Problem 4. Attitudes
Persuasion, Intentional effort to change other people’s attitude in order to change their behaviour.
Attitude, Evaluation of a stimulus; can range from positive to negative.
Cognitive dissonance, The discomfort that people feel when two cognitions(beliefs, attitudes)
conflict, or when the behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves.
Self-affirmation, in the context of reducing dissonance by reminding oneself of one or more of one’s
positive attributes.
Self-concept clarity, A clearly defined, internally consistent and temporally stable self-concept.
Self-perception theory, The theory that we know our own attitudes and feelings only by observing
our own behaviours and deciding what is probably caused them, just as we do when we try to
understand others.
Impact Bias, the tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of one’s emotional reaction to
future negative events.
Attitudes accessibility, The strength of the association between an attitude object and a person’s
evaluation of that object measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about
the object.
Theory of planned behaviour, The idea that people’s intensions are the best prediction of their
deliberate behaviours, which are determined by their attitudes towards specific behaviours,
subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control.
Persuasive communication, a message advocating a particular side of an issue.
Yale Attitude change approach, The study of the conditions under which people are most likely to
change their attitude in response to persuasive messages, focusing on the source/nature of the
communication and the nature of the audience.
Elaboration likelihood model, a model explaining two ways in which persuasive communications can
cause attitude change: centrally, when people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to
the arguments in the communication, and peripherally, when people do not pay attention to the
arguments but are instead swayed by the surface characteristics.
Central route to persuasion, The case in which people have both the ability and the motivation to
elaborate on a persuasive communication, listening carefully to and thinking about the arguments
presented.
Peripheral route to persuasion, the case in which people do not elaborate on the arguments on the
persuasive communication but are instead swayed by more superficial cues.
Fear-arousing communication, Persuasive message that attempts to change people’s behavior by
arousing their fears.
Heuristic-systematic model of persuasion, An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive
communications can cause attitude change: either systematically processing the merits of the
arguments or using mental shortcuts or heuristics.
, Source characteristics, characteristics of the person who delivers a persuasive message, such as
attractiveness, credibility and certainty.
Sleeper effect, an effect that occurs when a persuasive message from an unreliable source initially
exerts little influence but later causes attitudes to shift.
Message characteristics, Aspects or content, of a persuasive message, including the quality if the
evidence and explicitness of its conclusions.
Identifiable victim effect, The tendency to be more moved by the vivid plight of a single individual
than by a more abstract number of people.
Audience Characteristics, Characteristics of those who receive a persuasive message, including need
for cognition, mood, age, and audience size and diversity.
Free choice paradigm, A laboratory situation in which people make a choice between two
alternatives after which the attraction to the alternatives are assessed.
Induced compliance paradigm, A laboratory situation in which participants are induced to engage in
behaviour that runs counter to their true attitudes.
Induced hypocrisy paradigm, a laboratory situation in which participants are asked to advocate an
opinion they already believe in, but then are reminded about a time when their actions ran counter
to their opinion, thereby arousing dissonance.
Effort justification, the phenomenon whereby people reduce dissonance by convincing themselves
that what they suffered for is actually quite valuable.
Minimal deterrence, use of the minimal level of external justification necessary to deter unwanted
behaviour.(useful in parenting)
Self-verification, Seeking out other people and social situations that support the way one views
oneself in order to sustain a consistent and clear self-concept.
Self-complexity, The extent to which an individual’s self-concept consists of many different aspects.
Self-narrative, A coherent life story that connects one’s past, present and possible future.
Primacy effect, Occurs when initially encountered information primarily influences attitudes.
Recency effect, Occurs when recently encountered information primarily influences attitudes.
Mere exposure effect, Occurs when people hold a positive attitude toward a stimulus simply
because they have been exposed to it repeatedly.
Balance theory, Theory proposing that the motivation to maintain consistency among one’s
thoughts colours how people form new attitudes and can also drive them to change existing
attitudes.
Prototype/willingness model of health behaviour, The idea that willingness refers specifically to a
person’s openness to being influenced by social circumstances, so that when it comes to
opportunistic behaviours, one’s willingness is the best predictor of behaviour.
Persuasion, Intentional effort to change other people’s attitude in order to change their behaviour.
Attitude, Evaluation of a stimulus; can range from positive to negative.
Cognitive dissonance, The discomfort that people feel when two cognitions(beliefs, attitudes)
conflict, or when the behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves.
Self-affirmation, in the context of reducing dissonance by reminding oneself of one or more of one’s
positive attributes.
Self-concept clarity, A clearly defined, internally consistent and temporally stable self-concept.
Self-perception theory, The theory that we know our own attitudes and feelings only by observing
our own behaviours and deciding what is probably caused them, just as we do when we try to
understand others.
Impact Bias, the tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of one’s emotional reaction to
future negative events.
Attitudes accessibility, The strength of the association between an attitude object and a person’s
evaluation of that object measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about
the object.
Theory of planned behaviour, The idea that people’s intensions are the best prediction of their
deliberate behaviours, which are determined by their attitudes towards specific behaviours,
subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control.
Persuasive communication, a message advocating a particular side of an issue.
Yale Attitude change approach, The study of the conditions under which people are most likely to
change their attitude in response to persuasive messages, focusing on the source/nature of the
communication and the nature of the audience.
Elaboration likelihood model, a model explaining two ways in which persuasive communications can
cause attitude change: centrally, when people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to
the arguments in the communication, and peripherally, when people do not pay attention to the
arguments but are instead swayed by the surface characteristics.
Central route to persuasion, The case in which people have both the ability and the motivation to
elaborate on a persuasive communication, listening carefully to and thinking about the arguments
presented.
Peripheral route to persuasion, the case in which people do not elaborate on the arguments on the
persuasive communication but are instead swayed by more superficial cues.
Fear-arousing communication, Persuasive message that attempts to change people’s behavior by
arousing their fears.
Heuristic-systematic model of persuasion, An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive
communications can cause attitude change: either systematically processing the merits of the
arguments or using mental shortcuts or heuristics.
, Source characteristics, characteristics of the person who delivers a persuasive message, such as
attractiveness, credibility and certainty.
Sleeper effect, an effect that occurs when a persuasive message from an unreliable source initially
exerts little influence but later causes attitudes to shift.
Message characteristics, Aspects or content, of a persuasive message, including the quality if the
evidence and explicitness of its conclusions.
Identifiable victim effect, The tendency to be more moved by the vivid plight of a single individual
than by a more abstract number of people.
Audience Characteristics, Characteristics of those who receive a persuasive message, including need
for cognition, mood, age, and audience size and diversity.
Free choice paradigm, A laboratory situation in which people make a choice between two
alternatives after which the attraction to the alternatives are assessed.
Induced compliance paradigm, A laboratory situation in which participants are induced to engage in
behaviour that runs counter to their true attitudes.
Induced hypocrisy paradigm, a laboratory situation in which participants are asked to advocate an
opinion they already believe in, but then are reminded about a time when their actions ran counter
to their opinion, thereby arousing dissonance.
Effort justification, the phenomenon whereby people reduce dissonance by convincing themselves
that what they suffered for is actually quite valuable.
Minimal deterrence, use of the minimal level of external justification necessary to deter unwanted
behaviour.(useful in parenting)
Self-verification, Seeking out other people and social situations that support the way one views
oneself in order to sustain a consistent and clear self-concept.
Self-complexity, The extent to which an individual’s self-concept consists of many different aspects.
Self-narrative, A coherent life story that connects one’s past, present and possible future.
Primacy effect, Occurs when initially encountered information primarily influences attitudes.
Recency effect, Occurs when recently encountered information primarily influences attitudes.
Mere exposure effect, Occurs when people hold a positive attitude toward a stimulus simply
because they have been exposed to it repeatedly.
Balance theory, Theory proposing that the motivation to maintain consistency among one’s
thoughts colours how people form new attitudes and can also drive them to change existing
attitudes.
Prototype/willingness model of health behaviour, The idea that willingness refers specifically to a
person’s openness to being influenced by social circumstances, so that when it comes to
opportunistic behaviours, one’s willingness is the best predictor of behaviour.
