Honors Psychology Unit 6: Social Cognition, Emotion, and Persuasion

The ________ route to persuasion employs direct, relevant, and logical messages to convince a listener to make a specific change. A. central B. distal C. proximal D. unilateral

central

Tracy enters a car dealership interested in buying a new car. Immediately she is greeted by a salesman offering her water or soda and a cookie. The salesman is likely relying on what social norm to help persuade Tracy to buy a car? A. reactance B. reciprocity C. social proof D. door-in-the-face

reciprocity

Which trick to persuasion can be loosely summarized by the saying, "If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours?" reciprocity social proof psychological reactance the sunk cost trap

reciprocity

Planning fallacy

A cognitive bias in which one underestimates how long it will take to complete a task.

The rule of scarcity

People tend to perceive things as more attractive when their availability is limited, or when they stand to lose the opportunity to acquire them on favorable terms.

__________ is the process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors. A. Obedience B. Persuasion C. Compliance D. Conformity

Persuasion

Central route to persuasion

Persuasion that employs direct, relevant, logical messages.

Fixed action patterns (FAPs)

Sequences of behavior that occur in exactly the same fashion, in exactly the same order, every time they are elicited.

Need for closure

The desire to come to a decision that will resolve ambiguity and conclude an issue.

Hot cognition

The mental processes that are influenced by desires and feelings.

Automatic

A behavior or process has one or more of the following features: unintentional, uncontrollable, occurring outside of conscious awareness, and cognitively efficient

Durability bias.

A bias in affective forecasting in which one overestimates for how long one will feel an emotion (positive or negative) after some event

Impact bias

A bias in affective forecasting in which one overestimates the strength or intensity of emotion one will experience after some event.

Motivated skepticism

A form of bias that can result from having a directional goal in which one is skeptical of evidence despite its strength because it goes against what one wants to believe.

Availability heuristic

A heuristic in which the frequency or likelihood of an event is evaluated based on how easily instances of it come to mind.

Representativeness heuristic

A heuristic in which the likelihood of an object belonging to a category is evaluated based on the extent to which the object appears similar to one's mental representation of the category

Schema

A mental model or representation that organizes the important information about a thing, person, or event (also known as a script).

Heuristics

A mental shortcut or rule of thumb that reduces complex mental problems to more simple rule-based decisions.

Gradually escalating commitments

A pattern of small, progressively escalating demands is less likely to be rejected than a single large demand made all at once

Primed

A process by which a concept or behavior is made more cognitively accessible or likely to occur through the presentation of an associated concept.

Attitude

A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor.

Psychological reactance.

A reaction to people, rules, requirements, or offerings that are perceived to limit freedoms

Implicit attitude

An attitude that a person cannot verbally or overtly state.

Explicit attitude

An attitude that is consciously held and can be reported on by the person holding the attitude.

Implicit Association Test

An implicit attitude task that assesses a person's automatic associations between concepts by measuring the response times in pairing the concepts.

Evaluative priming​ task

An implicit attitude task that assesses the extent to which an attitude object is associated with a positive or negative valence by measuring the time it takes a person to label an adjective as good or bad after being presented with an attitude object

Implicit measures of attitudes

Measures of attitudes in which researchers infer the participant's attitude rather than having the participant explicitly report it.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts that enable people to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently.

Foot in the door

Obtaining a small, initial commitment.

Stereotypes

Our general beliefs about the traits or behaviors shared by group of people

Peripheral route to persuasion

Persuasion that relies on superficial cues that have little to do with logic.

Physically attractive people experience many benefits in life. Particularly, more physically attractive people have an easier time persuading others. Which characteristic is an example of why this occurs? A. Physically attractive people are perceived as less successful. B. Physically attractive people are seen as unkind. C. Physically attractive people are perceived as having higher moral character. D. Physically attractive people are seen as less intelligent.

Physically attractive people are perceived as having higher moral character.

Affective forecasting

Predicting how one will feel in the future after some event or decision.

Trigger features

Specific, sometimes minute, aspects of a situation that activate fixed action patterns.

Social proof

The mental shortcut based on the assumption that, if everyone is doing it, it must be right.

Directional goals

The motivation to reach a particular outcome or judgment

The norm of reciprocity

The normative pressure to repay, in equitable value, what another person has given to us

Which of the following is an example of manipulating the trustworthiness of a speaker? A. The speaker asks for a big request and then asks for the smaller request that was desired all along. B. The speaker presents his/her message to a new audience he/she has not met before. C. The speaker presents his/her message as educational or objective information. D. The speaker gives a gift before requesting a favor.

The speaker presents his/her message as educational or objective information.

Social cognition

The study of how people think about the social world.

Chameleon effect

The tendency for individuals to nonconsciously mimic the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one's interaction partners.

Mood-congruent memory

The tendency to be better able to recall memories that have a mood similar to our current mood

Why do some salespeople try to start a new interaction by asking for something small from a potential customer (e.g., "Just answer one quick question")? A. They are hoping one person's cooperation will convince others nearby to follow the lead. B. They are utilizing what is well known in persuasion research as "inoculation". C. They believe that being friendly will influence someone to consider buying their merchandise. D. They know getting small acts of cooperation may lead to larger actions in the same direction.

They know getting small acts of cooperation may lead to larger actions in the same direction.

The triad of trust

We are most vulnerable to persuasion when the source is perceived as an authority, as honest and likable

What is a heuristic? A. a mental error that involves incorrectly attempting to use an ineffective past solution to a present problem B. a step-by-step process of solving a problem that guarantees a solution Correct! C. a mental shortcut that enables a person to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently D. an assumption that people make about other's foundational personality traits

a mental shortcut that enables a person to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently

What are the three characteristics of a speaker that makes him/her more trustworthy when delivering a persuasive message? A. likability, expertise, familiarity B. authority, attractiveness, familiarity C. honesty, similarity, expertise D. authority, honest, likability

authority, honest, likability

While reading a magazine Juan notices an advertisement for tennis shoes. Juan is very interested in reading about the materials the shoes are made out of and logically concludes the tennis shoes would be a good purchase. Juan was likely in which persuasion route? A. peripheral B. trigger C. heuristic D. central

central

Oscar would like to go to a movie without supervision. To try and get what he wants, he starts by asking his mom if he can go on a trip to the Rollercoaster Park with just his friends. When his mom says no, like he predicted, he goes on to ask if he can at least go to the movies by himself. Oscar's strategy in asking to go to the movies is an example of what persuasion trick? A. reactance B. sunk costs C. door-in-the-face D. foot-in-the-door

door-in-the-face

Exposing participants to weak arguments before presenting them with strong persuasive messages helps participants resist persuasion. What is this effect called? A. stinging B. door-in-the-face C. reactance D. inoculation

inoculation

Persuasion is most effective when individuals are: A. not feeling that their freedom to make a choice is threatened B. given strong messages to conform C. not given the freedom to make a choice D. intensely emotionally aroused

not feeling that their freedom to make a choice is threatened

During a political debate, one candidate continually avoids questions about the details of his policies. Instead, he focuses on pointing out problems that he know worry people and reassures them with a warm smile that they will be "in good hands" if he is elected. This candidate is using the ________ route to persuasion in trying to garner votes. A. preconscious B. direct C. peripheral D. central

peripheral

The ________ route to persuasion relies on superficial cues that have little to do with logic. It requires a target who is not thinking carefully about what you are saying. A. proximal B. convergent C. central D. peripheral

peripheral

Social psychologists are often interested in the phenomena of _________, in which one person influences the thoughts or actions of another. A. empathy B. altruism C. love D. persuasion

persuasion

Ben is playing basketball with his friends one day when he notices everyone else has name brand shoes. He is uncertain how the quality of his shoes compares to his friends but because of __________ he feels pressure to conform and ends up buying name brand shoes for himself by the following week. A. reciprocity B. scarcity C. social proof D. foot-in-the-door

social proof

Specific, sometimes minute, aspects of a situation that activate fixed action patterns are called __________ features. A. peripheral B. trigger C. persuasion D. central

trigger

In perhaps the most famous study ever conducted in social psychology, approximately ______ of men studied were willing to administer a lethal shock of electricity to a helpless victim when they were ordered to do so by a person who appeared to be in a position of authority. A. two-thirds B. three-quarters C. one-half D. one-third

two-thirds

Yolanda is hosting a jewelry party during which her friends will come to her home and (hopefully) buy jewelry that she recommends. In this situation, there are many different ways in which perceptions of trustworthiness are being manipulated. Which of the following best describes why Yolanda might be successful in selling jewelry? A. authority compliance B. social proof C. word of mouth D. maven endorsements

word of mouth