Exam 3: Mass Communication, Propaganda, and Persuasion

In a study discussed in the text, students were paid either $20 or $1 for telling collaborative subjects that a dull task was actually interesting. Which group showed greater attitude change in actually rating the task as interesting?

Why is it, according to dissonance theory, that we evaluate favorably those goals we've had to suffer for?

Suppose you conduct an experiment in which a child is placed in a room with a highly attractive toy. Generalizing from Freedman's research, you could diminish the child's attraction to the toy by:

How did Aronson and Mettee manipulate self-esteem in their article on self-esteem and dishonest behavior?

Darrin Lehman and Shelley Taylor studied college students who lived in Los Angeles, the site of an impending earthquake. In their interviews with students, they found that:

Research on self-esteem and narcissism has shown that people with high self-esteem but low narcissism ________, while people with high self-esteem coupled with high narcissism ________.

In a study by Mettee and Aronson, subjects whose self-esteem had been temporarily lowered were more likely to cheat at a card game than subjects whose self-esteem was temporarily increased. According to Aronson, the results of this study suggest that:

The main idea behind cognitive consistency theories, such as dissonance theory, is that incompatible attitudes:

A local store advertises a great sale on a certain computer. When you get to the store, the salesperson informs you that they are all out of that particular model but that they have another model that is "even better" than the sale model for "only" $500 more. This sales technique is known as:

All other things being equal, cognitive dissonance following a decision is greatest when:

Suppose you wanted to convince someone who is opposed to marijuana that it should be legalized. According to cognitive dissonance theory, what would be the best way to change that person's attitude?

Lucas believes that because women take longer to learn mechanical skills at his factory, they have less mechanical aptitude, and therefore he is justified in not hiring any women. Lucas's belief system is best thought of as an example of:

Lord, Ross, and Lepper showed articles favoring and opposing capital punishment to groups of students who either opposed or were in favor of it. The results of this study showed that reading articles on both sides of the controversial issue:

Carole has two boyfriends, Tim and Craig, whom she likes very much. Both of them really like her, too. She has decided, however, that dating both of them is making her life too complicated. After careful consideration, she decides to stop seeing Tim and to continue dating Craig. According to dissonance theory, which of the following is most likely to happen as a result of her decision?

In 1997, a few members of Heaven's Gate, a religious cult, bought a telescope to view a comet. They returned the telescope a few days later and said that it was faulty because there was no spaceship behind the comet. This action:

Bettors at a racetrack who were asked how confident they were about their chances of winning:

Bill and Mary are concerned because they feel their 13-year-old son spends too much time playing video games. One day, they came across a magazine article describing the positive and negative effects of video games on child development. After reading the article, Bill and Mary decided to show it to their son. According to dissonance theory, what would be the most likely impact of reading the article?

Suppose you are responsible for planning the initiation of new members to a group to which you belong. Generalizing from Aronson and Mills's study on the effects of initiation on liking the group, you would do well to make the initiation process:

Which of the following is NOT an important element in activating dissonance reduction processes?

According to cognitive dissonance theory, a disadvantage of the use of large rewards is that: