Deck 8: Persuasion

Question 1

________ exemplifies a message characteristic, whereas ________ exemplifies a source characteristic.

A) The credibility of a communicator; the attractiveness of a communicator
B) A logical argument; the content of a speech
C) The content of a speech; the credibility of a communicator
D) The attractiveness of a communicator; a logical argument

Answer 1

The content of a speech; the credibility of a communicator

Question 2

In Petty, Cacioppo, and Goldman's (1981) study, students were asked to read either eight weak arguments or eight strong arguments in support of implementing a comprehensive exam at their university. Some students were told that the exam would be initiated the following year, and others were told it would be initiated in ten years, well after the students' graduation. Finally, the researchers varied the expertise of the source of the arguments-that is, participants were told the arguments were generated either by a local high school class or by a prestigious "Commission on Higher Education." The researchers measured students' attitudes toward the exam. What was the main result of this study?

A) When students believed the exam would be implemented in ten years, the expertise of the source influenced their attitudes, but the quality of the arguments did not.
B) When students believed the exam would be implemented the following year, the expertise of the source influenced their attitudes, but the quality of the arguments did not.
C) When students believed the exam would be implemented in ten years, the quality of the arguments influenced their attitudes, but the expertise of the source did not.
D) When students believed the exam would be implemented the following year, both the expertise of the source and the quality of the arguments equally influenced their attitudes.

Answer 2

When students believed the exam would be implemented in ten years, the expertise of the source influenced their attitudes, but the quality of the arguments did not.

Question 3

Imagine that your local campus police officers need help solving a crime. They have two witnesses whose accounts of the event are inconsistent, which suggests that one of them is lying. Whom should the local police call to best assist them in detecting the liar?

A) a local attorney
B) They do not need help-most people are good at detecting lies.
C) a Secret Service agent
D) a clinical psychology professor on campus

Answer 3

a Secret Service agent

Question 4

Andy, an advertising executive, wants to use subliminal advertising to encourage people to buy his product. What effect will the use of subliminal advertising likely have on product sales?

A) Sales will double.
B) Sales will not be affected.
C) Sales will drop by 33 percent.
D) Sales will triple.

Question 5

Which of the following advertising strategies BEST illustrates an attempt to persuade people through the central route?

A) Research is presented demonstrating that a particular moisturizing lotion is more effective than other products.
B) An attractive woman is shown eating a gourmet brand of chocolate.
C) An upbeat song is played during a car ad
D) A famous actor claims he loves drinking a particular brand of soda.

Question 6

Nancy is trying to decide which car to buy. According to Richard Petty and John Cacioppo's elaboration likelihood model of persuasion, Nancy will be more likely to process information about the cars she researches through the central route if

A) the information is associated with a pleasant stimulus.
B) she does not know much about cars.
C) she does not care about cars.
D) she is personally motivated to devote time and energy to the information.

Question 7

Imagine that you have to convince an audience to adopt your opinion on health-care reform, but the specific arguments you present are weak. According to research on attitude change, what should you do to increase your chances of being persuasive?

A) make eye contact with as many audience members as possible
B) state your arguments with confidence
C) ensure that people are paying close attention to what you are saying
D) emphasize how health-care reform is highly relevant to everyone in the audience

Question 8

Joanna does not think carefully and deliberately about what a politician says during a debate. Instead, she attends to the politician's winning smile and boyish good looks. Joanna is attending to the ________ route to persuasion.

A) Peripheral
B) Central
C) systematic
D) surface

Question 9

Samantha wants to persuade her roommate Larissa to allow her to get a dog, even though Samantha does not have very strong arguments for wanting the dog. According to research on mood and persuasion, when should Samantha approach Larissa if she wants her roommate to be most likely to be persuaded?

A) when Larissa is eating
B) when Larissa is listening to beautiful music
C) when Larissa is in a bad mood
D) Both a and b are correct.

Question 10

As you drive in to school, you hear a random radio-show caller arguing that sun exposure really has not been shown to cause skin cancer and that some research suggests that skin cancer is completely genetic and not related to sun exposure at all. At the time, you think that this is a silly argument and that the caller does not know what she is talking about. However, two months later, you are outside without wearing sunscreen, and you find yourself remembering that you had read something about how the sun actually does not cause skin cancer. This process is evidence that ________ has influenced your attitude.

A) the peripheral route to persuasion
B) the sleeper effect
C) the third party effect
D) thought polarization

Question 11

Imagine you spend an afternoon watching television and notice that all of the commercials have one common theme: an attractive athlete or actor endorsing a product. Why do advertisers hire attractive people to endorse their products?

A) Attractive people have more experience persuading people in their daily lives.
B) Attractive people are less susceptible to others' attempts to persuade them.
C) Attractive people are seen as less credible than unattractive people.
D) Attractive people can increase the persuasiveness of a message through the peripheral route because we are more likely to like and trust them.

Question 12

Sebastian is high in the need for cognition. This means he likes to

A) criticize others' perspectives.
B) experience cognitive dissonance.
C) think deeply about issues.
D) experience strong mood states.

Question 13

Imagine you are a participant in Howard Leventhal and his colleagues' (1967) study. Recall that participants either (a) watched a scary film about lung cancer; (b) read a pamphlet of suggestions for how to quit smoking; or (c) watched the scary film and read the pamphlet. According to the results, you would be most likely to quit smoking if you were in condition ________.

A) (a)
B) (b)
C) (c)
D) none of the above - likelihood of quitting smoking did not differ across the three conditions.

Question 14

Recall that Hamill, Wilson, and Nisbett (1980) conducted a study on factors that influence attitudes. The researchers first assessed each participant's attitude toward welfare. In one condition, participants read a vivid story about a woman who exploited the welfare system and "lived like a queen" at taxpayers' expense. In another condition, participants were given statistical information about welfare that suggested that the "welfare queen" example was atypical. In a third condition, participants were given both types of information (i.e., the story and the statistical information). Finally, each participant's attitude toward welfare was measured a second time. Results showed that

A) participants' attitudes were not influenced by any of the conditions.
B) participants were equally likely to change their attitudes in response to the story and the statistics.
C) participants were more likely to change their attitudes in response to the story.
D) participants were more likely to change their attitudes in response to the statistics.

Question 15

Recall that Carl Hovland and his colleagues broke down persuasive messages into three components. Which of the following questions emphasizes the component called source characteristics?

A) Are people more likely to take a trip to Florida if they are in college?
B) Are people more likely to buy a car if they know how its engine works?
C) Are people more likely to buy a cleaning product if they are in a good mood?
D) Are people more likely to buy a brand of aspirin that is recommended by the American Medical Association?

Question 16

Stacie listens to a radio commercial for toothpaste. She finds the soothing voice of the announcer appealing, so she buys the toothpaste he advocates. This illustrates the research finding that when people primarily attend to aspects of a message that are tangential to the substance of the message, they are taking the ________ route to persuasion.

A) central
B) distinct
C) peripheral
D) indirect

Question 17

According to the textbook, which route to persuasion is most likely to lead to long-lasting attitude change?

A) peripheral
B) heuristic
C) direct
D) central

Question 18

Who is most likely to be influenced by peripheral cues when processing a televised message from an antilittering campaign?

A) Doug, who is distracted by a conversation he is having with his roommate
B) Sam, who is passionate about environmental issues
C) Linda, whose best friend works for the antilittering campaign
D) Josh, who is paying careful attention to the message

Question 19

Which of the following statements about the effects of subliminal stimuli is most accurate?

A) Subliminal stimuli have no effect on attitudes or behavior.
B) Subliminal stimuli can lead people to vote for political candidates they do not support.
C) Subliminal exposure to thirst-related words can lead thirsty people to drink more.
D) Subliminal stimuli can lead people to violate deeply held values.

Question 20

Which of the following message recipients does NOT display a characteristic that is known to impact his or her susceptibility to persuasion?

A) Jackie, a woman high in need for cognition
B) Lenny, a Latino man
C) Paula, a sixty-five-year-old woman
D) Nick, a man who is very certain of most of his attitudes

Question 21

George Gerbner and his colleagues (1986) studied whether the media (e.g., prime-time television programming) shape a person's conception of social reality. They found that people who watched a lot of television

A) underestimated the proportion of U.S. citizens who have high-paying jobs.
B) were less likely to exhibit the third-person effect.
C) overestimated the prevalence of criminal activity.
D) had fewer opinions about how people are employed or how often crimes occur.

Question 22

Metacognitions about thought confidence arise from

A) perceptions of the accuracy or validity of a thought.
B) how easily a thought comes to mind.
C) how clear a thought is in our mind.
D) all of the above.

Question 23

Pablo wants to persuade his coworkers to adopt his product plan and has many high-quality arguments detailing why his plan is sound. Which of the following should NOT be an attribute of his persuasive message?

A) referring to desirable yet novel consequences of acting on the message
B) appealing to core values held by his coworkers
C) using complex scientific language and jargon
D) counterarguing against the opposition

Question 24

Roger thinks that his neighbors are more susceptible to the influence of television commercials than he is. This phenomenon has been called the ________ effect.

A) first-person
B) third-person
C) media-influence
D) sleeper

Question 25

Imagine that you have just watched a Coca-Cola ad on TV. Which of the following statements is most accurate in describing what effect this ad is likely to have on you?

A) You are more likely to buy Coca-Cola products consistently for the next few years.
B) You are more likely to invest in the Coca-Cola Corporation on the stock market.
C) You are more likely to have positive feelings about Coca-Cola products.
D) You are more likely to question your loyalty to Coca-Cola products.

Question 26

Jamie is the sort of person who likes to think, puzzle, ponder, and consider multiple perspectives. Compared with people who do not like these activities, Jamie is

A) more likely to be influenced by the tangential aspects of a persuasive communication.
B) equally likely to be influenced by peripheral aspects of a persuasive communication.
C) less likely to be influenced by peripheral aspects of a persuasive communication.
D) less likely to be influenced by the quality of the arguments used in a persuasive communication.

Question 27

In one study, participants who were asked to come up with six examples of assertive behavior subsequently rated themselves as higher in assertiveness than those who provided twelve examples. How might metacognition help to explain this finding?

A) Participants in the twelve-behavior condition inferred that they must not be very assertive because it was easy for them to come up with twelve assertive behaviors.
B) Participants in the six-behavior condition inferred that they must be assertive because it was easy for them to come up with six assertive behaviors.
C) Participants in the six-behavior condition engaged in more metacognition.
D) Participants in the twelve-behavior condition engaged in less metacognition.

Question 28

Which of the following slogans is most likely to persuade members of an independent culture to buy a sunscreen product?

A) "Keeps your skin looking young and healthy"
B) "The surefire way to prevent skin cancer"
C) "Nip premature aging in the bud"
D) "The antiwrinkle solution"

Question 29

Which finding concerning the effects of standard mass communication efforts on attitudes and behaviors is INACCURATE?

A) The correlation between the ad budget of a product and its market share is weak.
B) There is not a significant correlation between the amount a candidate spends on an election and his or her success in the election.
C) The D.A.R.E. program did not decrease drug use.
D) Teaching adolescents strategies for turning away requests for unprotected sex does not decrease the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.

Question 30

Consider the following quote from the writings of Joseph Stalin: "The death of a single Russian soldier is a tragedy. The death of a million soldiers is a statistic." This quote illustrates the idea behind the ________ effect.

A) vivid image
B) abstract statistic
C) "Baby Jessica"
D) identifiable victim

Question 31

According to Shanto Iyengar's concept of agenda control, the

A) media directly influence people's moment-by-moment behavior.
B) media shape what people think about, care about, and believe to be true.
C) government controls people's purchasing patterns.
D) government manipulates people's social beliefs.

Question 32

The self-validation hypothesis states that

A) feeling confident about one's thoughts serves as a form of validation.
B) when a person's self-esteem is validated, he or she is more easily persuaded.
C) when a person's self-esteem is validated, he or she is less easily persuaded.
D) constructively questioning one's thoughts serves as a form of validation.

Question 33

According to the self-validation hypothesis, under what circumstances can greater source credibility, which might prompt recipients of a message to be more confident, lead to less persuasion?

A) when arguments are weak
B) when arguments are strong
C) when the source is more confident
D) when the audience is less confident

Question 34

You are asked to design an antismoking pamphlet. You decide to put a frightening photograph of a lung-cancer victim on the cover. According to Howard Leventhal and his colleagues' (1967) research, your message will be more likely to reduce smoking if you also provide

A) examples of famous people who died of cancer.
B) suggestions for how to quit smoking.
C) illness and mortality statistics.
D) testimonials about how easy it is to quit smoking.

Question 35

One study found that head nodding led to greater persuasion when arguments were strong but less persuasion when arguments were weak. How did the researchers explain these findings?

A) Nodding should enhance confidence in one's own favorable or unfavorable thoughts.
B) Nodding should reduce confidence in one's own favorable or unfavorable thoughts.
C) Nodding should enhance confidence in source credibility.
D) Nodding should reduce confidence in source credibility.

Question 36

The sleeper effect occurs in situations in which messages from ________ sources shift attitudes ________.

A) unreliable; immediately
B) reliable; immediately
C) unreliable; after a delay
D) reliable; after a delay

Question 37

To persuade a large group, a(n)________argument is generally more effective than a(n)________ argument.

A) concrete; abstract
B) abstract; concrete
C) peripheral; central
D) central; peripheral

Question 38

Which of the following scenarios best illustrates how audience characteristics tend to impact persuasion?

A) When Tommy feels sad, he is more likely to attend to pessimistic messages than to optimistic messages.
B) When Tommy feels sad, he is more likely to attend to optimistic messages than to pessimistic messages.
C) When Tommy feels sad, he is less likely to be persuaded.
D) When Tommy feels sad, he is more likely to be persuaded.

Question 39

Which of the following statements concerning the effects of media on attitudes or behaviors is accurate?

A) Political ads influence mainly earlier-deciding voters.
B) Advertisements rarely influence product loyalty.
C) Most studies document no correlation between the amount a political candidate spends on an election and election success.
D) There is a strong correlation between the advertising budget of a product and how well it sells in targeted audiences.

Question 40

For Valentine's Day, Femi and Maria decide to make lists of all the reasons why they love their boyfriends. Femi attempts to come up with fifty items, whereas Maria sets her goal at five. Drawing on research on metacognition, who is more likely to feel confident about her love for her boyfriend after making the list?

A) Femi
B) Maria
C) Both will feel more confident.
D) Neither will feel more confident.

Question 41

Under what circumstances are efforts to frighten people most likely to prompt more healthful behaviors, and under what circumstances are they less likely to be effective? Give an example of a campaign that effectively uses fear tactics.

Question 42

Genes have been shown to partially account for

A) political attitudes, but not political participation.
B) political participation, but not political attitudes.
C) both political attitudes and political participation.
D) neither political attitudes nor political participation.

Question 43

Wendy Wood (1982) found that participants in favor of environmental preservation who ________ shifted their attitudes considerably when exposed to an antipreservation message.

A) knew less about the subject
B) knew more about the subject
C) believed preservation is very important
D) were confident in their attitudes

Question 44

People's attention tends to be drawn to

A) information that supports their original attitudes.
B) information that refutes their original attitudes.
C) simple arguments.
D) complex arguments.

Question 45

Compared to people with no prior knowledge, people with prior knowledge of a subject are ________ to scrutinize messages about that subject and are ________ to change their attitudes about that subject.

A) less likely; less likely
B) less likely; more likely
C) more likely; more likely
D) more likely; less likely

Question 46

If you want to ________, you should rely on attitude inoculation.

A) increase the effect of emotion on persuasion
B) decrease selective attention
C) increase your resistance to attitude change
D) polarize your beliefs

Question 47

The process by which small attacks on our beliefs help counteract larger attacks on our beliefs is called

A) thought forewarning.
B) thought polarization.
C) attitude habituation.
D) attitude inoculation.

Question 48

When people make public statements regarding their attitudes,

A) they are more likely to resist later counterattitudinal messages.
B) they are less likely to resist counterattitudinal messages.
C) their tendency to resist counterattitudinal messages is unchanged.
D) they are unlikely to change the attitudes of others.

Question 49

Research on the hostile media phenomenon has shown that

A) politicians are more likely than other people to perceive the media as biased against them.
B) we all tend to believe that the media are biased against our particular causes.
C) we remember negative news stories better than positive news stories.
D) the media are biased against politicians.

Question 50

Distinguish between the central and peripheral routes to persuasion. Then, describe the conditions under which people are more likely to take one route over the other.

Question 51

Tina, a longtime Republican, is trying to decide how to vote in the upcoming mayoral election. She has researched the candidates and has discovered that the Republican candidate has many strengths but also many weaknesses. How will Tina likely react to the mixed evidence?

A) Tina will become even more firmly entrenched in her attitude.
B) Tina will become less firmly entrenched in her attitude.
C) Tina will become confused and stop caring about the election altogether.
D) Tina will become angry and avoid sources of mixed evidence in the future.

Question 52

To what extent can subliminal messages influence people's attitudes and behavior? Describe two studies that address this question.

Question 53

Recall that Ziva Kunda (1990) conducted research on selective evaluation and resistance to persuasion. She asked male and female participants to read a newspaper article about how caffeine consumption by females is associated with increased risk of fibrocystic disease. Kunda's results showed that

A) high-caffeine-using males were most critical of the article.
B) high-caffeine-using females were most critical of the article.
C) males, irrespective of caffeine use, were most critical of the article.
D) low- and high-caffeine-using females were equally critical of the article.

Question 54

Some residents in your town want to build a new elementary school, but others do not. You are leaning toward the pro-school camp. One day, you receive a flyer from the pro-school camp that warns you that the anti-school camp is going to hold a demonstration at a local park. The flyer briefly summarizes how the anti-school camp will attack the pro-school position. Further, the flyer asks you to think about how you can refute the attack before the demonstration occurs. The pro-school camp's strategy is an example of ________. It should ________ your resistance to stronger, more detailed attacks if you end up attending the demonstration.

A) attitude inoculation; decrease
B) attitude inoculation; increase
C) thought polarization; increase
D) thought polarization; decrease

Question 55

Imagine that you need to design an advertising campaign that promotes safe-sex practices among college students. Assume that your audience is not particularly motivated to hear about safe sex. Describe your ad campaign and explain how the various aspects of the campaign reflect the social psychological principles of persuasion.

Question 56

Amir just saw a movie that he somewhat liked. According to the process of thought polarization, how is Amir likely to feel after he thinks more extensively about the film?

A) Amir will question his initial attitude about the film..
B) Amir will feel indifferent about the film..
C) Amir will come to like the film even more.
D) Amir will come to dislike the film.

Question 57

Bill views himself as a Democrat. He is watching a television broadcast of a debate between two congressmen, a Republican and a Democrat. His roommate starts to vacuum the apartment. Bill asks his roommate to shut off the vacuum only when the Democrat is speaking. This scenario illustrates ________ in action.

A) peripheral processing
B) attitude inoculation
C) attentional bias
D) attitude reactance

Question 58

Research on mood and persuasion suggests that people may be persuaded differently depending on their mood. Explain how a positive or a negative mood can influence persuasion and why. Give an example demonstrating how a politician might alter audience members' moods in order to make them more susceptible to persuasion.

Question 59

Jason conducted an experiment in which participants were shown (a) three news stories dealing with the U.S. national deficit; (b) six news stories dealing with the U.S. national deficit; or (c) no news stories dealing with the U.S. national deficit. According to research on agenda control, Jason should expect that participants who read ________ news stories dealing with the deficit should be ________ likely to cite the deficit as one of the most important problems facing the country.

A) six; least
B) six; most
C) three; most
D) no; most

Question 60

All of the following people are likely to resist persuasive attempts to adopt a different brand of soap EXCEPT

A) Tanya, who loves the way her soap smells.
B) Jack, who does not have a vested interest in any particular brand of soap.
C) Kelly, who has previously made public commitments to her favorite brand of soap.
D) Rafael, who is knowledgeable on the subject of soap.

Question 61

Define the concept of embodiment and give one example of how it can influence persuasion.

Question 62

How do independent and interdependent cultures differ in the types of message characteristics that are likely to be most persuasive?

Question 63

Jennifer smokes cigarettes. Describe how selective attention and selective evaluation may make Jennifer resistant to antismoking messages.

Question 64

Define metacognition and describe how it influences persuasion.

Question 65

Explain the principle of attitude inoculation, and give an example of how you could use it to increase resistance to the persuasion attempts you might face in everyday life.

Question 66

Describe two source characteristics that increase a person's ability to persuade others, giving an example of each. Then discuss why these characteristics affect persuasion.

Question 67

Describe a real or imagined situation in which public commitments increase resistance to persuasion, and explain why public commitments have this effect.

Question 68

Give two examples of how you could apply research on message characteristics to persuade more people to donate to an international disaster relief effort.

Question 69

Does consumer advertising have strong or weak effects on behavior? Use research to justify your answer.

Question 70

Give three examples of how the media can shape our conception of social reality.