Exam 8: Social Influence and Persuasion

In one well-known social psychological experiment, research participants were brought into a dark room where an experimenter projected dots of light. These dots of light appeared to move slightly as they were projected-though exactly how far they moved the participants couldn't say. When asked to estimate the distance that the light traveled, participants tended to look to others in the room, and ask them what they thought (not because they wanted to gain others' approval, but because they assumed that others knew more than they did). It would therefore be MOST accurate to say that participants' final estimates were based on ____.

Informational social influence helps produce private acceptance, while normative social influence may elicit mere public compliance.

An attempt to change a person's mind is called ____.

Suppose that Elvis is opposed to smoking. And suppose that, even though his friends try to persuade him to try cigarettes, he stays true to his beliefs and resists their pressure. Research suggests that, as a result, Elvis is likely to ____.

The ____ technique is a social influence technique in which the influencer interferes with a person's critical thinking by introducing an unexpected element, and then recasts his or her message in a positive light.

The so-called limited-number technique is a persuasive technique based upon the principle of ____________________.

Which of the following social influence techniques is based on capturing and disrupting attention?

When persuasion researchers refer to a persuasive message as having "personal relevance" for someone, what they mean is that ____.

Another term for "negative attitude change" is ____.

Research suggests that there are two main things that make a source credible: ____.

The influence technique known as the labeling technique is most related, conceptually speaking, to the idea of ____.

As described in the text, the elaboration likelihood model is almost identical to another model, known as ____.

Research on the impact of fear-inspiring messages in anti-AIDS films is ____.

The speed at which the source speaks can serve as a(n) ____ cue to persuasion.

Vince is trying to pick up a woman at a bar. Instead of approaching her with a boring "standard line" (e.g., "Can I buy you a drink?"), he tries something new. He asks, "Can I buy you a diamond?" Even though he has no intention of buying the woman a diamond (at least not right away), he hopes that this will capture her attention. Social psychologists would say that Vince is using the ____ social influence technique.

Preceding a request to someone with a smaller request to which they are very likely to agree is a good way to get them to say yes to the second, more important request. This strategy is known as ____.

When people believe that someone is trying to persuade them of something (and thus take away their freedom of choice), they experience a negative emotional response called ____.

The so-called foot-in-the-door technique is MOST related, conceptually speaking, to ____.

When social psychologists talk about a persuasive communicator as being "trustworthy," they are referring to ____.

In the prisons at Guantanamo Bay, American soldiers have used, among other tactics, both sleep deprivation and repeated exposure to annoying music, in an effort to "break" prisoners' resistance and convince them to answer questions. The Americans are apparently operating under the assumption that ____ makes people more yielding.