Exam 2: Chapter 5 Flashcards
What are attitudes?
Favorable or unfavorable evaluation of a particular thing
What are our attitudes made up of?
Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors on a person, place, or thing
What is classical conditioning?
Liking or disliking new objects or events simply because of their association with objects or events we already don’t like
What is operant conditioning?
Rewards and punishments to reinforce or discourage an attitude or behavior
Can classical and operant conditioning occur without awareness of the participants?
Yes to both
What is observational learning?
Learning by observing the behaviors of others of what to do and not to do
What is heredity?
How you are raised influences your personalities and behaviors
What is an example of the heredity unlearned attitude component?
Political and religious issues
What is attitude strength?
How strongly you are holding onto an attitude
What do strong attitudes accomplish?
Accurately predicting behavior
Why is having a strong attitude so important?
Strong attitudes resist change and are more stable than weaker ones, better able to withstand persuasive attacks
What is commitment?
Holding true to beliefs and perceptions that we have
What two elements make strong attitudes more resistant to change?
Commitment and embeddedness
What is embededness?
The traits that are concrete in our personalities and are unlikely to change
How does commitment contribute to strong attitudes?
Shielding attitudes against contradictory information
How does embededdness contribute to strong attitudes?
Anchoring them to change-resistant features of the self
What is knowledge?
What you know that then makes your behaviors possible
What is the textbook definition of knowledge?
The more we know about something, the more likely it is that our attitudes and actions will be consistent with each other
What happens if you have direct contact with the idea?
You are more likely to have predictive behaviors
What are the two aspects of knowledge that intensify that link between attitudes and related actions?
Amount of knowledge required on the subject and the direct versus indirect nature of the knowledge
What is personal relevance?
What relates to you personally, when it becomes personally relevant your attitudes change and your behaviors follow
What is xbility (Kearn)?
The degree to which it comes to springs to mind quickly
What is a highly accessible attitude likely to do?
stimulate actions that are consistent with it
What are behavioral intentions?
What you believe and what you intend to do are different so your behaviors do not coincide with your actions and beliefs
What can you tell by how quickly someone responds?
Which of them would act consistently with their response
What is the simple definition of behavioral intentions?
Specific aims to act in a certain way, more likely than attitudes to predict behavior
What is the theory of planned behavior?
Best predictor of behavior is behavioral intention, subjective norms, and perceived control over the behavior
What are subjective norms?
Perception that important others would approve or disapprove of the behavior
What is perceived behavioral control?
Perception of how difficult it is to perform the behavior
What is persuasion?
Change in a private attitude or belief as a result of receiving a message
What is a potential con of self-reporting?
May lie about behaviors because it might not be socially acceptable
What is observing a relevant behavior covertly?
Without asking subjects to give self-reports of attitudes, simply observing an attitude-relevant behavior
When have researchers found covert methods to be more accurate than self-report?
When people have a good reason to lie about their true feelings/behaviors
What are nonreactive measurements?
does not change a subjects responses while recording them
What are the benefits of using nonreactive measurements?
Using them to record a response is less likely to distort the response, when a subject is trying to hide their true feelings
Why are self-reports usually preferred?
They inquire about attitudes are more directly
Why is the clarity, logic, and memorability of the message so important?
Comprehension and learning of the message content were critical to persuasion
What is the cognitive response model?
Locates the most direct cause of persuasion in the self-talk of the persuasion target
What is the cognitive response model in essence?
Its not what the communicator says, but its what the target says to themselves as a result of receiving that communication
What is self-talk?
The internal cognitive responses or thinking, people engage in after being exposed to the message
What is positive self-talk?
Finding ways to stimulate positive cognitive responses to your message
What are counterarguments?
Challenges and opposes other arguments, weaken persuasive messages by arguing against them
What is the inoculation procedure?
Technique for increasing individuals resistance to a strong argument by first giving them weak, easily defeated versions of it
What are two ways to limit peoples ability to form counter-arguments?
If they learn that an expert holds the position, diminishing time to formulate counterarguments, distracting or overburdening participants with tasks to make them more susceptible to persuasion
What is the textbook definition of inoculation?
Technique for increasing individuals resistance to a strong argument by giving them weak easily defeated versions of it
What is the most common tactic for reducing the persuasiveness of an opponent’s?
Give people direct counterarguments against the strongest versions of that message
What is the fairness doctrine?
Acknowledged the importance of counterargument in free society, so when controversial topics are broadcast free air time is made available for citizens to state opposing views
What are the dual process models of persuasion?
Accounts for the two basic ways that attitude change occurs with and without much thought
What are the two basic kinds of attitude change processes?
Focus on the arguments in a message, and those that involve a focus on other factors such as the attractiveness of the communicator
What is the elaboration likelihood model?
Proposes two routes that people can take to be persuaded, central route and peripheral route
What is the central route?
Focusing on the quality of the arguments when they have the motivation and ability to do so
What is the peripheral route?
focus on factors other than the quality of the arguments such as the number of arguments
When do participants take the peripheral route?
When motivation or ability is missing
Does peripheral or central routes produce more enduring change?
Central processing
What two factors influence a persons motivation?
Personal relevance to the topic, tendency to think hard about any topic
What is personal relevance?
if it applies directly to you, you are more likely to formulate ideas on the topic than glance over it since it relates personally to you
What is the textbook definition need for cognition?
To enjoy and engage in deliberative thought,
What is my definition for the need for cognition?
Preference for engaging in central route, deliberative thinking
What do people with high needs for cognition think about?
They think in deliberative ways even about issues not personally relevant to them
What can motivate a person to think deeply about a topic?
Personal relevance of the topic, and their natural preference for deliberative thought
What does deliberative thought mean?
carefully thought through or discussed
What happens when motivation is high?
People base their opinions on a careful analysis of the quality of arguments
What happens when motivation is low?
People don’t focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments, base them on peripheral considerations
What are the cons of peripheral factors?
Can produce as much initial attitude change as strong arguments, but the change fades more quickly and is more vulnerable to persuasive attempts to change the attitude back again
Why can’t you just provide strong arguments?
Because you also need to motivate people to your cause
What is the first step to decreasing deliberation ability?
Providing distractions
What is the second step to decreasing deliberation ability?
Providing insignificant info to interpret the ads points
What is the third to decreasing deliberation ability?
Providing insufficient processing time
What is central processing?
Paying attention to the quality of the arguments in communication that results in focused thinking about arguments, into changes that is based on the strengths and weaknesses of the argument
What is peripheral processing?
Paying attention to other aspects of the communication besides argument quality, such as the mere number of arguments or communicators likability
What does peripheral processing lead to?
Leads people to change their attitudes and beliefs on the basis of these secondary factors
What happens if a person does not have motivation?
They are more likely to use peripheral processing
What are the three major persuasion goals?
To hold a more accurate view of the world, be consistent within themselves, or gain social approval and acceptance
What are the functions of attitude?
Gain rewards and punishments, organize information efficiently, express themselves to others, maintain self-esteem, and fit in with their groups
Why do people change their attitudes and beliefs?
Hold more accurate view of the world, be internally consistent, and gain social acceptance and approval
How can you increase your accuracy when you don’t have time to evaluate a situation?
You can base your opinion on the credibility of the communicator
What is a credible communicator?
Expert and trustworthy
What is expertise?
Communicator’s knowledge and experience
What is trustworthiness?
Communicators honesty and lack of bias
What is straight-talk?
Promising to be honest in order to build trust
What does offering the pros and cons serve to do?
It proves impartiality by proving that you can find the flaws in your own arguments, and can become more influential
How do researchers create a perception of honesty?
By mentioning a small weakness in their product so they can then follow with positive facts to be more persuasive about the strengths of the product
What can people do when they want to react correctly but don’t have the motivation to think about it deeply?
they can observe the responses of others to the message at hand
What happens when people are made to feel confused and uncertain?
they are more vulnerable to influence
What is the availability heuristic?
How easily a person can picture a situation or instances of that situation
What are the two methods researchers can use to make an idea more cognitively ready?
Present the idea several times (repetition), and asking an audience to imagine and event or idea to increase readiness and believability
How can ideas be made to seem more valid?
By increasing their cognitive readiness
What is issue involvement?
you are more motivated to be correct concerning those that involve you directly
When will you want to have more accurate beliefs and attitudes?
When the issues become personally relevant
What is the impact of mood?
being in a happy or sad mood can give you information on your immediate situation by evaluating how you feel
What happens when you are in a sad vs happy mood?
You will be more motivated to acquire accurate attitudes and beliefs to the situation at hand out of fear of making errors in the immediate environment
What are done deals?
People are more motivated to be accurate when they are deciding what to do, feel, or believe, after that decision is made the desire to see things as they really are falls second to wanting to get on with the now-made decision
What is unwelcome information?
People see information that contradicts what they prefer as less valid than information that supports these beliefs
What happens when people receive persuasive information that fits with their personal interests, preferences, and positions?
They feel connected and don’t expend the cognitive effort needed to look for flaws
What happens when people don’t receive persuasive information that fits with their personal interests, preferences, and positions?
They become upset and search for weaknesses they can use to form counter arguments
What is the tendency to reject unwelcome information tempered by?
The accuracy motive, especially when personal aspects of the self are at stake
When does a serious problem arise when people are searching for information to fit their view?
When people place no reasonable limits on their desire to view the world according to their beliefs
What are chronic unrealistic optimists?
Individuals that refuse to believe they are vulnerable to bad events in general who fail to take precautions against them
What causes people to block out the message?
When the danger described is severe but the participants are told of no way to reduce the danger
How can you stop people from blocking it out?
By following the high-fear messages with specific recommendations that could diminish the danger
What are two interaction effects that can affect the desire for accuracy?
Expertise (how knowledgeable someone is), and complexity (more complex the more likely you are to believe it)
What is the consistency principle?
People are motivated toward cognitive consistency and will change their attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and actions to achieve it
What are the two major consistency theories?
Balance and cognitive dissonance
What is the balance theory?
We prefer to have harmony and consistency in our views of the world
What happens when we are in a state of balance?
We are content and see no reason to change
What do we do to stay in a state of balance?
Change our views
What is cognitive dissonance?
Unpleasant state of psychological arousal resulting from an inconsistency with one’s important attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors
What is the dissonance theory?
Changing a behavior first can spur an individual to change related attitudes and beliefs in an attempt to keep them consistent with the action
What is counter attitudinal action?
Behavior that is inconsistent with an existing attitude–will produce change only when there is insufficient justification
What happens when potent external forces take away choice in counter-attitudinal behavior?
Dissonance rarely results
What is post decisional dissonance?
Conflict between knowledge that you have made a decision and the possibility that decision is wrong
What is dissonance experienced as?
Unpleasant arousal
What is dissonance reduced through?
Change designed to remove unpleasant arousal
What does dissonance begin with?
Action or decisions that conflicts with importance aspect of the self
When does more dissonance arise?
When action or decision is freely chosen, can’t be justified, can’t be withdrawn, produces consequences
What is the arousal influence?
Inconsistency produces unpleasant arousal and people will frequently change attitudes to be rid of the feeling
What are consequences?
Negative outcomes of an act can increase amount of positive attitude change it creates
How do we act if our behaviors are more consequential?
More impact behavior has on the world more motivated we are to change our attitudes and beliefs to fit that behavior
What is the socratic method?
Shifting a person’s position on the topic by posing questions that reveal hidden contradictions between it and the person’s position on related topics
What is the socratic method revealing?
People react to the revelation of inconsistencies by moving toward consistency
What is an effective way to make people perform socially beneficial acts?
Make salient the discrepancy between personal values and personal behavior
What does the desire for consistency often result in?
Different types of behavior in different cultures
What can the desire for consistency do to memory?
Change the features of recalled events to make them conform to newly installed belief
What message would be more effective in a collectivistic society?
Promising group rather than personal enhancement
What is impression motivation?
Goal to make good impressions on others
What does impression motivation conflict with?
Accuracy and consistency
What happens with high self-monitors?
Constantly monitor and modify their public self, motivated by social approval
What happens with low-self monitors?
Rely on own standards in deciding response to a situation, motivated by consistency goal
What do women tend to feel in regard to persuasion?
More readily influenced, more sensitively attended to relationships and interpersonal issues (not for reasons of image)
How do opinion shifts change impressions?
Can become lasting when process of shifting causes people to think about something in a different way than before
When does social approval become more relevant?
When people expect to discuss their views with others
What is social approval relevant to?
Persuasion situation
What are the factors that influence the likelihood that person will be consistent with their behavior?
Knowledge, personal relevance, attitude accessibility, and behavioral intentions
What do attitudes spring from?
Classical and operant conditioning, observation, heredity
What can attitude change occur through?
Deep or superficial processing of the message
What are three sources of shortcut evidence?
Credible communicators, responses of others to the message, and ready ideas
What do Heiders balance theory and Festingers cognitive dissonance theory both propose?
Inconsistency produces an uncomfortable tension that pushes people to reduce the inconsistency
What do people do when they have to discuss a position and they don’t know the partner?
They move to the center of the position
What do people do when they have to discuss a position and they do know the partner?
Move towards their partners position
