psych 340 homework 8

What does research suggest about the influence of physical attractiveness? Does it have an impact on our routine everyday actions (e.g., whether to assist strangers who ask favors)? What about actions that are relatively important to people (e.g., which politician they vote for)?​

Attractiveness seems to have an impact both on small things and on things that are relatively important to people.

Suppose that Frank has relatively low self-esteem, but that his friend Omar has relatively high self-esteem. And suppose that the two friends are approached by a local political group, which attempts to educate them about its causes and persuade them to sign several petitions. Given the research on self-esteem and persuasion, what can we expect?​

Omar will be more open to talking with the group, but Frank should be more inclined to sign on with them.

Suppose that two political candidates—Candidate A and Candidate B—run a series of negative advertisements about one another. Research suggests that

both candidates are likely to be rated more negatively than they were before

Individuals who are high in self-monitoring are more likely than others to be persuaded by ads that focus on a product's

brand imagine

How can a person defend against social influence techniques based on capturing and disrupting attention?​

by attempting to pause the interaction and eliminate distractions

Suppose that you are having a garage sale, and have decided to negotiate with buyers rather than display fixed prices. Your technique is to quote an astronomically high price (e.g., $500 for a broken exercise bicycle), and then "bargain" by coming down to a lower, more reasonable price. You hope that the lower price will then appear to be supremely fair. You are apparently using the

door-in-the-face technique

Research suggests that there are two main factors that make a source credible:

expertise and trustworthiness

A large furniture store puts an advertisement in the Sunday paper stating that a sale will occur on a holiday weekend and only for that weekend. Which social influence strategy is being used?​

fast-approaching deadline

A fear-based message is most likely to be persuasive to someone who

feels vulnerable

In one study, one group of homeowners was asked if they would put a small sign on their doors that said, "BE A SAFE DRIVER." Another group of homeowners was not asked to display this sign. Then, a few weeks later, everyone in both groups was asked if a large, poorly lettered sign stating, "DRIVE CAREFULLY," could be displayed in their yard. Most people who had received and granted the first request were quite willing to have the larger sign in their yard. In contrast, those who had not had the first request with the small sign tended to say "no" to displaying the larger sign. This study was about which social influence technique?​

foot-in-the-door

In one well-known social psychological experiment, research participants were brought into a dark room where an experimenter projected dots of light. These dots of light appeared to move slightly as they were projected—though exactly how far they moved the participants couldn't say. When asked to estimate the distance that the light traveled, participants tended to look to others in the room, and ask them what they thought. All of the participants thus ended up giving somewhat similar answers—thereby establishing

group norms

Some research has examined the relative effectiveness—across collectivist and individualist cultures—of group-oriented messages (e.g., "Share this breath-freshening experience") versus individual-oriented messages (e.g., "Treat yourself to a breath-freshening experience"). This research has found that the ____

group-oriented messages are more persuasive to people from collectivist cultures, and individual-oriented messages more persuasive to people from individualist cultures

Meg is an extremely attractive woman. Because of this, people often expect her to be very smart and pleasant as well. Thus, Meg likely benefits because of the ____ effect of her physical attractiveness.​

halo

In one well-known social psychological experiment, research participants were brought into a dark room where an experimenter projected dots of light. These dots of light appeared to move slightly as they were projected—though exactly how far they moved the participants couldn't say. When asked to estimate the distance that the light traveled, participants tended to look to others in the room, and ask them what they thought (not because they wanted to gain others' approval, but because they assumed that others knew more than they did). It would therefore be MOST accurate to say that participants' final estimates were based on

informational influence

Samuela never pays attention in class or studies, and tends to fail most of the tests she takes in school. However, she constantly looks for opportunities to cheat during tests; she looks at her neighbors' answers and then writes down what she sees, assuming that her neighbors know the test material better than she does. In these cases, Samuela's test answers are based on

informational influence

Private acceptance of a belief tends to be facilitated by ____ rather than by ____

informational influence; normative influence​

People who are told that they are "generous souls" are more likely to donate money to charity than people who are not. Similarly, people who are told that they are "stylish and cutting edge" are more likely to be persuaded to buy new trendy items in a store. Salespeople who capitalize on this technique are using the

labeling technique

The so-called ____ is based on consistency, in which one assigns a tag to an individual and then requests a favor that is consistent with that tag

labeling technique

Carlos is a freelance graphic designer. Last month, a client hired him to design a website, at a flat rate of $1000. Carlos met with the client numerous times to sketch out the project, and engaged in a fair amount of background research. Just as he was getting ready to sign a contract for the job, the client mentioned, "Oh, by the way, I also need you to design three catalog covers under your contract." Even though Carlos would never design a website AND three catalog covers for just $1000, he had already invested so much time and energy in this client that he ended up just saying yes to everything. Carlos told his friends that he was "tricked" by the client. Social psychologists would say that he was a victim of the

low-ball technique

The ____ is based on commitment, wherein the influencer first gets a person to comply with a seemingly low-cost request and only later reveals hidden additional costs to the person

low-ball technique

Communications that are fear-based (e.g., messages about the dangers of smoking) are not always effective. They tend to be most effective when they elicit ____, and least effective when they elicit ____

moderate levels of fear; low or high levels of fear

Asch's line-judging studies on conformity suggests that people engage in normative conformity ____ when in the presence of larger groups (groups of three to seven people) as opposed to smaller groups (groups of two to three people).​

more often

People sometimes do the exact opposite of what someone is trying to persuade them to do. For example, when parents tell their children not to look in certain drawers or cabinets, children sometimes take a sneak peek into these areas just because they were told not to. In social psychology, this effect is known as "the boomerang effect," or

negative attitude change

Social psychologists distinguish between two forms of social influence

normative and informational

Suppose that two political candidates—Candidate A and Candidate B—run a series of negative advertisements about one another. Research suggests that

people are less likely to say they will vote

Vince is trying to pick up a woman at a bar. Instead of approaching her with a boring "standard line" (e.g., "Can I buy you a drink?"), he tries something new. He asks, "Can I buy you a diamond?" Even though he has no intention of buying the woman a diamond (at least not right away), he hopes that this will capture her attention. Social psychologists would say that Vince is using the ____ social influence technique.​

pique

Suppose that you are on a committee that is deciding how to allocate the yearly budget. And suppose that many people on the committee seem to just be "going along with the crowd" rather than expressing their opinions or concerns. Based on Asch's line-judging research on conformity, you can encourage more dissent and debate in the group by

playing "devil's advocate" and disagree with the majority view

The tendency to assume that others know more than you do in a crisis or ambiguous situation, when in reality, no one knows anything, is called

pluralistic influence

Distracting people can be a useful strategy when trying to make a persuasive argument, largely because it

prevents them from thinking of counterarguments

Compared to persuasion via the peripheral route, persuasion via the central route

produces stronger and more durable attitude change

When people believe that someone is trying to persuade them of something (and thus take away their freedom of choice), they experience a negative emotional response called

psychological reactance

The that's-not-all technique operate based on the principle of

reciprocal concessions and a sense of personal obligation

Suppose that your friend Victor gives you a bottle of red wine for your birthday, and tells you that only 100 bottles of that wine exist in the world. Suddenly the wine seems very important and special. This would seem to be due to the ____ principle.​

scarcity

In general, messages that are highly image-conscious tend to appeal to people who are high in

self-monitoring

Suppose that you are a prosecutor and you want to ensure that the accused is convicted of the most serious charges possible. Given what is known about the role of fear in persuasion, which strategy is likely to be most effective?​

showing jurors how easily they could become victims of similar crimes

According to the text, one good way of defending oneself against persuasive endeavors that are based on the principles of commitment and consistency is to

state your personal beliefs publicly prior to the attempted persuasion

Social psychologists distinguish between two major routes to persuasion: central and peripheral. As described in the textbook, these terms are more or less interchangeable with the terms

systematic and heuristic processing, respectively

In one study, research participants were asked to discuss the case of supposed juvenile delinquent named Johnny Rocco. Each discussion group consisted of five real participants and three confederates—a "mode" confederate (who adopted the majority viewpoint), a "deviant" confederate (who held extreme views that were different from the majority viewpoint), and a "slider" (who started out extreme, but eventually adopted the majority viewpoint). When participants were asked, at the end of the discussion, to "vote one group member out of the group," who was MOST often voted out?​

the "deviant" confederate

Which social influence technique is based on commitment and consistency?​

the foot-in-the-door technique

If people are motivated to process a persuasive message, then

they will if they are able to do so

Research suggests that experts are NOT persuasive unless they are also

trustworthy

Research suggests that a number of conditions must be met in order for a person to process a persuasive message using the central route (rather than the peripheral route). What is one of those conditions?​

​The person must be motivated to process the message carefully.

In some military prisons, soldiers use, among other tactics, both sleep deprivation and repeated exposure to annoying music, in an effort to "break" prisoners' resistance and convince them to answer questions. These soldiers are apparently operating under the assumption that ____ makes people more yielding.​

​a reduction of stockpiled resources

How can individuals defend themselves against social influence techniques that are based on reciprocation?​

​by being aware of the so-called favor and not feel obligated to repay it

Compared to others, people with a strong need for cognition tend to be

​more persuaded by strong arguments but less persuaded by weak arguments

The sleeper effect refers to the finding that, over time,

​people tend to forget where (or from whom) they heard a persuasive argument or piece of information

To avoid advertisement wear-out, one should use

​repetition-with-variation

Which pair of social influence techniques are both based on the principle of reciprocation?​

​the door-in-the-face technique and the that's not all technique

People are more likely to engage in central processing than peripheral processing when

​the topic at hand is of personal relevance

Suppose that you are a tenth-grade teacher, with an upcoming course module on the health risks of unprotected sex. Which individual would probably be the best guest speaker for your course—in terms of their ability to persuade students to act responsibly and actually impact students' behavior?​

A high school dropout who became pregnant and contracted an STD at the age of 16, and who now sorely regrets her irresponsible sexual behavior