Chapter 3: The Influence of Attitudes on Information Processing and Behavior

1. Which is true about selective exposure effects?

  1. They are much larger when the topics are value-relevant
  2. They are much larger when there is high prior commitment to a particular attitude position.
  3. They are much larger when new dissonant information does not seem highly useful, high in quality, or non-refutable.
  4. all of these

Answer: D

2. Instead of seeing things objectively, our attitudes affect how we encode and interpret what we see and hear. This theory is corroborated by which of the following studies?

  1. Emily Balcetis and David Dunning (2006)
  2. Ma, Yang, and Han (2011)
  3. Lord, Ross, and Lepper (1979)
  4. all of these

Answer: D

3. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

  1. Selective exposure effects are stronger among individuals with lower self-esteem.
  2. Attitude congeniality effects for value-expressive issues are stronger among individuals with higher self-esteem.
  3. The congeniality effect was larger when the attitude issue was value-relevant.
  4. Defensiveness is an important part of the role of value-relevance.

Answer: B

4. Joe finds himself persuaded by some research saying that playing violent video games increases your insensitivity to violence. He then tells his friend, Sally, that he only plays violent video games occasionally. As an attitudes researcher, Sally should think ______.

  1. Joe must have a strong attitude toward violent video games
  2. Joe might be trying to make his past behavior seem consistent with his new attitude
  3. the evidence might have persuaded Joe because he does not like violent video games
  4. the evidence would have persuaded Joe more if Sally liked violent video games

Answer: D

5. Alan Wicker (1969) concluded in his studies that ______.

  1. attitudes accounted for only around 2% of the variation in behavior
  2. the average correlation between attitudes and behavior was a very meager 0.15
  3. there is little evidence to support the postulated existence of stable, underlying attitudes within the individual which influence both his verbal expression and his actions
  4. all of these

Answer: B

6. According to Icek Ajzen and Martin Fishbein (1977), measures of attitude and behavior should correspond in the following key ways.

  1. action and target
  2. context and time
  3. value-relevance and congeniality
  4. action and target, and context and time

Answer: D

7. In Dovidio et al.’s (1997) experiment on prejudicial attitudes and behavior, which statement is NOT correct?

  1. The explicit measure of prejudice would best predict participants’ deliberative evaluations of their interactions
  2. The implicit measure of prejudice would best predict participants’ spontaneous behaviors
  3. The implicit measure of prejudice was correlated with participants’ conscious assessment of their interaction
  4. The implicit measure of prejudice was correlated with participants’ non-verbal behavior.

Answer: C

8. The Reflective-Impulsive Model of Strack and Deutsch (2004) suggests ______.

  1. the reflective system guides and elicits behavior via a reasoned consideration of available information
  2. the impulsive system can be seen as involving processes that resemble how people respond to explicit measures of attitude
  3. the impulsive system should have a greater influence on deliberative behavior
  4. the reflective system should have a greater influence on spontaneous behavior

Answer: A

9. Attitudes’ prediction of behavior is dependent on ______.

  1. the function of the attitude
  2. the domain of behavior
  3. the strength of the attitude
  4. all of these

Answer: D

10. Drawing on their findings, Holland, Verplanken, and van Knippenberg (2002) suggested that ______.

  1. weak attitudes do predict behavior
  2. prior behaviors can influence strong attitudes
  3. strong attitudes influence behavior, while weak attitudes are shaped by behavior
  4. attitude accessibility moderates the strength of attitude-behavior relations

Answer: C

11. Which of the following statements is best supported by empirical evidence?

  1. Attitudes predict behaviors when both are assessed by reliable and valid measures.
  2. Value-expressive attitudes are more likely to predict behavior compared to other attitudes.
  3. Attitudes predict behaviors better when attitudes incorporate positive as well as negative beliefs.
  4. Attitudes predict behaviors when both are assessed by reliable and valid measures, and value-expressive attitudes are more likely to predict behavior compared to other attitudes are true.

Answer: D

12. Which of the following statements is best supported by empirical evidence?

  1. People high in self-monitoring show stronger attitude-behavior associations than people low in self-monitoring.
  2. People low in self-monitoring show stronger attitude-behavior associations than people high in self-monitoring.
  3. People who hold attitudes with a strong affective basis show stronger attitude-behavior associations than people who hold attitudes with a strong cognitive basis.
  4. People who hold attitudes with a strong cognitive basis show stronger attitude-behavior associations than people who hold attitudes with a strong affective basis.

Answer: B