Arizona State University

• PSY 46399

• Exam three study guide (Social Influence/Persuasion, & Prejudice: Chs. 6-10). ● Asch’s research on conformity, both new and old (book, lecture and videos) ○ Lecture: What would you say if you were in a group of 6 others, and all agreed the answer was 3? When alone, 95% of participants got all the answers correct. But 75% went against their own eyes at least once if the group gave a wrong answer. ○ Conclusion: People faced with strong group consensus sometimes go along even though they think the others may be wrong. ○ The line test. Confederates would say a different line matched and this would influence the actual participation to change their answer. ○ New(video): 6 people looking at shapes to see if they match. Most of the time people were influenced by others' wrong answers even if they got them right on the test before this. ○ There was little to no activity in the prefrontal cortex, however, there was a lot of activity in the occipital lobe (sight) and the amygdala (fear) areas of the brain ● Milgram’s study and its variants. ○ Milgram had the shocking study where one person believed they were shocking another at higher levels each time if they got an answer wrong. It was the power of authority and looking at the goals of choosing correctly. Even with complaints from confederates. ○ Lecture: Stanley Milgram study (Original Study) Shock generator, how far would you shock the person when listening to authority (Experimenter). Even when the the confederate would plead for help. Research commands more shock. ○ In the new study they didn't go as high with the volts for ethical reasons. Even with a "moral guide" people would still continue the study. ○ People underestimated the number of participants who would go all the way ● What is peripheral (and central) processing in persuasion (Book/lectures)? ○ Central Processing: used when people have a high need for cognition, are motivated, and or can devote time and energy to analyzing a persuasive message. Someone is also more likely to use central processing if they have prior knowledge of the subject. Having prior knowledge makes decision making easier and encourages us to like strong arguments and not like weak arguments. Personalization also encourages central route processing. Central route persuasion leads to stronger feelings and sticks for a long time. ○ Peripheral Processing: used when people are less motivated or do not have the time/energy to process a message. People are more likely to use this type of processing if their ego is depleted. Examples of convincing things in this route are number of arguments, number of people who are persuaded, and credibility of the argument. Someone using peripheral processing would be convinced by a lot of reviews as opposed to being convinced by some good reviews. People are more likely to be persuaded when using peripheral processing. ● Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Heider’s Balance Theory (lectures) ○ Cognitive Dissonance Theory: refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This produces a feeling of mental discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance. ■ Example: When someone smokes (behavior) and they know that smoking sdcauses cancer (cognition), they are in a state of cognitive dissonance. ○ Heider’s Balance Theory: Shows how people develop relationships and how the relationships can be influenced by beliefs/situations and other people. We want to remain consistent, and keep social relationships that support our thoughts and beliefs. When someone challenges our belief system our cognitive system becomes out of balance and we experience uncomfortable tension. We must change something in the relationship system to remove the tension ● What do we know about the relationship between self-esteem and prejudice