Module 74 REVIEW

• 74-1 What do social psychologists study? How do we tend to explain others’ behavior and our own?

• Social psychologists use scientific methods to study how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. They study the social influences that explain why the same person will act differently in different situations.
• When explaining others’ behavior, we may—especially if we come from an individualist Western culture—commit the fundamental attribution error (underestimating the influence of the situation and overestimating the effects of stable, enduring traits). When explaining our own behavior, we more readily attribute it to the influence of the situation.

• 74-2 How do attitudes and actions interact?

• Attitudes are feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in certain ways.
• Peripheral route persuasion uses incidental cues (such as celebrity endorsement) to try to produce fast but relatively thoughtless changes in attitudes.
• Central route persuasion offers evidence and arguments to trigger thoughtful responses.
• When other influences are minimal, attitudes that are stable, specific, and easily recalled can affect our actions.
• Actions can modify attitudes, as in the foot-in-the-door phenomenon (complying with a large request after having agreed to a small request) and role playing (acting a social part by following guidelines for expected behavior).
• When our attitudes don’t fit with our actions, cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we will reduce tension by changing our attitudes to match our actions.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Claire has had several car accidents that she blames on other drivers. When her boyfriend has an accident, she is quick to blame his carelessness behind the wheel. Claire’s difference in blame is due to
   1. peripheral route persuasion.
   2. cognitive dissonance.
   3. the fundamental attribution error.
   4. the foot-in-the-door phenomenon.
   5. central route persuasion.
2. A feeling, often influenced by a belief, that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to people and events is known as
   1. central route persuasion.
   2. a role.
   3. social psychology.
   4. the foot-in-the-door phenomenon.
   5. an attitude.
3. The discomfort we feel when our attitudes are not in line with our actions is called
   1. cognitive dissonance.
   2. the power of the situation.
   3. the foot-in-the-door phenomenon.
   4. role playing.
   5. the fundamental attribution error.

Practice FRQs

1. Explain how central route persuasion and peripheral route persuasion could be used by your school’s cafeteria to increase lunch sales.

Answer

1 point: Central route persuasion would use facts, such as the health benefits of eating certain foods, or the value-pricing of the available options, to influence the students to purchase the food. Page 771

1 point: Peripheral route persuasion would focus more on emotion and might attempt to display the food in a very appetizing way to create an impulse decision to purchase the food. Page 771

2. Using the guards in the Zimbardo prison simulation as your example, explain the following psychological concepts:
   • Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
   • Power of the situation
   • Cognitive dissonance

(3 points)