Chapter 6 Flashcards
A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object, or idea.
Attitude
A multiple item questionnaire designed to measure a persons attitude toward some objects.
Attitude scales.
A phony lie detector device that is sometimes used to get respondents to give thruthful answers to sensitive questions.
Bogus pipeline.
The process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strength of its arguments.
Central route to persuasion.
Theory holding that inconsistent cognitions arouses psychologicla tension that people become motivated to reduce.
Cogntive dissonance theory.
The process of thinking about and scrutinizing the arguments contained in a persuasive communication.
Elaboration.
THe process by which we form an attitude toward a neutral stimulus because of its association with a positive or negative person, place, or thing.
Evaluative conditioning.
An electronic instrument that records facial muscle activity associated with emotions and attitudes.
Facial electrmyography (EMG)
A covert measure of unconcious attitudes derived from the speed at which people respond to pairings of concepts - such as black or white with good or bad.
Implicit association test. (IAT)
An attitude, such as prejudice, that one is not aware of having.
Implicit attitudes.
The idea that exposure to weak versions of a persuaive argument increases later resistance to that argument.
Inoculation hyptohesis.
A condition in which people refrain from engaging in a desirable activity, even when only mild punishment is threatened.
Insufficient deterrence.
A condition in which people freely perform an attitude discrepant behavior without receiving a large reward.
Insufficient justification.
A personality variable that distinguished people on the basis of how much they enjoy effortful cogntiive activities.
Need for cognition (NC)
The process by which a person does not think carefully about a communication and is influenced instead by superficial cues.
Peripheral route to persuasion.
The process by which attitudes are changed.
Persuasion.
The theory that people react against threats to their freedom by asserting themselves and perceving the threatened freedom as more attractive.
Physchological reactance.
A delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a non credible source.
Sleeper effect.
The theory that attitudes toward a specific behavior combine with subjective norms and perceived control to influence a persons actions.
Theory of planned behavior.
Define attitudes.
A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object, or idea.
How are attitudes measured with self-report techniques? Discuss the problems with using this technique.
By simply asking, and recording the information given.
Attitudes are sometimes too complex to measure with a single question.
Responses to attitude questions can be influenced by wording.
How are attitudes measured with covert techniques? Discuss the problems with using this technique.
The collection of indirect, covert measures of attitude such as facial expression, tone of voice, and body language.
The problem is that people monitor their overt behavior just as they monitor self reports. Sometimes we nod our heads before we agree; at other times, we nod to be polite.
What are implicit attitudes, and how are they measured?
Implicit attitudes are an attitude, such a prejudice, that one is not aware of having.
One way of measuring implicit attitudes would be through an implicit association test (IAT). It coverly measures unconcious attitudes derived from the speed at which people respond to pairings of concepts - such as black or white with good or bad.
Identify the components of the theory of planned behaviour. How are the components related to one another?
Theory of planned behavior: Is the theory that attitudes toward a specific behavior combine with subjective norms and perceived control to influence a persons actions.
According to the theory of planned behavior, attitudes twoard a specific behavior combine with subjective norms and perceived behavior control to influence a persons intention. These intentions, in turn, guide but do not completely determine behavior.
Identify three indicators of the strength of an attitude. How is the strength of an attitude linked to behaviour?
1) Directly affected their own self interests.
2) Related to a deeply held philosophical political, and religious value.
3. Were of concern to their close friends, family, and social in groups.
One is that people tend to behave in ways that are consistent with their attitudes when they are well informed.
Two, the strength of an attitude is indicated not only by the amount of information on which it is based but also by how that information was acquired. Research shows that attitudes are more stable and more predictive of behavior when they are born of direct personal experience than when based on indirect, secondhand information.
Third, an attitude can be strengthened, ironically, by an attack against it from a persuasive message.
Fourth, the key factor is that strong attitudes are highly accessibly to awareness, which means that thay are quickly and easily brought to mind.
Define persuasion. Give a few examples of persuasive communication that you encounter in your daily life.
Persuasion: The process by which attitudes are changed.
Sales person coming to my door and using a variety of techniques (foot in door, door in the face, etc) to attempt to sell me a vacuum cleanerf.
Distinguish between the central route and the peripheral route to persuasion. What are the factors that influence which route of processing will be used?
Central route to persuasion: The process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strength of its arguments.
- The process is eminently rational. That thinking carefull about a persuasive message does not guarantee that the process is objective or that ir necessarilly promotes truth seeking.
Peripheral route to persuasion: The process by which a person does not think carefully about a communication and is influenced instead by superficial cues.
- In some cases, people will change their attitudes simply because they know that an argument has majority support.
- People are also influence by factors that are not relevant to attitudes - such as cues from their own body movements.
Identify the key attributes of the source of a persuasive message. How does the source of a message influence the likelihood that people will be persuaded by the message?
The key attributes of the source of a persuasive message are credibility and likability.
Research shows that high credibility sources are more persuasive than low credibility sources.
For information to be credible it must have two characteristics: competence and trustworthiness. Competence refering to the speakers ability - people who have expertise. To have high credibility, sources must also be trustworthy, that is they must be seen as willing to report their knowledge truthfully and without compromise.
Likability is also another source - two factors spark attraction to likability, similarity and physical attractiveness.
What is the sleeper effect?
A delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a non credible source.
