Attitudes, Persuasion, and Cognitive Dissonance in Social Psychology

What are attitudes?

positive, negative, or mixed reactions individuals have towards objects, people, or situations.

What are the types of attitudes?

positive attitude, indifference, negative attitude, and dual attitude.

How do researchers measure attitudes?

through self-report methods like surveys and polls, as well as covert measures such as EMG and fMRI.

What is the implicit association test?

is a covert measure of unconscious attitudes based on reaction times.

What is the Theory of Planned Behavior?

posits that attitudes towards specific behavior, combined with norms and perceived control, influence a person's actions.

What are the four factors that influence the strength of attitudes?

content (amount of information), source (where information is acquired), criticism (perceived attacks), and availability (ease of mental access).

What is persuasion?

the process by which attitudes are changed.

What is the dual-process model of persuasion?

it considers factors related to the target audience and which route of persuasion is more effective.

What are source characteristics in persuasion?

they include credibility, likability, and believability of the communicator.

What are message characteristics in persuasion?

they involve informational strategies, discrepancies, fear tactics, and evoking positive emotions.

What are audience characteristics in persuasion?

they include need for cognition, self-monitoring, and regulatory fit.

What is the sleeper effect?

a delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a noncredible source.

What is the primacy effect?

refers to the tendency to recall earlier information better than later information.

What is the recency effect?

the tendency to recall later information better than earlier information.

How effective is fear in persuasion?

can effectively incentivize change among individuals who do not actively resist it, especially when the fear is relevant and manageable.

What is the need for cognition?

is a personality trait that reflects an individual's tendency to engage in and enjoy thinking.

What is self-monitoring?

the ability of individuals to regulate their behaviors according to situational cues.

What is the inoculation hypothesis?

suggests that exposure to weak versions of persuasive arguments can increase resistance to stronger arguments later.

What is psychological reactance?

the tendency of individuals to resist threats to their freedoms and perceive those freedoms as more attractive.

What is cognitive dissonance?

the psychological discomfort arising from inconsistencies between thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.

What did Carlsmith & Festinger (1959) study?

studied how individuals are motivated to change their attitudes or behaviors to resolve cognitive dissonance.

What is effort justification?

the tendency to attribute greater value to outcomes that require significant effort.

What is insufficient justification?

occurs when individuals freely choose to perform an attitude-discrepant behavior without receiving a large reward.

What is insufficient deterrence?

when individuals refrain from engaging in a desirable activity despite only mild punishment being threatened.