chapter 8 psych 201 uiuc

The logic and strength of a politician's position will matter the most when voters are

engaging in central-route processing.

Attractive or credible speakers are more likely to be persuasive if the audience is

engaging in peripheral-route processing.

Juanita heard an argument in favor of increasing taxes in her local municipality. At the end of the presentation, she learned that the argument had been generated by a high school dropout who didn't even live in the same city she did. At that time, she disregarded the message and was not persuaded. According to the sleeper effect, how is Juanita likely to feel about the proposal one month later?

She will feel more favorably toward the argument than she did at first.

Wendy Wood (1982) exposed two groups of students in favor of protecting the environment to messages advocating less environmental protection. What were her findings?

The students in favor of environmental protection, who were also very knowledgeable about environmental issues, were more resistant to the anti-environmental protection messages.

Research suggests that negative political advertisements (that is, those that aggressively critique the opponent) have which of the following effects?

They make people less likely to participate in the election at all.

Timothy hears a vivid story about a woman who abuses the welfare system for 25 years. Dick hears that story, but then also reads a short article with statistics that prove that the vast majority of people don't abuse welfare. Who is more likely to be in favor of ending the welfare program?

They will be equally likely to want to end welfare, because vivid information has more of an impact than statistical facts.

Kevin had no interest in, or knowledge of, the AIDS crisis in Africa. It seemed like an issue that had very little relevance to his own life. For his political science class, however, he was required to hear a visiting campus speaker whose talk was all about the need to increase U.S. financial support to Africa to combat AIDS. According to the elaboration likelihood model, which of the following aspects of the talk would be most likely to persuade Kevin to sign a petition advocating increasing U.S. financial support to Africa?

a glitzy videotaped message in which a popular rock star, movie actor, and religious leader all voice support for giving more money to Africa

Which of the following people would be most susceptible to a persuasive message that contains high-quality arguments?

a man with a high need for cognition

People who are heavy TV watchers (more than five hours per day) are more likely to overestimate the extent to which society is violent and the probability that they themselves will be victims of crime. This is due to

agenda control.

Presenting weak versions of the opposition's message to people and helping them develop strong arguments refuting the opposition is called

attitude inoculation.

To create a high-quality persuasive message, you should

explicitly refute opposition arguments as long as your audience is well-informed.

A referee at an American football game issues a decision against the Red team and in favor of the Blue team. A controversy ensues. Keeping in mind that all the fans saw the same event, the selective attention and selective evaluation tendencies of attitudes would predict that

fans of the Blue team would think the referee was right, but fans of the Red team would think the referee was wrong.

Research on the effects of media advertisements suggests all of the following EXCEPT that

media have significant direct and long-term effects on our attitudes

Imagine that you are trying to listen to a political candidate's speech detailing why you should vote for her. During her speech, your friend keeps talking to you and, as if that weren't enough, there is construction noise in the room next door. Both of these factors make it very difficult for you to pay attention to the candidate's speech. According to the elaboration likelihood model (let's assume it is working in isolation from other social factors), under which of these conditions would you be most likely to vote for the candidate?

if the candidate is attractive, regardless of the quality of her arguments

When listening to a careful discussion and debate covering the pros and cons of a given issue, research suggests that people who are on the "pro" side of the issue will

selectively attend to only the "pro" arguments and not to the "con" arguments.

According to the thought polarization hypothesis, making a public statement in favor of a proposal makes a person more resistant to counterattitudinal persuasive attempts because

such public commitment usually comes as a result of more careful thought and elaboration on an issue.

Using fear in persuasive messages can be effective if

the fear is moderate and a clear recommendation on how to avoid the fear-arousing situation is included.

A major company produces two commercials, one for its audiences in Korea and the other for its audiences in the United States. The first ad stresses the way in which the product will improve the lives of an entire family, while the second ad stresses the advantages the product offers for one person. Which commercial should be aired in Korea?

the first ad

Petty and his colleagues conducted a study testing the elaboration likelihood model. They had college sophomores read arguments in favor of implementing a policy to require a comprehensive exam for all graduating seniors at their university. The exam was slated to happen either in the next academic year or ten years later. This independent variable was designed to manipulate

the likelihood that participants would engage in central route processing.

The likelihood of attitude change can depend on the confidence with which we hold the thoughts. Feeling confident about our thoughts makes it more likely we will be swayed in their direction rather than paying attention to information that contradicts them. This is

the self-validation hypothesis.