PSYC 2120 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Attitude Change, Balance Theory, Physical Attractiveness

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2120
• Professor: Kerry Kawakami

Document Summary

Attitude - evaluation of a stimulus; can range from positive to negative. Persuasion - intentional effort to change other people"s attitudes in order to change their behavior. Central route to persuasion - a style of processing a persuasive message by a person who has both the ability and the motivation to think carefully about the message"s argument. Attitude change depends on the strength of the argument. Argument - the true merits of the person, object, or position being advocated in the message. Elaboration likelihood model - a theory of persuasion that proposes that persuasive messages can influence attitudes by two different routes, central or peripheral. Peripheral cues - aspects of the communication that are irrelevant (that is, peripheral) to the true merits of the person, object, or position advocated in the message (e. g. , a speaker"s physical attractiveness when attractiveness is irrelevant to the position).