Exam 14: Social Judgment Theory

A boomerang effect is likely to happen when a persuader chooses to advocate a message that falls within another person's latitude of acceptance.

In social judgment theory, an individual's stand is represented adequately as a point along a continuum.

What general strategies should be utilized to persuade an audience that has high ego-involvement? How about a dogmatic audience?

How does Sherif's theory mirror elements of constructivism? Are person-centered messages that address a target's latitude of acceptance or rejection potentially more persuasive than "generic" appeals?

The message that persuades the most is the one that is most discrepant from the listener's position yet falls within his or her latitude of acceptance or latitude of noncommitment.

Social judgment theory has been criticized because:

Griffin writes, "Even though Sherif crafted a cognitive theory, the mental processes he describes are automatic. He reduced interpersonal influence to the issue of the distance between the message and the hearer's position." What are the ramifications of this statement? Does free will have a place in this approach to persuasion? You may wish to refer to or draw on other theories to enhance your answer.

________ is defined as a perceptual error whereby people judge messages that fall within their latitude of rejection as farther from their anchor than they really are.

According to Sherif, persuasion is a two-step process. What does this mean?

Most dramatic cases of attitude change, the most widespread and enduring, are those involving changes in:

Extreme positions and high ego-involvement go together.

Have you or one of your acquaintances ever undergone a major-perhaps life-altering-change of mind or heart? How would social judgment theory account for such conversion experiences, which cause sudden, radical shifts in position?