Social Influence and Behavior Flashcards

Which factor does NOT typically reduce conformity in Asch-type paradigms?

Answer: Increasing the difficulty of the task

Making the task harder actually increases conformity because greater ambiguity raises reliance on the group as an information source.

The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) distinguishes between two routes to persuasion. The central route requires:

Answer: Careful processing of argument quality

The central route involves deep cognitive processing of message arguments, leading to more durable attitude change.

A campaign uses fear-arousing messages about skin cancer to change sun-tanning behavior. According to the extended parallel process model, the campaign will succeed only if recipients also feel:

Answer: High threat AND high efficacy

Without perceived efficacy (belief one can take protective action), high fear triggers defensive denial rather than behavior change.

When a person's private beliefs shift to match the group's position after genuine persuasion, this is called:

Answer: Internalization

Internalization involves true attitude change where the individual now personally endorses the group's position.

Research on 'pluralistic ignorance' most often finds that individuals:

Answer: Underestimate how much others share their private doubts

Because everyone publicly masks private doubts, people assume they alone feel uncertain, when in fact most group members feel the same way.

Which of the following is an example of the 'lowball' compliance technique?

Answer: Getting agreement on a deal, then revealing hidden costs

Lowballing secures commitment at an attractive price and then adds costs, exploiting the sunk-cost and consistency biases to maintain compliance.

According to self-categorization theory, conformity increases when individuals categorize themselves as:

Answer: Members of a relevant ingroup

When a social identity is salient, people conform to the perceived norms of that ingroup to validate their membership.