Social Psychology | Exam 3 (Ch. 7-9)

elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

model of persuasion maintaining that there are two different routes to persuasion

central route

occurs when people think carefully and deliberately about the content of a persuasive message, attending to its logic and strength of its argument in relation to evidence and principles

peripheral route

occurs when people primarily attend to the relatively simple, easy-to-understand features of a persuasive message that are tangential to the persuasive information itself

personal relevance and knowledge

factors of motivation and ability (central route)

not personally relevant, distracted/fatigued, message incomplete/hard

factors of motivation and ability (peripheral route)

quality of argument

factors of attitude change (central route)

factors of attitude change

source attractiveness, fame, or expertise; number of and length of arguments; and consensus

motivation and ability

factors that determine whether we will engage in central or peripheral processing

motivation and ability

two factors you must have to follow the central route for long-lasting change

who, what, and whom

3 components of persuasive messages

who

the source of the message

what

the content of the message

whom

the intended audience of the message

attractiveness, credibility, and certainty

source characteristics

sleeper effect

when a persuasive message from an unreliable source initially exerts little influence but later causes attitudes to shift

quality, vividness, fear, and culture

message characteristics

identifiable victim effect

tendency to be more moved by the vivid plight of a single individual than by a more abstract number of people

need for cognition, mood, and age

audience characteristics

agenda control

efforts of the media to select certain events and topics to emphasize, thereby shaping which issues and events people think are important

hostile media phenomenon

tendency for people to see media coverage as biased against their own side and in favor of their opponents’ side

selective attention, selective evaluation, and selective framings

attentional biases

thought polarization hypothesis

more extended thought about an issue tends to produce a more extreme, entrenched attitude

attentional biases, previous commitments, and knowledge

factors of resistance to persuasion

moralization of attitudes

attitudes backed by moral conviction can also be particularly resistant to persuasion

attitude inoculation

small attacks on people’s beliefs that engage their preexisting attitudes, prior commitments, and background knowledge; enables them to counteract a subsequent larger attack and thus resist persuasion

social influence

the many ways people affect one another, including changes in attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, resulting from the comments, actions, or presence of others

examples of social influence

trends, favors, peer pressure, following orders

conformity

changing one’s behavior o beliefs in response to explicit or implicit, real or imagined, pressure from others

example of conformity

following fashion trends

compliance

responding favorably to an explicit request by another

example of compliance

agreeing to a favor

obedience

submitting to the demands of the person in authority in an unequal power relationship

example of obedience

following the orders of a police officer

automatic mimicry

nonconscious conformity in which seeing or thinking about certain behavior makes us more likely to act the same way

William James’ argument of automatic mimicry

merely thinking about a behavior makes performing it more likely

for people with a drive to affiliate with others, mimicry is…

stronger

which do people like better?

those who mimic them

people who are mimicked engage in what type of behavior afterward?

prosocial

mimicry may build…

social rapport and pleasant interactions

synchronous mimicry can create…

closeness and bonding

informational social influence

the influence of other people that results from taking their comments or actions as a source of information about what is correct, proper, or effective

Sherif’s Conformity Experiment

studies the circumstances in which other people serve as a social frame of reference

• - people’s judgements of an autokinetic illusion converged over time

informational social influence is more likely when…

- the situation is ambiguous or difficult

- we feel low in knowledge or competence about the topic

normative social influence

the influence of other people that comes from the desire to avoid their disapproval and other social sanctions like ridicule, barbs, and ostracism

Asch’s Conformity Experiment

studies the desire of approval

• - 75% of 8 conformed with line length at least once, participants conformed 33% of the time

when the correct answer is obvious, what causes conformity?

the desire not to be deviant from the group

factors that affect conformity pressure

- larger group size

- more group unanimity

- low anonymity

- more expertise (info.) & status (norm.)

- interdependent culture

we conform less when…

- we understand the reasons for other people’s behaviors

- we have an obvious explanation for why we may have a deviant opinion

minority opinion can change majority opinion when…

- the opinion is consistent

- the effects are caused primarily by informational social influence

- members are not seen as acting out of self-interest

internalization

private acceptance of a proposition, orientation, or ideology caused only by informational social influence

foot-in-the-door technique

approach to compliance that involves making an initial small request with which nearly everyone complies, followed by a larger request involving the real behavior of interest

• - causes change in self-image

norm-based compliance

form of compliance that uses norm-based appeals, eg. letting people know what others are doing

example of foot-in-the-door technique

charities initially asking for small donations followed by larger donations

pluralistic ignorance (compliance vers.)

misperception of a group norm that results from observing people who are acting at variance with their private beliefs, serving to reinforce the erroneous group norm

static norms

unchanging normsd

dynamic norms

changing norms

descriptive norms

the behaviors exhibited by most people in a given contextp

prescriptive/injunctive norms

the ways a person is supposed to behave in a given context

norm of reciprocity

dictates that people should provide benefits for those who have provided benefits for them

• - creates a sense of obligation & conformity

door-in-the-face/reciprocal concessions technique

approach to compliance that involves making an inital large request that is refused followed by a smaller request they feel compelled to honor

• - causes desire for reciprocal concessione

example of door-in-the-face technique

asking someone to buy a $5 raffle ticket and, when refused, asking them to instead buy a $1 candy bar

mood maintenance

because people want to maintain a positive mood, they agree more easily

how does guilt influence compliance?

it increases compliance

how do positive moods influence interpretation of favors?

less intrusive and less threatening

negative state relief hypothesis

idea that people engage in certain actions to relieve their negative feelings and feel better about themselvesres

reactance theory

idea that people reassert their prerogatives in response to the unpleasant state of arousal they experience when they believe their freedoms are threatenedf

factors of resistance to social influence

- practice

- having an ally

- being wary of slippery slopes

- putting off response until considering merits of the idea

real-world examples of obedience to authority

- genocide in Nazi Germany

- massacres in Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur

elements that increase obedience to authority

- opposing forces

- release from responsibility

- step-by-step involvement

Burger’s (2009) replica of the Milgram Obedience Experiment revealed that…

people react to pressure the same way as in the past