SOP 3004: Chapter 5 Questions and
Correct Answers.
Attitudes - Answer our likes or dislikes for something; involve affect, behavior, and cognition
Why are we concerned with attitudes? - Answer If we detect attitudes that can influence
behavior
Dissonance Theory - Answer when people recognize an inconsistency among their attitudes,
beliefs, and perceptions they will feel a state of uncomfortable psychological arousal and will be
motivated to reduce the discomfort by reducing the inconsistency
How do we resolve dissonance? - Answer -Change your attitude (bring it in line with the
behavior)
-Change your behavior (you can't change it of the past, but you can adjust what you do in the
future so that is matches your attitudes)
-Modify the criteria (What behavior constitutes for being the date king — you know what 3
dates is a lot)
-Reduce the importance of the elements/ change the definition (Well dating isn't so important
anyway, at least I'm doing good in my classes)
All ways to reduce dissonance - Answer -Deny the consequences
-Deny the source
-Transform the consequences
-Transform the harm/benefit relationship
-Transform the important
Post Decision Dissonance Reduction - Answer We change our perceptions of our alternative
after we make our decision; the conflict between the knowledge that you have made a decision
and the possibility that the decision may be wrong
EX: you choose car A and your attitude toward Car A goes up and Car B goes down; rationalize
with your decision
Self-affirmation theory - Answer we can live with our inconsistency as long as we affirm our
overall since of self identity — how people will reduce the impact of a threat to their self-
concept by focusing on and affirming their competence in some other area
Self-Perception Theory - Answer -People develop attitudes and opinions by observing their
own behavior and drawing conclusions from it
, -We learn about ourselves and form self-judgments the same way we learn about and judge
others - by observation
Foot-in-the-door - Answer Getting a person to agree to a large request by first setting them
up by having that person agree to a very small request
What is the difference between the dissonance theory and self-perception theory? - Answer
Dissonance theory is changing your attitude to match your behavior and the self-perception
theory they don't have an attitude to begin with and they form it when you ask them and they
infer their attitudes from their own behavior
Over Justification Effect - Answer Rewarding people for doing something they enjoy, this
undermines their enjoyment
Interpreting Physiological Responses - Answer We may infer our attitudes from our
physiological responses
EX: Controller controlled their heart rate (not real)
They took the picture home that they thought they liked based on the stimuli the controlled
manipulated
Two Routes of Persuasion - Answer 1. Central route processing
2. Peripheral route processing
Central Route Processing - Answer Influence through thinking systematically and evaluating
the arguments; effortful processing; useful when we have to make important decisions
Peripheral Route Processing - Answer Influenced by incidental or irrelevant characteristics;
useful when our decisions are fairly trivial or we need to make a quick decision
EX: busweiser commercials
Central routes are effective for persuasion when... - Answer 1. The message is personally
relevant to us
2. We have some knowledge about the topic
3. We feel responsibility for some related outcome
4. The person is motivated and able of processing the message
Peripheral routes are effective when... - Answer Motivation and/or capacity to process the
message are low
Correct Answers.
Attitudes - Answer our likes or dislikes for something; involve affect, behavior, and cognition
Why are we concerned with attitudes? - Answer If we detect attitudes that can influence
behavior
Dissonance Theory - Answer when people recognize an inconsistency among their attitudes,
beliefs, and perceptions they will feel a state of uncomfortable psychological arousal and will be
motivated to reduce the discomfort by reducing the inconsistency
How do we resolve dissonance? - Answer -Change your attitude (bring it in line with the
behavior)
-Change your behavior (you can't change it of the past, but you can adjust what you do in the
future so that is matches your attitudes)
-Modify the criteria (What behavior constitutes for being the date king — you know what 3
dates is a lot)
-Reduce the importance of the elements/ change the definition (Well dating isn't so important
anyway, at least I'm doing good in my classes)
All ways to reduce dissonance - Answer -Deny the consequences
-Deny the source
-Transform the consequences
-Transform the harm/benefit relationship
-Transform the important
Post Decision Dissonance Reduction - Answer We change our perceptions of our alternative
after we make our decision; the conflict between the knowledge that you have made a decision
and the possibility that the decision may be wrong
EX: you choose car A and your attitude toward Car A goes up and Car B goes down; rationalize
with your decision
Self-affirmation theory - Answer we can live with our inconsistency as long as we affirm our
overall since of self identity — how people will reduce the impact of a threat to their self-
concept by focusing on and affirming their competence in some other area
Self-Perception Theory - Answer -People develop attitudes and opinions by observing their
own behavior and drawing conclusions from it
, -We learn about ourselves and form self-judgments the same way we learn about and judge
others - by observation
Foot-in-the-door - Answer Getting a person to agree to a large request by first setting them
up by having that person agree to a very small request
What is the difference between the dissonance theory and self-perception theory? - Answer
Dissonance theory is changing your attitude to match your behavior and the self-perception
theory they don't have an attitude to begin with and they form it when you ask them and they
infer their attitudes from their own behavior
Over Justification Effect - Answer Rewarding people for doing something they enjoy, this
undermines their enjoyment
Interpreting Physiological Responses - Answer We may infer our attitudes from our
physiological responses
EX: Controller controlled their heart rate (not real)
They took the picture home that they thought they liked based on the stimuli the controlled
manipulated
Two Routes of Persuasion - Answer 1. Central route processing
2. Peripheral route processing
Central Route Processing - Answer Influence through thinking systematically and evaluating
the arguments; effortful processing; useful when we have to make important decisions
Peripheral Route Processing - Answer Influenced by incidental or irrelevant characteristics;
useful when our decisions are fairly trivial or we need to make a quick decision
EX: busweiser commercials
Central routes are effective for persuasion when... - Answer 1. The message is personally
relevant to us
2. We have some knowledge about the topic
3. We feel responsibility for some related outcome
4. The person is motivated and able of processing the message
Peripheral routes are effective when... - Answer Motivation and/or capacity to process the
message are low
