Resistance to Persuasion

Question 1

Psychological Reactance

Answer 1

When a behavior is perceived as something the person has the right to do, if the freedom to engage in the behavior is threatened, interest in engaging that behavior increases.

Question 2

Freedom and Reactance Study

Answer 2

• Ps: rated musical sample recordings and were told to take one of the records as a gift
• Ind. Variable
- Freedom condition: choose whichever record they wanted
- Restricted freedom condition: 3rd rated record was unavailable Ps could only choose from the rest of the recordings
• Dep. Variable: How did ratings of 3rd rated recordings change when Ps were asked to re-rate all the recordings
• Results: The Ps who were told that they couldn’t have it increased their ratings for that record; reactance occurred
o Reactance-resisting explicit attempts to persuade us that seem to threaten our freedom

Question 3

Attitude Inoculation

Answer 3

Biological inoculation

Question 4

Attitude Inoculation Study

Answer 4

• Cultural truisms: beliefs that people accept without questioning
• One group of Ps exposed to weak arguments challenging cultural truisms
• Another group of Ps not exposed to these
• Two days later, all Ps presented with strong arguments challenging truisms
• Results: Ps who had previously been exposed to the weak arguments were less persuaded by the stronger arguments than those who were not exposed to this inoculation
  • Counter-arguments
  • Opposing attitude is already more accessible before the stronger argument

Question 5

Poison Parasite Defense

Answer 5

• Technique that consists of two elements
• Poisons: strong counterarguments
• Parasite: associative links between one’s counter claims and rival position
- E.g. using a familiar ad but counterargument overlaid on a replica of ad