Exam 6: Attitudes and Attitude Change

A public service ad on television shows a young boy resisting the attempts of someone off camera to persuade him to accept drugs.The boy resists each and every enticement (e.g.,"It'll make you fly!" or "Come on,this one's free!").The camera then pans back and the boy's father hugs him and says,"Good job,son!" This ad illustrates the use of _______ to increase resistance to attitude change.

In the aftermath of dissonant behaviour,people often cite something outside themselves as a reason or explanation for engaging in that behaviour.This kind of explanation is known as

The introduction to Chapter 6 describes the strange logic manifested by members of the Solar Temple Cult,who thought the world was about to be destroyed by fire and that the only salvation was to take a "death voyage" by ritualized suicide to the star Sirius where they would be reborn.In total,74 people died in these cult suicides.This chapter introduction was written to demonstrate that

You work for an advertising agency that has just assumed an account to market the latest technology (e.g.,a new tablet or smartphone).Your goal,of course,is to design a television and print campaign to persuade your audience to hold positive attitudes toward the product.How would you tailor your advertisements to fit people's attitude-types?

Howard Leventhal and his colleagues (Leventhal,Watts,& Pagano,1967)showed some smokers a graphic film about lung cancer and gave them a pamphlet with instructions on how to quit.Other smokers received either the pamphlet alone or watched only the film.After three months,those smokers who received only the pamphlet with instructions were smoking significantly more than those who both saw the film and received the pamphlet.Why?

You've just learned that your younger brother has begun having sex.You are concerned about his health and the health of his partner.Because abstinence doesn't seem reasonable to expect,you have decided to have a serious talk with him.What is the best thing to do?

Fear-arousing persuasive messages are targeted to the _______ basis of attitudes.

The central route to persuasion is to _______ as the peripheral route is to _______.

Elliot Aronson and J.Merrill Carlsmith (1963)designed experiments to measure cognitive dissonance in preschoolers.The researchers presented the children with an attractive toy and then threatened them with either mild punishment or severe punishment if they played with the toy.Their results suggest that

Jill is a devout Catholic who believes that the use of birth control is wrong.However,Jill becomes involved in a relationship and together she and her partner decide to practice birth control.Jill will probably

When people state publicly an opinion that is at odds with their own private attitudes,they sometimes shift their private opinion to be more in line with the opinion they stated publically.This is called

Why would a dissonance theorist joke that no decisions feel like good ones,so we have to convince ourselves that they are?

According to the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion,people who _______ are most likely to take the _______ route to persuasion.

The potential for dissonance reduction to produce a succession of self-justifications that ultimately result in a chain of stupid or immoral actions is called a(n)

In the aftermath of dissonant behaviour,people often change something about themselves as a means of reducing cognitive dissonance.This is known as

Assume that in experiments conducted by Elliot Aronson and his colleagues (1991,1994),Sally was randomly assigned to write and deliver a pro-condom speech to be shown to high school students.She also listed all the times she found it awkward or impossible to use condoms in her sexual encounters.After completing these tasks,Sally reduced her dissonance by reporting a greater willingness to use condoms in her future sexual activities.Why?

Self-perception processes are most likely to yield a behaviourally based attitude when

Chloe debated for a long time about whether to take a psychology or a sociology course,both of which looked interesting.She finally chose the psychology course.Now,because she is experiencing _______,she raves about the psychology course to her friends.

Explicit attitudes are _________,while implicit attitudes are __________.

It can be difficult to assess implicit attitudes.Nonetheless,a number of techniques exist,including