PSYC 343 Attitudes and Persuasion

What are Attitudes?

evaluations of people, objects, and ideas

What components make up attitudes?

cognitively based, affectively based, and behaviorally based

What is a Cognitively Based Attitude?

an attitude based primarily on peoples belief’s and thoughts about the properties on an object; linked to logic

What is an Affectively Based Attitude?

an attitude based more on feelings and values tied to an object; lacking logical reasoning

What is Classical Conditioning?

a stimulus that elicits an emotion response paired with a neutral stimulus until the neutral stimulus takes on the emotional properties of the first stimulus

What is Operant Conditioning?

behaviors we freely choose become more or less frequent depending on whether they are followed by a reward or punishment

What is Behavioral Based Attitude?

an attitude based on observations on ones behavior towards an object; formed due to ambiguity in attitude or lack of reason for behavior

What is an Explicit Attitude?

attitudes we consciously endorse and can easily report

What is an Implicit Attitude?

attitudes that exist outside of conscious awareness, and are involuntary —rooted in childhood memories and recent experiences

What is Attitude Accessibility?

the strength of association between an attitude object and a persons evaluation of the object; measured by the speed in which people can report how they feel about something (acting on the spot)

High attitude accessibility is strengthened by?

direct experience with an attitude object

What is the Theory of Planned Behavior?

the idea that people intention’s are the best predictors of their deliberate behavior

What determines planned behavior?

someone’s attitude towards the specific behavior, objective norms, peoples beliefs on how others they care about will view their behavior, and perceived behavioral control (how easily they can person the behavior)

What is Persuasive Communication?

a message advocating a particular side of an issue

What is the Yale Attitude Change Approach?

the study of conditions in which people are most likely to change their behavior “who says what to whom?" the source, message, and nature of audience

What is the Elaboration likelihood model?

explains two ways persuasive communication can cause attitude change through central and peripheral routes to persuasion

What is the Central Route to Persuasion?

when people have the ability and motivation to listen carefully and think about the proposed argument— causing a long-lasting attitude change

What is the Peripheral Route to Persuasion?

when people pay attention to the superficial cues of an argument rather than the argument itself— susceptible to further change in attitude

Causes for the peripheral route of persuasion?

1. irrelevance to the issue/media at hand

2. inability to understand or pay attention to argument

What is Fear-Arousing Communication?

persuasive messages that attempt to change people attitudes by arouses their fears

What is the Heuristic-Systematic Model of Persuasion?

an explanation of two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change: either systematically processing the merit of the argument, or using heursitics

Two examples of how our current emotions can influence they way we think about persuasive messages (Affect Heuristic)

sad while being persuaded requires a stronger message, while being happy allows people to be more easily persuaded

What is the best way to combat a cognitively based attitude?

through a logical argument

What is the best way to combat an affectively based attitude?

through an argument that appeals to emotions

What is Subliminal Messaging?

words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may nevertheless influence judgement, attitudes, and behavior

What is Attitude Inoculation?

making people immune to attempts to change their attitude by initially exposing them to small doses of arguments against their position

What is the Reactance Theory?

when people feel their freedom to perform a behavior is threatened, they experience an unpleasant state of arousal, which is often reduced by performing the prohibited behavior