Deck 6: Attitudes

Question 1

The most direct and straightforward way to assess an attitude is through the use of

A) covert measures.
B) implicit measures.
C) self-report measures.
D) behavioral observation.

Answer 1

self-report measures.

Question 2

One way to increase the accuracy of self-report measures of attitudes is to

A) offer many, rather than fewer, response options.
B) use a single attitude scale, rather than multiple scales.
C) focus on attitudes regarding sensitive and personal issues.
D) convince respondents that any deception can be detected.

Answer 2

convince respondents that any deception can be detected.

Question 3

Cacioppo and Petty (1981)recorded facial muscle activity of college students as they listened to a message with which they agreed or disagreed.The results of this study indicated that listening to a(n)_____ message increases activity in the _____.

A) disagreeable; cheek muscles
B) disagreeable; chin muscles
C) agreeable; cheek muscles
D) agreeable; muscles in the forehead and brow area

Answer 3

agreeable; cheek muscles

Question 4

Public opinion pollsters, in trying to assess attitudes about particular subjects, have become aware that attitude responses seem to be affected by all of the factors below except

A) the context in which the question appears.
B) the wording of the question.
C) the order of the questions.
D) the length of the questionnaire.

Question 5

Which of the following concerning the use of facial electromyography (EMG)to assess attitudes is true?

A) Facial EMG can detect muscular changes not observable to the naked eye.
B) Facial EMG does not provide information about the direction of attitudes.
C) One problem with using facial EMG is that the same pattern of activity could be interpreted as happiness or sadness.
D) Facial EMG is only an accurate measure of attitudes if people know their attitudes are being assessed, so it is susceptible to the same social desirability biases as self-reports.

Question 6

Shaniqua plans to use a self-report measure in which people indicate their agreement or disagreement with a list of statements.She is using

A) a Likert scale.
B) the luncheon technique.
C) a categorical matrix.
D) an agreement index.

Question 7

One potential problem with self-report measures is that

A) they do not provide information concerning the intensity of an attitude.
B) they do not provide information concerning the direction of an attitude.
C) respondents might not respond truthfully.
D) it is not possible to assess the validity of self-report measures.

Question 8

Measuring attitudes by assessing physiological arousal tends to identify the _____ but not the _____ of the attitude.

A) intensity; direction
B) direction; accuracy
C) accuracy; intensity
D) direction; automaticity

Question 9

The covert attitude measure that uses electrodes pasted onto the scalp to record the waves of electrical brain activity is called a(n)

A) facial electromyograph.
B) bogus pipeline.
C) electroencephalograph.
D) implicit association test.

Question 10

In a study about political attitudes and opinions during the 2004 presidential election, researchers used brain imaging to examine what happened in the brain when participants listened to positive or negative statements about the candidate of their choice.They found that most affected were those areas of the brain associated with which of the following?

A) Emotion
B) Cognitive reasoning
C) Speech
D) Mood

Question 11

Which of the following is not used to overcome the limitations of traditional self-report methodology?

A) Bogus pipeline
B) Likert scale
C) Facial electromyograph
D) Covert videotaping

Question 12

The feeling of ambivalence can be described as an attitude that is both _____ and _____.

A) strong; mixed in terms of positive versus negative valence
B) weak; extremely positive
C) inconsistent over time; strong
D) consistent over time; weak

Question 13

Jacqueline, an attitude researcher, is interested in how people feel about alcohol.She would be well-advised to use a

A) Likert scale because it is not as susceptible to social desirability effects.
B) bogus pipeline because it is not as susceptible to social desirability effects.
C) Likert scale because it is more likely to be affected by social desirability.
D) bogus pipeline because it is more likely to be affected by social desirability.

Question 14

Attitudes are best understood as

A) being either entirely positive or entirely negative.
B) being initially positive but increasingly negative as new information arises.
C) varying in strength along both positive and negative dimensions.
D) ranging on a continuum from positive to negative.

Question 15

Jaycie is extremely judgmental.She has strong opinions about politics, social issues, and moral concerns.Jaycie is high in the

A) need for cognition.
B) need for evaluation.
C) evaluative conditioning.
D) cognitive dissonance.

Question 16

Attitudes are useful because they

A) allow us to judge whether something we encounter is good or bad.
B) bias the way we interpret new information.
C) make it more likely that we will change our minds later.
D) allow us to take more time to evaluate others.

Question 17

Sammy and Mark watched a ballgame together.Sammy favored the home team, while Mark was an avid fan of the road team.The star player for Sammy's team made a great play and started to celebrate in a rather demonstrative fashion.Sammy got caught up in the celebration, while Mark was angered because he felt this display was an insult to the players of his team.This demonstrates that

A) two people's evaluations of the same event are more likely to be similar than to be different.
B) we often interpret events and behavior based upon pre-existing attitudes.
C) central route processing leads to stronger opinions than peripheral route processing.
D) we can hold both positive and negative evaluations about the same object.

Question 18

Which of the following would not be considered an attitude?

A) Darnell likes to play chess.
B) Daphne hates liver.
C) Daisy strongly favors universal health insurance.
D) Dalton drives a silver minivan.

Question 19

When used to measure attitudes, physiological measures such as heart rate and perspiration

A) are particularly susceptible to social desirability bias.
B) reveal the intensity of an attitude.
C) reveal whether an attitude is positive or negative.
D) are easier to control than behaviors such as nodding.

Question 20

Wells and Petty (1980)videotaped students as they listened to a speech.The results of this study indicated that

A) students revealed the intensity, but not the direction, of their attitudes through their body language.
B) students' self-reported attitudes did not agree with their observed attitudes.
C) students signaled their attitudes by nodding or shaking their heads.
D) horizontal head movements indicate agreement, whereas vertical head movements indicate disagreement.

Question 21

An attitude that is brought to mind quickly and easily is said to be

A) accessible.
B) strong.
C) weak.
D) dissonant.

Question 22

Gloria has a negative attitude toward smoking, but she continues to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day.According to the theory of planned behavior, one reason that her attitude and behavior are inconsistent could be that

A) her attitude is based on feelings rather than beliefs.
B) she doesn't believe that she can control her smoking behavior.
C) her family and friends also have negative attitudes toward smoking.
D) her attitudes are usually accessible when she reaches for a cigarette.

Question 23

The process by which we form an attitude toward a neutral stimulus because of its association with a positive or negative person, place, or thing is called

A) evaluative conditioning.
B) persuasion.
C) insufficient justification.
D) psychological reactance.

Question 24

A political candidate is often eager to win the endorsement of celebrities who are popular with hordes of people.The candidate hopes that the association of his or her campaign with a popular figure will result in the masses feeling more favorable toward his or her candidacy due to

A) evaluative conditioning.
B) inoculation.
C) the sleeper effect.
D) behavioral intent.

Question 25

An attitude is implicit if you

A) try to hide it.
B) are not aware of it.
C) cannot measure it.
D) disagree with it.

Question 26

Implicit attitudes can be difficult to measure because

A) people are not aware of having them.
B) physiological measures are not effective in assessing them.
C) they can only be measured by direct techniques.
D) they are prone to the effects of social desirability.

Question 27

Research on the attitudes of twins suggests

A) that genetics are not useful in predicting the attitudes different people will hold.
B) the attitudes of identical twins are more similar than the attitudes of fraternal twins.
C) the attitudes of twins who are reared apart from one another are more dissimilar than the attitudes of twins raised together in the same household.
D) that the first-born twin is likely to be more conservative than the second-born twin, even when their births are only separated by minutes.

Question 28

All of the following factors can distinguish strong from weak attitudes except

A) the personal relevance of the issue.
B) the importance of the issue to family and friends.
C) the amount of perceived behavioral control.
D) the extent to which the issue concerns important values.

Question 29

Stephen Kraus's (1995)meta-analysis on the relationship between attitudes and behaviors showed that

A) attitudes are only tenuously linked to behavior.
B) attitudes significantly and substantially predict future behavior.
C) attitudes significantly predict future behavior, but it is a relatively small effect size.
D) attitudes invariably predict future behavior.

Question 30

The hypothesis that there is a genetic component to some attitudes would be supported by the finding that

A) attitudes of identical twins are more similar than those of fraternal twins.
B) adults who shared certain physiological characteristics also had common political beliefs.
C) when asked about attitudes for which there seems to be a genetic predisposition, research participants were quicker to respond to questions and less likely to alter their views toward social norms.
D) All of these

Question 31

Sally is a staunch Democrat.She has been arguing with Jim who is a staunch Republican.In the course of their discussion, Sally is able to withstand the arguments Jim offers for his position, but just barely.She realizes afterward that her own counterarguments to his were pretty weak.Subsequent to this realization, Sally's attitude will

A) become less certain.
B) remain unchanged.
C) become more certain.
D) change to agree with Jim.

Question 32

The theory of planned behavior posits that behavior is a function of attitudes, subjective norms, behavioral intentions, and

A) the amount of time we have considered engaging in the behavior.
B) the correspondence between the attitude and the behavior.
C) the amount of control we perceive to have over our behavior.
D) the costs of engaging in the behavior.

Question 33

According to research by Tormala and Petty (2002), an attitude can be ____ by a persuasive message or argument ____ it.

A) weakened; for
B) strengthened; against
C) weakened; against
D) strengthened; for

Question 34

Which of the following statements regarding LaPiere's (1934)study of attitudes is false?

A) Even though respondents who were asked self-report questions claimed that they would not be racially prejudiced, their behavior showed clear discrimination.
B) The study examined racial attitudes at a time when prejudice was much more overt and blatant than it currently is.
C) LaPiere was not a psychologist.
D) Over 90 percent of the respondents claimed that they would not offer service to a Chinese patron.

Question 35

Ichiro is a member of a campus political group and is interested in finding out how many students plan to vote in the 2012 election.According to the theory of planned behavior, which of the following questions that Ichiro could ask would be the best predictor of whether or not a particular student would actually vote in the 2012 November election?

A) What are your attitudes about U.S. politics?
B) What are your attitudes about voting in U.S. Presidential elections?
C) What are your attitudes about the politicians in general?
D) What are your attitudes about the Bush vs. Gore Presidential election of 2000 and the fact that the winner of the election received fewer popular votes than the loser?

Question 36

Implicit Association Tests (IATs)can detect implicit attitudes by measuring

A) the participants' mood after responding to word pairings.
B) the time it takes participants to complete the whole test.
C) participants' facial muscles as they are exposed to positive or negative stimuli.
D) the speed at which participants associate stimuli with a positive or negative word.

Question 37

According to the theory of planned behavior, one reason that a person's behavior might not be consistent with that person's attitudes is that the behavior

A) is determined by norms that are consistent with the person's attitudes.
B) is one that the person feels is within his or her control.
C) is determined by norms that are counter to the person's attitudes.
D) occurs only when the person is self-aware.

Question 38

Which of the following theories suggests that intentions to perform a behavior are best predicted by attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control?

A) Theory of planned behavior
B) Cognitive dissonance theory
C) Self-perception theory
D) Self-affirmation theory

Question 39

For which type of attitude would an implicit attitude measure be more predictive than an explicit attitude measure?

A) Attitude toward Barack Obama
B) Attitude toward owning a pet
C) Attitude toward church attendance
D) Attitude toward committing suicide

Question 40

Miss Roberto is concerned that Talia and Emily avoid playing with Michael because he is African American.Which of the following strategies would best enable her to assess any unconscious dislike these two students feel toward Michael?

A) Ask them why they don't want to play with him
B) Measure the girls' brain activity when they are forced to play with Michael
C) Administer an IAT to examine the girls' racial attitudes
D) Administer a self-report questionnaire examining the girls' racial attitudes

Question 41

Social psychologists seek to understand

A) whether persuasion is moral or not.
B) how and why persuasion occurs.
C) central route persuasion, but not peripheral.
D) peripheral route persuasion, but not central.

Question 42

The process by which a person is persuaded by cues in the persuasion context rather than thinking critically about the content of a persuasive message is called

A) psychological reactance.
B) theory of planned behavior.
C) the peripheral route to persuasion.
D) the central route to persuasion.

Question 43

The primary difference between the models of persuasion proposed by Hovland and McGuire and that proposed by Greenwald is that Greenwald's model

A) does not allow for central route processing.
B) emphasizes the role of elaboration in producing persuasion.
C) does not include reception as one of the information-processing steps in persuasion.
D) proposes that memory of message content is the most important determinant of persuasion.

Question 44

The more products a celebrity endorses, the

A) more competent she becomes in the eyes of consumers.
B) less trustworthy she becomes in the eyes of consumers.
C) more likeable she becomes in the eyes of consumers.
D) less likely an audience member is to use to peripheral route to persuasion.

Question 45

Because communicator trustworthiness is important, people tend to be readily impressed by speakers who

A) take popular stands.
B) argue against their own interests.
C) talk slowly and deliberately.
D) are well-dressed.

Question 46

Vicki is a lawyer who is trying to decide which of two forensic experts she should hire to provide testimony in a case.There is a large discrepancy in the fees each of the experts demands for their services.If Vicki wants the jurors to perceive her expert as trustworthy-and if she expects the witness's fees to become part of the trial record when he testifies-then she should select

A) the more expensive expert.
B) the less expensive expert.
C) either one because of their status in their field.
D) the expert who has the most experience testifying in court.

Question 47

People who want to hold correct attitudes will often engage in central route processing.Doing so means that

A) they will always end up with a valid attitude.
B) they will avoid biased information processing.
C) they may fall prey to overcorrection.
D) they will become more liberal in their thinking.

Question 48

Source credibility is determined by

A) competence.
B) trustworthiness.
C) competence and trustworthiness.
D) competence, trustworthiness, and likeability.

Question 49

Oscar, an advertiser, develops a commercial for Crispy Crunch Crackling Cereal.Suppose children, processing information via the central route, watch the commercial.The commercial will be more likely to persuade the kids to want the cereal if it has all of the following except

A) a spokesperson who asks viewers whether they want to try the cereal.
B) a simple straightforward message that the kids can learn easily.
C) a little jingle about the great qualities of the cereal that the children will remember.
D) an attractive spokesperson.

Question 50

Gino, a salesperson, wants to use techniques that will lead his potential customers to rely on peripheral route persuasion.He should do all of the following except

A) speak quickly when presenting information about his product.
B) get the customer to nod in the affirmative while he is presenting his sales pitch.
C) present his sales pitch to customers who are clearly in a rush.
D) approach prospective buyers who obviously care deeply about his product.

Question 51

Which of the following conditions is not specified in Hovland's model of persuasion as necessary for persuasion to occur?

A) Message recipients must elaborate the message.
B) Message recipients must attend to the message.
C) Message recipients must comprehend the message.
D) Message recipients must be motivated to accept the message.

Question 52

Persuasive communication is the outcome of three possible factors.Which of these is not one of those factors?

A) Source
B) Audience
C) Message
D) Context

Question 53

Which of the following concerning the impact of body movements on persuasion is true?

A) People who nod their heads up and down express greater agreement with a persuasive message than those who nod their heads side to side.
B) Stimuli associated with stretching the arms outward are rated more positively than those associated with flexing the arms inward.
C) Nodding the head side to side makes people more likely to engage in central route processing than does nodding the head up and down.
D) Stretching the arms outward makes people less likely to engage in central route processing than does flexing the arms inward.

Question 54

Eric does not really know how to answer the essay question about cognitive dissonance on his social psychology exam.He decides to write as many facts as he knows about the topic of attitudes in his exam book, hoping that the professor will not read the exams too closely and will be impressed enough by the length of his essay to give him a good score.Eric is hoping to take advantage of

A) the sleeper effect.
B) the peripheral route to persuasion.
C) the central route to persuasion.
D) dissonance-related insufficient justification.

Question 55

The central route to persuasion requires

A) intelligence and strong arguments.
B) involvement and an expert source.
C) ability and motivation.
D) knowledge of the issue and a credible source.

Question 56

When message recipients use central route processing, which of the following will be true?

A) Difficult messages will be more persuasive than easily learned messages.
B) Memorable messages will be more persuasive than forgettable ones.
C) Weak messages will engender more favorable responses than strong messages.
D) Elaboration of message content will be objective and unbiased.

Question 57

The process by which attitudes are changed is called

A) persuasion.
B) dissonance.
C) conditioning.
D) elaboration.

Question 58

Brady and Quinn are trying to develop an ad campaign in which a key element is the trustworthiness of the message's communicator.Toward this end, they may wish to utilize

A) a public service message.
B) overheard communications.
C) novel advertising.
D) political campaigns.

Question 59

People who are high in intelligence and/or self-esteem tend to be _____ vulnerable to persuasion when compared to people low in intelligence and/or self-esteem.

A) more
B) less
C) equally
D) somewhat less

Question 60

While watching the presidential debate on television, Matilda critically evaluated the arguments made by each candidate and was persuaded to support a particular candidate because of the quality of her arguments.Matilda exhibited

A) psychological reactance.
B) central route persuasion.
C) peripheral route persuasion.
D) insufficient justification.

Question 61

Which of the following is not an explanation for why people in a positive mood are more susceptible to persuasion?

A) A positive emotional state is distracting, making evaluation of arguments difficult.
B) A good mood makes you feel that all is well, and you don't work as hard to evaluate arguments.
C) Happy people want to preserve that mood, so they don't want to ruin it with critical evaluation of information.
D) A positive mood makes people more thoughtful, so they are more likely to engage in central processing.

Question 62

Louie runs a clinic that helps individuals to quit smoking, and he would like to use fear to motivate his clients.Which of the following strategies would be most effective?

A) First scare clients by showing them gory lung-cancer operations. Then outline the specific steps they could follow to stop smoking.
B) First scare clients by showing them gory lung-cancer operations. Then allow them to come up with their own ways of quitting smoking so that they are more committed.
C) Present statistics concerning the health hazards of smoking, but nothing too scary. Then allow the clients to come up with their own ways of quitting smoking so that they are more committed.
D) Present statistics concerning the health hazards of smoking, but nothing too scary. Then outline the specific steps they could follow to stop smoking.

Question 63

Dr.Flinstone, president of Quarry College, needs to convince students that the college must double its tuition beginning in five years.He is hiring someone to promote this idea, as well as developing supportive arguments.Would he need to adopt a different strategy if he instead wanted to implement the change in the next academic year?

A) No. He should do the same thing either way.
B) Yes. If the change is to happen next year, the strength of the arguments will matter more than whom he hires to promote the idea.
C) Yes. If the change is to happen next year, the person he hires will matter more than the strength of the arguments.
D) Yes. If the change is to happen next year, obtaining a credible promoter and generating strong arguments will both be more crucial than if the change will happen in five years.

Question 64

Which of the following concerning the use of fear appeals is not supported by research?

A) Fear appeals may motivate change by increasing the incentive to think carefully about the arguments in the message.
B) Fear appeals are generally less effective than messages that do not provoke fear.
C) Fear appeals are most effective when they include specific information on how to avoid the threat.
D) Fear arousal may reduce the ability of already fearful message recipients to carefully process a message.

Question 65

Wegener et al.(1995)found that happy participants used the central route to persuasion when presented with a pro-attitudinal message, but used the peripheral route to persuasion when presented with a counter-attitudinal message.This finding suggests that

A) positive mood disrupts the ability to process persuasive information.
B) people in a positive mood rely on superficial processing strategies.
C) positive mood affects different people in different ways.
D) happy people avoid processing only if it threatens to destroy their mood.

Question 66

Jon and Kate give consecutive speeches on opposing sides in a debate on solar energy.Audience members are asked to register their view a few weeks later.How might the order of the speeches affect the audience's decision?

A) It should yield a primacy effect.
B) It should yield a subliminal effect.
C) It should yield a recency effect.
D) It should not have any effect.

Question 67

Your friend is thinking of purchasing a self-help weight-loss CD that promises its effects through subliminal persuasive messages embedded in the music.What should you tell her research shows about the effectiveness of such programs?

A) Such programs are very effective.
B) Such programs are somewhat effective, depending on the person.
C) No solid evidence exists to support such programs.
D) Subliminal messages work more effectively through visual (DVD) media than audio (CD) media.

Question 68

As personal involvement regarding an issue increases,

A) the quality of the arguments becomes a more important determinant of persuasion.
B) the credibility of the speaker becomes a more important determinant of persuasion.
C) the attractiveness of the speaker becomes a more important determinant of persuasion.
D) the likelihood of central route persuasion decreases.

Question 69

Which factor has the biggest impact on whether or not there will be a primacy or recency effect in persuasion?

A) Time
B) Source credibility
C) Source likeability
D) Number of sides presented

Question 70

A sleeper effect occurs when

A) persuasion occurs in response to subliminal stimuli.
B) a persuasive message from a noncredible source becomes more persuasive over time.
C) distraction interferes with the ability to pay attention to a persuasive message.
D) people fall asleep during exposure to a persuasive message.

Question 71

Research by Landau and colleagues (2004)in which participants were exposed to subliminal images of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and then asked questions about then-President George W.Bush leads to the conclusion that

A) the fear of death leads people to choose the central route to persuasion.
B) reminders of mortality lead people to prefer one-sided messages to two-sided messages.
C) fear arousal can influence even attitudes as important as political opinions.
D) the higher the level of fear arousal in a persuasive communication, the stronger the agreement with it.

Question 72

While shopping at the local mall, Ihno is approached by a man who asks her to sign a petition for stricter gun control laws.If Ihno uses the central route to decide whether to sign the petition, then she will be more likely to sign if the man who approaches her

A) is physically attractive.
B) is a member of the National Rifle Association.
C) is a police officer.
D) presents strong arguments.

Question 73

Josue listened to a speech on the radio advocating the increased use of automobiles that are not reliant on fossil fuels.One would expect the sleeper effect to be greatest if Josue found out about the background of the speaker _____ the speech and was asked about his views about the issue _____.

A) before; that same day
B) after; that same day
C) before; a few weeks later
D) after; a few weeks later

Question 74

Research indicates that subliminal influence

A) never occurs.
B) usually occurs in the short term for simple judgments.
C) is more likely among people high in the need for cognition.
D) can persuade people to take action even when they were previously unmotivated to do so.

Question 75

Roger and Mike always seem to disagree on music.When Roger tells Mike that he has heard a new song on the radio that he likes a lot, this experience is likely to lead Mike to

A) like the song more than he would have had he not talked to Roger ahead of time.
B) like the song less than he would have had he not talked to Roger ahead of time.
C) be skeptical about Roger's motivation for telling him about the song.
D) view Roger as an unlikable message source.

Question 76

Which of the following source characteristics best explains why a company might recruit a supermodel to endorse its products?

A) Similarity
B) Credibility
C) Likeability
D) Trustworthiness

Question 77

Professor Shackleford is elated because she has just learned that her paper has been accepted for publication.When a student passes her in the hallway and tells her that he missed the latest exam in order to stay home with his depressed cat, her good mood renders her likely to

A) be even more skeptical than usual about such an unlikely excuse.
B) be less skeptical than usual about the excuse.
C) overlook the student's cognitive dissonance.
D) fall victim to the sleeper effect.

Question 78

Michael believes that one's family is more important than one's career.In order for him to successfully convince his achievement-oriented friend Ronald that he should also possess such a value system, Michael should

A) take the very discrepant position that careers never provide satisfaction anywhere close to what a family provides.
B) use peripheral cues.
C) present as many arguments for his position as possible.
D) suggest more of a balance between family and career concerns than is currently true for Ronald.

Question 79

Sleeper effects can be reduced by reminding people that the source of a persuasive message was not credible.This supports which explanation of sleeper effects?

A) The inoculation hypothesis
B) The discounting cue hypothesis
C) Psychological reactance theory
D) Cognitive dissonance theory

Question 80

The main factor influencing source likeability is(are)

A) similarity.
B) physical attractiveness.
C) similarity and physical attractiveness.
D) similarity, physical attractiveness, and proximity.