lecture 8 slides

Question 1

ghosts + cognitive dissonance

Answer 1

• 2 conflicting cognitions
• we try to change something to feel better (rebalance)
• i.e vegetarian eats burger, and justifies it and says they need the iron

Question 2

social influence

Answer 2

• when one person (the source) does something to get another person (the target) to engage in a certain behaviour
• can result in attitude change
• can result in compliance
• can result in both attitude change and compliance - case of patty hearst
• can result in neither

Question 3

persuasion

Answer 3

persuasion is defined as “changing the beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours of a target through the use of info or an argument”
-we are persuaded every day

Question 4

communication-persuasion paradigm

Answer 4

• the source (characteristics of source and how they influence how the target construes the message)
• the message (properties of message can influence persuasion)
• the target (characteristics of target influence how they interpret the message)
• the response

Question 5

the source

Answer 5

• the credibility of the source (subjective) (expert, likeable, attractive, trustworthy)
• hierarchy of credibility (scientists, politicians, activists, celebrities)

Question 6

the message

Answer 6

• can be based on fact or emotion
• discrepant message (where message being conveyed is diff from what the target currently believes)
• relationship between the credibility of the source and discrepancy of message

Question 7

the target

Answer 7

-factors that may impact whether the target is persuaded (intelligence, degree of involvement, personality, degree of focus/ distraction)

Question 8

complying with threats and promises

Answer 8

• “do as you are told”
• compliance through threat or promise (reward vs punishment)
• magnitude (the greater the magnitude the more you will comply) and credibility (believe that you will actually follow through)

Question 9

obedience

Answer 9

• recognition of a social system ( we learn to obey authority)
• authority figures (parents, police, …)

Question 10

authority

Answer 10

• authority must be accepted
• “civil order hinges on obedience…”
• milgram’s experiment (65% went to full voltage)

Question 11

milgram’s obedience experiment

Answer 11

-created hierarchy in which one person (experimenter) directs another (subject) to engage in actions that hurt a third person (confederate)
-research subject instructed to shock the ‘learner’ (the confederate) when he gives an incorrect answer, with the ‘voltage’ increasing as the learner makes additional errors
FINDINGS
-65% continued to the end of the shock series (450 volts)
-not a single participant stopped prior to 300 volts
-many participants became distressed, pleaded with experimenter

Question 12

factors that impact obedience

Answer 12

• outward sign of authority
• backing up threat of punishment
• where you are in the chain of command

Question 13

resistance

Answer 13

-not just passive actors (we are active agents in our lives/ social worlds)

Question 14

forms of resistance

Answer 14

inoculation
-exposure to weak discrepant info as well as counter arguments supported by target

forewarning
-warning target prior to act of persuasion

reactance

• boomerang effect
• when persuasion goes too far, target reacts forcefully