reading compliance/ persuasion

Question 1

action research

Answer 1

• Lewin 1944 - attitude change could be best achived if people were actively engaged in the change process rather than just being passive targets of persuasion
• E.g. Howland et al- found when a speech is produced with role play it is more likely to create attitude change compared to when a speech is given passively

Question 2

The heuristic systematic model of persuasion

Answer 2

 Chaiken model of attitude change: when people attend to a message carefully they use systematic processing otherwise they process information by using heuristics or ‘mental shortcuts’.
 So two routes ar e= systematic and heuristic
 This is a competing model to the elaboration-likelihood model
 Systematic processing occurs when people can and consider available arguments
 Heuristic processing= we do not indulge in careful reasoning but instead use cognitive heuristics. An example of a cognitive heuristic is thinking longer arguments are stronger
 Chaiken 1987 says people sometimes use cognitive heuristics to simplify the task of handling information
 So at what point do we switch from heuristic processing to systematic ? Wegener 1998 says we have a SUFFICIENCY THRESHOLD- heuristics are used as long as they satisfy our need to be confident with the attitude we adopt. When we lack such confidence we switch to more effortful systematic processing
 The effect of mood= being in a good mood affects how we attend to information- e.g. when time is limited if you are in a positive mood we are more likely to process heuristically (used in advertisements all the time)

Question 3

Milgram study in detail

Answer 3

 Milgram- 65%.Although they complied ppts expressed extreme agitation; sweating, trembling, stuttering, some breaking out into uncontrollable nervous laughther.
 Milgram suggested a agentic state; the idea that people will obey an authority when they believe that the other person will take responsibility for the consequences of their actions
Immediacy of victim:
 When victim wasn’t seen = 100%
 Victim in the same room = 40%
Immediacy of authority
 Obedience dropped down to 20.5% when experimenter was absent from the room
 It was only 2.5% when there were no orders
 Status of location- when not taken at yale university and done in random offices obedience dropped to 47%

Question 4

uniform and persuasion

Answer 4

 BRAD BUSHMAN 1984- 3 conditions regarding what the confederate was wearing. He wore either uniform, neat attire, or shabby clothes. The order was to give the person change for the meter. Over 70% obeyed to the uniform confederate compared to 50% in the non uniform condition.

Question 5

people who resist authority

Answer 5

• social support- knowing another individual is also disobeying makes it easier to. Asch believed this is because the presence of a dissident gave the other ppts social support making them feel more confident in their own decision. The presence of others who are seen to disobey the authority figure reduced the level of obedience to 10%
• locus of control- people with an internal locus of control ( believe they are the reason for everything that happens) tend to be more independent as they feel responsible for their actions

Question 6

minority influence

Answer 6

• Mascovici 1968= believed being consistent and unchanging in a view is more likely to influence ghe majority than if a minority is inconsistent and chops and changes their mind. He did a study on female ppts finding when the confederates were consistent in their answers about 8% said the slides were green (they were actually clearly blue), when inconsistent this was only 1%.
• Found once the minority shifts opinion of some individuals a snowball effect begins to happen, meaning more and more people adopt the minority opinion until it becomes the majority
• In the case of social change when this snowball effect occurs, the minority becomes the majority leaving some people in the minority. The ones in the minority will then conform due to social/ group pressures. The majority opinion then becomes law so people have to obey- people often do not even remember where the opinion originated from (called crypto amnesia)

Question 7

other factor for persuasion

Answer 7

• Goldman 1981- more persuaded if the people are similar to ourselves
• Turner 1996- if they are members of our social groups we will be more easily persuaded
• Chaiken 1983 says if a message is complex it is better when written
• Sears 1986 explains who younger individuals have less stable attitudes so more persuaded
• Reciprocity principles= Cotterell 1992 explains we give a favour if we have received one so avid social penalties
• THAT’S NOT ALL= a persuasive technique that involves the persuader making a request but afterwards throwing in some ‘added extras’ to persuade the tatregt to reciprocate (Bruce 1998)

Question 8

when persuasion doesn’t work

Answer 8

• Johnosn 1994- prior knowledge of a persuasion attempt often renders persasive attemps less effective
• Martin 2003 says people have a tendency too filter out information that Is inconsistent with their pre exisitn gattidues
• Bias assimilation- peoples tendency to evaluate counterattidinal information as biased or unreliable (Lord 1979)