Chapter 10: The Persuasive Interview
1. What is a yes-but method of persuasion, and when might you use it?
2. What should you do if an interviewee is uninterested?
3. A month before Christmas, you decide to persuade your employer to have a pre–
Christmas sale rather than the traditional post-Christmas sale. Which motives or values
might you incorporate into your persuasive interview?
4. Write an assumptive closing for a persuasive interview on your choice of topic and
situation.
5. State the golden rule, and discuss how it applies to ethical persuasion.
6. In political races, interviewers attempt to persuade undecided voters. Explain why.
7. List five types of evidence used in persuasive interviews.
8. Explain how to handle hostile interviewees.
9. Discuss four of the closing techniques appropriate for the contract/agreement stage of a
persuasive interview.
10. List five of the most common objections to persuasive proposals. Give an example of
each.
11. List four psychological strategies, and define each.
12. Explain the difference between euphemisms and differentiation. Give examples of each.
13. List three ways of dodging the issue in a persuasive interview. Give examples of each.
14. Discuss four logical strategies described in your text. Give examples of each.
15. Discuss five questions to ask when trying to assess the acceptability of a persuader’s
evidence.
16. Define “authoritative” as it relates to the sources of information in persuasive interviews.
17. List the steps of conducting a persuasive interview. Discuss how you can be systematic in
assuring that fair persuasion is being used when you are the interviewee.
18. List three characteristics of framing and reframing.
Multiple Choice
19. Which of the following terms is defined as a person’s belief that important individuals or
groups think it is advisable to perform or NOT to perform certain behaviors?
a. contrast principle
b. dissonance
c. consubstantiality
d. normative influence
20. When analyzing an interviewee, interviewers should consider:
a. age, wage, and address.
b. degrees, debts, and interest.
c. attitudes, platitudes, and values.
d. personal characteristics, socioeconomic background, and cultural values.
21. Which of the following statements is true about attitudes?
a. They are fundamental beliefs about ideal states of existence and modes of
behavior.
b. They are the foundations of specific beliefs and actions.
c. They are the hot buttons persuaders employ to induce action and judgment.
d. They are relatively enduring combinations of beliefs that predispose us to respond
in particular ways.
23. It is hoped that induced compliance will result in _____.
a. disengagement
b. self-persuasion
c. reduced dissonance
d. identification
24. Which of the following is a tactic for handling potentially hostile interviewees?
a. a yes-but approach
b. a yes-yes approach
c. an implicative approach
d. All of the answers are correct.
25. The four steps of handling objections are:
a. anticipate, listen, clarify, and respond.
b. anticipate, respond, clarify, and deny.
c. listen, respond, capitalize, and confirm.
d. capitalize, convert, deny, and respond.
26. After asking a trial closing question, an interviewer should _____.
a. take leave
b. be quiet
c. ask the closing question
d. address objections
27. Which of the following statements is true about personal attractiveness?
a. It is a survival value.
b. It is a social value.
c. It is a success value.
d. It is an independence value.
28. If you have no access to information about an interviewee prior to your first contact with
the interviewee, which of the following is a recommendation for your first few minutes of
the interview?
a. Observe the interviewee’s dress.
b. Ask questions about the interviewee’s interests.
c. Listen to what the interviewee does not say.
d. All of the answers are correct.
29. Which of the following correctly describes a culture’s approach to arrival time?
a. In Great Britain it is acceptable to be 5 to 15 minutes late.
b. In Italy it is acceptable to be 5 minutes early.
c. For Americans, it is acceptable to be an hour late.
d. All of the answers are correct.
30. Which of the following is NOT a survival value?
a. preservation of health
b. safety and security
c. power and authority
d. personal attractiveness
31. _____ occurs when an individual points out that two things (people, places, objects,
proposals, ideas) have important characteristics in common and draws a conclusion based
on these similarities.
a. Arguing from condition
b. Arguing from two choices
c. Arguing from cause-effect
d. Arguing from analogy
32. If you are trying to borrow the family car for the weekend and ask right before dinner,
just after your parents get home from work, and get a refusal, what part of the situation
might be most pertinent?
a. atmosphere
b. timing
c. physical setting
d. outside forces
33. Which of the following is a theory based on the belief that human beings strive for a
harmonious existence with self and others and experience psychological discomfort
(dissonance) when they do NOT achieve this?
a. identification theory
b. consistency theory
c. inoculation theory
d. induced compliance theory
34. Which of the following statements is true about inoculation theory?
a. It is a theory based on the claim that people persuade others by identifying with
them and establishing consubstantiality with them.
b. It is a theory based on the claim that people react negatively when someone
threatens to restrict or restricts a behavior they want to engage in.
c. It is a theory based on the belief that interviewees’ thinking, feeling, or acting can
be changed by inducing them to engage in activities counter to their values.
d. It is a theory based on the belief that it is often more effective to prevent
undesired persuasive effects from occurring than using damage control afterward.
35. _____ states that people’s thinking, feeling, or acting can be changed by inducing them to
engage in activities counter to their values, beliefs, or attitudes.
a. Induced compliance theory
b. Inoculation theory
c. Identification theory
d. Balance and consistency theory
36. Tickets to the NCAA March Madness are of great value because they are scarce. Which
of the following theories does this exemplify?
a. induced compliance theory
b. psychological reactance theory
c. inoculation theory
d. None of the answers is correct.
37. According to _____, people behave negatively when someone threatens to restrict a
behavior they want to engage in.
a. balance or consistency theory
b. psychological reactance theory
c. inoculation theory
d. induced compliance theory
38. When creating a need or desire, which of the following is a recommendation?
a. developing several points at a time
b. encouraging interaction
c. developing several points at a time and encouraging interaction
d. None of the answers is correct.
39. Agreeing upon the criteria for evaluating possible solutions enables interviewers to do all
of the following EXCEPT _____.
a. build a foundation of agreements
b. deal with objections
c. determine the purpose
d. compare solutions
40. Which of the following statements is true about a yes-but approach to handling hostile
interviewees?
a. It gets interviewees in the habit of agreeing, so when disagreements arise, they
will be less likely to disagree.
b. It withholds an explicit statement of purpose or intent to avoid a knee-jerk
negative reaction from interviewees.
c. It heightens hostility and disagreement by attempting to establish common ground
early on.
d. It begins with areas of agreement and similarity and gradually leads into points of
disagreement.
41. The _____ to handling hostile interviewees withholds an explicit statement of purpose or
intent until an interviewee sees the implications and suggests a course of action.
a. yes-but approach
b. implicative approach
c. yes-yes approach
d. two-sided approach
42. Which of the following is an importance of using repetition?
a. It helps enhance understanding.
b. It helps gain and maintain attention.
c. It makes an interviewee aware of what is most important.
d. All of the answers are correct.
43. Which of the following is NOT a stage of the closing of a persuasive interview?
a. leave-taking
b. filling out a contract
c. trial closing
d. establishing criteria
44. Which of the following closing techniques should an interviewer use if a client is asking
to delay a decision?
a. an I’ll think it over close
b. a price close
c. a summary close
d. an either-or close
45. Which of the following psychological strategies do upscale retailers depend on to move
expensive, high-quality items ranging from jewelry to automobiles?
a. reciprocal concessions
b. rule of reciprocation
c. contrast principle
d. standard/learned principles
46. Which of the following should an interviewer do when handling closed-minded and
authoritarian interviewees?
a. Provide facts alone, particularly statistics, in order to get the job done
b. Refrain from identifying oneself with interviewees’ values and beliefs
c. Bypass hierarchical channels or alter prescribed methods
d. Show that the interviewer’s persuasive efforts are supported by his or her
accepted authorities
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47. Which of the following theories best applies to shopping-around interviewees?
a. identification theory
b. inoculation theory
c. dissonance theory
d. None of the answers is correct.
48. Which of the following statements is true about intelligent or educated interviewees?
a. They are likely to see through the good guy–bad guy approach used in many
situations.
b. They tend to be more persuasible because of their knowledge levels.
c. They lack faculty for seeing implications behind arguments.
d. They are less likely to attend to and comprehend a message position and are
unlikely to yield to it.
49. “Everyone’s going to the pub after class” is an example of _____.
a. identification
b. bandwagon tactic
c. association
d. bifurcation
50. Which of the following should an interviewer do during the trial closing stage of an
interview?
a. Discard nonverbal cues such as enthusiastic vocal expressions, head nods, and
smiles
b. Watch and listen for verbal cues that the interviewee is moving toward a decision
c. Refrain from giving the interviewee time to think and self-persuade
d. Continue talking even if the interviewee is sold on a proposal
51. An interviewer who claims that since B followed A, A must have caused B is using a
_____.
a. comparison tactic
b. thin entering wedge tactic
c. bifurcation tactic
d. post hoc fallacy
52. Which of the following should interviewers do when working with highly intelligent and
educated interviewees?
a. Use examples, stories, and comparisons
b. Discourage interviewees from asking questions
c. Minimize emotional appeals and develop arguments logically
d. Develop a simple, one-sided approach to minimize confusion
53. Which of the following psychological strategies involves an interviewer party of two or
more persons pretending to be a friendly, disinterested party and NOT a sales
representative?
a. contrast principle
b. stealth marketing
c. standard/learning principle
d. rejection then retreat
54. When people believe that an item is more different than it actually is, it is known as
_____.
a. the contrast principle
b. the standard/learned principle
c. reciprocal concessions
d. rejection then retreat
55. If we buy a time-share after getting a free cruise, meal, and hotel stay because we feel an
obligation, which psychological strategy is present?
a. rejection then threat
b. rule of reciprocation
c. the standard/learned principle
d. the contrast principle
56. If you tell your roommate that if she cooks dinner, you will wash the dishes, you have
used a psychological strategy known as _____.
a. rejection then threat
b. reciprocal concession
c. the contrast principle
d. the standard/learned principle
57. If the local Little League catcher asks for a $5 donation and you refuse and then he
follows up with an offer of a $1 candy bar and you buy that, you have experienced a
psychological strategy known as _____.
a. rejection then retreat
b. reciprocal concession
c the contrast principle
d. the standard/learned principle
58. In the context of closing techniques, a(n) _____ stresses why an interviewee should act
now.
a. price close
b. I’ll think it over close
c. sense of urgency close
d. summary close
59. When Sarah says, “We should approve the new charter school since everyone is for it,”
she is using what fallacy of reasoning?
a. polarizing
b. ad hominem
c. slippery slope
d. bandwagon
60. In the context of closing techniques, a(n) _____ limits an interviewee’s choices, then
shows that the solution advocated by the interviewer has the most advantages and the
fewest disadvantages.
a. summary close
b. sense of urgency close
c. price close
d. either-or close
61. If your university began using the phrase “You can get there from here” in their new
billboard ads, it is known as a _____.
a. slogan
b. cliché
c. euphemism
d. tu quoque
62. When you attack a person by discrediting them, it is known as _____.
a. tabloid thinking
b. ad hominem
c. slippery slope
d. ad populum
63. Matilda warns her friends against dining at a particular restaurant because she had a bad
meal there once. Which of the following types of faulty reasoning is exemplified by this
scenario?
a. ad hominem
b. hasty generalization
c. slippery slope
d. post hoc fallacy
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Ans: b
64. “I washed my car today and that is why it rained tonight” is an example of _____.
a. post hoc fallacy
b. ad hominem
c. ad populum
d. false analogy
65. Arguing from condition is based on the assertion that there are only two possible courses
of action.
a. True
b. False
66. Persuasive interviews usually should have routine openings.
a. True
b. False
67. Persuasion is NOT something you do to a person, but with a person.
a. True
b. False
68. You should put your strongest point first or last and weaker points in the middle.
a. True
b. False
69. Arguing from facts, like arguing from example, relies on a sample of a class of people,
places, things, or ideas to prove a point.
a. True
b. False
70. Success in any persuasive interview is never guaranteed because interviewees and
situations vary greatly and they may change from hour to hour, day to day, or season to
season.
a. True
b. False
71. Richard Johannesen states, “Ethical issues focus on value judgments concerning degrees
of right or wrong, virtue and vice, and ethical obligations in human conduct.”
a. True
b. False
72. “What concerns you most about this situation?” is an example of an information–
gathering question.
a. True
b. False
73. Uncertain future is a possible objection an interviewee might have.
a. True
b. False
74. Leave-taking should be done quickly.
a. True
b. False
75. A fact is something that can be or has been observed.
a. True
b. False
76. When interviewees know what to expect in interviews and feel free to ask questions,
interviewers are more likely to receive meaningful feedback and draw out noncommittal
interviewees.
a. True
b. False
77. Research suggests that putting your strongest point first has the best effect.
a. True
b. False
78. Virtually every persuasive strategy can be labeled manipulative.
a. True
b. False
79. A price close acknowledges an interviewee’s desire to think about a decision.
a. True
b. False
80. Values are the foundations of our specific beliefs and attitudes.
a. True
b. False
81. Asking a subordinate to role-play a supervisor would be an example of the induced
compliance theory being applied.
a. True
b. False
82. A variety of evidence should be used when trying to persuade.
a. True
b. False
83. Attitudes are fleeting beliefs that change given our contact with others.
a. True
b. False
84. If interviewees are of low intelligence or education, interviewers should support their
ideas thoroughly, develop arguments logically, and present a two-sided approach that
weighs both sides of an issue.
a. True
b. False
85. The most effective interviews are a carefully crafted blend of the logical and the
psychological.
a. True
b. False
86. Memberships that interviewees maintain may make them less persuadable.
a. True
b. False
87. Some cultures consider bribery a normal part of business.
a. True
b. False
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88. Arguing from analogy compares two people, places, things, or proposals that have
several important characteristics and then claims they share other important
characteristics as well.
a. True
b. False
89. Arguing from signs offers the best explanation for a body of facts and is the type of
reasoning investigators use when trying to explain murders, disasters, and accidents.
a. True
b. False
90. If we like an interviewer, we often assume his or her proposal is logical.
a. True
b. False
91. Persuasion involves mutual responsibility.
a. True
b. False
92. When we use jargon, we substitute peculiar words for common words.
a. True
b. False
93. The ad populum tactic appeals to the minority.
a. True
b. False
94. “If” arguments may ignore obvious unpredictable conditions.
a. True
b. False
95. Post hoc fallacy is also known as scrambling cause-effect fallacy.
a. True
b. False
96. Thin entering wedge is also known as slippery slope.
a. True
b. False
97. “I washed my car today, so it will rain tomorrow” is an example of ad hominem.
a. True
b. False
98. Imagery is essentially word pictures.
a. True
b. False
99. Strategic ambiguities are words with multiple or vague meanings.
a. True
b. False
100. An assumptive close responds to the single objection that stands in the way of an
agreement.
a. True
b. False