social psych ch. 7

i can do this argh

What are attitudes?

Evaluations of people, objects, or ideas.

Where do attitudes (such as temperament and personality) come from?

Evidence suggests that identical twins share more attitudes than fraternal twins.

What are the three components of attitude?

The cognitive component, the affective component, and the behavioral component.

What is the cognitive component?

The thoughts and beliefs that a person will form about the attitude object

What is the affective component?

People’s emotional reactions toward the attitude object

What is the behavioral component?

How people act towards the attitude object.

Where do cognitively based attitudes usually come from?

The facts, pros and cons, and looking at the object in a more objective manner.

Where do affectively based attitudes usually come from?

Usually people’s values such as religious and moral beliefs (usually used to express and validate one’s basic value system).

How does classical conditioning work?

A stimulus that elicits an emotional response is accompanied by a neutral, nonemotional stimulus so that eventually the neutral stimulus gets the emotional response.

How does operant conditioning work?

Behaviors we freely choose to perform become more or less frequent depending on whether they are followed by a reward or punishment. 

What is an explicit attitude?

An attitude that we can easily report/are what we think of as our attitude when someone asks us what our attitude is. 

What is an implicit attitude?

An involuntary, uncontrollable, and sometimes unconscious evaluation (attitudes existing outside our consciousness).

Where are explicit attitudes usually rooted in (hint: think timewise)?

More recent experiences

Where are implicit attitudes usually rooted in (hint: think timewise)?

Childhood experiences.

When do attitudes usually change?

In response to social influence, such as what other people say and do.

What is persuasive communication?

A message advocating a particular side of an issue.

What are the three aspects of the Yale Attitude Approach?

The source of the communication, the communication itself, and the nature of the audience (speaker, words, and audience).

What are the two types of persuasive communications outlined in the elaboration likelihood model?

Central persuasion and peripheral persuasion.

What is the central route to persuasion detailing?

That when people elaboration on a persuasive communication and listen carefully to and think over the arguments perceived.

What is the peripheral route to persuasion detailing?

That when people don’t elaborate on the arguments in a persuasive communication and instead are moreso swayed by more superficial cues (think how ppl aren’t knowledgeable when it comes to trump and how politicians keep saying they will abolish smth and use fancy terms for it so ppl vote for the politician enabling racist motives and then get surprised when their safe nets get taken away).

What are people more likely to focus on when going with the central route to persuasion?

Logically compelling messages

What are people more likely to focus on when going with the peripheral route to persuasion?

Surface characteristics of the message, like how long the message is or who is giving it. 

What is the key for whether people will take the peripheral or central route?

How motivated they are to listen, how much ability they have to pay attention, and how interested they are in the topic. 

Which method of persuasion is most likely going to have people implement a long-term attitude change?

A central method of persuasion.

What is fear-arousing communication?

When you use persuasive messages that attempt to change people’s attitudes by arousing their fears (think the link between smoking and lung cancer).

Do fear-arousing communications work?

Only if the people receiving the messages also receive a method to help reduce the fear, and if they are not overly scared (bc then they will become defensive and ignore the message).

What is the heuristic-systematic model of persuasion?

An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change.

What are the two ways in which persuasive can cause attitude change based on the heuristic-systematic model of persuasion?

Either by systematically processing the merits of the argument or by using mental shortcuts and heuristics. 

What is the best way to fight attitudes?

With arguments that target the root cause of the attitude: if it is a cognitively based attitude, then using facts to change that attitude will be most affective. If it is an affectively based attitude, then using emotional appeals to change the attitude would be most effective (fight fire with fire). 

What is one way to convince people to do something(hint: think comfortability).

As long as the audience is being made more confident in their thoughts on the topic of your message alongside with presenting strong and convincing arguments makes it more likely people want to follow along.

What is one way to advertise a product that doesn’t have much cognitive appeal?

By appealing to emotions (ex: making it seem that using the product will make you more socially attractive) (think Listerine, the mouthwash)

What are subliminal messages?

Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may influence people’s judgements, attitudes, and behaviors. 

Are subliminal messages effective?

No, unless they are done in a laboratory setting, in which they may be slightly effective, in the sense that it is more like priming than mind-control. 

What kind of ads were the Americans more likely to be swayed by?

The ads stressing independence.

What kind of ads were the Koreans more likely to be swayed by?

The ads stressing interdependence.

What kind of magazines were more frequent in Western culture?

Magazines stressing individuality, self-improvement, and benefits of the product for the individual consumer.

What kind of magazines were more frequent in Eastern culture?

Magazines stressing family, concerns about others, and benefits for one’s social group. 

What is attitude inoculation?

Making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by intentionally exposing them to small doses of the arguments against their position.

Why does product placement usually work?

Because people usually aren’t aware that someone is trying to influence their attitudes and behaviors.

How can you fight against product placement advertisement, when you usually aren’t aware that they is an attempt at attitude changing occurring?

By informing/forewarning people that someone is going to try their attitude on a subject.

What is one way to fight against peer pressure?

By applying the same principles as the inoculation approach (microdosing arguments that could pop up in the future).  

What is the reactance theory?

When people don’t like being restrained/told what they should or shouldn’t do, they are more likely to fight back against what they are told and try/heavily avoid whatever is being advised of them.