Attitudes (6) key terms Flashcards
Attitude
A positive, negative or neutral reaction humans have to things or people
Attitude scale
A way to determine people’s attitudes by the means of a multiple item questionnaire, the most common is the Likert scale
Bogus pipeline
A fake lie detector used to determine people’s real attitudes, by forcing them to speak the truth on a questionnaire
Central route to persuasion
This route is taken when people actively listen and interpret the message and evalueate its arguments. People are only persuaded when the arguments are strong and make sense
Cognitive dissonance theory
States that when people’s behavior is not in line with their attitudes, they expereince physiological tension, which they then want to reduce (Leon Festinger)
Elaboration
Process whereby people evaluate arguments in a persuasive message (Anthony Greenwald)
Facial Electromyograph
A device that records movements of certain facial muscles and their association with attitudes
Implicit association test
Designed to doscover people’s implicit attitudes by measuring the speen with which they react to word combinations
Implicit attitude
An attitude people are not aware of holding
Inoculation hypothesis
When you’re exposed to a weak version of a persuasive argument, you are later able to better resist to the whole argument
Insufficient deterrence
When people show attitude discrepant behavior, they are more likely to change their attitude when faced with a mild punishment compared to a severe one
Insufficient justification
When people show attitude discrepant behavior, they are more likely to change their attitude when they got little reward compared to a big reward
Need for cognition
When people like to engage in effortful cognitive activities. You can either be high or low in this need
Peripheral route to persuasion
When a person does not think about the content of the message, but is instead persuaded by cues in their periphery, like lights and sound
Psychological reactance
When people suspect their freedom is in jeopardy, they will try everything to maintain it (resisting persuasion) and when it’s taken from them, try to restore it (Jack Brehm)
