Lecture 5 - Attitudes and Persuasion

Question 1

What is the definition of an attitude?

Answer 1

A cognitive representation that summarises an individual’s evaluation of a particular person, group, action or idea.

Question 2

What is the definition of persuasion?

Answer 2

The process of forming, strengthening or changing attitudes via communication.

Question 3

What are 3 components of attitude structure and what do they each entail?

Answer 3

• Cognition: facts and beliefs
• Affective: emotions and feelings
• Behavioural: past, present and future behavioural interactions

Question 4

What are the principles of attitude structure?

Answer 4

• Consistency (more agreement between the cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects of attitudes will lead to stronger and more predictable attitudes.)
• Negativity bias, because negative aspects have a greater weight than do positive aspects.
• Accessibility –> something which comes to mind quicker tends to be stronger.

Question 5

Do stronger or weaker attitudes link more to our behaviour?

Answer 5

Stronger

Question 6

What does ELM stand for?

Answer 6

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Question 7

What does the ELM propose?

Answer 7

The Elaboration Likelihood Model proposes that there are two routes to persuasion, and the one that is selected will depend on the amount of elaboration (thought) about the message.

Question 8

Who proposed the ELM?

Answer 8

Petty & Cacioppo, (1981) proposed the Elaboration Likelihood Model.

Question 9

What is the definition of elaboration?

Answer 9

The process of thinking about and scrutinising persuasive arguments, and generating reactions.

Question 10

High elaboration leads to which route of persuasion?

Answer 10

Central route to persuasion.

Question 11

What is the central route to persuasion?

Answer 11

The process by which a person thinks carefully about a persuasive message and is persuaded by the strength of it’s arguments and logic.

Question 12

Low elaboration leads to which route of persuasion?

Answer 12

Peripheral route to persuasion

Question 13

What is the peripheral route to persuasion?

Answer 13

The process by which a person doesn’t think carefully about a persuasive message, and is instead persuaded by peripheral factors.

Question 14

What features of an argument might someone pay attention to if they are using the peripheral route to persuasion?

Answer 14

• Expertise of persuader
• Attractiveness
• Number of arguments (message length = message strength).

Question 15

What are two cognitive factors that influence the route to persuasion taken/which influence elaboration?

Answer 15

• Capacity: to think carefully - does the situation/individual differences allow it?
• Motivation: how much incentive do you have to think carefully.

Question 16

What are two individual difference factors that influence the route to persuasion/amount of elaboration?

Answer 16

• Need for cognition: how much each person is stimulated by thinking
• Mood and emotion: positive moods signal safety, leading to more superficial processing. Negative moods may signal danger/that behaviour needs changing, leading to more systematic processing.

Question 17

Why can too much fear decrease persuasive power?

Answer 17

Too much fear can cause distress/discomfort, leading to a withdrawal/removal from the source of the fear to alleviate the unpleasant feelings.

Question 18

What is systematic processing equivalent to?

Answer 18

Central route

Question 19

What is superficial processing equivalent to?

Answer 19

Peripheral route

Question 20

Compare the routes to persuasion in terms of their effect on attitude change.

Answer 20

Central route/systematic processing leads to changes that are more long lasting and more resistant to counter-persuasion.

Question 21

What do we initially do when resisting persuasion?

Answer 21

Accept arguments that support our position, and counter-argue those that oppose.

Question 22

What is forewarning in terms of resisting persuasion?

Answer 22

Being informed that someone is going to try and persuade you.

Doesn’t work in actually resisting persuasion, however, as we over-estimate our ability to dismiss it

Question 23

What is forearming in terms of resisting persuasion?

Answer 23

Being informed of how someone is going to try and persuade you.

Isn’t very effective in resisting persuasion.

Question 24

How effective was the ‘just say no’ campaign against drugs?

Answer 24

Not at all. Doesn’t provide people with the relevant research/appropriate reasons for counter-arguments.

Question 25

Does inoculation against persuasion work, and why? Describe the research which supports this answer.

Answer 25

Yes. All 3; forewarning, forearming and counterarguments, are needed to resist persuasion effectively.

Children were informed that they were going to be persuaded t start smoking, how they were going to be persuaded, and were encouraged to generate their own counter-arguments. Groups that did this had lower incidences of smoking.

Question 26

What is subliminal persuasion?

Answer 26

Attempts to persuade using implicit primes/cues.

Question 27

What percentage of North Americans believe that subliminal persuading works well?

Answer 27

61%

Question 28

How effective is subliminal persuading?

Answer 28

Quite, but only under very strict conditions, i.e. when physiological drives are matched with the relevant psychological motives.

Question 29

Describe research which evaluates the effectiveness of subliminal persuasion.

Answer 29

Strahan et al., (2002) found that implicit exposure to thirst-related words increased the amount of water participants consumed, but only when physiologically thirsty (hadn’t consumed water for 2 hours).