s aling: Affect, Behavior, cognition all “say” the same thing
When do our attitudes guide our behavior?
The Principle or attitude consistency: The ABC’s are normally in line with each other
Theory of planned behavior:
a) attitude towards the behavior (stronger –> better)
b) Subjective norms (the support of people we value)
c) Perceived behavioral control (do we think we can do it)
What is “insufficient justification”?
When we don’t realize that the situation has influenced our behaviour. (that it wasn’t our self)
What is overjustification?
When we believe that the situation was caused by external factors (social situation) rather than our own interest. (when it is actually the opposite)
What 3 concepts can explain why behavior influences attitudes?
- Social roles
- Cognitive dissonance (when we behave in ways that are inconsistent, we fail to live up to our expectations) (post decisional dissonance: regret after making a decision)
- Persuasion
What are 5 elements of persuasion?
- Getting the recipients attention
- Sending an effective message
- Ensuring the message is processed properly
- Considering Affective, Behavioral, Cognitive aspects
- Communication relates to the recipient
What are some characteristics of an effective communicator?
- Create positive association with a product
- Trustworthiness
- Expertise
- seeming unbiased
What are two ways of responding to a message?
Spontaneous attitude change vs
Thoughtful attitude change
What is a spontaneous Message? What reaction will it create for the recipient?
The message will
- Focus on what is enjoyable
- Use associations
- Positive and salient = more likely to remember
- Fear appeals: self-concern (talking about dangers)
All of these factors will create an immediate response or attitude change for the recipient of the message
What are 3 factors of a thoughtful message? What reaction will it create for the recipient?
- Message strength (Strong or weak arguments)
- Source expertise (expert source or nonexpert source)
- Personal relevance (high or low personal relevance)
The recipient will have to think about the message and eventually participate in attitude change
What are the 2 routes to persuasion?
- Central route: Using arguments to appeal to reason (Long-term attitude change)
- Peripheral route: Focusing on cues that trigger automatic acceptance without much thinking.
What are the 6 principles or persuasion?
- Reciprocity (obligated to give back)
- Consistency (consistent with what we’ve done in the past)
- Social proof (look to others for answers)
- Liking (if we like the other > more likely to accept)
- Authority
- Scarcity (FOMO)
What is the sleeper effect?
When we initially discount a message given by an untrustworthy communicator, but overtime, we remember the content but forget the source.
What is the foot-in-the-door technique?
Persuasion attempt in which we get the target to accept a minor request and then ask for a larger one.
What is the Low-Ball Technique
The salesperson promises the customer something desirable, such as a low price on a car, with the intention of getting the person to imagine himself or herself engaging in the desired behavior. Than the salesperson says that the car is not available at that price. The person is now more likely to get a higher priced car.
Bait-and-switch technique
When someone advertises a product at a very low price, when you visit the store, the product is sold out.
Door-In-The-Face technique
making unreasonably large request, the person declines, you make a compromise and the person is most likely to accept it
The Pre-giving technique
obligation to support/give back when someone has already given you something
Inoculation
Like a vaccine: a small dose in advance to prepare (use unexpected arguments - have answers to conter-arguments)
Forewarning
Easier to build up defence when we know persuasion is coming (say you just want to discuss)
Reactance
People don’t like being told what to do (Make people feel like they have options)
Reality-check
After being persuaded people perform a reality-check (don’t give time for a reality check)
Conter-arguing and bolstering
Thinking about why they are wrong and why you are right (when attacking strong beliefs, minimize points to make them less threatening or collaborative
Resistance breeds resistance
When people successfully defend themselves against an attempt at persuasion, their position gets stronger. (make a strong first attempt; following ones will be harder)
Attack authority
We often attempt to persuade through authority (make sure credentials are solid and defer to someone who has authority)
Being sharp and alert
(Get to them when they are tired, hungry, distracted)
Not listening
(get their attention)
What is the nudge theory
Positive reinforcement and indirect influence
Modify the environment, making it more likely that an individual make a choice or behave in a particular way (choice architecture)
