Chapter 7: The Power of Our Passions

Question 1

Strong attitudes

Answer 1

• persist over time
• affect judgments
• guide behavior
• prove resistant to change

Question 2

Why are strong attitudes stable?

Answer 2

strong attitudes are buttressed by foundational beliefs and values, steeped in social knowledge, reinforced by similar others, cognitively elaborated and readily accessible at the moment of spontaneous argument on the topic

Question 3

Strong attitudes are characterized by..

Answer 3

• importance (we care deeply about the issue)
• ego involvement (the attitude is linked to core values or the self)
• extremity (the attitude deviates significantly from neutrality) | certainty (we are convinced that our attitude is correct
• accessibility (the attitude comes quickly to mind)
• knowledge (we are highly informed about the topic)
• hierarchical organization (attitude is internally consistent and embedded in ab elaborate attitudinal structure)

Question 4

Social Judgment Theory emphasizes

Answer 4

• people evaluate issues based on where they stand on the topic.
• receivers do not evaluate a message purely on the merits of the arguments.
• People compare the advocated position with their attitude and then determine whether they should accept the position advocated in the message

Question 5

Core concepts of Social Judgment Theory

Answer 5

• latitude of acceptance, rejection, and non-commitment
• assimilation and contrast
• ego involvement

Question 6

Latitudes (evaluations)

Answer 6

a range of acceptable and unacceptable positions, as well as positions toward which the individual has no strong commitment.

Question 7

Assimilation and Contrast

Answer 7

perceptual mistakes, distortions that result from the tendency to perceive phenomena from the standpoint of a personal reference point or anchor

Question 8

Assimilation

Answer 8

people pull a somewhat congenial message toward their own attitude, assuming that the message is more similar to their attitude than it really is. Ex: our friends attitudes

Question 9

Contrast

Answer 9

individuals push a somewhat disagreeable message away from their attitude, assuming that it is more different than it really is.

Question 10

How to change strong attitudes

Answer 10

• point out that the person whose attitude you want to modify has friends who embrace a more tolerant view.
• give the other person their due
• help people find their own reasons to change
• induce the individual to contemplate the other side of the issue
• frame the position in terms that are consistent with the individual’s own perspectives on the issues
• tread carefully - don’t say things that will fall into the individuals latitude of rejection