Unit 6: Attitudes

Question 1

Define attitudes.

Answer 1

An attitude is an affective, evaluative reaction (positive, negative, or mixed) toward a person, place, issue, or object.

Question 2

How are attitudes measured with self-report techniques?

Answer 2

Self-report techniques for measuring attitudes involve directly asking people about their attitudes. Single-item self-report measures about the attitude of interest can be used. Alternatively, multiple item measures called attitude scales can be used.

Question 3

What are the limitations of measuring attitudes with self-report techniques?

Answer 3

1. responses can be influenced by wording, question order, context, and other extraneous factors
2. they assume the answers people provide are their true opinions

Question 4

What is the bogus pipeline?

Answer 4

A technique for measuring attitudes. The bogus pipeline is a fake lie-detector device that people are told records their true feelings. People tend to answer questions about attitudes more honestly when a bogus pipeline is used because they do not want to get caught lying.

Question 5

How are attitudes measured with covert techniques?

Answer 5

Covert measures of attitude indirectly capture information about attitudes through indicators that are difficult for individuals to control such as facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language.

Question 6

What are the limitations of measuring attitudes with covert techniques?

Answer 6

1. Individuals monitor their overt behaviour in the same way they monitor their self-reports
2. Behavioural indicators may be difficult to interpret because assumptions have to be made about whether the behaviour reflects a true attitude or if the individual is acting to communicate an attitude they want others to believe they hold
3. Physiological arousal measures cannot distinguish between positive or negative attitudes - only the intensity of the attitude.

Question 7

What are implicit attitudes?

Answer 7

Implicit attitudes are attitudes that people are not aware they have.

Question 8

How are implicit attitudes measured?

Answer 8

Implicit association tests are used to measure implicit attitudes from the speed with which people associate pairs of concepts. Individuals would have to sort words/pictures to the correct side of the screen based on the category they fall in. Then the pairing combinations would be switched and the sorting task would be repeated. Differences in the speed with which words/pictures are categorized for the pairings indicates implicit bias.

Question 9

What types of attitudes are most likely to predict behaviour?

Answer 9

Attitudes are most likely to predict behaviour when they are specific to the behaviour in question.

Question 10

Identify three indicators of the strength of an attitude.

Answer 10

1. when the thing the attitude is about directly affects an individual’s own outcomes and self-interests
2. when the attitude is related to deeply held values
3. when the thing the attitude is about is of concern to close friends, family, and social ingroups

Question 11

How is the strength of an attitude linked to behaviour?

Answer 11

It’s stronger when:
1. People are well informed

2. Information was acquired from direct personal experience
3. Attitudes are attacked and successfully resist change
4. Attitudes that are strong are easily accessible to awareness and can be quickly brought to mind. As a result, they can quickly and spontaneously trigger behaviour.

Question 12

Describe the components of the theory of reasoned action and the components of the theory of planned behaviour.

Answer 12

The theory of planned behaviour proposes that the combination of attitudes toward a specific behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behaviour control influence an individual’s intentions. Intentions do not completely determine behaviour, but they do guide it. When attitudes are specific to a behaviour, there is social pressure to conform, and the behaviour is perceived to be within our ability and control, it is likely that an intention to perform the behaviour will form. However, there are many reasons why people do not or cannot follow through on their intentions and act. The theory of planned behaviour places the association between attitudes and behaviour in a broader context by positing that specific attitudes combine with social factors to produce behaviour.

Question 13

Define persuasion.

Answer 13

Persuasion is the process by which attitudes are changed.

Question 14

Describe the peripheral route to persuasion.

Answer 14

The peripheral route to persuasion is the process by which a person is influenced by superficial cues rather than thinking carefully about a communication.

Question 15

Describe the central route to persuasion.

Answer 15

The central route to persuasion is the process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strength of its arguments.

Question 16

What are the factors that influence whether the peripheral or central route of processing will be used?

Answer 16

Which route of processing will be used depends on whether the recipients of a persuasive message have the ability and motivation to take the central route. When ability or motivation are low, people take the peripheral route.

Question 17

Identify the key attributes of the source of a persuasive message.

Answer 17

1. Credibility

2. Likeability

Question 18

What makes a source credible?

Answer 18

For communicators to be credible they must have competence or expertise and they must be trustworthy. Experts who demonstrate competence are perceived as more credible and are therefore more persuasive communicators. Regarding trustworthiness, people are wary of sources who have something to gain from successful persuasion. Communicators who are perceived as being willing to report what they know truthfully and without compromise are more persuasive.

Question 19

What makes a source likeable?

Answer 19

Similarity and physical attractiveness are two factors that make a communicator likeable.

Question 20

When is the source of a message less important than the content of the message?

Answer 20

The source of a message is less important than the content of the message when the message has personal relevance. In these cases, people pay attention to the source and think critically about the message, arguments, and implications.

Question 21

What is the sleeper effect?

Answer 21

The sleeper effect is a delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a noncredible source. Over time, people forget the connection between a message and its source and because they do not remember that the source lacked credibility, the message has a greater persuasive impact.

Question 22

Describe how the presentation of information in a message, including the timing of presentation, can affect the message’s effectiveness in persuasion.

Answer 22

Whether it is best to present an argument first or second depends on how much time elapses between the two arguments and between the second argument and the final decision. When the two arguments are presented back-to-back and there is a delay before the decision is made, the primary effect occurs and the first argument is more persuasive. When there is a delay between the first and second argument but the decision is made immediately after the second argument, the recency effect occurs and the second argument is more persuasive. When all three (argument 1, argument 2, decision) occur back-to-back without delays, there is no effect of time on the persuasiveness of the messages. Similarly, when there is an equal time delay between argument 1, argument 2, and the decision, there is no effect of time on the persuasiveness of the messages.

Question 23

To what extent are fear appeals effective in persuasion?

Answer 23

Fear appeals are effective in persuasion when they make people feel vulnerable about a threatened outcome and they contain reassuring advice on how to avoid the threatened danger. This is associated with people being more attentive to the message and more likely to follow the recommended advice for how to avoid the threatened danger.

Question 24

To what extent are positive emotions effective in persuasion?

Answer 24

Positive emotions activate the peripheral route to persuasion causing people to make quick decisions without thinking critically about the message content. There are three explanations that have been proposed to explain this finding. First, that positive emotions are cognitively distracting and hinder critical thinking about persuasive arguments made. Second, people let their guard down when they are in a good mood and become lazy about thinking critically. Last, people want to maintain their happiness when they are in a good mood and choose not to think critically about new information because it may result in their mood decreasing.

Question 25

List several characteristics of the audience or recipient to a message that influence persuasiveness.

Answer 25

1. need for cognition 2. self-monitoring 3. forewarning and resistance

Question 26

How does need for cognition in an audience influence the persuasiveness of a message?

Answer 26

Need for cognition is a personality variable that distinguishes people on the basis of how much they enjoy effortful cognitive activities. Communicators can tailor messages to the level of need for cognition of the audience. People who are high in need for cognition are more persuaded by messages that include information-oriented appeals with strong arguments. People who are low in need for cognition are more persuaded by messages that rely on peripheral cues.

Question 27

How does self-monitoring in an audience influence the persuasiveness of a message?

Answer 27

People who are high self-monitors are particularly responsive to message that promise desirable social images because they are more concerned with self-presentation than people who are low self-monitors.

Question 28

How do forewarning and resistance in an audience influence the persuasiveness of a message?

Answer 28

When people are aware that someone is going to try to persuade them to change their attitude, they become more likely to resist. They do this by preemptively coming up with a defense which makes them more resistant to change. Forewarning also sparks motivation to resist the attempt at persuasion. Psychological reluctance refers to the theory that people react against threats to their freedom by asserting themselves and perceiving the threatened freedom as more attractive.

Question 29

Describe how role-playing can influence one’s attitudes.

Answer 29

Role playing can determine attitudes. It can do this because attitude changes that are inspired by our own experiences and behaviour persist more. Role playing can also cause people to confuse what they do or say with how they really feel.

Question 30

Describe the principles of the original cognitive dissonance theory as proposed by Festiner in 1957.

Answer 30

Cognitive dissonance theory assumes that people are strongly motivated by a desire for their beliefs, attitudes and behaviour to be consistent with each other. It also assumes that people are generally logical. Cognitive dissonance theory proposes that holding inconsistent cognitions arouses psychological tension that people become motivated to reduce. The ways people can reduce this dissonance are: change their attitude; change their perception of the behaviour; add consonant cognitions; minimize the importance of the conflict; and, reduce perceived choice.

Question 31

According to the “new look” of cognitive dissonance, what are the steps necessary for arousal to be experienced and for dissonance to be reduced?

Answer 31

1. the attitude-discrepant behavior producing unwanted consequences 2. the individual feeling personal responsibility for the negative consequences of their behaviour (outcomes), which requires freedom of choice and the belief that the consequences were foreseeable at the time of the decision 3. physiological arousal 4. the individual making an attribution that the physiological arousal is caused by their dissonance-producing behaviour

Question 32

What are the alternative views to cognitive dissonance as an explanation for self-persuasion?

Answer 32

1. Self-perception theory 2. Impression-management theory 3. Self-esteem theories

Question 33

How does self-perception theory explain self-persuasion?

Answer 33

Self-perception theory proposes that we infer how we feel by observing ourselves and the circumstances of our own behaviour. People interpret ambiguous feelings by observing their own behaviour in a rational process.

Question 34

How does impression-management theory explain self-persuasion?

Answer 34

Impression-management theory proposes that we are motivated by self-presentation and appearing to be consistent in our attitudes and behaviours by other people rather than being motivated by our attitudes and behaviours actually being consistent.

Question 35

How do self-esteem theories explain self-persuasion?

Answer 35

Self-esteem theories propose that cognitive dissonance threatens the self-concept by making people feel guilty, dishonest or hypocritical. This motivated people to change an attitude or future behaviour to affirm the self.