COM Persuasion Midterm

What is a focus group?

Quantitative attitude measurement through random sample surveys have tremendous benefits in accurately assessing the frequency of attitude positions and their relationships to other factors.

Inoculation theory uses a biomedical concept as a metaphor. Explain what this is. How does the inoculation process work in persuasive settings?

The idea here, using a biomedical metaphor, is that by exposing someone to a bit of a message the persuader does NOT want them to accept, with appropriate rebuttals, the persuader can "immunize" the person from it. It is a way to prevent supporters from switching sides in the face of a persuasive message. By letting the person know ahead of time the arguments the opponent is likely to use, and providing a counterargument, the person may be able to resist that message and to resist pressure.

How does an opinion relate to a belief system? Give an example.

The opinion is the public expression of some aspect of a belief system. Without the expression, it is not available for other people to perceive and respond to.

Which is generally more linked to behavior, a general or specific attitude? Why?

General vs. specific General attitudes are related to a fairly abstract class of attitude objects, i.e. an attitude toward religion. A specific attitude is related to a concrete specific act or behavior: The more specific the attitude the more predictive of behavior. A generally positive attitude toward religion will not predict with any consistency whether you say grace before meals or attend religious services. Specific attitudes toward saying grace and attending services will be much more predictive of those behaviors.

How do the following concepts relate to central and peripheral route processing?

.motivation to process — the more motivation, created by involvement with the issue, the more likely central route processing.With little motivation or perceived need, people may pay more attention to the peripheral route messages. More motivation/involvement may result in more desire for more "weighty" information, resulting in the central route. ability to process — the more ability, the more likely central route processing is. Without the ability (background knowledge, experience, ability to understand jargon), regardless of motivation, person may have limited ability to process centrally, leaving the peripheral route the only route available. Whether information is processed centrally or peripherally may depend upon the ability of the person to process it. Ex.: A car has "double overhead cam turbocharged, ecoboost superhighoutput torque with synchronized reverse ratio efficiency engineering." stakes or costs of the decision — The more important the decision (higher cost, higher stakes), the more likely central route processing, all other things being equal. When a decision is not particularly important or involves little investment or risk, central route processing may be less likely. Differences between decision alternatives... Processing route may depend upon the nature of the alternatives for choice. If there is little difference among alternatives in terms of function, cost, and risk involved, peripheral route processing may be more likely. need for cognition —Come people like to think more than other people, they like to solve puzzles, get involved in problems solving, and think long and hard about difficult things. Others, are less interested in this. This factor is known as Need for Cognition (NFC), and it is not the same as intelligence. High NFC people pay more attention to persuasive messages, study arguments more closely, demand more and better evidence. They are central route processors. Low NFC people are more likely to pay attention to such factors as source credibility, attractiveness of source, and celebrity endorsements. They are peripheral route processors.

What is a belief system?

A belief system - a more or less complex framework or organization of beliefs, organized but not necessarily logical.

What is Perloff's definition of persuasion?

A symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to change their attitudes or behaviors regarding an issue through the transmission of a message in an atmosphere of free choice.

I gave a list of processes that might be considered types of persuasion. What are these? Which on is the one we most frequently think of as evidence of persuasion but that probably happens least often?

An attempt to influence A conscious effort to influence another person, assuming an understanding that the other party has a mental state that is susceptible to change. Persuasion is a specific type of social influence, in which one party is affected by another person or persons. The difference is that persuasion involves a purposeful conscious effort. People persuade themselves Persuasion is voluntary, in that it doesn't involve force or coercion. Individuals decide, at some level, to accept the information and arguments made by someone else. Involves the transmission of a message persuasion occurs via the transmission of a message from one party to another, and is often dependent upon the content, style, and presentation of the message. Note that messages can have persuasive effects even though they themselves were not necessarily created to persuade. EX. News coverage, films, even tv programs. Such messages may be persuasive, but under Perloff's definition, are not, strictly speaking, persuasion. Requires free choice our definition of persuasion requires that the persuasive message maintain the receiver's freedom of choice, that they are free to reject the message or critically analyze it. It avoids force, threat, and restriction of autonomy. If you make a choice contrary to your wishes as a result of a threat (real or perceived) you have not been truly persuaded.

What is an attitude dysfunction? Give an example.

An attitude may serve a useful function, but also create problems or issues in different way, for self or others. Ex.:A person who buys an expensive European car to express values, may go too deeply in debt, or sacrifice other goals (not having the money to drive it anywhere).

changing the nature of the expression of the belief system (opinion)

An opinion is simply the expression of some aspect of a belief system. Until it is expressed in some fashion, it can have little impact in the world. Changing the way people express their opinions can lead to a radical change in the perception of public opinion. In other words, there need not be a change in individual opinions to lead to a change in public opinion, if different groups of people are provoked either to speak up or fall silent, to vote or stay home. This may be related to changes in commitment to belief systems. linking particular labels or symbols to a particular attitude object

What are some examples of how fairly simple wording changes can completely change the way people respond to a question.

Another example: Is it OK to smoke while praying? (90% NO) Is it OK to pray while smoking? (90% YES) And another: Do you think the United States should not allow public speeches against democracy? 21%: should allow 62%: should not allow Do you think the United States should forbid public speeches against democracy? 39% should not forbid 46% should forbid

What are the components of the Theory of Reasoned Action? What is it trying to explain?

Attitude toward the behavior (Recycling is good). Recycling helps protect the environment. (Descriptive Belief) Protecting the environment is important. (Prescriptive Belief) Subjective norm (Other people wish I would recycle.) My roommate wants us to recycle. What my roommate thinks is important to me. Behavioral intention (I plan to start recycling.) Because I believe that recycling will help protect the environment, that protecting the environment is good, that my roommate wants to recycle, and what he/she thinks is important to me, I intend to start recycling. Perceived Behavioral Control (I can do this) I have the ability to do this; people like me do this all the time. The behavior itself - a specific action in a particular situation I sorted my recycling and set it out on the curb.

Define and differentiate the concepts of attitude, belief, opinion and value.

Attitude: a learned, global evaluation of an object (person, place, or issue) that influences thought and action. Belief -- Attitudes are built out of beliefs. A belief is a proposition or hypothesis or expectation about how the world works or how it is. Values - Central, important beliefs, often/usually prescriptive in nature, that relate to what we think is good and bad in the world, right or wrong, etc.

What is accessibility theory? In what situations is it particularly applicable? Give an example.

Attitudes will be more likely to guide behavior when those attitudes are mentally accessible, or "top of mind." If I am regularly "reminded" of my attitude (that I like or dislike something and why), it will be more cognitively available and "activated" from memory easily at the moment of a decision. Much media advertising, especially commercials that say little concrete about a product's characteristics or benefits, may be aimed simply at keeping the product "top of mind" and surrounded by pleasant associations.

You should also avoid an emotionally charged term or word in a survey question. What are these? Give an example.

Avoid emotionally charged words and phrases, particular those that connote extremeness (i.e. radical, drastic)

Explain balance theory. Give an example. It is said that we deal with balance theory through denial, bolstering, differentiation, and integration. Explain these.

Balance theory: Person 1, Person 2, and an object/issue/person. -- We prefer consistency among the three, for example, if both Person 1 and Person 2 feel the same about the object, issue, or person, then it is consistent for Person 1 and Person 2 to like each other. -- Often, however, Person 1 and Person 2 may feel differently about the issue, object or person, in which case, stress is placed upon their relationship. In the case of friends, it can be hard to like something that your friend does not like. (see page 86 of the text). Depending upon the issue, object or person, this can put a strain on the friendship, perhaps even ending it. Or one person may adjust the attitude to become more like the other person. We often avoid this change through processes of: Denial -- simply forgetting it or pretending it doesn't exist. Bolstering - adding information and beliefs to the relevant belief system to reinforce the attitude Differentiation - agreeing to disagree Integration - finding a way to resolve or reduce the appearance of difference

Some questions are affected by social desirability. What is this? Give an example.

Be careful about questions affected by social desirability. (How likely are you to vote in the governor's election?) It can take the form of over-reporting "good behavior" or under-reporting "bad", or undesirable behavior.

Persuasive messages are sometimes said to be "deceptive but true." What does this mean? Give an example.

Cambels soup ad from the 1960s', the photos of the soup didn't show the ingredients clearly in the pictures because the veggies would sink to the bottom. They filled the soup with marbles to get the veggies to sit at the top of the soup.

Explain the differences between central route and peripheral route processing in the ELM. Which would involve more elaboration? Why? Provide examples to illustrate both routes.

Central route processing, involving information and logic. Content is designed and presented to lead to careful consideration and thinking. Peripheral route processing, involving background, style, context and production characteristic, such as attractive source, nice music, interesting graphics, and visual content. Content is designed and presented in order to engage the senses and get attention. Persuasion through the central route is thought to be more effective and long lasting. Ex.: A car advertisement focusing on gas mileage, warranty, cost and reliability would be processed via the central route. A car ad focusing on style, image, lifestyle, and "coolness" would be processed via the peripheral route.

Belief systems vary according to how central they are, how broad or wide ranging they are and how integrated they are. What do these characteristics mean?

Central-peripheral - the more a belief has implications for other beliefs, the more central it is... religion is a good example. Range - the breadth of the belief system. How much ground it covers. Related to but not the same as the central-peripheral dimension. How many beliefs there are in it. If a person has a very wide ranging belief system about politics, he or she will, first, have a very broad base of political knowledge (beliefs about what has happened in the world and how the political world is organized). Integration -- The degree to which individual beliefs are in communication with each other. The degree to which there is a strain towards consistency among the beliefs.

The critical concept in inoculation theory is the counterargument. What is a counterargument? Give an example of one, and the context in which it might be used. What is it supposed to accomplish?

Counterargument -- the reason to reject the message. "Counterarguing the oppositional message in one's own mind should lead to strengthening of initial attitude and increased resistance to persuasion."

There are descriptive beliefs and prescriptive beliefs. What are these? How do they combine to form an attitude? Give an example.

Descriptive - this is what something is Prescriptive - and that is good or bad, right or wrong. Free trade leads to lower prices for U.S. consumers. Lower prices are good. Free trade leads to the export of U.S. jobs overseas. The loss of U.S. jobs is bad. At least one descriptive belief + at least one prescriptive belief = an attitude

How does direct experience relate to the attitude-behavior link? Give an example.

Direct experience Attitudes related to direct experience are much more likely to be tightly connected to behavior. Having a family member die of a cigarette-related illness may make one implacably anti-tobacco. Being mostly unhurt in a horrible car crash because of a seatbelt and airbag may make you consider safety features and ratings as the most important factor in buying a new car. Another person might agree that safety is important, but cost and styling are at least as important. Having direct experience may relate to social judgment theory in that it creates the ego involvement that affects your willingness to accept others' opinions that may disagree with your perspectives.

Explain the difference between implicit and explicit attitudes. Give examples

Explicit attitudes - Those that we understand and are aware of. Implicit attitudes - Below-the-surface, almost subconscious, attitudes. We have limited awareness of them, don't intend to act upon them, but sometimes can't control their appearance because we almost don't know they are there. Ex.: Much racial prejudice may fall within the implicit area, leading to a knee-jerk negative response to a member of a racial or ethnic group which is then controlled. Implicit attitudes may be detected in fleeting non-verbal responses and may become more explicit in moments of stress.

According to Aristotle, people could be persuaded via ethos, pathos and logos. What do these terms mean? What are modern applications? Of the three which may be most important? Why?

His concept of ethos (character of the persuader) at the middle of his theory is easily related to the ethics of the persuader and the message. Ethos or the ethical appeal, means to convince an audience of the author's credibility or character. Pathos is the form of persuasion based on emotion. Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason.

Explain how a very ideological belief system operates. Give an example.

Ideological people tend to have highly integrated belief systems to which they are highly committed and which are very resistant to change. These are "top-down" belief system organizations in which the higher level principles and values direct attitudes toward specific issues and situations. The ideology is a lens through which events are interpreted. EX. Politics

How does ethical persuasion maintain free choice? Give an example.

It preserves freedom of choice Allows people to exercise their own powers of critical thinking and logic. Is the best (only?) alternative to violence.

Explain and give an example of each of the functions of attitudes: Knowledge, Utilitarian, Social adjustive, Social identity, Value expressive, Ego defensive

Knowledge — Ex.: After a death, particularly an unexpected and inexplicable one: "He is in a better place." Utilitarian — Ex.: Having a positive and optimistic attitude will make others like us more and give us what we want. Social adjustive — Ex.:Going along to get along, adopting at least the appearance of attitudes to fit in with valued peer groups. Social identity — Ex.: Owning a European car (at least aspiring to) rather than an American or Japanese car to express one's values, lifestyle and taste. (Or Mac vs. PC) Value expressive — Ex.:If you value honesty, your attitude toward a cheater will be quite negative. You may get your nose pierced, against your parents' wishes, to display your independence. Ego defensive — Ex.: Someone with doubts or confusion about his/her own sexuality may adopt hostile and homophobic attitudes to avoid the issue completely (and deflect others' attention).

What is the core idea of the functional theory of attitudes?

Knowledge: They provide us with a way to understand things that happen to us, especially the confusing things and ambiguous things. They help us make sense of the world. Utilitarian: They help us obtain rewards and avoid punishment. Social adjustive: They help us get along with others. If we display the "right" attitudes we more easily "fit in." Social Identity: They display who we are or wish to be to ourselves and others. Value expressive: Attitudes reflect, display and reinforce our values. Ego Defensive: Attitudes can protect us from ourselves, from acknowledging painful or difficult knowledge, particularly self knowledge or knowledge with which we are highly ego involved. Relevance to persuasion:To understand someone's attitude, it is useful to know why they hold it and its function for them. A different sort of persuasive appeal, based on a different attitude function, would work with different people.

I presented two important techniques for measuring attitudes, the Likert scale and the semantic differential. Provide examples of each. They have somewhat different purposes in terms of what they measure about attitudes. Explain.

Likert scale (After psychologist Rensis Likert): Attitudes are measured on a continuum with (usually) five points: Strongly agree, somewhat agree, Neutral, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree. Usually, several different items (questions) are developed to measure the same concept, or different aspect of the same concept. -- This assumes that the mental "distance" between the points on this scale are equal. -- And that each of the items is, indeed, related to the concept. -- Items are then summed or combined in some way to give an overall "score." Semantic differential This seeks, not to assess agreement or disagreement with a statement regarding an object, but with the meanings that different people have regarding a particular issue. It seeks to understand the descriptive and prescriptive beliefs people hold about an attitude object. It can be useful in understanding the meanings people hold for symbols, words and concepts. A concept label is presented, with respondents asked to rate it on a set of continua, defined by opposite adjectives, usually with seven points on each continua (scale), for example: good/bad; pleasant/unpleasant; safe/dangerous. See page 160 of Perloff for an example.

What is the role of norms, roles and scripts in determining if someone acts consistently with their attitude? Give an example of each.

Norms and roles: A person may dislike a co-worker intensely, but not act that way, because of norms regulating work place behavior. Scripts: Thus, I might say to a person with a clipboard coming to me on a corner to ask me to support hungry children in developing countries, "I'm not interested." In reality, I am quite favorable to such donations, but the situation calls up a script that I enact without thought.

What is an open-ended question? What problems do they pose?

Open-ended qualitative questions: What is your opinion about X? Simply asking "Why do you feel that way?" after a Likert scale brings the chance to capture qualitative data. Drawback: Adds to the time involved and can be difficult to analyze and make sense of.

In the Cognitive Response Approach, what is forewarning? What does this allow recipients of the "forewarning" to do?

People are warned ahead of time that they will receive a persuasive message. As a result, people: Generate counterarguments to use to combat the message when they do receive it. Messages thus become less persuasive when received, since people are prepared for them.

What is a "vulnerable" person? Give an example of such a person. Is it fair/ethical to take advantage of someone's vulnerability?

People who can't look after their own interests since they aren't fully autonomous. Children; mentally ill and disabled; some of the elderly; poor, illiterate and uneducated people; people under extreme emotional distress (the "decisionally impaired"). Any of us can be or become "vulnerable."

What does the concept of hypocrisy mean? Why may we sometimes be too harsh in charging someone with hypocrisy? When might it really apply? Give an example.

People who do not act consistently with their publicly stated attitudes are often called hypocrites. Ex.:The married "family values" politician who turns out to have had affairs with women other than his wife. However, such charges of hypocrisy can be overstated and sometimes unfair, because: They assume a level of consistency and certainty in our belief systems (lack of ambivalence) that few of us can maintain and that would not be healthy or functional anyway. They ignore the fact that while attitudes are abstract mental states, we act in the "real" world with all the pressures of the situation pushing us and pulling us. And to quote someone famous, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Your book points out that the charge of hypocrisy may "stick" when the person acts in ways inconsistent with his beliefs and refuses to take responsibility for it or be held accountable for it. This person is saying the "rules" he wants to apply to others don't apply to him.

What is distraction? How is it used, according to the Cognitive Response Approach?

Persuaders may purposefully distract us from the main point of their message, via humor, music, visuals, sex, etc. This sounds counterintuitive, but: While a receiver is laughing at the joke or enjoying the scenery, he or she may not be formulating counterarguments. The distraction from the message is not what is important, it is distraction from the person's own arguments and cognitive responses. So the counterargument phase is stopped.

Modern media place much more control in the hands of media audiences. Explain.

Persuasion is less source centered, more focused on the audience.. Persuasive results in the media age are overdetermined, meaning that they have many sources and influences, not just the speaker. Much is left unsaid, with communication being left to the manipulation of symbols, visual effects and other attributes of the production *(One of the most important message of the term)*. Persuasion is ubiquitous (everywhere, all the time), becoming more so, but often invisible. Persuasive messages travel faster than ever. Persuasion has become institutionalized, as a part of major organizations, and with special organizations devoted to it. Persuasive communication has become more subtle and devious

Perloff points out that in a sense people persuade themselves. What does he mean by this?

Persuasion is voluntary, in that it doesn't involve force or coercion. Individuals decide, at some level, to accept the information and arguments made by someone else.

11. What are attitude shaping and reinforcing? Give examples.

Persuasion requires a change in attitude, belief, value or behavior. from the absence of something to something. including the way issues, objects, people, organizations, etc. are defined and perceived. From an existing state to a different one. Including a change of priority, strength, or importance. Including definitions or perceptions of oneself

What is the "dual approach" derived from the controversy about the sophists from ancient Greece that remains with us?

Platonic thinking about evidence and cogent arguments. Style, oratory and simple appeals

Explain how the context of a question can affect the way people answer it. Give an example.

Respondents may be affected by the questions that precede a particular question, by calling to mind a particular attitude or value or providing an anchor. Consider this question regarding abortion (from Perloff, p. 113, quoting Schuman and Presser, 1981): Do you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if she is married and does not want any more children? (60% yes) But if this is preceded by: Do you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if there is a strong chance of a serious defect in the baby? ...response to the original question drops to 48% yes. Why? Perhaps the case of a potential serious birth defect is so difficult and emotional, it makes the other situation seem trival by comparison.

What does the concept of self monitoring mean? What does it have to do with the attitude-behavior link? Give an example.

Self monitoring Some people pay close attention to (they monitor) their social environments to see how they are doing and to see what is called for by the situation. They adjust their behavior to the situation, particularly the way they present themselves to others. They may adjust their behavior to fit in, rather than to clearly express their attitudes through their behavior. They may want to avoid making a "scene" in public, for example. Others pay little attention to their social environments and publically act out their attitudes, with little concern for the way they present themselves to others or for others' reactions. Thus, high self-monitors may display less attitude-behavior consistency than low self-monitors.

What is attitude accessibility? What increases it?

Some attitudes are much more available to us in memory (accessible), simply because we have heard more about the object of the attitude and are more knowledgeable of it. Concepts: Accessibility -- The degree to which the attitude is automatically and easily accessed from memory. Associations - The number of linkages among components of the attitude, the associated beliefs and values. An attitude is basically, among other things, an association (linkage) between an object (person, place, thing, event, concept) and an evaluation. The more associations or linkages exist for a concept, the more accessible it, and the attitudes connected to it, will be for the person.

Why are strongly held attitudes so different?

Strong attitudes are likely firmly embedded and anchored by other beliefs and values in belief systems. People with strong attitudes are likely more informed about the topic of the attitude and therefore resistant to counterarguments. Such people associate with people with similar attitudes who reinforce the attitudes. Such attitudes are often highly detailed and at the tip of the tongue so they are always being expressed. They lead to selective exposure to information so they are continually being strengthened with new evidence.

Who were the Sophists? Why did they become controversial? What is sophistry?

Teachers of rhetoric (Sophos = Greek for knowledge). Since there was such a demand for good rhetoricians (persuaders), there was a great demand for people. Today sophistry has a negative definition "a subtle, tricky, superficially plausible, but generally fallacious method of reasoning "

What are the strengths of focus groups in comparison to surveys?

The strength of the focus group methodology is the dialogue-based discovery of qualitative information about the nuances of participants' beliefs and the reasons for them.

What is rhetoric? Why was it so important to the ancient Greeks?

To the ancient greeks, rhetoric meant "the art of public persuasion " (Perloff, p. 39). the greeks were pioneering forms of democracy and also trial by jury, in which decisions were made and justice deliveree not via force, but by persuasion.

What are the five standards of the TARES test?

Truthfulness (of the message) Factual accuracy, fairness, completeness Authenticity (of the persuader) Sincerity, maintenance of personal standards and principles Respect (for the persuadee) Taking the responsibility seriously to respect the decision making process, the independence and autonomy of individual decision makers Equity (of the persuasive appeal) Avoid unjust manipulation of messages that targets or exploits vulnerabilities; persuasive messages should fall within the ability of audiences to accurately evaluate them. Social responsibility (for the common good) Messages should avoid doing harm to the common good, the community interest or the culture generally. If they play on hate, dehumanize some group of people, or encourage behavior that hurts people, they are unethical under this standard.

What are some indirect ways of measuring attitudes? Strengths? Weaknesses?

Unobtrusive measures - Gathering information without talking to people, by observing them or the effects of their actions. The number of visits to YouTube videos The number of fingerprints on the glass in front of a museum exhibit. Physiological measures Galvanic skin response measures sweat, pupil dilation, and facial electromyographic techniques measure physical responses to stimuli that can measure attitudes people don't know they have.

What is the spiral of silence theory?

We have a fear of social ostracism and disapproval. Thus we are always trying to assess public opinion about issues and candidates. We tailor our expression of our attitudes according to whether we perceive we are in a majority (have social support) or not. Thus, we feel empowered to express our opinions if we perceive we are in the majority; we don't if we perceive we are in the minority. Paradoxically, this can make a majority seem stronger than it is since its opponents remove themselves from the "climate of opinion. A minority could even seem to be the majority. Media propel the process by presenting monolithic views of the state of opinion and enhance it by then interviewing and giving time to those who speak on behalf of the supposed majority. Persuasive effect: on those who are still "on the fence" or in a state of ambivalence . Paradoxically, public opinion can change while underlying distribution of attitudes does not, since different groups of people with different attitudes are empowered to speak up or the opposite.

What is the Multiple Functions Postulate in the ELM?

Whether a message aspect (credibility, nice music) is central or peripheral may depend on both the object of the persuasion as well as the person receiving it. Ex.: The attractiveness of a source may be part of a centrally processed message for a beauty product, but a peripheral cue for, say, an ad for a bank.

Explain attitude/belief ambivalence. What might be its sources? Give an example. How does it relate to the possibility of attitude/belief change?

a feeling of inconsistency, imbalance, or uncertainty regarding our attitudes, beliefs and values. Most of us are ambivalent about our attitudes, even about things we feel strongly about. This comes from several sources: -- We can and do hold seemingly incompatible beliefs. -- We may believe things that important other people in our lives do not. -- Our behaviors aren't always consistent with our beliefs. -- We believe things (cognition) that can still make us feel uneasy (affect). I.e., your head says one thing, your heart another.

What is greenwashing? Give an example. How does it relate to a belief system? How do descriptive and prescriptive beliefs relate to it?

a term used to describe industries and businesses that spend more money advertising and promoting their "greenness" than actually being green. Greenwashing is: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. Example: Palmolive detergent advertises itself as being free of phosphates, a very dangerous form of water pollution. However, in phosphate-free Palmolive products, phosphates have been replaced with chlorine bleach, another dangerous polluter. Many detergent brands also promote liquid detergents over powdered detergents without pointing out that liquid detergents must be distributed in plastic bottles.

8. What is a symbol? What does it have to do with the use of visual images to persuade?

creating shared meanings, shared perceptions, shared beliefs. Source and recover begin to see the world in the same ay, in that they share meanings for symbols. Messages are transmitted through words, visuals, and sounds, all of which have arbitrary, socially determined and negotiated meanings.

In the cognitive response approach, what are the four kind of "thoughts"?

forewarning, distraction and inoculation.

Explain social judgment theory, in particular explaining the concepts of anchors, ego involvement, and latitude, contrast and assimilation. Use an example.

how we make judgments about information we encounter about a topic, in relation to our pre-existing belief systems about that topic. Key idea is that we don't make such judgments in a vacuum, but in relation to various anchors, which are subjective standards for judgment we have in our minds. We judge such statements according to ego involvement, which is very important anchor. Ego involvement: When a person cares deeply about and is committed to an issue, and has some of her personal identity and sense of self related to it. The higher the ego involvement, the more extreme or strong the attitudes on the topic. On any given issue, she may have a latitude of acceptance, a latitude of rejection, and a latitude of non-commitment. These are all the statements about a topic that she would accept as agreeing with her position, reject as disagreeing and those she would perceive as not expressing a position one way or another (non-commitment). The higher the ego involvement, the more likely she we will have an extreme view, with a narrow latitude of acceptance, a narrow noncommitment latitude, and a wide rejection latitude. Ex.: If she is a pro-life activist, she is likely highly ego involved with the issue, and will perceive any exception to a total ban on abortions (i.e., in the case of rape) as a total betrayal of the pro-life position, and will reject it.

What are ways the media can change belief systems? Consider these: linking one attitude to another, raising personal relevance of an attitude object, changing descriptive beliefs, connecting a belief system to a different , expanding a belief system

linking one attitude to another — Helping integrate a belief system, by showing that two things are connected that you hadn't connected before. raising personal relevance of an attitude object — Connecting it to your life in a way it had not been before. changing descriptive beliefs — Changing your definition of the attitude object in ways that would imply prescriptive beliefs. connecting a belief system to a different value — so that what was wrong can become right or vice versa. expanding a belief system — to include much greater content.

In the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), what is the meaning the term elaboration?

the amount of thought and modification involved in processing a piece of information. People vary in the degree to which they think about and mentally manipulate and expand upon (elaborate) information they receive.

Three ethical principles often used for decision making are the following: the categorical imperative (Kant),utilitarianism (Bentham and Mill), the golden mean and practical wisdom (Aristotle)

the categorical imperative (Kant) Actions are ethical in and of themselves, regardless of their outcomes (deontological). Ethics are included within the act itself. Therefore, deception (for example) is always wrong. Universalizability -- If everyone did this, what would the world be like? Manipulation - Do not use others for your purposes. The Categorical Imperative can be rigid and does not take into account the conflicting values and obligations present in most situations. utilitarianism (Bentham and Mill) Actions are judged to be ethical or not based on their outcomes. Greatest good for the greatest number. If more people are helped by an action than are harmed, then it is an ethical decision. Involves being able to calculate effects of decision on all stakeholders. Involves a definition of "good" that not all would agree on. The "ends" can come to justify the "means." Forces the decider to predict the future. the golden mean and practical wisdom (Aristotle) Ethics reside inside the actor; People become known as being ethical (or not) because of the patterns of their behavior. The best decision often lies at the midpoint between two extremes. (Practical wisdom) Ex: Courage lies between foolhardiness and cowardice. Thus ethical people apply practical wisdom on a regular basis, making reasoned, careful decisions that usually avoid the extremes.

5. Use the concept of "free choice" to differentiate among persuasion, propaganda and manipulation. How does deception fit in? Give examples.

true persuasion avoids deception and coercion and maintains the reciever's ability to make a free choice, whereas propaganda and manipulation routinely use coercion and deception.