PSYCH 3270- Cumulative Final

What are values?

Guiding principles ordered by importance that transcend situations

self-prescriptive

inter-situational

Are attitudes learned or innate?

Some attitudes may be “hard-wired”

strong likes/dislikes can be genetically influenced (e.g.

twin studies)

What are the ABC components of attitudes?

Affective (feelings/emotions)

What are the five components of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)?

1. Attitude toward behavior 2. Perceived norm (injunctive & descriptive) 3. Perceived behavioral control 4. Behavioral intention 5. Behavior itself

Difference between prescriptive and descriptive beliefs?

Prescriptive: “should/ought” statements

Descriptive: perceptions/hypotheses about reality

What four ways must attitudes and behaviors correspond?

Action

Three key moderators of attitude-behavior relations?

1. Situational factors (norms

What are the four attitude functions?

Utilitarian

Utilitarian function?

Maximize rewards

strengthened by social reinforcement

Social-adjustive function?

Motivation to align with reference group

common in high self-monitors

Ego-defensive function?

Protect self-esteem

can underlie prejudice or stereotypes

Knowledge function?

Categorize and make sense of environment

organizes a “chaotic universe”

What is ego-involvement?

Attitude linked to core values or self-concept

Assimilation vs. contrast in persuasion?

Assimilation: message seems closer to attitude than it is

Contrast: message seems further from attitude than it is

Characteristics of strong attitudes?

Durable (resist change

Social Judgment Theory key idea?

People compare messages to their existing attitudes

Priming vs. accessibility?

Priming: exposure to a stimulus makes related ideas more accessible

Accessibility: ease of retrieving attitudes from memory

Key elements of attitude strength?

Extremity

What are the main attitude measurement scales?

Thurstone (expert-rated intervals)

What is cognitive dissonance?

Mental discomfort from conflicting beliefs/attitudes

motivates change to restore consistency via rationalization

justification

Purpose of Yale model?

Explains persuasion as a learning process: attend

Central vs. peripheral routes in ELM?

Central: careful argument evaluation → stronger

Peripheral: cues like attractiveness/emotion → weaker

temporary change

Role of need for cognition?

High need → central processing

low need → peripheral cues dominate

Inoculation theory?

Weak exposure to opposing arguments strengthens resistance to future persuasion

When are 1-sided vs. 2-sided messages effective?

1-sided: audience agrees or lacks knowledge

2-sided: audience skeptical or aware of counterarguments

increases credibility

Primacy vs. recency effects?

Primacy: first message more persuasive (delay before decision)

Recency: last message more persuasive (immediate decision)

How does speed of speech affect perception?

Faster speech → perceived as confident

Narrative vs. evidence messages?

Narrative: best for emotional/less analytical audiences

Evidence: best for motivated

analytical audiences

Sleeper effect?

Message becomes more persuasive over time as source is forgotten but content remembered

Effective fear appeal conditions?

Serious threat

Effective guilt appeal conditions?

Audience feels responsible and capable of mitigating negative outcome

Illusion of invulnerability?

Belief negative events are less likely to happen to oneself → reduces effectiveness of fear messages