COMM 318 2nd ExamExam # 2 Study Guide Lectures: 9 -17Lecture 9 (February 24)Risk perception attitude (RPA) framework A. framework/background1. a theory specifically about perceptions of, and responses to, health-re-lated risks2. assumes that, in some instances, risk can motivate self-protective health behavior3. two dimensions of perceived risk • severity• perceptions of the noxiousness of a threat• “how bad will it be if it does happen?”• susceptibility• perception of the degree to which a threat is likely to occur• “how likely is the threat?”4. two dimensions of perceived efficacy• self efficacy• perceptions of one’s ability to cope with or prevent the threat• “can I mitigate or prevent the threat?”• response efficacy• perceptions of the effectiveness of strategies designed to cope withor prevent the threat• “will the strategies recommend to mitigate or prevent the threat work?”6. risk• susceptibility: how likely am I to develop skin cancer?• severity: how bad would it be if I developed skin cancer?7. efficacy• self efficacy: can I prevent skin cancer?• response efficacy: are there effective strategies for preventing skincancer? (e.g. sunscreen)1. Responsive Attitude (the people who take action)• high risk and high efficacy perceptions• are aware of risk status and believe they have the skills to avert the threat• group MOST motivated to enact self-protective health be-haviorex: are aware that they are at risk of developing skin cancer and feel confident about taking action to prevent or reduce the risk2. Avoidance Attitude (something bad can happen but I cannot pre-vent it)• high risk and low efficacy perceptions• conflicting motivation• concerned about risk, but feel unable to cope with itex: are aware that they are at risk of developing skin cancer, but do not feel like they can prevent it 3. Proactive Attitude (take action; just in case)(engage in behaviors but aren’t at risk)• low risk and high efficacy perceptions• not motivated by risk; however, may take action because they believe that a behavior may be preventative ex: do not perceive themselves to be at risk for skin cancer, but wear sunscreen because they think it will prevent cancer4. Indifferent Attitude (least motivated to participate in protective be-havior)• low risk and efficacy perceptions• feel that they are not at risk and feel unable to cope with thethreat• group least motivated to enact self-protective behaviorex: are not aware that they are at risk of developing skin can-cer, and don’t feel they can do anything about itOptimistic BiasB. we have the belief that we are more healthy than others and less likely to de-velop negative health consequences***everyone has this idea that they are less at risk than their peers*** B. focuses on perceptions of relative riskC. people perceive themselves to be less susceptible to a health threat than others1. people, in general, believe that their susceptibility to a health problem is below average2. most optimistic bias occurs for behaviors that are perceived to be con-trollable ***optimistic bias is one possible explanation why people do not take steps to engage in preventative health behaviors***D. one possible explanation for the optimistic bias:1. egocentrism • people believe that their self protective actions are more extensive or effective than the actions taken by othersLecture 10 (February 26) ELM; what it is, how it works, what factors influence it?A. Explains responses to messages that contain an argument and/or peripheral cues1. Argument: content of a message2. Peripheral cues: information external to message content3. Makes predictions about responses to a single messageB. Central route : careful scrutiny of message content (focusing on the arguments of the mes-sage)C. Peripheral route : cues that are peripheral to the message (e.g. source expertise) shape atti-tudes without the need for engaging in any extensive issue-relevant thinkingD. Motivation : are motivated to process the message centrally?1. Factors that influence motivation: involvement in the message topic, need for cognition, and personal responsibility for your attitudeE. Ability : are you able to process the message centrally1. Factors that influence ability: distraction, background knowledge of the topic, and message clarityLecture 11 (March 3)HSM ; what it is, how it works, what factors influence it? II. BackgroundA. another dual-process message processing modelIII. AssumptionsA. individual are cognitive misers1. individuals seek to maximize cognitive activity2. if we payed attention to all the information around us we would be overwhelmed ***we only give a great deal of cognitive activity to certain things***B. sufficiency principle1. people strive to know as much as they need to in order to make a decision-but not more or lessIV. Two types of message processingA. systematic processing1. careful scrutiny of message content2. similar to central processing in the ELMB. heuristic processing1. heuristics involve simple decision rules• make it possible to evaluate a message (and recommendations) without scrutinizing the arguments made2. “mental shortcuts” 3. examples• experts are correct• large number of arguments=good arguments• novelty is good (new vs. old)• titles=qualificationThe UnimodalA. argues against the dual process models1. seen as unnecessary2. message processing only involves one routeB. persuasion: “a process during which beliefs are formed on the basis of appropriate evi-dence”C. evidence: “information relative to a conclusion”D. message arguments and heuristic cues are processed in the same way-only one route1. heuristic/peripheral cues as evidence2. message arguments are evidenceE. if motivates and able, people will process whatever evidence is relevant1. the distinction between central cues and message arguments is irrelevant Lecture 12 (March 5)Message Learning ApproachA. a message receiver must learn the arguments in a message for change to occurB. a message receiver must remember the arguments if change is to persist over timeC. yielding to a persuasive argument is determined by incentivesD. source=whoE. message=whatF. channel=mediumG. receiver=to whomH. attitude change=what effectI. what is it about some people that makes them so persuasive to us?J. some people are considered persuasive just because of who they