COMM 2500 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY LATEST UPDATE 2026

COMM 2500 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY LATEST UPDATE 2026 Why Study Persuasion - Answers Persuasion is everywhere, One of the oldest fields of study in communication, Aristotle - ethos pathos logos rhetoric ethos - Answers appeal to ethics/character/credibility logos - Answers appeal to logic pathos - Answers appeal to emotion Persuasion is a Study of - Answers Sales We immediately jump to blank when we think of persuasion - Answers sales, but persuasion can be much more than that Persuasion is a Study of - Answers Advertising and Marketing Ads often use blank to make arguments - Answers appeals (fear, humor, sex) Persuasion is a Study of - Answers Motivation, Looking to change attitudes, behaviors, Discovering motivation for change, Discovering motivations for behaviors Persuasion is a Study of - Answers Public Speaking, Analyzing and dissecting arguments, Looking at target audience, Studying sequence of argument What is the Study of Persuasion - Answers Persuasion vs influence (not purposeful), Persuasion vs motivation, Persuasion vs belief, Persuasion vs deception, Persuasion vs coercion (coercion is not persuasion), Is persuasion all of these or none of these Persuasion is Also a Study of - Answers Ethics, Many wonder if persuasion is indeed ethical (even Aristotle), Is persuasion manipulation, What are ethical and unethical persuasive behaviors, Where to draw the line What is Persuasion - Answers Must limit the scope pure persuasion - Answers situations that are clearly persuasion borderline persuasion - Answers situations that may have some of the characteristics of a pure case of persuasion, but might still be somewhat questionable Limiting the scope of persuasion five criteria - Answers intentionality, effects, free will and conscious awareness, symbolic action, interpersonal vs intrapersonal Intentionality - Answers Persuasion vs influence, Limitations of relying solely on intent, socialization, unplanned outcome, unintended receiver, staged vs actual intent, ignores mutual influence socialization - Answers children learn societal roles, often unintentionally unplanned outcome - Answers many interactions are spontaneous staged vs actual intent - Answers who determines what is actually intended by a message, send or receiver ignores mutual influence - Answers when two people are trying to persuade each other concurrently Effects - Answers Can you be practicing persuasion if no one is persuaded, Receiver oriented approach, Limitations include still trying, just might be ineffective, process vs product (focus on what's happening, not outcome), not linear process, difficult to measure effects Free Will and Conscious Awareness - Answers Persuasion vs coercion, Not whether it is persuasive or coercive, but how much, Should a person know when they are being persuaded Symbolic Action - Answers Language and "meaning-laden" acts, Discounts nonverbal behaviors and images Interpersonal vs Intrapersonal - Answers Persuasion vs motivation, Do we need at least two to have a case of persuasion Context - Answers Where/how persuasive message is delivered matters, number involved, synchronous vs asynchronous (availability of feedback), verbal to nonverbal cues, type of media, goals of participants (self-presentational goals, relational goals, instrumental goals), cultural context Persuasion - Answers involves one or more persons who are engaged in the activity of creating, reinforcing, modifying, or extinguishing beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, and/or behaviors withing the constraints of a given communication context A moral - Answers something that is usually seen as right or wrong (generally, there's no grey area) An ethic - Answers is about when you have competing "rights" or "duties" - which do you choose Absolutist Ethics - Answers Kant's Categorical Imperative and Rawl's Veil of Ignorance Kant's Categorical Imperative - Answers to find some rules that can guide you in every situation Rawl's Veil of Ignorance - Answers to treat everyone in the same manner, no matter any social distinction Situational Ethics - Answers Aristotle and the golden mean, Mill's Utilitarian Principle, Machiavellian Ethics Aristotle and the Golden Mean - Answers midpoint between two extremes, moderation should be the guiding principle as you weigh professional needs against those of society Mill's Utilitarian Principle - Answers generate the greatest good for the greatest number of people, must place the importance of society over individual Machiavellian Ethics - Answers end justifies the means, justified in pursuing goals without consideration of the consequence for others Conflicting Loyalties and - Answers Duties Duty to personal conscience - Answers your own set of morals and ethics Duty to your organization - Answers your organization's code of ethics Duty to your profession or art - Answers what you believe your profession should be Duty to society - Answers what you believe you owe to society in your profession Basic Ethical Dilemmas in Comm - Answers What is truth What is truth in entertainment - Answers what is the difference between an artistic truth and a historical truth What is Truth in advertising - Answers what is the difference between the satisfactory benefits of a product and the literal benefits What is Truth in Politics - often run on campaigns - Answers do you present the individual honestly or do you blur the truth, politicians often run on ideals - are you promoting an ideal or a person, what if someone within the campaign is unethical in some way, what about special interests and lobbies Adapting to your audience - Answers can you adapt too much Considerations When Evaluating Someone's Ethics - Answers lying, motives, research Lying - Answers is this person reliable Motives - Answers what are the motives of this individual Research - Answers is the arguer fully prepared or sloppy in preparation (consider these in terms of your own ethics as well) It's important to note that motivates are - Answers probably the key ethical question in persuasive attempts Motives are less about persuasion being ethical - Answers and more about if what you are arguing for is ethical If the motive is unethical - Answers oftentimes, any type of persuasive attempt or strategy will be unethical, too Social marketing - Answers applying traditional marketing principles to non-commercial ventures Social marketing - Answers focuses on manipulating and influencing voluntary behaviors Social marketing - Answers Obviously, purchasing a product is a voluntary behavior as well, but this is more often associated with things like health behaviors, etc. Social marketing - Answers Influence is a very important word What is the difference between an influential ad and a memorable ad - Answers is it enough to just be memorable, you need to be memorable to be influential, right? You are selling behaviors through four stages - Answers asking people to accept a new behavior, asking people to reject a potentially undesirable behavior, asking people to modify an existing behavior, asking people to abandon an undesirable behavior Strategy One - Answers Asking people to accept a new behavior, Examples are asking people to get screened for an illness, asking women to take folic acid before pregnancy Strategy Two - Answers Ask people to reject a potentially undesirable behavior, Examples are campaigns asking people to never start smoking or doing drugs Strategy Three - Answers Ask people to modify an existing behavior, Examples are how to properly clean hands or teeth Strategy Four - Answers Asking people to abandon an undesirable behavior, Examples are stopping smoking or doing drugs As a social marketer, you will fight a lot of - Answers competition Competition - Answers Most of it is other behaviors/beliefs, What if someone's entire family smokes, What if someone does not care about their future, What if someone is addicted, These are all very difficult competition, What if someone does not believe your behavior is more valuable than the undesirable one Social Exchange Theory - Answers People want to maximize rewards while reducing costs, This can be problematic for social marketers, Therefore, you must be highly prepared and motivated, Your preparation requires a few important questions Social Exchange Theory First Ask Yourself - Answers Is communication/a marketing campaign really necessary for this topic, Sometimes, it's not, Sometimes people already know something is bad for them, Sometimes people just don't care, Sometimes, a campaign is overkill Social Exchange Theory However, if the answer is yes...Then Ask Yourself - Answers What approach should I take, You can simplify people's knowledge by categorizing them into three stages, These stages should not be confused with the stages of change model, these are just some general guidelines and are not theoretical Social Exchange Theory Three Stages - Answers Threshold, Sensitizing, Solutions Threshold - Answers In general, people do not know that something is a risk, Education and awareness is important Sensitizing - Answers People are aware of a problem, but do not understand how serious it may be, Focus on extent of problem, how widespread, serious, close to home, etc. Solutions - Answers People know about and understand the problem, This is where it is most necessary to be influential and to think deeply about specific influence variables Is Education Enough - Answers Often, no, How often do you know something is bad but you still do it, There's much more to changing behavior than just telling someone to do something Social Exchange Theory Finally, Ask Yourself One More Question - Answers Who am I trying to influence, You may target individuals or groups, by targeting one, you may also influence another, or neither, but you must understand your target and who is most likely to be influence for change Who Can I Target - Answers Individual, Friends and family, Community, State, Legislative/national What is a Theory - Answers A way to explain behavior - specifically, behaviors related to any aspect of the persuasive process, Constantly under scrutiny, Constantly being update Theories aren't always - Answers correct and don't necessarily have "rules" (more like guidelines that you are constantly testing" Early Theories of Persuasion - Answers Aristotelian Theory, Rank's Model of Persuasion Aristotelian Theory - Answers Aristotle displayed significant interest in public speaking and, therefore, persuasion and persuasive speaking, Developed first theory of persuasion, Artistic proofs, Inartistic proofs Artistic proofs - Answers things that a persuader can control Inartistic proofs - Answers things that a persuader cannot control (environment, physical attractiveness of the speaker) Artistic Proofs - Answers Ethos - appeals to credibility, two layers, Pathos - passionate, emotional responses, Logos - an appeal to logic Ethos First layer - Answers what happens before you speak, posture, clothing, age, reputation Ethos Second layer - Answers what happens after you start speaking, voice, word choice, passion, speaking style may help build credibility, You may also have real life experience that beats out your speaking style and builds credibility Pathos - Answers People connect to these emotionally - there is a natural reaction to these types of appeals, Several universal values like justice, prudence, generosity, courage, temperance, magnanimity, magnificence, wisdom Justice - Answers right and wrong, respect for laws, fairness Prudence - Answers good judgment Generosity - Answers unselfish attitude Courage - Answers doing what is right regardless of situation Temperance - Answers capable of moderation Magnanimity - Answers looking for the betterment of the world Magnificence - Answers ability to encourage the best in self and others Wisdom - Answers good judgment and character - more than intelligence Logos - Answers People are logical and capable of processing what the presenter intends, Use of statistics, syllogisms, etc. Rank's Model of Persuasion - Answers Two basic ways that people persuade to intensify or to downplay, When persuading, you will intensify positives of self, intensify negatives of other, downplay negatives of self, downplay positives of others Two basic ways that people persuade - Answers to intensify or to downplay When persuading, you will - Answers intensify positives of self, intensify negatives of other, downplay negatives of self, downplay positives of others Intensification - Answers repetition, association, composition, Three ways include repetition, association (the persuader associates the cause, brand, etc. with something that the audience already has an opinion on), composition (manipulating how the message is presented like through word choice, music, graphics) Downplaying - Answers Three ways, omission, diversion, confusion Omission - Answers leaving something out (is this ethical) Diversion - Answers shifting attention (think politics) Confusion - Answers purposefully trying to leave the audience with some uncertainty (using technical jargon, or words that the audience is unfamiliar with), can backfire because audiences usually know that they have been confused and they usually are not happy about it Processing Theories - Answers In persuasion, there is also a focus on how people think about your messages, or more precisely, if they think about it, This is called processing, it is similar to what you would think of when you think of the word process, it is just focused on thinking Popular Processing Theories - Answers Traditionally follow a dual-process approach, Elaboration likelihood model, Heuristic-systematic model Behavior Change - Answers Much of persuasion is focused on actually changing behaviors, as is much of social marketing, Changing behaviors requires some specific tactics and tools, Behavior change really depends on a few things such as a person's values and ease of complete behavior A person's values - Answers most theories of behavior change will focus on this in some way, extrinsic rewards are not enough for lasting, sustainable change Ease of complete of behavior - Answers most theories require the individual take small steps toward goals Popular Behavior Change Theories - Answers Theory or reasoned action/planned behavior, Transtheoretical model (stages of change), Social cognitive theory, Protection motivation theory, Health belief model Stages of Change Model - Answers People change in a series of steps, Each step is conceptually different from another, You usually move people from one step to the next with your message, precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, termination