Persuasion

Question 1

attitudes are important because they:

Answer 1

influence our thought and may influence behaviour

Question 2

Classical conditioning forming attitudes

Answer 2

subliminal conditioning - without awareness

instrumental conditioning - learning based on rewards

observational conditioning - learning by observing

social comparison - compare ourselves to other to determine if our view of reality is correct

Question 3

attitude structure

Answer 3

affect, cognition, behaviour three sides of a triangle

Question 4

correlations between attitudes and behaviours

Answer 4

attitudes do not always predict behaviour

• La Piere (1934) virtually all businesses severed chinese couple courteously despite holding negative attitudes
• 100% did serve, 9% said they “would” serve

sun-worshippers know the dangers of exposure to the sun, but attitude for looking good takes precedence over health

Question 5

Attitude change (persuasion)

Answer 5

effort to change attitude through message

• to persuade, there is an early focus on: the source, messages channels, audience

research suggests there are two routes through which information is processed

• elaboration-likelihood model
• heuristic-systematic model

Question 6

elaboration-likelihood model

Answer 6

peripheral route

• message unimportant –> heuristic processing –> nonverbal cues is important

central route

• message unimportant –> systematic processing –> argument strength is important

tend to use systematic processing when:

• strongly motivated
• have high ability to do so

tend to use heuristic processing when:

• unmotivated
• low ability to systematically process

Question 7

Source characteristics that influence persuasion

Answer 7

attractiveness: promotes attitude change through peripheral route

• when message isn’t important
• lack knowledge in domain

credibility

• low personal relevance
• peripheral route

certainty: in confidence

• confident sources viewed as more credible, which is persuasive

sleeper effect: persuasion from unreliable source

• little influence, but later causes attitude change

Question 9

message characteristics that influence persuasion

Answer 9

quality: high quality is more persuasive

• appeals to audiences core values, clear and logical)
• explicit takeaways

vividness: interesting, memorable messages are more effective

• may be vivid but misleading, can trump valid information

fear

• when paired with instructions on how to respond to the situation

culture

• individual oriented message is more effective in Western countries etc
• westerners promotion orientation, whereas east asian prevention orientation

Question 10

identifiable victim effect:

Answer 10

tendency to be persuaded by vivid plight of a single person rather than plight happening to a greater amount of people

Question 11

one or two-sided arguments

Answer 11

acknowledging opposing arguments might confuse or weaken the case

• acknowledging opposing arguments might seem fairer

two sided arguments

• more persuasive if people are exposed to the counter argument

Question 12

predictor of attitude

Answer 12

repetition

• mere exposure: repeated exposure is enough to enhance attitudes (Zajonc 1968)

Question 13

Is mere exposure due to cognitive or affective mechanisms? Harmon Jones

Answer 13

more likening to familiarised than unfamiliarised photos of women

• more systematic muscle region activity

Question 14

persuaded audience characteristics

Answer 14

need for cognition, degree of deep thinking

• high need for cognitive for high quality arguments
• low need for cognition for easy to process peripheral cues
• example item, “i am an intellectual” 1 to 5 scale

Question 15

persuasion with age

Answer 15

younger more likely to be persuaded

Question 16

embodiment

Answer 16

nonverbal sources can influence thought/feelings we have in response to persuasive messages

• participants listening to radio editorials while nodding heads up and down expressed more agreement compared to participants who were shaking head side-to-side

Question 17

resisting persuasion

Answer 17

attention biases

selective attention: tends to information that confirms attitudes, tune at contradicting attitudes

• if you have strong beliefs, more likely to see flaws in alternative behaviours

thought polarising hypothesis: more extended thought about a particular issue tends to produce a more extreme attitude

prior knowledge - more engagement with centre route processes

Question 18

attitude innoculation

Answer 18

small attacks on one’s attitudes can cause self to counteract a subsequent larger attack and thus resist persuasion

• present pro-smoking arguments that then encourage smokers to stop smoking