Chapter 5: Attitudes

According to __________, events trigger our attitudes and, simultaneously, the appropriate norms for how people should or typically do behave in a given situation.

the attitude-to-behavior process

Which of the following is usually true of a persuasive communicator?

An attractive communicator is more persuasive than an unattractive communicator

Which of the following can contribute to a person showing attitudinal change when confronted with a counter attitudinal message?

Ego-depletion

Wendy, Greta, Tom, and Bill have all made New Year's resolutions to lose weight. Based on the information below, which of them is MOST likely to lose weight?

Greta, who intends to dramatically reduce her fat intake and tells others that she is greatly committed to her diet

Which form of conditioning causes many children and young teens to hold political, religious, and social views that are very similar to those of their parents?

Instrumental conditioning

Next week, there will be a debate on campus. The topic of the debate will be, "Is Climate Change a Threat?". The debate will have three participants: Jim, a scientist from Harvard University; Caroline, a science writer from the Huffington Post; Ed, a conservative representative on the House Science Committee; and Janet, a science historian. Who will likely be more persuasive during the debate and why?

Jim, because his educational and professional background lend him credibility

Upon learning that soda sales are in decline, a soda manufacturer, ABC Fizz, decides upon a new advertising tactic. Using demographic data, ABC Fizz discovers that 30-34-year-olds show a strong affiliation with Apple products. In the new advertising campaign, the company repeatedly pairs images of its soda within 30-34-year-olds using Apple products. Before long, they find that sales of their soda increase within this demographic. This is an example of _____________ conditioning.

classical

A campaign manager has advised the candidate he represents to make sure there is a "spontaneous" demonstration of support for him during the candidate's next major speech. Given that the candidate relies on his audience's peripheral processing of his emotion-laden persuasive messages, the demonstration is useful because

distractions can increase the persuasiveness of a speech

Marcus felt clearer about his attitude regarding a school policy after meeting with other students about it. The change came about because

he was able to repeatedly express his own attitude about the policy

Patty is a politician running for public office. At a town hall meeting, she claims that she has always fought for and will continue to fight for the LGBT community. At this, a person who does not support Patty stands up and claims that Patty only began to support marriage equality after the majority of U.S. states had legalized same-sex marriage. This person is trying to generate feelings of

hypocrisy

Erin works at a think tank in DC. She is a progressive liberal and, as most of her colleagues are around her age and come from similar backgrounds, she makes the assumption that her colleagues are too, even though a large percentage of them do not identify as such. Erin has fallen susceptible to

pluralistic ignorance

Marlon is a liberal. When he wants to watch the news on television, he only watches MSNBC. On the Internet, he only views popular liberal sites such as The Nation, Salon, and Slate. When he's using Facebook, if any of his friends posts links with conservative viewpoints, he hides these from his feed. Marlon is resisting persuasion through the use of

selective avoidance

Irene considers herself to be an environmentalist, and she wants to reduce her carbon footprint. One day, her husband comes home and says that he sold their electric lawn mower and used the money, plus some savings, to by a new, powerful gasoline-powered mower. Irene is shocked, but when she uses the mower, she decides that she really likes it. This makes her feel uneasy, so she reminds herself of all the good environmental work she has done in the past. Irene is engaging in

self-affirmation

Jason has been listening to a talk show concerning animal rights. This is an issue that he cares deeply about and he is very knowledgeable about the topic. Jason is most likely to be persuaded by

strong, convincing arguments from a speaker delivering a message

A film studio pairs with a brewery and exclusively includes scenes of people drinking this beer or the beer standing in the background of scenes throughout many of its summer blockbusters. Sales of the brewery's line of beers skyrocket. The increased sales were likely due to ________ conditioning.

subliminal