Chapter 14: Public and Personal Influence
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. “Eating a healthy diet is the most important means to living a long life” is an example
of ______.
a. an attitude
b. a belief
c. a value
d. a conjecture
2. “The family is the cradle of civilization” is an example of ______.
a. an attitude
b. a belief
c. a value
d. a conjecture
3. “Soccer is the greatest sport in the world” is an example of ______.
a. an attitude
b. a belief
c. a value
d. a conjecture
4. When listing values, people often include all of the following EXCEPT ______.
a. sexual preference
b. education
c. truth
d. freedom
5. Which of the following is NOT a way to affect your audience in a presentation to
actuate?
a. Reinforcing an existing behavior
b. Initiating a future behavior
c. Altering an existing behavior
d. Avoiding a future behavior
6. Your mother tells you that you are going to go to jail for a year if you don’t clean up
your room. According to the extended parallel process model, this statement may not be
effective because of which key element?
a. The perceived credibility of the speaker
b. The perceived probability of the threat
c. The perceived efficacy of the solution
d. The perceived power of the speaker
7. When are you most likely to use guilt-based emotional appeals?
a. When you know the other person well
b. When you have power over the other person
c. When there is a strong possibility of a reward
d. When the other person is assumed to be soft-hearted
8. You want to convince your audience that shopping at the new local co-op will lead to
a substantial increase in the profits for local farmers. What kind of claim are you
making?
a. Claim of policy
b. Claim of value
c. Claim of fact
d. Claim of conjecture
9. You want to convince your audience that your local city council needs to enact a law
that prevents vandalism on bridges. What kind of claim are you making?
a. Claim of policy
b. Claim of value
c. Claim of fact
d. Claim of conjecture
10. You are attempting to persuade your classmates that they should appreciate opera
and attend more local productions. What kind of claim are you making?
a. Claim of policy
b. Claim of value
c. Claim of fact
d. Claim of conjecture
11. A woman approaches you on the street and gives you a coupon for a free coffee.
Once you accept the offer, she asks if you’d be willing to donate to their cause, which
supports fair trade coffee production in South America. This technique is an example of
what kind of sequential persuasion?
a. Foot-in-the-door
b. Face-in–the-door
c. Pregiving
d. Rewarding
12. You call your parents to ask to borrow $500 because you are short this month. They
refuse, as you expected, so you ask if you can at least have $100 because you’re
strapped for cash. They agree to send you $100. What sequential persuasion strategy
did you use?
a. Foot-in-the-door
b. Door-in-the-face
c. Pregiving
d. Rewarding
Answer Location: Door in the Face
Difficulty Level: Medium
13. Last week, you agreed to donate some money for the local animal rescue league,
and you feel pretty good about it. Today in the mail, you have a thank-you letter from
the organization along with a request for an additional, larger request. What sequential
persuasion strategy is the animal rescue league using?
a. Foot-in–the-door
b. Door–in-the-face
c. Pregiving
d. Rewarding
14. When your roommate, who got an A in physics last semester, says she’ll show you
her copy of the exam and help you study for your physics exam, she is using what base
of power?
a. Coercive power
b. Expert power
c. Referent power
d. Legitimate power
15. You want to tell your roommate to stop inviting his partner over, but you aren’t sure
you are justified to make the claim because he pays as much rent as you do. In this
instance, you are thinking through which kind of contextual factor of compliance
gaining?
a. Personal benefit
b. Apprehension
c. Dominance
d. Rights
16. Your friend convinces you to skip out on your homework to go to a movie together.
Which of the relational influence goals has your friend used?
a. Gaining assistance
b. Obtaining permission
c. Sharing activities
d. Changing relationships
17. You have to ask your friend for a favor that may lead to an angry response, so you
thoroughly think through your strategy before approaching the friend in order to make
the situation as calm as possible. You are using which kind of secondary goal of
compliance gaining?
a. Identity goals
b. Submissiveness goals
c. Arousal goals
d. Emotional goals
18. What is the primary difference between compliance gaining and other kinds of
persuasive topics of research?
a. Compliance gaining is about relational qualities, while other types of persuasion
research do not focus on relationships.
b. Compliance gaining is about the person doing the persuading, while other types
focus on the person being persuaded.
c. Compliance gaining is about public persuasion, while other types focus on
interpersonal relationships.
d. Compliance gaining is about the power dynamics of influence, while other types do
not focus on power.
19. Which compliance-gaining strategy is being used when someone makes promises
or acts nicely?
a. Activation of impersonal commitments
b. Activation of personal commitments
c. Rewarding activities
d. Expertise activities
Difficulty Level: Medium
20. What compliance-gaining strategy is being used when someone makes an appeal
based on a relationship with that person?
a. Activation of impersonal commitments
b. Activation of personal commitments
c. Rewarding activities
d. Expertise activities
1. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. According to the chapter, an audience’s attitudes will
affect their view of which of the following?
a. The topic
b. The speaker
c. The occasion
d. The sources used
2. Which of the following are the two key relational aspects of audience analysis?
a. Relationship between the members of the audience
b. Relationship between the audience and the issue being discussed
c. Relationship between the speaker and the audience
d. Relationship between the credibility of the speaker and credibility of the audience
3. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following are among the primary reasons
why people may attempt to influence others?
a. Giving advice
b. Sharing activities
c. Changing relationships
d. Gaining assistance
Difficulty Level: Easy
4. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following are fitting with the description of
compliance gaining?
a. It is more focused on the person doing the persuading than the person being
persuaded.
b. It is focused on relational or dyadic influence.
c. It is more concerned with which strategies are selected in certain situations.
d. It recognizes the existence and importance of secondary goals.
5. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. From the following, select the three primary reasons
why the door-in-the-face technique works.
a. Self-presentation
b. Increased liking
c. Perceptual contrast effect
d. Reciprocal concessions
6. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following are among the secondary
relational goals that impact how people go about seeking compliance?
a. Arousal goals
b. Resource goals
c. Interaction goals
d. Identity goals
7. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following are true of relational
consequences, a contextual influence of compliance gaining?
a. Attempting to gain compliance is based on potential personal gain.
b. Attempting to gain compliance comes with the potential harm to a relationship.
c. Attempting to gain compliance could result in losing a source of future support.
d. Attempting to gain compliance could lead to the enhancement of a relationship.
Difficulty Level: Hard
True/False
1. An audience’s preexisting relationships with the speaker will affect how they view him
or her personally and what they expect from the person’s presentation.
2. Compliance-gaining research focuses on the person doing the persuading rather than
the person being persuaded.
3. Beliefs are deeply held judgments of significance.
4. Claims of conjecture are persuasive messages that contend what will be true or false
in the future.
5. Claims of policy are persuasive messages that contend what action should or should
not be taken.
6. The level of audience knowledge and understanding of an issue will have almost no
impact on the language used.
7. Knowledge, trust, and appearance are the three primary dimensions of credibility.
8. The level of audience knowledge and understanding of an issue will have almost no
impact on how much time must be spent orienting the audience to the topic.
9. Intimacy is a contextual influence of compliance gaining that is based on power
dimensions within a relationship.
10. Speakers must develop a relationship with an audience in order to persuade them.
1. Which contextual influence of compliance gaining is based on anticipated opposition?
2. Name the most researched emotion when it comes to social influence.
3. What is the one element that the authors suggest is a common foundation of all five
of the original compliance-gaining strategies?
4. What do the authors say has become one of the most researched areas of
persuasion and possesses qualities that make it distinct from other areas of research?
5. Name at least two of the five original compliance-gaining strategies.
6. Why is the examination of compliance-gaining strategies important?
7. What are three of the contextual influences that factor into interpersonal compliance-
gaining, and provide an example of how each has factored into your attempts at
persuasion in your relationships.
1. Describe the two primary relationship elements of audience analysis and how they
affect the speaker’s production of a presentation.
2. Describe the differences between presentations to convince and presentations to
actuate. Provide an example of each type.
3. Describe the elements that make foot-in–the-door and door-in-the-face sequential
persuasion techniques work successfully.
4. Describe an instance when someone tried to persuade you with a fear appeal. Using
the two key elements of the extended parallel process model, explain why the
persuasion did or did not work
Ans: The two key elements are perceived threat and perceived efficacy. Perceived
threat deals with the extent to which a person believes he or she is vulnerable to the
treat and how severe the threat is perceived to be. Perceived efficacy deals with the
5. Describe the two theories that explain why the foot–in–the-door technique works.
Ans: The self-perception theory suggests that people like to see themselves as the type
of person who supports a particular organization or worthy cause. The cognitive
dissonance theory says that people prefer their actions to be consistent with their
attitudes, beliefs, and values. So complying with a second request for a contribution
would be consistent with previous decisions and would likely prevent the possibility of
negative feelings resulting from inconsistency.
Focus Question: What are the techniques of sequential persuasion?
Answer Location: Foot in the Door
Difficulty Level: Hard
6. Describe apprehension as a contextual influence of compliance gaining and give an
example.