Deck 13: Persuasion and Social Influence

Question 1

____________ occurs when we encounter new information, requiring some judgment or evaluation.

A) Persuasion
B) Response changing
C) Response reinforcing
D) Response shaping
E) Response realigning

Answer 1

D

Question 2

____________ are people's deeply held judgments about worth or importance of various aspects of their lives.

A) Attitudes
B) Values
C) Beliefs
D) Motives
E) Faiths

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Psychologist Abraham Maslow argued that human beings are motivated to pursue a hierarchy of needs-that is, there are a number of fundamental human needs that people pursue to ensure their survival and happiness. Among them was self-actualization, the need to ___________.

A) see yourself as others see you
B) always present the same "face" across a variety of settings
C) know yourself
D) achieve your individual potential
E) have good self-esteem

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In an attempt to use _________ to convince people to stop smoking, government officials have proposed removing all brand identification from packs of cigarettes, replacing it with graphic images of damaged lungs and cancerous mouths.

A) response reinforcing
B) dissonance
C) balance
D) feedback
E) fear appeal

Question 5

According to the Elaboration Likelihood model, the ______ route of information processing brings as much scrutiny and analysis to the message as possible.

A) alternative
B) central
C) peripheral
D) backway
E) unofficial

Question 6

You want to learn as much as you can about the National Guard before you decide to enlist, and the packet of information you've been sent is quite detailed, but you are just too busy with school to give it your full attention. More than likely your processing of the information you've received will take place along the _________ route.

A) alternative
B) central
C) peripheral
D) backway
E) unofficial

Question 7

Compliance occurs when a person ____________.

A) accepts influence in order to gain a favorable reaction from the persuader but there is no real change in original attitude
B) does not accept influence to intentionally disagree with the persuader
C) wants to make a compromise with the persuader
D) wants to argue with the persuader
E) feels that the chosen option is the best of several options

Question 8

___________is intentionally trying to shape, reinforce, or change the responses of others.

A) Compliance
B) Expertise
C) Persuasion
D) Involvement
E) Influence

Question 9

Whenever we speak, we hope to accomplish some goal; that is, we have intentions. So your hearty "Hello" to your friends in the student union is clearly designed to do more than acknowledge their existence. You want them to think well of you. This is the basic premise behind___________.

A) persuasion
B) speech acts theory
C) balance theory
D) dissonance theory
E) the looking glass self

Question 10

When communication deepens our commitment to already-held attitudes or behaviors, ________ has occurred.

A) response reinforcing
B) selective retention
C) rational argument
D) response changing
E) compliance

Question 11

Your parents had set a curfew of 10:00 p.m. But your demonstration of responsibility highlighted by your improving grades and helping around the house persuaded them to lift the curfew. This is an example of ___________.

A) selective perception
B) response changing
C) response shaping
D) response reinforcing
E) compliance

Question 12

Helpfulness, trust, family, freedom, education, truth, equal rights, security, and childhood are examples of ______________.

A) values
B) belief
C) attitudes
D) behaviors
E) faiths

Question 13

You have faith that your college basketball team is adhering to the strictest collegiate rules for academic eligibility. Because it can be proven or disproven, it is a _______ belief in your team.

A) prescriptive
B) descriptive
C) evaluative
D) attitudinal
E) faith-based

Question 14

"I believe otters sleep holding hands" is _______________.

A) a prescriptive belief
B) an evaluative belief
C) a descriptive belief
D) a heuristic
E) a peripheral

Question 15

Joe is strongly conservative and is likely to watch only Fox News reports that present his side of the issues in a favorable way and he avoids channels such as MSNBC that tilt to the political left. By doing so, Joe avoids uncomfortable feelings associated with contradictory information and is practicing ____________.

A) message sidedness
B) cognitive consistency
C) perceived similarity
D) response reinforcing
E) peripheral route thinking

Question 16

Source credibility is a receiver's perception of a source's ___________________.

A) expertise and trustworthiness
B) values and beliefs
C) attitudes and expertise
D) involvement and compliance
E) attractiveness and speaking skill

Question 17

Tony's Pizzeria runs radio commercials claiming that they make "America's Best Pizza" in an obvious example of _______.

A) the halo effect
B) puffery
C) evaluative beliefs
D) dissonance theory
E) hypercommercialization

Question 18

Selective exposure is sometimes referred to as ____________.

A) selective process
B) selective understanding
C) intentional reasoning
D) selective attention
E) belief protection

Question 19

Expertise involves judgments of authoritativeness while trustworthiness involves judgments of _______________.

A) character and trust
B) trust and attitude
C) trust and behavior
D) character and attitude
E) attractiveness and speaking skill

Question 20

Perceived similarity is a function of a persuasive target's perception of the persuader's ______ similarity.

A) behavioral and membership
B) attitudinal and societal
C) membership and attitudinal
D) social and behavioral
E) physical and moral

Question 21

The three elements that make up a rational argument are the claim, the data, and the ______.

A) position
B) denial
C) warrant
D) preparation
E) heuristic

Question 22

________ occurs when communication moves our attitudes or behaviors from an existing or established position to another.

A) Persuasion
B) Response changing
C) Response shaping
D) Identification
E) Response reinforcing

Question 23

___________ are abstract goals that people consider to be important guiding principles in their lives.

A) Values
B) Beliefs
C) Roles
D) Attitudes
E) Faiths

Question 24

You like Sally; Sally likes to occasionally drink a little too much. You don't like to drink at all. _________ says you will either have to change your feelings about Sally or your attitudes toward drinking.

A) Dissonance theory
B) The Elaboration Likelihood Model
C) Balance theory
D) Social reinforcement theory
E) Social cognitive theory

Question 25

Chevy says buy a Camaro; Ford says buy a Mustang. Both are impressive cars, but the actors in the Mustang commercials are much better looking, so Mustang it is. You have used _________ to make your decision.

A) heuristics
B) logic
C) rational arguments
D) the central processing route
E) rational argument

Question 26

What differentiates descriptive beliefs from both prescriptive and evaluative beliefs is that descriptive beliefs ____________.

A) are usually tied to personally significant attitudes
B) can be proven or disproven
C) are particularly susceptible to dissonance reduction
D) are based primarily on heuristics
E) are usually tied to deeply held religious faith

Question 27

It's wrong that millions of poor American children go to bed hungry every night is _________ belief.

A) a descriptive
B) a prescriptive
C) an evaluative
D) a heuristic
E) an intersubjective

Question 28

It saddens me that millions of poor American children go to bed hungry every night is _________ belief.

A) a descriptive
B) a prescriptive
C) an evaluative
D) a heuristic
E) an intersubjective

Question 29

Attitudes are relatively stable clusters of_______ and they are _________.

A) beliefs/predispositions to respond
B) values/ predispositions to respond
C) behaviors/hard to change
D) beliefs/hard to change
E) faiths/hard to change

Question 30

The basic argument behind balance theory is that people want to be _________ balanced; that is, they want the things and people in their lives to be in harmony.

A) emotionally
B) behaviorally
C) intellectually
D) cognitively
E) culturally

Question 31

The basic argument behind dissonance theory is that information that is inconsistent with a person's already-held attitudes and beliefs will create a psychological ______ that must be relieved.

A) conflict
B) discomfort
C) imbalance
D) inconsistency
E) heuristic

Question 32

Your physician Dr. Volkman says you need to get more exercise. Your Mom says you are just fine; she likes you just the way you are. You're probably going to take Dr. Volkman's advice because ____________.

A) you and your Mom are fighting at the moment
B) she has a higher level of expertise
C) your Mom has a low level of trustworthiness
D) your Mom and the doctor are quite similar
E) Dr. Volkman is more attractive than your Mom

Question 33

Spanish-language magazines invariably use Hispanic- or Latino-looking models in their ads in order to build ____________.

A) source credibility
B) source expertise
C) interpersonal attractiveness
D) affiliation
E) membership similarity

Question 34

Models in almost all advertising tend to be quite physically attractive, as marketers hope to take advantage of _________ to persuade us to buy their products and services.

A) the halo effect
B) source credibility
C) interpersonal attractiveness
D) affiliation
E) membership similarity

Question 35

Sometimes the models and actors in the advertising we see tend to look like everyday people as marketers hope to take advantage of _________ to persuade us to buy their products and services.

A) the halo effect
B) source credibility
C) interpersonal attractiveness
D) affiliation
E) membership similarity

Question 36

Two-sided messages ???????????????________________.

A) tend not to be very effective
B) tend to be quite effective
C) present only the persuader's position
D) bring up and address opposing arguments
E) are perceived as untrue because they offer both sides

Question 37

Involvement, the motivation to process persuasive communication because it is relevant to the receiver of a persuasive message, often takes the form of ___________ because it is the product of the receiver's desire to produce or achieve a desired goal.

A) outcome-relevant involvement
B) central processing
C) a heuristic
D) value-relevant involvement
E) a two-sided argument

Question 38

When people are confronted with a persuasive message, they will rely on the simplest analysis possible because humans are ____________.

A) in general, not very bright
B) usually seeking cognitive balance
C) cognitive misers
D) value-laden
E) front-of-brain thinkers

Question 39

According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, when people are confronted with a persuasive message, they will rely on the simplest analysis possible, but because they __________, the amount and nature of issue-relevant elaboration in which they are willing or able to engage to evaluate a message will vary with individual and situational factors.

A) seek balance
B) want to reduce dissonance
C) work for compliance
D) want to hold correct attitudes
E) want to comply

Question 40

When people engage in issue-relevant thinking, the elaboration likelihood is _________.

A) low
B) medium
C) high
D) unrelated
E) faith-based

Question 41

According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, attitudes that are produced through elaboration will be more deeply held, more enduring, and more likely to _______.

A) succumb to future reasoned arguments
B) represent the recipient's social and cultural values
C) be in line with the recipient's already-held attitudes
D) be remembered
E) predict the recipient's subsequent behavior

Question 42

Compliance, because it is yielding to the argument rather than accepting it on its merits, produces ___________.

A) negative feelings about the self
B) positive evaluations from the persuader
C) no attitude change
D) heuristics
E) weak beliefs

Question 43

Behavioral change resulting from compliance ____________.

A) will be short-lived
B) will be detrimental to interpersonal relationships
C) will be detrimental to a person's sense of self-worth
D) will be in the direction of already-held attitudes
E) will be in opposition to that demanded by the persuader

Question 44

All your sorority sisters are getting tattoos, and you really don't want one, but you do want to fit in. So, wanting to ___________, you succumb to their arguments and get a little one on your ankle.

A) hold the correct attitude
B) identify with them
C) selectively perceive the value of tattoos
D) engage in heuristics
E) be different like everyone else

Question 45

According to ethicist Austin Fagothey, deception is morally wrong because it is an abuse of humans' natural ability of ____________.

A) communication
B) compromise
C) truth-seeking
D) cognitive processing
E) persuasion

Question 46

Efforts at persuasion are sometimes met with ___________, well-reasoned, potentially beneficial challenge to those persuasive appeals.

A) destructive resistance
B) dissembling
C) constructive resistance
D) role reversal
E) projection

Question 47

The TARES Test for ethical persuasion takes its name from the acronym made up by the five principles it lays out. The "R" refers to ____________.

A) the Reasonableness of the argument
B) Respect for the receiver
C) The Rational nature of the persuasive appeal
D) the Reinforcement of the receiver's values and beliefs
E) the Reaction of the receiver

Question 48

___________ work better with better-educated receivers and with those who have attitudes opposing those held by the persuader.

A) Two-sided messages
B) One-sided messages
C) Fear appeals
D) Rational arguments
E) Peripheral routes

Question 49

You've seen several televised public service announcements that use fear appeals, showing graphic images of damaged lungs and cancerous mouths, but they have little effect on you, a non-smoker, because _________.

A) you've always been a horror-film fan and enjoy images of guts and gore
B) you reject their one-sided argument
C) they aren't relevant for you
D) you analyze them on the central processing route
E) you turn away from the graphic images

Question 50

What is Speech Acts theory? What does it have to do with persuasion? Give examples.

Question 51

What are the three types of beliefs? Briefly explain each and offer an example.

Question 52

Three elements are necessary for the construction of a rational argument. What are they and offer an example of your use of each in making an argument for or against a public issue.

Question 53

What is the TARES Test? Explain what each letter of this acronym means.

Question 54

It is important to understand persuasion for two reasons. Identify and explain those reasons and give examples of that importance.

Question 55

The Elaboration Likelihood Model argues that there are two "routes" people can take when processing information, the central and peripheral routes. Describe the type of message processing that occurs along each and which factors come to determine the route someone might take when processing a persuasive attempt. Finally, offer a persuasive situation in which one might use the peripheral route to process and another when the choice is the central route.

Question 56

Balance Theory and Dissonance Theory share some common understandings about humans and how they deal with persuasion. Describe both theories and comment on what they have in common using examples.

Question 57

What are the three ways people can reduce dissonance? Describe and offer an example of each.

Question 58

What are values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors? Explain how they are connected. Take a single issue (the text uses smoking) and show how it relates to your own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

Question 59

What characteristics of the source of a persuasive attempt, the nature of that attempt itself, and of the target of the persuasive effort will influence the likely success of that persuasive effort?