Midterm #2

Question 1

Persuasion?

Answer 1

The process of deliberately tying to change someone’s attitudes or behaviour

Question 2

what determines how successful persuasion is?

Answer 2

Message
who delivers the message
the audience

Question 3

what accompanies credibility/being perceived as an expert?

Answer 3

• trustworthy/sincere (messages more effective when it seems like messenger has nothing to gain)
• when it seems like message isn’t designed to sway (overheard communicator trick)
• Likeable
• Attractive
• Similar

Question 4

take home about fear

Answer 4

high fear condition was least effective
low fear condition was most effective
too much fear + helpless = overwhelm, ppl tun out
if using fear, offer an action-based solution

Question 5

Characteristics that make audience more easily persuadable?

Answer 5

good mood
young in age (impressionable years hypothesis?)
low self-esteem (maybe ppl high just don’t admit they were persuaded tho?)

Question 6

Reactance?

Answer 6

unpleasant emotional response experienced when someone tries to restrict our personal freedom

Question 7

What can decrease effectiveness of persuasion tactics?

Answer 7

Forewarning (we review our position, collect our thoughts, develop a defence)

Question 8

Petty and Capacio Elaboratio Likelihood model

Answer 8

depending on their motivation, ppl perceive persuasive messages in one of two routes:
Central/systematic
Peripheral/heuristic

Question 9

What determines which ELM route is taken?

Answer 9

a. people’s motivation to think about/pay attention to message (relevance)
b. people’s ability to understand contents of message

Question 10

what is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 10

state of psychological discomfort when we are aware of the inconstancies between our behaviour and attitudes

Question 11

what are some ways to deal with cog diss?

Answer 11

change behaviour
change beliefs
dismiss evidence
hang out with like-minded ppl
focus on other beliefs that are exceptions
convince yourself some element of what you’re doing makes it not the same
lesser of two evils argument

Question 12

what is the less leads to more effect?

Answer 12

offering ppl small rewards for engaging in a counter-attitudinal behaviour produces more dissonance, so more attitude change than offering a larger reward

Question 13

factors affecting dissonance

Answer 13

can ppl justify their behaviour?
are they in control of their behaviour/choosing?
how invested are ppl in their attitudes?

Question 14

Reasons proximity leads to liking

Answer 14

mere exposure effect
familiarity
we expect to see them in the future, and know that things are better when we get along (both in the moment and for the future)
easier to obtain social rewards from ppl who are closer to us

Question 15

Why is similarity related?

Answer 15

Having ppl who agree with us is rewarding

Question 16

Target centred determinants

Answer 16

Similarity, reciprocity, physical attractiveness,

Question 17

Reasons we like attractive ppl?

Answer 17

aesthetic appeal?
halo effect?
social profit effects?

Question 18

Radiation vs contrast effect

Answer 18

radiation: ppl tend to be rated as more attractive when they are seen with attractive ppl (for same sex pairs and for the less attractive men of opposite sex pairs)
contrast effect: a person of average attractiveness is rated as more attractive if others have just seen a less attractive and vice versa

Question 19

what is passionate love?

Answer 19

a state of intense longing for union with another person
3 conditions
1. know what passionate love is
2. physiological arousal
3. someone to project this onto that we can believe is responsible for causing our physiological arousal

Question 20

three types of social influence

Answer 20

a. compliance
b. obedience
c. conformity

Question 21

what is compliance?

Answer 21

changes in behaviour that are brought on by a direct request (flattery, guilting, manipulation techniques, enhance similarity, promises, threats, negotiating)

Question 22

what is compliance?

Answer 22

changes in behaviour that are brought on by a direct request (flattery, guilting, manipulation techniques, enhance similarity, promises, threats, negotiating)

Question 23

What are principles that influence compliance?

Answer 23

reciprocity, scarcity, commitment, consistency

Question 24

what is obedience?

Answer 24

changes in behaviour as the result of demands of an authority figure

Question 25

factors influencing obedience

Answer 25

physical appearance of authority figure
use of gradual increments
pace of experiment
shift of responsibility off of participant
nearness of the learner 
volunteering + being paid (obligation)
setting
being high in authoritarianism (respect for AF)

Question 26

How to avoid blind obedience?

Answer 26

emphasize responsibility, have someone else disobey first, teach ppl about findings about obedience, give them ammo to question authority figure’s cause

Question 27

conformity

Answer 27

tendency to change our attitudes, beliefs, behaviours to be more consistent with those around us

Question 28

social norms: unspoken but shared rules about common, everyday behaviours

Answer 28

descriptive: tells us what other ppl do, how they typically behave (clothes)
injunctive norms: describes what we ought to do

Question 29

Factors that influence conformity

Answer 29

group size (inc from 2-3/4)
unanimity
attractiveness of group
age (adolescences)
gender
culture
status in group 
writing down answers

Question 30

motive for conformity can be:

Answer 30

1. bc of normative social influence

2. because of private acceptance

Question 31

types of influence:

Answer 31

a. normative social influence: going along to be well-perceived/liked
b. informational influence: going along to be right (more likely in uncertain situations)

Question 32

routes to successful minority influence

Answer 32

consistency
being on the same page (no wavering!)
exploit informational influence, probably can’t exert normative

Question 33

unintentional types of social influence

Answer 33

emotional contagion, symbolic social influence, modeling