Attitudes and Persuasion Flashcards
What is an attitude?
An evaluation (positive or negative) of a person, object, or idea
What is an explicit attitude?
A conscious evaluation using system 2 processing
What is an implicit attitude?
An unconscious association generated by system 1 processing
Are explicit and implicit attitudes always consistent?
No! (cats and dogs preference study)
How are explicit attitudes measured?
Likert scales and similar approaches
How are implicit attitudes measured?
Implicit Association Test (IAT) - measure of implicit attitudes that uses reaction time as the metric
What is cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger)?
People dislike inconsistency among their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors (ex. “I’m X kind of person” but “I do/did Y thing”)
What are the 3 ways cognitive dissonance is reduced?
Change something (belief, attitude, or behavior)
Downplay the importance of something
Add something that resolves inconsistency
What is insufficient justification?
Dissonance arises following a behavior that is unjustifiably inconsistent with beliefs or attitudes (resolved by bringing the attitude in line with the behavior - Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) peg turning study)
What is post-decisional dissonance?
Finalizing a difficult decision often leads to dissonance (i.e. after buying a car, thinking other options could have suited needs better)
What is effort justification?
Reducing dissonance by convincing ourselves that suffering was valuable (i.e. hazing)
What is persuasion?
Intentional efforts to change someone’s attitude, usually in hopes of changing their behavior
What is central route processing?
Thinking systematically and evaluating the arguments; effortful thinking; system 2
What are the pros and cons of central route processing?
Pros: Good for long-lasting attitude change, resistant to counterarguments
Cons: Must have motivation and ability to focus on argument
What is peripheral route processing?
Being influenced by incidental or irrelevant characteristics
What are the pros and cons of peripheral route processing?
Pros: Effective for unmotivated, tired, or distracted audience, also useful when arguments are weak
Cons: Easier to combat when audience is educated
What is the Yale approach to attitude change?
“Who says what to whom?”
Who → speaker effects
What → message effects
To whom → audience effects
Speaker effects: What makes a speaker more persuasive?
Credibility - a combination of expertise and trustworthiness
Attractiveness - often physical attractiveness, but also being likeable, well-dressed, etc.
Certainty - confidence is persuasive
Similarity - we trust people who are similar to us
What is the exception to speaker effects?
The sleeper effect (also called source forgetting) - delayed impact of a message that occurs when we remember the message but forget the reason for discounting it (the source)
ex. getting information from a tabloid
What are the message effects?
Speak against your own self-interest - lowers guard
Explicitly refute the other side - two-sided argument (especially if the audience is well-informed)
Vividness - statistics and facts are often less persuasive than a compelling story (identifiable victim effect - i.e. sad dog commercials)
Fear appeals - can increase or decrease persuasion (reception-yielding model - be scary enough to be convincing but not so scary people tune out)
What are the best ways to use fear appeals?
Moderate amount of fear (not too much, not too little)
Include a solution
What are the audience effects?
Some people are more persuadable than others (mood - good mood is generally better, but could also match the message, i.e. Pepsi and peanuts essay study)
How can we resist persuasion?
Be forewarned/prepared
Be informed (harder to be persuaded with more info)
Make a public commitment to your position
What is reactance?
A reaction to rules or regulations that inhibit behavioral freedoms - occurs when we feel someone is trying to limit choices/decisions
