Exam 3: Conformity

McAlister's field experiment was successful in helping seventh-graders resist peer pressure to smoke cigarettes. His strategy involved teaching students:

In general, how successful are obvious attempts to persuade? Under what special conditions are direct efforts to persuade more likely to succeed? Discuss one piece of research that supports the notion that direct efforts to persuade are effective, and one that indicates that such efforts are relatively ineffective.

Energy auditors were more successful in persuading homeowners to make improvements that would increase the energy-efficiency of their homes when:

In a study by Leventhal, some students were exposed to a high-fear message regarding the importance of taking tetanus shots. Later, half of them were given specific instructions about where and when the shots were available, while the other half was not. Compared to the group that received instructions, students who did not receive them:

Students were presented with a description of a dispute between business interests and environmentalists (Eagly, et al.) over a company polluting a river. When they read a statement given by someone with a business background in support of the environmentalists, the students thought the speaker was more sincere:

One way of decreasing the persuasibility of members of an audience is:

In a study by Hovland and Weiss, subjects heard arguments regarding the feasibility of atomic submarines. Subjects were more persuaded by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, rather than the Soviet newspaper Pravda, because:

In the aftermath of the September 11 attack, the U.S. government issued several warnings of imminent terrorist attacks. Which statement is true of those warnings?

Fear appeals seem to function best when:

Research in attitude change suggests that in order to be a credible source, a communicator should be both:

Suppose you are going to organize a program for high school students advocating stricter enforcement of the drug laws. All other things being equal, your most persuasive speaker would be a:

Phillips's research on the impact of media coverage of car-crash suicides revealed that following a publicized suicide:

The news media's sensationalizing of events such as suicides and the Tylenol poisonings sometimes incites copycat suicides and copycat poisonings. This phenomenon is known as:

Matthew McGlone presented college students with unfamiliar aphorisms that rhyme (woes unite foes) and the same ideas presented in a nonrhyming fashion (woes unite enemies). He found that the students were:

Suppose you watch a TV ad for a deodorant that tells you almost nothing about the product, but presents it being used by beautiful, popular, successful people. The persuasion appeal is:

Compared to logical or rational appeals, how effective are persuasive communications that arouse a high level of fear? Under what conditions are fear-arousing messages most effective in influencing behavior? Under what conditions might they be less effective? Be sure to support your answer with examples of relevant research.

In Asch's experiment, what percentage of subjects exercised complete independence-that is, what percentage never agreed with the erroneous judgments of the majority?

Martha's mother tells her that she is absolutely never to dye her hair a "funny color." Martha proceeds to dye her hair purple. Martha's behavior is best thought of as an example of:

According to research cited in your textbook, familiarity has a powerful effect on us. Which of the following is not an example of this effect?

In Asch's study he manipulated the size of the majority against the participant. The size of the majority is considered the: