O'Keefe, Persuasion: Theory and Research, Third Edition Chapter 1: Persuasion, Attitudes, and Actions
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you agree with all of the features of the exemplary cases? If not, which ones do you think do not need exist in order for there to be persuasion?
2. What are some specific and general attitudes that college students have? How do you see these attitudes influencing behavior?
3. What are some examples of a time when your direct experience with something changed your attitude about that thing? How did that then influence your behavior?
4. Do you see any ethical concerns with the strategies of inducing feelings of hypocrisy or encouraging anticipation of negative feelings to change attitudes? Why or why not?
Chapter 2 Social Judgment Theory Name:
Discussion Questions:
1. Think about the issue of consuming animal products. What are the range of positions one could have on the issue?
2. Are there any potential downfalls to being intentionally ambiguous in a persuasive message such as a political ad? Does purposeful ambiguity put the message receiver at a disadvantage?
3. What are some attitudes you have that have a high level of ego-involvement? What are some attitudes you hold that have lower levels of ego-involvement?
4. Imagine you are working on a campaign for you campus to promote students volunteering at least 15 hours a semester? How could you use Social Judgment theory to plan the campaign?
Chapter 3: Functional Approaches to Attitude Name:
Discussion Questions:
1. Using Katz's proposed four attitude functions, identify an attitude you hold that serves each of those functions.
2. When planning your persuasive messages, what are some techniques you can use to ensure that your persuasive message matches your audience's attitude functions?
3. How does the functional approach compare to social judgment theory? Which do you think is a more useful theory for planning persuasive appeals? What overlap is there between the two theories?
4. When trying to persuade a large group using a mass communication campaign, it is possible to use a function messaging approach given the diversity of the audience?