Social Influence and Attitudes

Question 1

____ ____ occurs when a person changes his or her attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors as the result of social pressure to do so.

Answer 1

Social Influence

Question 2

There are three basic types of social influence — ____________________.

Answer 2

conformity to group norms, compliance with requests, and obedience to authority

Question 3

____ to ____ ____: ____ occurs when, as the result of real or imagined social pressure, a person shifts his or her actions in a way so that they correspond to those of other people. Early research on conformity by Sherif made use of the ____ ____, a perceptual phenomenon in which a stationary point of light appears to move in a darkened room.

Answer 3

Conformity to Social Norms; Conformity; Autokinetic Effect

Question 4

Participants in Sherifs studies were asked to estimate how far the light had moved. When participants made their estimates ____, the estimates varied widely; but when participants were placed in a ____, a “____ ____” occurred: After hearing the estimates of other group members (confederates), a participant’s estimates usually ____ to the ____ ____. Moreover, these group conforming estimates persisted even a ____ ____.

Answer 4

Alone; Group; Convergence Effect; Conformed to the Group Norm; Year Later

Question 5

Sherifs studies are typically thought to be an example of ____ ____ ____, whereby people use information gained from others to interpret ambiguous stimuli of situations.

Answer 5

Informational Social Influence

Question 6

Subsequent research by Asch found that conformity to group norms occurs even when the stimulus is ____ and that conformity is affected by ____ ____. Such conformity is driven by a need to ____ to the group and is called ____ ____ ____. For example, a person is less likely to conform when even just one of the other group members ____ with the ____ ____ or when the person can express their opinion ____.

Answer 6

Unambiguous; Several Factors; Belong; Normative Social Influence; Disagrees; Group Norm; Anonymously

Question 7

____ with ____: ____ refers to changes in behavior that occur in response to explicit or implied requests. Strategies that have been found to be effective for gaining compliance include the ____-in-the-____ and ____-in-the-____ techniques. The ____-in-the-____ ____ is a two-step process that involves first making a small request and, when that request is accepted, making a larger request that is the one that is actually desired. This technique relies on processes of commitment and consistency.

Answer 7

Compliance with Requests; Compliance; Foot-in-the-Door and Door-in-the-Face; Foot-in-the-Door Technique

Question 8

The ____-in-the-____ ____ is the opposite of the foot-in-the-door technique and involves first making a large request and, when that request is rejected, making a smaller request that is the one that is actually desired, This technique relies on ____ ____.

Answer 8

Door-in-the-Face Technique; Reciprocity Norms

Question 9

Best known of the research on ____ to ____ are the experiments conducted by ____ at Yale University. Although Milgram’s research has been criticized on both ethical and methodological grounds, it continues to be viewed as a powerful demonstration of ____ ____. Each of Milgram ‘s participants was told that he would be the “____” while another participant (a confederate) would be the “____” and that the teacher’s responsibility was to get the learner to ____ a ____ of ____. Whenever the learner made a mistake, the experimenter ordered the teacher to give the learner an ____ ____, with each subsequent shock being of ____ ____.

Answer 9

Obedience to Authority; Milgram; Social Influence; Teacher; Learner; Recall a List of Words; Electric Shock; Higher Voltage

Question 10

The purpose Milgram’s experiment was to determine if participants would be willing to ____ an ____ (the experimenter) even when doing so seemed to have ____ ____ for ____ ____.

Answer 10

Obey an Authority; Panful Consequences for Another Person

Question 11

In Milgram’s initial studies, the teacher and experimenter were in the ____ ____, while the learner was placed in ____ ____ where he could be heard but not ____. In this baseline condition, _% of participants gave the most severe level of shock to the learner even though psychologists had predicted only _% of teachers would deliver the maximum shock.

Answer 11

Same Room; Another Room; Seen; 65%; 1%

Question 12

To evaluate the effects of ____ ____, Milgram subsequently ____ the ____ ____. In one series of studies, he increased the ____ of the ____ to the ____ and found that the ____ the ____ was to the ____, the ____ ____ the teacher was to ____ the ____ ____ to ____ the ____.

Answer 12

Situational Factors; Altered the Experimental Conditions; Proximity of the Learner to the Teacher; Closer the Learner; Teacher; Less Likely; Obey the Experimenter’s Oder to Shock the Learner

Question 13

In other experiments, Milgram found that teachers were ____ ____ to deliver ____ ____ when the experimenter gave his orders by ____, when the ____ of the ____ was moved from Yale University to a ____ ____, and when an ____ ____ (a confederate) ____ to ____ the ____ ____. Interestingly, in response to a follow-up questionnaire, _% of participants stated they were ____ they had taken part in the study.

Answer 13

Less Willing; Maximum Shock; Telephone; Location of the Experiment; Downtown Warehouse; Assistant Teacher; Refused to Obey the Experimenter’s Orders; 84%; Glad

Question 14

____ of ____: According to Kelman social influence can have one of three effects on behavior and attitudes: ____, ____, ____.

Answer 14

Typer of Responses; Compliance; Identification; Internalization

Question 15

____ occurs when the person changes her behavior to obtain a reward or avoid punishment. Compliance is ____ and does not involve a ____ change in opinions or attitudes.

Answer 15

Compliance; Public; Private

Question 16

____ occurs when the person changes her behavior because she wants to be liked by or identified with another person. In this case, behavior change reflects a ____ change in opinion or attitude, but the change is maintained only as long as the person continues to ____ or ____ the ____ ____.

Answer 16

Identification; Private; Like or Admire the Influencing Agent

Question 17

____ occurs when the individual changes her behavior because she actually (privately) accepts the beliefs or attitudes of another person.

Answer 17

Internalization

Question 18

____ ____ was investigated by Moscovici, who argues that, to influence other members of a group, the member or members holding the ____ position must adopt different strategies than those who agree with the majority opinion. According to Moscovici, the minority usually ____ ____ ____ “deviant, incompetent, unreasonable, unappealing, and unattractive” and must maintain a ____ ____ and remain clear, firm, and confident without appearing ____ or ____.

Answer 18

Minority Influence; Minority; Starts Out Appearing; Consistent Position; Rigid or Dogmatic

Question 19

The research on minority influence has shown that people often comply with the ____ for ____ ____ (e.g., to be liked or to avoid punishment) but comply with a ____ for ____ ____ (e.g., because the minority has caused them to re-evaluate their beliefs). Consequently, the result of ____ ____ is likely to be a real change in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors rather than mere ____, which often occurs when change is due to ____ ____.

Answer 19

Majority for Normative Reasons; Minority for Informational Reasons; Minority Influence; Compliance; Majority Influence

Question 20

Brehm’s theory of ____ ____ predicts that, when an attempt at social influence causes a person to feel a loss of personal freedom, the person may respond by acting in a way that is the opposite of what is desired. An example of psychological reactance is provided by Worchel, Arnold, and Baker who found that members of the potential audience of a censured message reacted to censorship by exhibiting a greater desire to ____ the ____ and by changing their attitudes in the direction of the position ____ by the ____.

Answer 20

Psychological Reactance; Hear the Message; Advocated by the Message

Question 21

To exert influence over another person, an individual must have some type of ____. French and Raven distinguish between six ____ of ____ ____: ___________________.

Answer 21

Power; Bases of Social Power; Coercive; Reward; Expert; Referent; Legitimate; Informational

Question 22

____: The influencing agent has control over punishments.

Answer 22

Coercive

Question 23

____: The influencing agent has control over valued rewards and resources.

Answer 23

Reward

Question 24

____: The influencing agent is believed to have superior ability, skills, or knowledge.

Answer 24

Expert

Question 25

____: The target person is attracted to, likes, or identifies with the influencing agent.

Answer 25

Referent

Question 26

____: The target person believes the influencing agent has legitimate authority.

Answer 26

Legitimate

Question 27

____: The influencing agent possesses specific information that is needed by the target person.

Answer 27

Informational

Question 28

A person’s ability to influence someone else is often the result of ____ or ____ bases of power, and the more ____ an individual’s sources of power, the greater ability they have to ____ ____. For example, there is evidence that supervisors and mental health consultants are most successful when they combine ____ and ____ power.

Answer 28

Two or More; Varied; Greater; Influence Others; Expert and Referent

Question 29

The bases of social power have also been linked to different effects: ____ and ____ power lead to the most superficial response (____); referent power is more likely to produce ____; and expert, legitimate, and informational power are most likely to produce ____.

Answer 29

Reward and Coercive; Compliance; Identification; Internalization

Question 30

Sherif used the (1) ____ effect to demonstrate that people will conform to the opinions of others in ambiguous situations. There is evidence that conformity to group norms is reduced when a person can express his/her opinion (2) ____ or when at least one other person disagrees with the norm. The (3) ____ technique involves first making a small request and, when that request is accepted, making a larger request, while the (4) ____ technique involves first making a large request and, when that request is rejected, making a smaller request.

Answer 30

(1) autokinetic; (2) anonymously; (3) foot-in-the-door; (4) door-in-the-face

Question 31

Milgram found that people were willing to obey a(n) (5) ____ even when doing so had harmful consequences to another person. However, participants in Milgram’s research were less willing to deliver maximum levels of shock when the learner was in the same room as the teacher, when the study was conducted in a (6) ____, and when an assistant teacher refused to obey the experimenter.

Answer 31

(5) authority; (6) warehouse

Question 32

Moscovici proposed that a group member espousing a (7) ____ opinion is most likely to influence other group members when he/she maintains a consistent position and remains firm and confident in presenting it. A loss of personal control can result in psychological (8) ____, which causes a person to act in a way that is the opposite of what is requested.

Answer 32

(7) minority; (8) reactance

Question 33

According to French and Raven, a leader has (9) ____ power when people are willing to do what she requests because they identify with or are attracted to her and (10) ____ power when people do what is requested because they believe the leader has superior ability or expertise. The different bases of social power have different effects on beliefs and attitudes. For example, expert, legitimate, and informational power are most likely to result in (11) ____.

Answer 33

(9) referent; (10) expert; (11) internalization

Question 34

____ are relatively stable evaluative responses to an entity or situation and consist of three components: (l) an ____ ____ that reflects a person’s liking for the entity or situation, (2) a ____ component that consists of the person’s beliefs about the entity or situation. and (3) a ____ ____ that represents a person’s behavioral tendencies toward the entity or situation. Although these three components are ____, ____ between them are ____.

Answer 34

Attitudes; Effective Component; Cognitive; Behavioral Component; Interrelated; Inconsistencies; Common

Question 35

The popular belief that there is a strong relationship between attitudes and behavior has not been well ____ by the research. In an early study, LaPiere found a ____ ____ between ____ and ____ when he asked proprietors of restaurants and hotels if they would accept a Chinese patron into their establishments: While 92% of proprietors said they ____ ____, only ____ actually refused a Chinese couple.

Answer 35

Supported; Large Discrepancy; Attitudes and Behavior; Would Not; One

Question 36

Subsequent research has generally confirmed a ____ link between ____ ____ and ____ but has also shown that ____ are ____ ____ of ____ when certain conditions are met. For example, attitudes are fairly good predictors of behavior when the measures of attitudes and behavior are ____ rather than ____ and when ____ attitudes and behaviors are assessed.

Answer 36

Weak; Stated Attitudes and Behaviors; Attitudes are Better Predictors of Behavior; Specific; General; Multiple

Question 37

According to Ajzen’s ____ of ____ ____, attitudes are accurate predictors when the attitude measure assesses all three components of the behavioral intention i.e., the person’s attitude toward ____ in the ____, what the person ____ other people ____ he or she ____ ____, and the person’s perceived ____ ____.

Answer 37

Theory of Planned behavior; Engaging in the Behavior; Believes; Think; Should Do; Behavioral Control

Question 38

Much of the research on attitude change can be traced to Hovland, Janis, and Kelley’s investigations at Yale University in the 1940s and 1950s, which focused on the ____ of the ____, the communication, and the audience.

Answer 38

Characteristics of the Communicator

Question 39

____ of the ____: Not surprisingly, a communicator’s ____ has been identified as a key contributor to attitude change, with high-credible communicators being more ____. The difference between high- and low-credible communicators ____ over time, however, as the attitude change produced by a high-credible communicator decreases and the attitude change produced by a low-credible communicator increases. This “____ ____” apparently occurs because, over time, people tend to ____ the ____ but ____ its ____.

Answer 39

Characteristics of the Communicator; Credibility; Persuasive; Declines; Sleeper Effect; Remember the Message but Forget its Source

Question 40

One factor that contributes to a communicator’s credibility is his/her ____ which depends, in part, on the communicator’s ____. In general, communicators are considered more trustworthy if they are arguing against their own ____ ____ than if they have something to ____ by being ____.

Answer 40

Trustworthiness; Motives; Best Interests; Gain; Persuasive

Question 41

Several ____ of the ____ increase the likelihood that it will induce attitude change.

Answer 41

Characteristics of the Communication

Question 42

____ of ____: In general, change in attitude is greatest when the ____ of ____ between the positions of the communication and the recipient is in the ____ ____. The precise point at which the most attitude change occurs varies for different levels of communicator credibility, however — as the communicator’s credibility ____, a somewhat larger initial discrepancy is associated with the ____ ____ ____.

Answer 42

Level of Discrepancy; Level of Discrepancy; Moderate Range; Increases; Most Attitude Change

Question 43

____ of ____: When both sides of an argument are to be presented, a ____ ____ is likely to occur when the second communication immediately follows the first and the measure of attitude change is taken later. In contrast, a ____ ____ is more likely when there is a period between the two communications and the attitude measure is administered immediately after the second communication.

Answer 43

Order of Presentation; Primacy Effect; Recency Effect

Question 44

____ ____: ____ ____ (messages that are accidentally overheard by the recipient) are more likely than intentional messages to induce attitude change. Apparently, this is because a communicator is perceived as more trustworthy when his or her message is ____.

Answer 44

Accidental Messages; Accidental Messages; Overheard

Question 45

____ ____: ____ ____ is sometimes an effective method for fostering attitude change, especially when the fear-arousing message focuses on negative consequences and includes information about how to ____ the ____ ____. However, fear arousal can sometimes backfire and lead to ____ and ____ if the message is too ____.

Answer 45

Fear Arousal; Fear Arousal; Avoid; Negative Consequences; Denial and Defensiveness; Threatening

Question 46

____ of the ____: ____ ____ are more susceptible than others to persuasion. For instance, people with lower levels of ____, those with either low or high ____-____, and those in their ____ or ____ __ tend to be more ____ ____.

Answer 46

Characteristics of the Audience; Certain Recipients; Intelligence; Self-Esteem; Teens or Early 20’s; Easily Persuaded

Question 47

Frequently cited theories of attitude change include ______________________________.

Answer 47

cognitive dissonance theory, balance theory, the elaboration likelihood model, and social judgment theory

Question 48

____ ____ ____: Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory predicts that, when people experience incompatible cognition and behavior, they experience discomfort (dissonance), which they attempt to relieve using one of several methods. For instance, in some situations, people change their ____ or ____; in others, they may add ____ ____ or ____ the ____ of the ____.

Answer 48

Cognitive Dissonance Theory; Attitudes or Behaviors; Consonant Information or Downplay the Importance of the Inconsistency

Question 49

One of the findings of research on cognitive dissonance theory is that, the more that people ____ for ____, the more ____ they ____ ____. For example, Aronson and Mills found that college women who underwent a ____ ____ for what turned out to be a dull group said they liked the group more than did women who underwent a ____ ____. Apparently, when women held ____ ____ ____ (“I worked very hard to get into this group” and “This group is so dull that the initiation wasn’t worth it”), they ____ one of their cognitions to ____ ____ (“This group is actually very interesting after all”).

Answer 49

Suffer for Something; Positively; Evaluate It; Severe Initiation; Mild Initiation; Two Inconsistent Cognitions; Altered; Reduce Dissonance

Question 50

One of the best known studies on ____ ____ ____ is Festinger and Carlsmith’s investigation of ____-____, which involves requiring people to behave in ways that are counter to their ____ ____. Participants in their study first participated in a dull experiment and were then paid either $1.00 or $20.00 to tell potential participants that the experiment had been interesting and fun.

Answer 50

Cognitive Dissonance Theory; Forced-Compliance; Private Attitudes

Question 51

When the original forced-compliance participants were later asked to evaluate the dull experiment, those who had been paid $20.00 accurately described it as ____, while those who had been paid $1.00 described it as ____. Presumably, this was because, unlike the $20.00 participants, the $1.00 participants had ____ ____ for ____ and, therefore, ____ ____, which they attempted to reduce by ____ their ____ toward the ____ (i.e., by deciding that the experiment was enjoyable).

Answer 51

Boring; Enjoyable; Insufficient Justification for Lying; Experienced Dissonance; Changing their Attitude; Experiment

Question 52

Heider’s ____ ____, like cognitive dissonance theory, uses the principle of cognitive consistency to explain attitude change. It focuses on the relations among three entities — the ____ (P), ____ ____ (O), and a ____ ____, ____, ____, or ____ (X) and proposes that the relations may be ____ or ____, depending on the ____ of ____ and ____ among the ____.

Answer 52

Balance Theory; Person, Another Person, and a Third Person, Idea, Event, or Object; Balanced or Unbalanced; Pattern of Likes and Dislikes; Entities

Question 53

If Paul (P) likes Olive (O) and Paul and Olive both like foreign films (X), the situation is ____. Alternatively, if Paul likes Olive, and Paul and Olive both dislike foreign films, the situation is also ____. In either of these situations, Paul will not experience a state of ____ (____) and, consequently, will not be motivated to ____ his ____ toward Olive or foreign films, In contrast, if Paul (P) likes Olive but hates foreign films and then learns that Olive loves foreign films, Paul will experience a state of ____ and, as a result, will be ____ to ____ his ____ toward Olive or toward foreign films.

Answer 53

Balanced; Balanced; Imbalance (Disequilibrium); Change his Attitude; Imbalance; Motivated to Change his Attitude

Question 54

Petty et al.’s ____ ____ ____ (___) predicts that persuasion can occur in one of two ways: Persuasion can involve the ____ ____, which involves systematic processing of the information and is likely when the listener’s motivation is high because the message is interesting or important, the listener has the ability to process the information contained in the message, and/or the listener is in a neutral or slightly negative mood. The extent of attitude change in this case depends on the ____ of the ____.

Answer 54

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM): Central Routine; Quality of the Argument

Question 55

Alternatively, persuasion can involve the ____ ____, which relies on mental shortcuts (heuristics) and is likely when the listener is unmotivated because the message is uninteresting or unimportant, the listener lacks the ability to process the information, and/or the listener is in a positive mood. In this situation, attitude change depends on the ____ (versus quality) of the ____ and on the ____ of ____ ____ such as the attractiveness and status of the communicator. Although both routes may produce the ____ ____ of attitude change ____, the central route produces change that is more ____ and most ____ to ____ ____ at ____.

Answer 55

Peripheral Route; Quantity; Arguments; Presence of Persuasive Cues; Same Amount; Initially; Enduring; Resistant to Future Attempts at Persuasion

Question 56

Sherif and Hovland’s ____ ____ ____ proposes that we have three “categories of judgment” by which we evaluate persuasive messages - a ____ of ____, a latitude of non-commitment, and a latitude of rejection. According to these investigators, we’re most likely to be persuaded when the message is within our latitude of acceptance, which consists of all positions on the topic that we consider acceptable. The size of the three latitudes is affected by our level of ____-____: The more ego-involved we are with the topic, the ____ the latitude of rejection and the ____ the latitudes of acceptance and non-commitment.

Answer 56

Social Judgment Theory; Latitude of Acceptance; Ego-Involvement; Larger; Smaller

Question 57

Several methods have been found useful for increasing a recipient’s resistance to persuasion. McGuire, for example, borrowed the notion of ____ from the medical model and proposed that we’re better able to resist a persuasive communication when we’ve been “____” against it.

Answer 57

Inoculation; Inoculated

Question 58

In his research on ____ ____, McGuire compared supportive and refutational (inoculation) defenses to a persuasive message. Participants in the supportive group heard arguments ____ with their ____ ____ prior to hearing the ____ ____, while those in the ____ ____ heard arguments that ____ their ____ ____ ____ with ____ ____ against the ____ ____. As predicted, inoculated participants were more likely to ____ ____.

Answer 58

Attitude Inoculation; Consistent; Own Position; Persuasive Message; Refutational Group; Opposed their Own Position Along with Weak Counterarguments; Opposing View; Resist Persuasion

Question 59

Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior proposes that attitudes are good predictors of behavior when the attitude measures assess all three components of the (1) ____. Research on attitude change that a high-credible communicator has more influence than a low-credible communicator but this discrepancy tends to (2)____ over time as the result of the (3) ____ effect, which occurs because people tend to remember a message but forget its source. A communicator has greater credibility when they are trustworthy, and trustworthiness increases when the communicator is arguing against them (4) ____.

Answer 59

(1) behavioral intention; (2) decrease; (3) sleeper; (4) best interests

Question 60

In terms of the communication, the greatest amount of attitude change is associated with a (5) ____ discrepancy between the recipient’s position and the position presented in the communication. When both sides of an argument are presented, a (6) ____ effect is likely to occur when the second communication immediately follows the first and the measure of attitude change is taken at a later time. In addition, a(n) (7) ____ message is usually more persuasive than an intentional message.

Answer 60

(5) moderate; (6) primacy; (7) accidental

Question 61

Aronson and Mills’s research on cognitive dissonance theory found that women who underwent a (8) ____ initiation into a group were more likely to describe the group in favorable terms. Festinger and Carlsmith’s study found that participants who were paid (9) ____ to describe a boring study as enjoyable to potential participants subsequently said the study was actually enjoyable. Balance theory uses the principle of (10) ____ to explain attitude change and focuses on the relations among three entities — the person, another person, and a third person, idea, event, or object.

Answer 61

(8) severe; (9) $1.00; (10) cognitive constancy

Question 62

According to the elaboration likelihood model, persuasion can occur in one of two ways: It can involve the (11) ____ route, which occurs when the listener finds the message interesting or personally relevant, or the (12) ____ route, which is likely when the listener considers the message to be uninteresting or uninvolving.

Answer 62

(11) central; (12) peripheral

Question 63

Social judgment theory predicts that we have three categories of judgment — a latitude of acceptance, a latitude of non-commitment, and a latitude of (13) ____. According to McGuire, a recipient of a persuasive message is less likely to be persuaded when he/she has been (14) ____ against it. which involves providing the recipient with arguments against his/her position and with weak (15) ____.

Answer 63

(13) rejection; (14) inoculated; (15) counterarguments