Quiz — Chapter 35: Persuasion, Influence, and Social Pressure
Instructions
25 multiple-choice questions. Select the single best answer for each. The answer key with explanations follows the questions.
Questions
1. According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the central route to persuasion is characterized by:
A) Quick heuristic processing based on credibility cues B) Careful evaluation of argument quality and evidence C) Emotional responses to the source of the message D) Conformity to social norms around the topic
2. Which of the following best describes the peripheral route to persuasion?
A) Detailed analysis of the logical structure of an argument B) Systematic evaluation of the evidence supporting a claim C) Influence through heuristics, source attractiveness, and mood D) Critical comparison of competing arguments
3. Research on the Elaboration Likelihood Model indicates that attitudes changed through central-route processing are:
A) More likely to change again when new peripheral cues are introduced B) Less resistant to counterarguments than peripherally formed attitudes C) More durable and predictive of behavior than peripherally formed attitudes D) Equally durable to peripheral-route attitudes but formed more quickly
4. Robert Cialdini's principle of reciprocity is based on:
A) The tendency to comply with requests from authority figures B) The deeply rooted norm that we should repay what others give us C) The preference for options that appear rare or dwindling in supply D) The desire to be consistent with prior public commitments
5. The foot-in-the-door technique exploits which of Cialdini's principles?
A) Reciprocity B) Social proof C) Commitment and consistency D) Authority
6. In which scenario is social proof influence operating?
A) A person agrees to donate because the charity representative has impressive credentials B) A person buys a restaurant because it has a long wait line outside C) A person purchases a product because the offer expires today D) A person agrees to a large request after agreeing to a small one
7. Milgram's obedience to authority research demonstrated that:
A) Most people will defy authority to protect strangers from harm B) Authority symbols alone (without genuine expertise) have negligible persuasive power C) Ordinary people will administer apparently harmful shocks when instructed by authority figures D) People are better at resisting authority in person than over the phone
8. The psychological reactance theory explains why:
A) People comply more readily when requests are framed as freedoms B) Restricting something often increases its perceived desirability C) People ignore social proof when they have prior preferences D) Authority cues are less effective than scarcity cues
9. Cialdini's principle of "unity" (added in the revised edition of Influence) refers to:
A) The tendency to form a coherent self-concept across time B) Influence that operates through a sense of shared identity C) The integration of multiple persuasion principles in a single message D) The preference for products associated with one's cultural group
10. Pre-suasion, as described by Cialdini, refers to:
A) Using multiple persuasion principles simultaneously in one message B) Repeating messages until they become familiar through mere exposure C) Managing attention and context before the message to determine how it will be received D) Building rapport with a target before introducing the persuasive request
11. In Solomon Asch's conformity experiments, the primary finding was that:
A) People rarely conform to incorrect group judgments on perceptual tasks B) A significant proportion of participants gave incorrect answers to match confederate responses C) Conformity was limited to participants with low self-esteem D) Conformity decreased as group size increased beyond three
12. The distinction between normative and informational social influence is that:
A) Normative influence occurs only in hierarchical relationships; informational influence is peer-based B) Normative influence involves conforming to gain acceptance; informational influence involves using others as sources of knowledge C) Normative influence produces private attitude change; informational influence produces only public compliance D) Normative influence is stronger in individualistic cultures; informational influence in collectivist cultures
13. Moscovici's research on minority influence demonstrated that minorities are most influential when they are:
A) Larger relative to the majority B) Consistent and confident in their position over time C) Backed by authority figures within the group D) Presenting peripheral-route persuasion to a low-motivation audience
14. Group polarization refers to:
A) The tendency for diverse groups to reach more moderate positions than individuals B) The splitting of a group into two factions with opposing views C) The tendency for group discussion to intensify the initial average position D) The process by which groups exclude members with deviant views
15. Which of the following is NOT one of the mechanisms proposed to explain group polarization?
A) Social comparison with others in the group B) One-sided persuasive arguments that circulate within the group C) Social identity amplification through group membership D) Normative pressure from group leaders to adopt moderate positions
16. Inoculation theory predicts that resistance to misleading arguments is built by:
A) Avoiding exposure to the misleading arguments entirely B) Exposure to weakened versions of misleading arguments followed by refutation C) Strengthening the initial attitude through repeated affirmation D) Providing warnings that misleading arguments are coming, without detailed refutation
17. Jacques Ellul's analysis of propaganda emphasized that modern propaganda:
A) Is primarily the work of governments in authoritarian states B) Works mainly through explicit messaging rather than structural integration C) Operates through participation, integration into everyday life, and emotional amplification D) Is most effective when its persuasive intent is explicitly acknowledged
18. The Elaboration Likelihood Model would predict that a doctor's white coat is persuasive because it operates as:
A) A central-route argument for the validity of the doctor's claims B) A peripheral cue that triggers the authority heuristic C) Informational social influence from a legitimate knowledge source D) A commitment device that increases compliance over time
19. Which of the following BEST distinguishes manipulation from legitimate persuasion?
A) Manipulation always uses emotional appeals; legitimate persuasion uses only logical arguments B) Manipulation operates below conscious awareness; legitimate persuasion operates consciously C) Manipulation bypasses rational agency and serves the influencer's interests at the target's expense D) Manipulation uses peripheral-route processing; legitimate persuasion always uses central-route processing
20. BJ Fogg's Behavior Model argues that persuasive technology works by:
A) Providing detailed arguments that motivate deliberate behavior change B) Aligning motivation, ability, and triggers to produce target behaviors C) Exploiting cognitive biases identified in the heuristics and biases literature D) Creating strong social proof through follower counts and engagement metrics
21. The variable-ratio reinforcement schedule in digital platforms (like social media feeds) is persuasive because:
A) It provides consistent, predictable rewards that users can rely on B) It maximizes the amount of time between reward delivery C) It produces compulsive checking behavior because the reward timing is unpredictable D) It operates through commitment devices that increase investment over time
22. The persuasion knowledge model (Friestad & Wright) suggests that:
A) Consumers are entirely unable to detect persuasion attempts B) Awareness of being persuaded automatically makes people resistant C) People develop working models of how persuasion works that they use to cope with influence attempts D) Persuasion is only effective when targets are unaware of the intent
23. Kahneman's System 1 / System 2 framework maps onto the Elaboration Likelihood Model in that:
A) System 1 corresponds to central-route processing; System 2 to peripheral processing B) System 2 corresponds to central-route processing; System 1 to peripheral processing C) Both systems operate identically in persuasion contexts D) System 1 produces more durable attitude change than System 2
24. Research on upward influence tactics in organizational contexts shows that:
A) Rational persuasion (providing evidence and reasoning) is rarely effective with supervisors B) Coalition building (enlisting others' support) is the most effective single tactic C) Rational persuasion and inspiration appeal are generally among the most effective upward influence strategies D) Personal appeals based on liking are consistently the most effective with superiors
25. Which of the following is the most accurate statement about Cialdini's six (now seven) principles?
A) Each principle operates independently and combining them reduces individual effectiveness B) The principles exploit cognitive shortcuts that evolved because they are usually reliable guides C) The principles are effective only with people low in critical thinking ability D) The principles are more effective in individualistic than collectivist cultures
Answer Key
1. B — The central route involves careful evaluation of argument quality and evidence. Peripheral processing relies on heuristics and cues (answer C describes peripheral). The ELM is defined by this distinction (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986).
2. C — Peripheral processing relies on heuristics, source characteristics, mood, and other cues that don't require careful argument evaluation. Answers A, B, and D all describe central-route processing.
3. C — Attitudes formed via the central route are more durable, more resistant to counterarguments, and more predictive of behavior — this is the key practical implication of ELM research. Peripheral attitudes are easier to form but easier to change.
4. B — Reciprocity is the deeply embedded social norm that we should return what others give us. It is one of the most universal and cross-culturally consistent norms documented by social anthropologists. Answer A is authority, C is scarcity, D is commitment/consistency.
5. C — Foot-in-the-door works by obtaining a small initial commitment that creates internal consistency pressure to comply with larger subsequent requests. The person becomes "someone who says yes" and maintains that self-image.
6. B — Social proof is influence through others' behavior as a guide to appropriate action. A long wait line signals that many others have chosen the restaurant, providing social validation. Answer A is authority, C is scarcity, D is commitment/consistency.
7. C — Milgram's research found that 65% of ordinary American adults administered apparently lethal shocks under authority instruction — one of social psychology's most disturbing and important findings about ordinary human behavior.
8. B — Reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) predicts that threats to perceived freedom increase the desirability of the restricted option — explaining why "limited availability" and forbidden things become more attractive.
9. B — Unity operates through shared identity — family, community, ethnicity, nation, group membership. It is more powerful than mere liking because it creates "we" rather than just positive affect. Added in the 2021 edition of Influence.
10. C — Pre-suasion (Cialdini, 2016) refers to managing what occupies a person's attention and what context surrounds the message before the message is delivered. The American flag / conservative position study illustrates this: attention management before the message shapes the message's reception.
11. B — Asch found that approximately 75% of participants gave at least one wrong answer that matched confederates, and about 32% of responses overall were conformist (wrong). The finding was striking precisely because the correct answer was visually obvious.
12. B — The normative/informational distinction is about the motivation for conformity: social acceptance (normative) versus genuine uncertainty resolved by others' knowledge (informational). Informational influence typically produces private attitude change; normative influence can produce only public compliance.
13. B — Moscovici's blue/green studies and subsequent research showed that minorities influence through consistency — maintaining the same position confidently over time, which signals that the minority has principled conviction worth attending to.
14. C — Group polarization is the intensification of the initial average position after group discussion. It does not necessarily mean splitting into factions (answer B). Groups that lean toward caution become more cautious; groups that lean toward risk become riskier.
15. D — The three mechanisms are social comparison (discovering others hold even stronger positions), one-sided persuasive arguments (most arguments in a like-minded group support the shared direction), and social identity (the position becomes part of group membership). Moderate pressure from leaders is not a proposed mechanism.
16. B — Inoculation works specifically through exposure to weakened counterarguments followed by refutation — analogous to vaccination, where a weakened pathogen triggers immunity. Simply avoiding exposure or affirming the original attitude doesn't build active resistance.
17. C — Ellul's analysis emphasized that modern propaganda is not primarily about explicit government messaging but about integration into everyday life — sports, entertainment, advertising, culture — and emotional participation in collective narratives. It works structurally, not just rhetorically.
18. B — The white coat is a peripheral cue triggering the authority heuristic — it does not constitute an argument for the validity of any specific claim. People process it under low elaboration as a signal of expertise rather than evaluating it as evidence.
19. C — The most accurate and comprehensive distinction is that manipulation bypasses rational agency (exploits System 1, creates false impressions, exploits psychological vulnerabilities) and primarily serves the influencer at the target's expense. The answer avoids the false dichotomy of logic vs. emotion.
20. B — Fogg's model: behavior = motivation × ability × trigger. When all three align, the target behavior occurs. Persuasive technology is designed to optimize all three simultaneously, reducing friction (increasing ability), activating motivation, and delivering well-timed triggers.
21. C — Variable-ratio schedules (rewarded after an unpredictable number of responses) produce the highest and most persistent response rates in operant conditioning research. Social media feeds use this: sometimes a scroll reveals something rewarding, sometimes not — the unpredictability compels continued checking.
22. C — The persuasion knowledge model holds that people develop naive theories about how persuasion works and deploy these to manage influence attempts. Awareness of persuasive intent doesn't automatically produce resistance — it depends on the quality of the persuasion knowledge activated.
23. B — System 2 (slow, deliberate, effortful) maps onto central-route processing; System 1 (fast, automatic, heuristic-based) maps onto peripheral-route processing. Attitudes formed by System 2 / central-route are more deliberate and durable.
24. C — Research on upward influence consistently finds rational persuasion (evidence, logical arguments) and inspirational appeals (values, vision, aspirations) among the most effective tactics with supervisors, across cultures. Ingratiation and personal appeals are typically rated less effective.
25. B — Cialdini's central argument is that these principles evolved or were culturally selected because they are usually reliable shortcuts — reciprocity norms generally work well; social proof is usually a reasonable guide; authority often reflects genuine expertise. They are exploitable precisely because they are normally functional.
Score: 23–25 = Excellent | 19–22 = Strong | 15–18 = Review flagged sections | Below 15 = Re-read the chapter