Final: Social Judgment Theory

Question 1

Social Learning

Answer 1

Theory that highlights four strategies for influencing behavior; Direct reinforcement,extinction, vicarious reinforcement, vicarious extinction

Question 2

Direct Reinforcement

Answer 2

shapes behavior through direct experience with the desired behavior; behavior is performed and then immediately reinforced; Ex parent praising child for picking up toys

Question 3

Extinction

Answer 3

Shapes behavior by giving no response for an undesired behavior; ex when a sibling is annoying you, you simply stop reacting or acknowledging them and they eventually stop because it becomes boring

Question 4

Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 4

Experiencing it secondhand rather than directly; behavior is still shaped by reinforcement but it is not to you. ex if you see someone receive postivie reinforcement for giving blood, you feel vicarious reinforcement; student receive a smile and positive comment from a teacher for a class comment, you see this and want to contribute as well.

Question 5

Vicarious extinction

Answer 5

shaping behavior by experiencing it secondhand; example is a teen smoker who watches a public service announcement that shows peers who smoke being ignored and their behavior given no supportive response;

Question 6

Attitudinal Anchors

Answer 6

the position on a particular issue that a person finds most acceptable; Latitude of acceptance and latitude of rejection, and latitude of noncommitment

Question 7

Latitude of acceptance

Answer 7

The range of an argument that you find acceptable, even though it may not be your preferred position. THe amount of bending that you can take before disagreeing

Question 8

Latitude of rejection

Answer 8

the range of positions you find unacceptable; these are outside you LOA and beyond your LNC; are too far out to agree with

Question 9

Latitude of Noncommitment

Answer 9

positions you have no opinion towards or feel neutral towards (LNC); are outside your LOA but not as far out as your LOR

Question 10

Assimilation Contrasting Boomerang effect

Answer 10

Assimilation means a person perceives a message closer to his attitudinal anchor than it actually is; Contrasting occurs when a person perceives the message as being in opponsition to his views, more than it really is; boomerang effect is when person moves their anchor away from the intended direction of the message, it becomes counter productive

Question 11

Three ways of responding to a message

Answer 11

Boomerang Effect, Assimilation, and Contrasting

Question 12

Ego-Involvement

Answer 12

a persons commitment to an issue, based on their self-concept and self-esteem. Becomes ego involvement and greater than attitude when the attitude towards an issue defines them; ex is grades cause students to be ego-involved;

Question 13

Ego-involvement effects (2)

Answer 13

believed that it increases more LOR positions and decreases LNC positions. ALso person that is ego involved is more likely to increase contrasting and assimilation effects

Question 14

Message Discrepancy

Answer 14

Key issue in predicting attitude change within social judgement theory; refers to the difference between the position being advocated by a message and the preferrd position of the receiver; as message of discrepancy in creases and descreases so does attitude change

Question 15

Strengths of Social Judgment Theory

Answer 15

1. it provides an explanation of how an attitudinal anchor can change over time/ why some messages backfire (bomerrang)
2. it helps us understand how people process a persuasive message and why two persons holding similar initial attitudes can respond to the same message in such different ways

Question 16

Limitations of Social Judgment Theory

Answer 16

1. Each receiver must be dealt with individually rather than grouping audiences
2. It does not provide a therological prediction for what happens when a message falls into a persons latitude of noncommitment; makes it impossible to predict how a person will react in this state