Exam 2

Question 1

3 basic tenets of the cognitive response model

Answer 1

1.) communication- people integrate themselves with info that aligns with their existing beliefs, attitudes, and values
2.) cognitive response- receiver plays an active role in persuasion, when hearing a persuasive message ones thoughts and beliefs are triggered by the message
3.) attitude change- cognitive reactions during message

Question 2

inoculation theory

Answer 2

-persuasion that exposes people to weakened or diluted versions of arguments can help them develop resistance to future attempts to change their attitudes or beliefs.
- example: apolitical candidate speaks on past mistakes and how they learned from it before criticism from the audience begins

Question 3

premises of elaboration likelihood model

Answer 3

-central (logical) and peripheral (desire or little amount of cognitive elaboration) route
-want to hold correct attitudes
-vary in willingness and ability to process information
example: one is buying a car because it is cool, will get girls and looks cool (peripheral). one is buying a car because they need it, the price is great, and its the top car of the year.(central)

Question 4

central route

Answer 4

central:
-high levels of processing and critique arguments
-arguments need to be strong and convincing for one to adopt attitude change
- attitudes are more likely to persist over time because of the long evaluation of the message

Question 5

peripheral route

Answer 5

-low levels of processing and reliance on superficial cues
- driven by peripheral cues and accepts a message rather than evaluating it clearly
-attitude changes are short lived because one did not deeply consider the message

Question 6

two key factors in predicting elaboration of a person

Answer 6

1.) Motivation:
-one must want to engage in cognitive processing
- ones involvement on the issue or wanting to reach a conclusion can lead to more elaboration
2.) Ability
-ones ability to understand a message
-are there distractions? was the message difficult to understand?

Question 7

heuristics

Answer 7

1.) credibility: credible sources can be trusted
2.) liking: “people I like usually have correct opinions”
3.) consensus: “if other people believe it, it’s probably true”
ex: more arguments=better, longer message=better position

Question 8

Multiple functions postulate

Answer 8

Message features can serve multiple functions

-Peripheral cue in a low-elaboration context
-Argument in a high-elaboration context
-Inducement to process centrally, when motivation/ability is moderate
-Booster of confidence in own thoughts, when greater elaboration is likely
ex: source of attractiveness, source of expertise

Question 9

charisma

Answer 9

A magnetic charm or appeal that allows a person to arouse emotion, loyalty, enthusiasm, compelling and commanding an audience
ex: Ryan Reynolds award show speech (he attracted the audience with his charisma because he was funny and heartfelt, and talked about two different organizations)

Question 10

3 fundamental source characteristics

Answer 10

1.) Authority
2.) Credibility
3.) Social Attractiveness

-source factors are based on receiver perceptions, not inherent qualities of the source

Question 11

Authority

Answer 11

people comply with authority figures to gain rewards/avoid punishments (boss=pay, dr=healthier)

Question 12

source credibility

Answer 12

1.) expertise
-knowledge or ability of communicator, special skills
2.) trustworthiness
-perceived honesty, character and safety of communicator
3.) goodwill
-caring, having listeners interests at heart

Question 13

social attractiveness

Answer 13

1.) likeability
-put audience in good mood/make them feel better= message is better
2.) similarity to audiences
- same values/perspectives with audience=more convincing
3.) physical attractiveness
-attractiveness can become part of the message, people will pay attention more

Question 14

why similarity might not work between speaker and audience

Answer 14

-similarity might not reach audiences with different backgrounds, might fail to reach audience outside of the perceived group
-overly focusing on similarity might distract audience from the argument and important differences
ex: an inspirational speaker comes to speak to college students. They share a personal anecdote about how they became so successful. The audience might feel like the speaker overlooked the differences in life stages.

Question 15

knowledge bias

Answer 15

-source does not have complete or accurate info
-source is biased because of dominant views
When violated=gain credibility
ex: liberal redneck, black lives matter

Question 16

reporting bias

Answer 16

-source is unwilling to report all info
-context may affect how much info is disclosed
When violated=more credibility
ex: fox on republican issues

Question 17

one sided argument

Answer 17

-presents only your view
ex: commercial that only highlights the positives of the product
-less compelling

Question 18

two sided argument

Answer 18

-present yours and opponents view
ex: a political candidate gives a speech about a controversial topic and acknowledges both sides

Question 19

two sided refutational argument

Answer 19

-recognizes opposing viewpoints and refutes them
ex: a health campaign acknowledges misconceptions and concerns about vaccines
-most persuasive because they enhance credibility, provide clear reasons why opposing sides wrong

Question 20

implicit messages

Answer 20

lets the audience draw their own conclusion, implied
ex: sharing a story about how the event made someone feel, versus saying why it is good

Question 21

explicit

Answer 21

draws a clear conclusion from evidence, no ambiguity
-more persuassive
ex: “based on the evidence presented… this is why you should do this”

Question 22

vampire creativity

Answer 22

-having creativity and being criticized or receiving discouragement
ex: a writer enthusiastic about their story and getting shut down by a friend who thinks it sucks

Question 23

benefits/goals of stats, norm. narrative, visual evidence

Answer 23

1.) statistical- provides data and credibility
2.) normative- appeal to norms/guidelines, gives authority figures leverage
3.) narrative- engage audiences emotions, makes arguments relatable
4.) visual- visually appealing and provides comprehension

combo of narrative and statistical evidence is more persuasive than either alone

Question 24

effects of language

Answer 24

speed of speech:
-fastcan convey confidence, slow can convey thoughfulness
powerless/powerful speech:
-powerful conveys certainty and authority, powerless diminshes the message
intensity of speech:
-high intensity can evoke huge emotional responses, low intensity can convey calm rational arguments

Question 25

sleeper effect

Answer 25

-when the persuasive message is dismissed at first, but the impact of the message increases over time
ex: political candidate releases negative info about their opponent. People might think this is shady at first, but take the time to think about what he said.

Question 26

2 components that must be present in emotional appeals

Answer 26

1.) arouse the emotion
-each emotion is aroused differently
2.) recommended actions
-take advantage of the action tendency of the emotion
-need to be feasible and effective

Question 27

fear appeal

Answer 27

-presenting threat to well-being
-makes us want to run from threat
ex: second hand smoke has been linked to serious health issues… but you can take steps to prevent this from happening…don’t wait until its too late

Question 28

threat

Answer 28

severity and susceptibility combine to create perceptions of threat
-severity: things like this are really bad/can hurt you, susceptibility: this bad thing can happen to you

Question 29

perceptions

Answer 29

severity, susceptibility, self efficiency, and response efficiency

Question 30

anger appeal

Answer 30

-emotion is aroused by obstacle to goals
-emotion makes us want to destroy the obstacle
ex: “Are you tired of politicians who put their own interests above yours?”

Question 31

hope appeal

Answer 31

-opportunity to achieve goal
-work toward desired goal
ex: there is hope for a brighter future if we come together and take action
-more effective when people feel/believe their action can make a change

Question 32

appraisals that evoke hope

Answer 32

achieve a future outcome that is:
-important
-goal oriented
-will make future better
-possible
ex: billions of people are taking action to protect the climate

Question 33

guilt appeal

Answer 33

-low moderate guilt appeals are most effective
-implicit guilt appeals are more effective
ex: your pollution affects people around the world

Question 34

sadness

Answer 34

-not often used in persuasion because it evokes negative feelings
-can be effective if it shows there’s an unrecoverable loss but there’s still time to save it
ex: a sad message about a dog who needs a loving home, encouraging people to adopt it.