Chapter 6, Attitudes

Primacy Effect and Recency Effect in regards to Message Influence

-When two different oppositions try to influence the same audience, the order of information presented is relevant. -Primacy Effect: That info presented first is more important/influential than later info. -Recency Effect: That recently presented info is more influential/important than earlier info presented. -TIME is the key factor regarding which effect occurs in persuasive communication. Example: When participants read the first message and then the second message and waited a week to report their attitudes. A PRIMACY EFFECT happened. -Example 2: When participants heard the first message, waited a week then heard the second message, RECENCY EFFECT happened (fresher in the mind)

Summary of the alternative theories and cognitive dissonance

Is attitude change motivated by a desire/arousal to reduce discomfort? Cognitive Dissonance: Yes Self-Perception Theory: No Impression-Management Theory: Yes Self-Affirmation Theory: yes Does a person's private attitudes actually change? Cognitive Dissonance: Yes Self-Perception Theory: Yes Impression-Management Theory: No Self-Affirmation Theory: Yes Must the change be directly relative to the attitude-discrepant behavior? Cognitive Dissonance: Yes Self-Perception: Yes Impression-Management: Yes Self-Affirmation: No

Describe Regulatory Fit

People are more often influenced by messages that fit their frame of thought and "feel right" to them. -Promotion Oriented Individuals: aim towards achieving success, achievement, and their ideals. People with this personality are more persuaded when the arguments were framed in promotional words. Example: because it will ADVANCE children's education. SUPPORT more children to SUCCEED. Also more influenced by a speakers communication when using an EAGER tone. When speaking fast, animated, and forward leaning with various hand gestures it influenced PROMOTION ORIENTED people more. -Prevention Oriented Individuals: protective of their own fears of failure, and observant about avoiding failure. They are persuaded by arguments made with defensive words. Example: because it will SECURE children's education and PREVENT more children from FAILING. More influenced when the speakers delivery was more cautious. When the speaker spoke SLOW, PRECISE, and LEANING BACKWARDS, with hand gestures pushing in to self. Persuasion is MOST effective when their is a REGULATORY FIT between the AUDIENCE and SPEAKERS approach, positive or negative ALLIGNED. -Need for affect: seeking out and enjoying feelings of strong emotion. This leads people to be more receptive to persuasive messages that are presented in primarily cognitive or emotional terms.

Alternative Self-Persuasion attitude change routes, SELF-ESTEEM

Self-Esteem and Cognitive Dissonance, Aronson said: behaviors that arouse dissonance are caused because they threaten the self-concept (our sum beliefs of self), making a person feel GUILTY, DISHONEST, or HYPOCRITICAL, and MOTIVATING ATTITUDE CHANGE OR FUTURE BEHAVIOR CHANGE. -People with LOW SELF-ESTEEM'S and LOW EXPECTATIONS are LESS influenced/affected by behavior that causes dissonance. -People with HIGH SELF-ESTEEMS and HIGH EXPECTATIONS are MORE influenced/affected by behavior that causes dissonance.

Explain how characteristics of the audience.

-A message is influenced by two additional factors: 1. the recipient's personality 2. The recipients expectations of the message. -Very few individuals are consistently easy or difficult to persuade. That's why we use the INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE focusing on a close link between our disposition and our environment

Describe how attitudes are measured in covert techniques

-Alternative to self-report, Covert Measures? One way to measure a person's attitude is by viewing indirect observable behaviors like facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language. -Support? Wells and Petty (1980) found that when college students listened to a speech that took a position that they agree on (similar attitudes, lower college tuition), then individuals were more likely to make more vertical head movements and in horizontal directions when they disagreed. -Issues with Covert Measures? People can manipulate their overt (apparent) behavior just like they can monitor their self-reports. AROUSAL reveals the strength of one's attitude towards something, but arousal does not indicate whether the attitude is positive or negative. -the Facial Electromyograph (EMG): An electronic device that measures facial muscle activity associated with an individuals emotions and attitudes. It can show certain muscles in the face contract when we are happy and different muscles contract when we are sad. Support: -When people heard an AGREEABLE message activity increased in the CHEEKS, indicating a pattern of HAPPINESS -When people heard a DISAGREEABLE message more activity was in the FOREHEAD and BROW area indicating SADNESS and DISTRESS -Electroencephalography (EEG): Created by Hans Burger (1929), it is used to detect, amplify, and record "waves" of electrical activity in the brain using electrodes attached to our scalps. -EEG's show increase brain activity when an individual is presented with a stimuli that are unusual or unexpected. -Example: People who were exposed to a list of 10 different things that they like and dislike (sports, TV, politics). Brain activity/waves increase when a DISLIKED object appears after a bunch of LIKED objects from a list. Also, when a LIKED stimulus was shown after a bunch of NEGATIVE items. -Inconsistency in attitudes are shown in EEG's -FMRI's, EEG's, and EMG's reveal people react AUTOMATICALLY TO POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ATTITUDE OBJECTS and that these attitudes may be measurable by electrical activity in the brain.

Define the theory of planned behavior and how this theory explains the relationship between attitudes and behavior

-An important factor in the link between attitudes and behaviors is CORRESPONDENCE -Ajzen and Fischbein (1977), found that attitudes correlate with behavior only when observed attitudes are closely related to the behavior in question. The more specific the initial attitude question was, the better it was at predicting future behavior. -Theory of Planned Behavior: Proposed by Fischbein and Ajzen (1991), according to this theory, our attitudes influence our behavior through a process of conscious decision making, and the impact is limited in four respects: 1. General attitudes are less influential to cause a behavior than are attitudes towards a specific behavior. 2. Behavior is influenced not only by attitude but by SUBJECTIVE NORMS, our beliefs about what others think we should do. Social pressures to conform often lead us to behave in ways that are at odds with our inner convictions 3. Attitudes can cause a behavior only when we recognize the behavior to be within our CONTROL. To the extent that people lack confidence in their ability to engage in some behavior, they are unlikely to form an intention to do so. 4. Although attitudes (Along with subjective norms and perceived control) can contribute to an INTENTION. People often don't follow through on their intentions. -Support: this theory that places the link between attitudes and behaviors, in a wide context, has been successful in predicting a range of practical behaviors - condoms, obeying the speed limits, washing hands and other food habits, donating blood, and reducing risky sex)

How does Fear appeal in persuasive arguments?

-Fear Appeals: Fear is aroused instantly in response to pain, stimulation from harmful substances, or threat, making us to respond quickly without having to think about what to do. -We can see the effects of this in politics because of the Terror Management Theory, where we rally around leaders to ward off the anxiety of death. -Example: Landau (2004) found that people expressed more support for George W. Bush (president at the time) and his policies when they were reminded of their own death or subliminally presented with images of 9/11 than the people who were not. -Also, INCREASED terrors threats INCREASED the president's approval rating -High arousals of fear can be effective because it INCREASES the incentive for people to change vs not. -But ULTIMATELY the MESSAGE and the STRENGTH of its ARGUMENTS and if the argument has CLEAR and ENCOURAGING ADVICE and how to COPE with the FEAR because without a way to cope people feel helpless and panic and tune out from the message. Example: people with a chronic fear of cancer were less likely than others to detect the real errors in a message that called for regular cancer checkups. -When a message has a solution/clear instructions than the message with high levels of fear can work -also fear works when people feel more personally threatened by an outcome, then the more attention and likelihood they'll follow the instructions offered.

Discuss the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and discuss their use in covert measures of attitudes.

-Implicit Attitudes: An attitude, possibly prejudice or sexism, that one is not aware of. -Implicit Association Test: It measures our unconscious/implicit attitudes in a sheer second, with which people associate pairs of concepts. A test takes your racial attitudes can be seen in these steps: 1. You are asked to categorize black or white faces as quickly as you can. Example: hit the left hand key for black face and right hand key for white face 2. Then, you are asked to categorize a set of words Example: right hand key for negative words (evil, war, failure), left hand key for positive words (love, laughter, friend) 3. Then you are asked to combines faces and words. Example: Press the left hand key if you see a black face or a positive word and hit the right key for a white face or negative word. 4. Then you are presented with opposite pairs (black or negative, white or positive) and rapidly pair those faces with either the positive or negative words. Example: black-wonderful, black-failure, white-love, white-evil. 5. Then you are given your score and an explanation why once you're done. Speed is also a way to measure you're implicit attitudes towards one, like pairing black with positive and white with negative; however, you can do that still. -Other IAT test results show: implicit preference for self over others, white over black, young over old, straight over gay, able over disabled, thin over obese, and the stereotypes that link males with careers and females with their families. -Greenwald concluded that people's IMPLICIT ATTITUDES are generally LESS PREDICTIVE OF OUR BEHAVIOR than our explicit attitudes. -IAT's are better at measuring socially sensitive topics for which people tend to conceal or alter about themselves. Example: people who had HIGHER implicit associations between suicide and self were MORE likely to be in the emergency room for a suicide attempt.

Cultural considerations when persuading an audience

-Individualist cultures/countries: (like the USA) advertising is focused on personal benefits, individuality, competition, and self-improvement. Example of ad slogans: "She's got a style of her own" "Make your way through the crowd" -More persuaded by individualist ads "Treat yourself to a breath-freshening experience." -Individualist cultures CELEBRITIES are used in ads to portray themselves using or talking directly about a product -Collectivist cultures/countries: (like Korea/China) focused their advertising on integrity, achievement, and wellness of one's in-group Example of ad slogans: "An exhilarating way to provide for your family" "Celebrating a half-century of partnership" -More persuaded by collectivist ads. "Share this breath-freshening experience." -Collectivist cultures CELEBRITIES are used in ads that appeal to belongingness, family, and traditional values by having the celeb play the role of someone else without being singled out.

When people justify Attitude Discrepant Behaviors. Insufficient Justification, Insufficient Deterrence

-Insufficient Justification: When a person performs an attitude-discrepant without being compensated a justifiable amount to perform that disliked behavior. Example: in festinger's study, participants were either given no money, $20, or $1 to tell the next group of participants who would take part in this study on whether it was fun or not. Results: $20 and group with no money (control group) told the next groups that the task was boring. In the group with $1 they lied and hoaxed the next people into doing that task that wasn't fun because the $1 was not justifiable for their actions. Two things happen: 1. when people act in ways that contradict their own attitudes, they can occasionally change those attitudes by themselves without being exposed to persuasive communication (self-persuasion) to see things differently. Example: white college students who wrote essays on increasing scholarships to black people, later reported more favorable attitudes towards black people. 2. Big rewards don't produce greater change in attitude. Example: The more money you give participants for their inconsistent behavior, the more justified they feel and the less likely they are to change their attitudes. -Insufficient Deterrence: When people don't engage in a fun activity, even when the punishment is mild or severe. Example: Mild punishments, an insufficient deterrer made children show dislike for the toy they were not allowed to play with vs children who'd face a severe punishment -Basically THE LESS SEVERE the threatened punishment, the GREATER the CHANGE IN ATTITUDE.

Discuss the role of likability in persuasion, including the research on similarity and dissimilarity.

-Likability: Carnegie (1936) said that being liked and being persuasive go hand in hand. He proposed that TWO FACTORS that spark attraction are SIMILARITY and PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS. -Power of similarity: In a study by Macky (1990) she found that college students at UCSB were more likely to be persuaded by a speech about getting rid of the SAT if it was written by another UCSB student than a student from University of New Hampshire. -the communicator can use other ways to convey his message impactfully, such as BEAUTY. -Beauty: attractive males and females salespersons elicit more positive attitudes and purchasing intentions from customers than less attractive, even when they are upfront about their desire to make a sale.

Positive Emotions regarding messages

-People were more likely to agree with a message when eating peanuts and soda than when they were not eating anything. -People see the world through "rose-colored glasses" when happy, becoming more SOCIABLE, GENEROUS, and a more POSITIVE outlook. -When happy we make DECISIONS more QUICKLY and with LESS THOUGHT -Positive emotions evoke us taking the PERIPHERAL ROUTE. Why do we take this route in a good mood? Factors: 1. being in a positive state cognitively distracts us, making our minds wander and influencing how we examine messages/info 2. in a positive mood state, people think that everything is fine and become more lazy in their information processing 3. when in a positive mood, people want to savor it and not let it be spoiled by thinking about new information Also, when messages are AGREEABLE and won't spoil a happy person's good mood, they take the CENTRAL route instead. -When happy students read a message disagreeing, they tuned out and either a strong or weak argument could be equally persuasive.

Explain how the content of a message affects whether people are likely to be persuaded

-Peripheral route people are more persuaded by longer messages because they expect a lot of information to be valid even though it may not be -Central route, (message length is a two-edged sword in this route) when a message is longer and actually has SUPPORTING arguments it's more effective, the more sources and valid arguments the more persuasive the message. -When the supporting arguments are weak, redundant, and sources are weak, then an aware audience will not be persuaded. Adding to a message DILUTES its quality in the central route, an attraction to the message/attitude may be weakened.

Define and Discuss Persuasion and Persuasive communication

-Persuasion: the process by which attitudes are changed. -Persuasive Communication: Appeals made in person, over the internet, or through the mass media rely on the spoken word, written word, and the image or video that is worth a thousand words. -Influence can be quick and automatic -Two types of Persuasion, central and peripheral

Discuss the relationship between attitudes and behaviors.

-Richard LaPiere (1934) first noticed that attitudes and behaviors do not always go hand in hand. (chinese couple study). -Who went around the US during the great depression during the 1930s with an Asian couple (asian's were heavily discriminated at the time) and they went to 250 different restaurants, hotels, etc and only one refused to serve the three. LaPiere asked the restaurants and hotels afterwards if they would serve asian people and 90% said no. -Allan Wicker (1969) found that attitudes and behaviors are correlated only weakly, if at all. This does not mean we do not follow from our own political opinions, that discrimination is not related to underlying prejudice. -Krause (1995) found that attitudes significantly and substantially predict future behavior. -Albarracin (2006) conditions which attitudes can most effectively predict the future: 1. Level of CORRESPONDENCE/similarity between the attitude observed and behavior. Example: LaPiere should have measured more specific attitudes of individual's attitudes towards a well dressed chinese couple with an American professor.

Route Selection, Peripheral or Central?

-Route Selection: This process depends on whether recipient of the persuasive message has the ABILITY and MOTIVATION to take the CENTRAL ROUTE or f they rely on SURROUNDING CUES instead (then take the PERIPHERAL ROUTE). -Persuasive communication is the outcome of 3 factors: Each factor drives a recipient's approach to communication: 1. Source (who) 2. Message (says what and in what context) 3. Audience (to whom, what people) Person who will choose Central Persuasion: if a source speaks clearly, if the message is important, if there is a bright, captive, and involved audience that cares deeply about the issue and has time to absorb that info Person who will choose Peripheral Persuasion: if the source speaks too fast for one to comprehend, or if the message is too trivial or complex to process, or if the audience members are distracted, pressed for time, or not interested, then people will take the less strenuous route.

Discuss how attitudes are measured in self-report, the issues with them, attitude scales, likert scale and bogus pipeline

-Self-Reports: these are the easiest ways to measure attitudes, they are direct and straightforward. Examples of self-reports can be seen in: opinion polls and often range on many issues. -issues? However, attitudes are often too complex to be measured by a single question and the how the wording of a question can influence an individual's report. We also assume people are honest in their responses but often people are dishonest because they want to make a good impression. Examples of self-reports can be seen in: opinion polls and often range on many issues. -Attitude Scales: Designed to measure people's attitudes by creating a multiple-item questionnaire measuring a person's attitude toward some object, person, place, idea or thing. -The Likert Scale is a popular scale. The technique is respondents are presented with a list of statements about an attitude towards an object, then asked to indicate on a multiple-point scale how strongly they agree or disagree with each statement. -How to increase accuracy of self-reports? BOGUS PIPELINE, which is a fake lie-detector device that researchers often deploy to make respondents more truthful in their self-reports.

Consider evidence regarding the effectiveness of subliminal persuasive messages.

-Subliminal Messages: They don't really work basically, unless the individual has a need/want for something. Support: Self-help Cds that promise to raise self-esteem, improve memory or lose weight have no therapeutic benefits. Also the popcorn and coke stunt in Jersey was a hoax. -Subliminal Exposures have a short-term effect on simple judgements and action -Subliminal persuasions have more long-term effects on eating, drinking, consumer purchases, voter sentiment, and even suicide. (more likely to buy a sugar pill you were subliminally primed to vs one you were not) -For a subliminal message to influence behavior effectively, it must strike "while the iron is hot" (the need for something, like if you're thirsty and primed with words like thirst, dry you'll end up drinking more than if you were not).

Discuss the factors that affect the strength of an attitude

-The STRONGER the attitude a person holds, the harder it is to change and the stronger it is the more likely it is to cause a future behavior related to that attitude. Example of views that develop attitudes: Boninger and others (1995) asked individuals various topics such as the legalization of pot, gun control, military spending, abortion, and taxes to find the factors for what makes an attitude strong. Factors for strong attitudes: 1. Issues that directly affected their self-interest. Ex: A pot head may feel the strongest about legalizing pot because he smokes it everyday (in his self-interest) 2. Related to deeply held philosophical, political, and religious values. Example: Abortion is often frowned upon in certain sects of christianity. 3. Were of concern to their close friends, family, and social ingroups. Example: your parents may hate guns so that may influence how strongly you feel about gun control 4. most important, attitudes are the strongest when individual's are around people with similar/same attitudes making the person harder to resist. Several factors indicate the strength of an attitude and its connection to causing/determining a behavior: 1. People have a tendency to behave in ways that are consistent with their attitude when they have a stronger knowledge on the topic. Example: college students who knew the factual campaign issues were more likely to develop stronger attitudes towards one candidate than another vs. college students who knew only a snippet of facts (who will have a weaker attitude) 2. Not only does the amount of knowledge matter to acquire strong attitudes, but also how the info is acquired. Attitudes are more concrete and more predictable of behavior when they are based on direct personal experiences (primary info) than when based on secondhand info. Example: people who played a video game tend to be more interested (attitude) vs people who watched a person work on a puzzle. When people experience something and develop an attitude for it, it is more predictive of a future behavior. 3. An attitude can strengthen when an individual resists change to a persuasive message. When people resist a strong message in a convincing manner they become stronger in their attitude and more likely to form a behavioral intention linked to that attitude. -When people barely resist an argument and see their own counterargument as weak then they are more unsure of their initial attitude and are more prone to later attack. 4. Strong attitudes are highly accessible to awareness, which means they are brought to mind quickly and easily. Example: computer lovers often think about their computer preference, and political activists thinks about their connection to their party. -When an attitude pops to mind by the perception of it an attitude can trigger behavior in a quick, spontaneous way or making us more careful about how we feel and react to the attitude that popped in our head.

Discuss the factors that affect the strength of an attitude and cultural differences in the consistency of attitudes.

-Western cultures that VALUE independence, it is common to see our attitudes as a part of who we are, reflecting our values, tastes, preferences, and personalities. Our LIKES and our DISLIKES remain quite CONSISTENT and decision making is usually based on our attitudes and personal likes. The link between attitude and predicting behavior is much stronger in this culture. Attitudes are seen as person-centric. -Eastern Asian cultures, independence, choice, and personal likes/preferences are less valued, and a person's attitude are inconsistent predictors to behavior. More contextual factors like social norms, others' expectations, roles, and duties are needed. -OUR EVALUATIONS OF AN OBJECT DO NOT ALWAYS DETERMINE OUR ACTIONS BECAUSE OTHER FACTORS MUST BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.

Discuss the role of credibility (and its two components), Overheard Communicator too

-What makes some communicators more effective than others? Credibility is key. We are more likely to persuaded by more credible sources, like a science journal over a tabloid (even if they have the same news story). People must have two characteristics to be deemed credible: 1. Competence: refers to a speaker's ability. Those who are knowledgeable, smart, or well spoken or who have impressive credentials are persuasive by virtue of their expertise. -Experts have a winning effect on us, we assume that they know what they're talking about, so we listen when they speak -And when they take a position we often take the same position as them. -Research shows people pay more attention to experts and examine their arguments more systematically. -A non-expert source will be examined closer when they advocate for an opposing position -A highly credible source who argues for a position we favor increases our confidence about our attitude towards that issue. -Also, a highly credible source who advocates for an opposing position can pose a threat to our confidence and existing attitude about that thing. 2. Trustworthiness: the source must be willing to report their knowledge completely truthful. -How do we base our trust on someone? Stereotypes play a role. A survey in the US found NURSES the most trustworthy occupation and Car salesman, members of Congress, and advertisers were least trustworthy. -If people have something to gain from the persuasion beware of the source, we do suspect a degree of bias. Example: Celebrities with more endorsements were deemed less trustworthy to consumers -People also are impressed by people taking unpopular stands or argue against their own self-interests. -We are more influenced by overheard communication than by directly receiving a sales pitch intended for our own listening. When the communication is not directly intended to persuade our attitudes. -OVERHEARD COMMUNICATOR: tricks used by advertisers in which the source appears to tell a buddy about a new product that works, as if we were eavesdropping on a personal conversation, we assume that the communication is more trustworthy. Also we are more likely to believe a crime suspect's admissions of guilty.

Discuss the origins of attitudes, including biological and learning factors.

Are attitudes inherent? -Tesser (1993) proposed that strong likes and dislikes are rooted in our genetic makeup. Support? Research shows that on some issues the attitudes of identical twins are more similar than those of fraternal twins and that twins raised apart are as similar to each other as those who are raised in the same home. -Tesser also proposed that we are predisposed to hold certain attitudes (sexual promiscuity, religion, and death penalty, POLITICAL), participants were QUICKER to respond and LESS likely to alter their views toward social norms. -Also, Tesser found that individuals are disposed to hold certain strong attitudes as a result of inborn physical, sensory, and cognitive skills, temperament, and personality traits. -Are attitudes learned? Our most cherished attitudes often form as a result of our exposure to objects: 1. Our history of rewards and punishments; 2. the attitudes that our parents, friends, and enemies express 3. the social and cultural context in which we live; and other types of experiences. -Newcomb (1943) found at a women's college in Vermont which was filled with conservative, affluent females, but when the college students encountered professors and older peers who held more liberal views, as time progressed, those students became more liberal in their views. -Clear link between cultural environment and attitudes, like the US is a house divided into red and blue states). -People can even FORM strong positive and negative ATTITUDES toward NEUTRAL objects that somehow are linked to emotionally charged stimuli (like the dog and food, pavlov)

Discuss research on ethical dissonance and how people resolve ethical dissonance, including the practice of moral licensing.

Behavioral Ethics: the study of how individuals behave when facing temptations to cheat, steal, plagiarize, commit fraud, lie, or otherwise behave unethically. 1. Focuses on unintentional lapses in ethics that can occur when good people don't pay enough attention and are not sufficiently watchful, causing "blind spots" in ethical judgement (occurs when fatigued, why we cheat on tests in the afternoon more than the morning). 2. Focuses on acts of intentional wrongdoing that people commit in order to serve their own self-interests. People seem to engage in unethical acts when the tangible benefits (monetary and other rewards) exceed the tangible costs (exposure and punishment). Ethical Dissonance: Proposed by Barkan and colleagues (2012) behaving in ways that violate our own moral code threatens our self-esteem and arouses an inner state of turmoil. -When we are tempted into the possibility of acting unethically, our MORAL self-concept is THREATENED both BEFORE and AFTER we do it -To reduce (attenuate) this threat, we use self-serving justifications to cope with the anticipation and the experience of ethical dissonance Ways in which people reduce their ethical dissonance: Citing social norms, blaming others or the situation, rationalizing the good from a misdeed, confessing, apologizing, and offering money/compensation, and distancing from the misdeed by creating stricter ethical standards for the future and judging other violators more harshly -Form of self-justification that allows people to behave unethically, MORAL LICENSING, a tendency for individuals to justify expectable/future misdeeds by sharing good things they have done. -when people establish moral license they: expect less ethical dissonance when taking part in an attitude-discrepant behaviors.

Central Route to Persuasion (1/2) and Self-Validation Hypothesis

Central Route to Persuasion: The process where a person thinks carefully about the communication they see/hear and are influenced by the strength and quality of the argument made. -This can only occur when an individual is attentive, active, critical, and thoughtful of the content from the other person's persuasive message -Studied by Hovland and Colleagues (1949, 1953). They proposed that for a persuasive message to influence a person, the receiver of the message must learn what the message is about and be motivated to accept the message. Steps for central route persuasion to work: 1. The learning or hearing of a message 2. Accepting the message. -People who are HIGH in SELF-ESTEEM or SMART are better able to learn a message, but are LESS likely to ACCEPT the MESSAGE and CHANGE THEIR ATTITUDE. -People who are LOWER in SELF-ESTEEM or NOT SMART are MORE willing to ACCEPT the message, but they may have TROUBLE LEARNING its CONTENT. Neither group is generally more vulnerable to persuasion than the other. 3. ELABORATION, by thinking about and examining the reasonings made in the persuasive message. When we elaborate, it proves the message to be EFFECTIVE if we focus on the favorable things more than the unfavorable. Example: pro con list, a method of elaborating an argument -This can only occur when an individual is attentive, active, critical, and thoughtful of the content from the other person's persuasive message. -What makes a message strong in Central route? EASY to LEARN, MEMORABLE (over forgettable), and evokes POSITIVE AROUSAL. Basically strong arguments are persuasive.

Explain the elements of Festinger's classic version of cognitive dissonance theory and how to reduce dissonance

Cognitive Consistency: People are highly motivated for their belief's, attitudes, and behaviors to work well with each other Cognitive Dissonance Theory, The Classic: Proposed by Festinger (1957). The powerful motivation to maintain one's cognitive consistency (similarity in beliefs, attitudes, behaviors) which can make that person act irrational, sometimes produce behaviors that are unsuitable for any situation. -We all hold cognitions all about ourselves and all about our world including everything we know about our: BELIEFS, ATTITUDES, AND BEHAVIORS. Example of cognitive dissonance: A person is on a diet and says they're going to be healthy but they just ate a whole pizza. (motivation to do something but the person acts against that motivation). -When we KNOW we committed an attitude discrepant behavior we feel more cognitive dissonance -When we ACCIDENTALLY committed an attitude discrepant behavior, we feel less/no dissonance (breaking your diet, but it's on thanksgiving day) -Best way to reduce dissonance is to change you attitude so it lines up with your behavior. -Ways to reduce cognitive dissonance: denying personal responsibility of the behavior, rationalizing that others in one's in-group are hypocrites, and minimize the discrepant behavior in question OTHER WAYS TO REDUCE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: 1. Change your attitude. "I don't really need to be on a diet 2. Change how you recognize the behavior. "I hardly ate any ice cream." 3. Add compatible cognitions/thoughts to the discrepant behavior. "Chocolate ice cream is very nutritious for you." 4. Minimize the significance of the conflict. "I don't care if I'm fat. Life is short." 5. Reduce recognition of choice. "I had no choice, the ice cream was served for a special occasion."

Define evaluative conditioning.

Def: That implicit and explicit attitudes toward neutral objects can form by their association with positive and negative stimuli, even in people who are unconscious of their association between the neutral attitude object and emotion. Examples of evaluative conditioning: 1. political leaders wrap themselves in the national flag to derive benefit from positive associations 2. advertising companies use sexy women, uplifting music, celebrities, nostalgic images, and other positive emotional symbol 3.People prefer humorous ads more than non-humorous.

Research discussing if the source of the message is actually more effective.

Despite being famous or attractive to persuade attitudes, it is quite contingent on the persuasion route chosen. 1. A recepient's level of involvement plays an important role. - When a message is relevant, people pay closer attention, think critically about the message, its arguments, and its implications. -When a source is irrelevant to self, people often take the source at face value and barely examine the info from the message/source. -People FOLLOW the SOURCE when there's low level of involvement (when taking PERIPHERAL) -People when engaged by the MESSAGE are more likely to take (central) 2. TIME can also heal the effects of a bad reputation. People's views for a non-credible source disappeared after 4 weeks and that high credibility sources had decreased and the changes by the low-credibility source had increased. Called the Sleeper Effect -Sleeper Effect: a delayed increase in the persuasive influence from a non-credible source. -Discounting Cue Hypothesis: people quickly discount the arguments made by non-credible communicators, but as time passes people don't account for the message and who said it. Basically we remember the message, but forget the source that message came from. -The SLEEPER EFFECT works if participants DON'T learn who the source is until AFTER receiving the original persuasive message. example: if reading an ad and not knowing it's an ad the info may be more effective 2 weeks later than if they knew it was an ad during the span.

Describe the factors that enable the audience to resist persuasive attempts (psychological reactance, forewarning, counterarguments, attitude bolstering, social validation, negative affect, assertions of confidence, selective exposure, source derogation)

Forewarning and resistance: When people know that someone is trying to change their attitude, people become more likely to resist change. People who are given more time are more resistant than people given less time. Freedman and Sears study were put on notice in 2 ways: 1. They were informed of the position the speaker would take. This is purely cognitive, knowing in advance the speaker's position gives us time to formulate counterarguments 2. They were told that the speaker intended to change their opinion. 7 attitude resistent strategies: 1. Attitude bolstering 2. counter arguing 3. social validation 4. negative affect 5. assertions of confidence 6. selective exposure 7. source derogation Inoculation Hypothesis: Exposure to weak versions of a persuasive attempt/communication increases later resistance to that attempt/communication, like getting small doses of the flu when getting flu shots to fight against it. -Can be used to combat the kinds of attack ads that sometimes win elections. -Simply knowing that someone is trying to persuade us also sparks a motivational reaction as we embrace ourselves to resist the attempt regardless of what position we take. Psychological Reactance: When people think that someone is trying to change their attitude or otherwise manipulate them, a red flag goes up. All of us want to think, feel, and act as we choose. -When we feel those liberties are threatened, we become more motivated to maintain it. -When we feel that freedom slipping away, we try to restore it. -When a communicator comes on too strongly we may react with NEGATIVE ATTITUDE CHANGE by moving in the direction that is the opposite of the one being advocated - even when the speaker takes positions we agree with. -Reactance can trigger resistance to persuasion 2 different ways: 1. When aroused, the person hearing the persuasive communication may simply shut down in a reflex-like way 2. Or when aroused disagree in a more proper manner by QUESTIONING THE CREDIBILITY of the SOURCE and having COUNTERARGUMENTS for their message Wood and Quinn (2003) found that when people are: -told about a future persuasive speech on a topic that is unimportant to them personally, they start to agree before hearing the message so they're not vulnerable to influence. -Yet when people are forewarned about a persuasive message on a topic of personal importance, they feel threatened, create counter arguments to bolster their attitudes.

Message Discrepancy

How discrepant should a message be for it to be effective? Being CAUTIOUS and not pushing/forcing people to change can be influential because you're not forcing the audience to change. -Most change happens with moderate amounts of discrepancy -Some discrepancy is needed to produce a change in attitude -When people are given arguments to read that preach attitudes that are discrepant from their own, the participants spent more time examining the material and see the argument as weak. -People tend to reject persuasive messages they strongly disagree with, but the MORE IMPORTANT the ISSUE, the MORE STUBBORN and RESISTANT we will be to CHANGE.

Alternative self-persuasion attitude change route, IMPRESSION-MANAGEMENT THEORY

Impression-Management Theory: We have a motive to APPEAR CONSISTENT with our attitudes, not a motive to be consistent with our attitudes. -Reasons? -We fix our attitudes and behaviors in a specific way that fits publicly to present ourselves nicely -A motive to not be held responsible for the consequences our actions. -If impression management theory is true then because people care about appearing consistent publicly, COGNITIVE DISSONANCE does not produce change at all, ONLY REPORTED CHANGE. -If participants stated their attitudes anonymously of if they thought the observer can figure out their true feelings through covert/body cue measures, then dissonance won't occur.

Justifying Efforts and Justifying Difficult Decisions for Cognitive Dissonance

JUSTIFYING EFFORTS -We alter our attitudes to justify our suffering when facing a more severe initiation vs. a more mild initiation. -The more time or money a person invests in something, the more ANXIOUS they will feel if the outcome is dissatisfying. We can cope with this by altering our attitudes. Example: people in the severe initiation group felt more justified in their behaviors than those who went through a mild initiation process. -General rule: the more time, money, physical exertion, or pain someone spends on something the more likely they will come to enjoy that activity. Example: hazing in frats, sports, and military. Also harder a person works in therapy the better they will become later. JUSTIFYING DIFFICULT DECISIONS -A decision is difficult when the various actions you can take are equally desirable. -According to Cognitive Dissonance, people rationalize their actions by exaggerating everything positive of their decision and exaggerate all the negatives to the unchosen decisions. -When people make a decision they stay committed to their decision to prevent post-decision dissonance, so people convince themselves that their decision was correct.

How does the Need for Cognition influence the audience receptiveness to persuasion?

Need for Cognition (NC): a personality factor that distinguishes people on how much they enjoy effortful cognitive activities. -People HIGH in NC like to work on hard problems, search for clues, make fine distinctions, and analyze situations. The message should be attractive and aligned with relevant information. While low ppl focus on peripheral cues. -The HIGHER the need for cognition, the more the participants thought about the material, the better they recalled it, and the more persuaded they were by the strength of its arguments. -People LOW in the need for cognition are persuaded by peripheral cues, such as a speaker's reputation and physical appearance, the noticeable reactions of the audience, and a positive mood state. Also, people can be mindlessly influenced by a REPUTABLE source even when their arguments are weak.

Need for evaluation and dispositional attitudes

People differ in terms of their tendency in general to like or dislike things, which are -1. Dispositional Attitudes: people's tendency to like or dislike different things, depending on the person. Example: How we feel about japanese? Do we like Netflix? We all have different attitudes. -2. People differ in how quick and strong they are at forming reactions to something. -Examples: Do you form opinions easily? Do you tend to have strong likes and dislikes? (if u do then ur high in the need) -People who are HIGH in the NEED are more likely to form quick and strong evaluations are more likely to view their daily activities in a highly judgement, more opinionated way, could be positive or negative on a wide range of social and moral issues.

The Peripheral Route to Persuasion, Attitude Embodiment effects

Peripheral Route to Persuasion: People don't really think through the issues they are presented so they respond with little effort on the basis of superficial peripheral cues. People make evaluations off cognitive heuristics (rules of thumb) -If a communicator has a good reputation, speaks fluently, or writes well, we will see that message as more correct. -Also, when a communicator is deemed to be HONEST, we think less critically of the content in his communication. -People often CHANGE their SUPPORT because they know that an argument has a MAJORITY of support. -Attitude Embodiment Effects: People seem to influenced by factors that are irrelevant to attitudes (cues from our own body movement). -Studies on embodiment: People seem to influenced by factors that are irrelevant to attitudes (cues from our own body movement). In a study individuals were coaxed into either nodding their heads up and down or shaking their heads side to side to indicate yes or no by just bodily movements while having headphones on and listening to an editorial. Those who were coaxed into nodding their heads up and down were more likely to agree with the argument than those nodding their heads side to side.

Alternative Self-Persuasion attitude change routes, SELF-AFFIRMATION THEORY

Self-Affirmation Theory: It's a two step process Step 1: doing an attitude discrepant behavior, exerting wasteful effort, or making hard decisions creates a perpetuating motion of AFFIRMATION which revalidates the integrity/truth of their self-concept (their sum beliefs of self). Step 2: Revalidation can happen in many ways, not just by fixing our dissonance. Prediction: If the need for dissonance situations is a threat to one's self-esteem/self-concept, then people who have the chance to assert themselves in different ways will not suffer dissonance Example: Give a person in Festinger's study a chance to donate $1, help a victim in distress, or solve a problem, and self-concept should be helped and boosted without need to justify what they have done.

Self-Monitoring regarding audience reception towards persuasion.

Self-Monitoring: -High self-monitors focus are more responsive to messages that promise desirable social IMAGES, like beer, soft drinks, cars, or smartphones, where often the image is the message. High self-monitors preferred energy drinks that had image-oriented names -Low Self-Monitors were influenced more by information-oriented appeals. Low self-monitors preferred energy drinks with a self-descriptive name.

Consider alternate routes to self-persuasion such as those described by SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY

Self-Perception Theory: Proposed by Darryl Bem (1965) he said we infer our own feelings by observing ourselves and the situations of our own behavior. -This is a cool, calm, and rational process where people interpret unidentifiable feelings by watching and observing our own behavior in that setting where the ambiguity takes place. -SLIGHTLY DISCREPANT BEHAVIOR PRODUCES CHANGE THROUGH SELF-PERCEPTION. -HIGHLY DISCREPANT BEHAVIOR PRODUCES ATTITUDE CHANGE THROUGH COGNITIVE DISSONANCE -Bem said people can have the same behavioral info as the participants experiencing the displeasure but not experience dissonance/the same personal conflict. -According to Bem, dissonance-like effects can be obtained without physiological arousal -SLIGHTLY DISCREPANT BEHAVIOR PRODUCES CHANGE THROUGH SELF-PERCEPTION. -

Self-Validation Hypothesis, relative to central route processing

Self-Validation Hypothesis: we don't just elaborate on a persuasive message with positive or negative thoughts. People evaluate the validity of their thoughts towards the attitude object. -The thoughts we hold confidently will have a strong impact on our attitudes, predicted by Dual-Process Model of Persuasion. -If we have LOW CONFIDENCE in an attitude object but the persuasive MESSAGE is from a KNOWLEDGABLE expert and whether they ADVOCATE for one position or the other can INFLUENCE the CONFIDENCE we have in our own THOUGHTS and our ATTITUDES.

Explain Cooper and Fazio's "new look" of cognitive dissonance and how it expands upon the original theory. Discuss the key steps in cognitive dissonance (negative consequences, personal responsibility, choice, foreseeable harm, physiological arousal, attributing the arousal to one's behavior).

Vicarious Dissonance: when a person disagrees with someone in their group that person will feel discomfort and will change their attitudes so they're not discrepant. Also, when someone observes inconsistent behaviors from others they identify with, then their attitudes will adjust/change. -Motivation to reduce dissonance can result in how it alters our perceptions of visual reality. Joel Cooper and Russell Fazio's (1984) "New Look" at Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Under specific conditions will cognitive dissonance occur. There are 4 steps need for the AROUSAL and REDUCTION of DISSONANCE: Step 1. The discrepant behavior performed creates UNWANTED NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES. Example: students were coaxed into unknowingly taking part in a painfully boring experiment. -Arousal can cause dissonance to occur even when people's actions are consistent with their attitude Step 2. Feeling PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for the unwanted negative outcomes. Two factors make up someone feeling personally responsible: - FREEDOM of CHOICE, when people had no choice other than to act the only way they could there was no dissonance and no attitude changes. Example: If Festinger coerced (pressured) the participants into raving about the experiment, the participants would NOT feel the need to justify their behavior by changing their attitudes to be consistent. -FORSEEABLE, the possible negative consequences of a person actions were predictable. When the outcome was not anticipated, no dissonance and no attitude change occurred. When the possible negative consequence was predicable, then Step 3. PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL, when people freely chose an attitude-discrepant task they were the MOST aroused and felt the MOST uncomfortable vs people who were told to do the task. Step 4. The person must make an ATTRIBUTION to the arousal that occurred prior. -But if you believe some "EXTERNAL FACTOR" could have caused the dissonance, then attitude change won't occur nor will dissonance occur. -Then attitude change occurs.

Define what is meant by "attitudes."

a positive, negative, or mixed evaluation of an object that is expressed at some level of intensity. Love, like, dislike, hate, admire, and detest are the words that people use to describe their attitudes -Self-esteem is an attitude we hold about ourselves -attraction is a positive attitude we hold about another person. -prejudice is a negative attitude often towards groups of people -Attitude formation process is often quick, automatic, and "implicit" - like a reflex action. -Why attitudes are important? Researchers have found that attitudes serve several important functions: such as enabling us to judge quickly and without much thought whether something we first encounter is good or bad, helpful or hurtful, and to be sought or avoided. -What's the downside to attitudes? Having preexisting attitudes can lead us to be close-minded, bias how we interpret new information, and make us more resistant to change.