Exam 8: Social Influence and Persuasion

People who are told that they are "generous souls" are more likely to donate money to charity than people who are not. 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 ____.

The ________________ technique is a social influence technique based on reciprocity, wherein one first makes an inflated request, but-before the other person can respond-sweetens the deal by offering discounts or bonuses.

Distracting people can be a useful strategy when trying to make a persuasive argument, largely because it ____.

Which scenario does NOT illustrate someone relying on a peripheral cue?

Lillia is listening to some religious missionaries at her door. She genuinely believes their world-view is correct after listening to them. She has experienced ________________.

Vicki is a lovely woman. When people meet her, they also believe she is smart and interesting and kind as well - before they know anything about her. This phenomenon is called the ________________ effect.

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).

When people process persuasive messages using the central route (rather than the peripheral route), they expend ____ energy and, if they change their attitudes as a result of the message, are likely to end up with ____ attitude change.

Which social influence technique is based on reciprocation?

Social psychologists use the term ____ to refer to beliefs and behaviors that a group of people accept as normal.

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 ____.

Mark has been attending a religious study with friends from his dorm. After several months of attending and debating issues with the others in this group, Mark is persuaded that their understanding of the sacred text is the correct one. Mark has most likely experienced ____.

As part of a tenth-grade "Social Living" course, a teacher has a guest speaker come to his classroom to talk about the dangers of drug use. The guest speaker is a former hardcore drug user, who became involved in serious criminal behavior as a result of his use, spent many years in jail, later entered a drug rehabilitation program, and finally cleaned up his act. All things being equal, is the guest speaker likely to be more effective or less effective than the teacher would have been at communicating the dangers of drug use?

Some research has examined the relative effectiveness-across collectivist and individualist cultures-of group-oriented messages (e.g., "Share this breath-freshening experience") versus individual-oriented messages (e.g., "Treat yourself to a breath-freshening experience"). This research has found that the ____.

Instead of using the standard queries-"Spare any change?" or "Spare a dollar?"-a homeless person asks passerby, "Spare four hundred dollars and thirty-seven cents?" She is apparently making use of the ____ technique of social influence.

The limited-number technique is based on consistency principles.

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

Social psychologists who study persuasion use the term "source" to refer to the ____.

The labeling technique is based on ________________ principles.

If people are motivated to process a persuasive message, then ____.