Exam 8: Social Influence and Persuasion

Which of the following pairs of social influence techniques are both based on the principle of reciprocation?

Suppose that two political candidates-Candidate A and Candidate B-run a series of negative advertisements about one another. Research suggests that ____.

When social psychologists talk about a persuasive communicator as having "expertise," they are referring to ____.

Suppose that you work for the advertising division of a car company, and that you and your team are reviewing advertisements for a new safety feature. You are deciding between an ad with a low-fear message (which simply mentions the feature without demonstrating it), an ad with a moderate-fear message (which shows how the feature can help drivers avert accidents), and an ad with a high-fear message (which shows a horrific collision resulting from driving in a car without the feature). All else being equal, research on fear-based messaging would suggest that you should air ____.

In one well-known social psychological experiment, research participants were brought into a dark room where an experimenter projected dots of light. These dots of light appeared to move slightly as they were projected-though exactly how far they moved the participants couldn't say. When asked to estimate the distance that the light traveled, participants tended to look to others in the room, and ask them what they thought. All of the participants thus ended up giving somewhat similar answers-thereby establishing ____.

Social psychologists use the term "convert communicator" to refer to ____.

Suppose that you are on a committee, deciding how to allocate budget for the year. And suppose that many people on the committee seem to just be "going along with the crowd" rather than expressing their opinions or concerns. Based on Asch's line-judging research on conformity, if you wanted to encourage more dissent and debate in the group then you should ____.

Compared to others, people with a strong need for cognition tend to be ____.

The so-called fast-approaching-deadline technique is a persuasive technique based upon the principle of ____.

Psychologists who study persuasion use the term "receptivity" to refer to whether a person ____.

Presenting the same information over and over but in a different format each time helps prevent

People who are told that they are "generous souls" are more likely to donate money to charity than people who aren't. Similarly, people who are told that they are "stylish and cutting edge" are more likely to be persuaded to buy new trendy items in a store. Salespeople who capitalize on this technique are using the ____.

According to the text, fear-based messages (e.g., messages about the dangers of smoking) are almost always highly effective.

Compared to other people, people with a high need for cognition tend to have attitudes that are more resistant to change (more difficult to change).

An apartment manager lists a "luxury penthouse" in the newspaper for an astoundingly low price, even though he has no such units available. The idea is to lure people in, and then try to sell them his relatively mediocre apartments. The manager is apparently using an influence technique known as the ____.

Some research has looked at whether or not giving people warnings that someone is about to try to persuade them of something has an impact on the degree to which they are persuaded. Such research has found that people are ____ likely to be persuaded by the argument when they receive a warning beforehand; the amount of advance notice they receive ____ this effect.

In one study, one group of homeowners was asked if they would put a small sign on their doors that said, "BE A SAFE DRIVER." Another group of homeowners was not asked to display this sign. Then, a few weeks later, everyone in both groups was asked if a large, poorly lettered sign stating, "DRIVE CAREFULLY," could be displayed in their yard. Most people who had received and granted the first request were quite willing to have the larger sign in their yard. In contrast, those who had not had the first request with the small sign tended to say "no" to displaying the larger sign. This study was about which of the following social influence techniques?

People sometimes do the exact opposite of what someone is trying to persuade them to do. For example, when parents tell their children not to look in certain drawers or cabinets, children sometimes sneak peeks into these places just because they were told not to. In social psychology, this effect is known as "the boomerang effect," or ____.

Even though most people say that they voted for Barack Obama because of his policies, many people may have voted for him because he is physically attractive. This illustrates ____.

The labeling technique is based on ____________________ principles.