Chapter 7

Question 1

Attitudes

Answer 1

Evaluations of people, objects, and ideas

Question 2

Cognitively based attitude

Answer 2

An attitude based primarily on people’s beliefs about the properties of an attitude object

Question 3

Affectively based attitude

Answer 3

An attitude based more on people’s feelings and values than on their beliefs about the nature of an attitude object

Question 4

Classical conditioning

Answer 4

The phenomenon whereby a stimulus that elicits an emotional response (e.g., your grandmother)
is repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus that does not (e.g., the smell of mothballs), until the neutral stimulus takes on the emotional properties of the first stimulus

Question 5

Operant conditioning

Answer 5

The phenomenon whereby behaviors we freely choose to perform become more or less frequent, depending on whether they are followed by a reward (positive reinforcement) or punishment

Question 6

Behaviorally based attitudes

Answer 6

An attitude based on observations of how one behaves toward an object

Question 7

Explicit attitudes

Answer 7

Attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report

Question 8

Implicit attitudes

Answer 8

Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious

Question 9

Persuasive communication

Answer 9

Communication (e.g., a speech or television ad) advocating a particular side of an issue

Question 10

Yale attitude change approach

Answer 10

The study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages, focusing on the source of the communication, the nature of the communication, and the nature of the audience

Question 11

Elaboration likelihood model

Answer 11

A model explaining two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change: centrally, when people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication, and peripherally, when people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead swayed by surface characteristics (e.g., who gave the speech)

Question 12

Central route to persuasion

Answer 12

The case in which people elaborate on a persuasive communication, listening carefully to and thinking about the arguments, which occurs when people have both the ability and the motivation to listen carefully to a communication

Question 13

Peripheral route to persuasion

Answer 13

The case in which people do not elaborate on the arguments in a persuasive communication but are instead swayed by peripheral cues

Question 14

Need for cognition

Answer 14

A personality variable reflecting the extent to which people engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities

Question 15

Fear-arousing communication

Answer 15

Persuasive message that attempts to change people’s attitudes by arousing their fears

Question 16

Heuristic-systematic model of persuasion

Answer 16

An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change: either systematically processing the merits of the arguments or using mental shortcuts (heuristics), such as “Experts are always right”

Question 17

Attitude inoculation

Answer 17

Making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by initially exposing them to small doses of the arguments against their position

Question 18

Reactance theory

Answer 18

The idea that when people feel their freedom to perform a certain behavior is threatened, an unpleasant state of reactance is aroused, which they can reduce by performing the threatened behavior

Question 19

Attitude accessibility

Answer 19

The strength of the association between an attitude object and a person’s evaluation of that object, measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel
about the object

Question 20

Theory of planned behavior

Answer 20

The idea that people’s intentions are the best predictors of their deliberate behaviors, which are determined by their attitudes toward specific behaviors, their subjective norms, and their perceived behavioral control

Question 21

Subliminal messages

Answer 21

Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may nevertheless influence people’s judgments, attitudes, and behaviors