Name of concept Illusory truth effect Key reference (Hasher, Goldstein, & Toppino, 1977) Description The illusory truth effect covers how people are more likely to believe a statement they have heard before. The more often people are exposed to the same message, the more likely they are to see this Read more…
Name of theory Elaboration Likelihood Model Key reference (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) Description The Elaboration Likelihood Model is a model to explain how attitudes that people hold can change. The model proposes the existence of two routes of information processing: the central route, and the peripheral route. The central route Read more…
Name of concept Confirmation bias Description Confirmation bias is the tendency to process information in a non-objective way, so that information is processed more in line with beliefs that people already have. There are three forms of confirmation bias, 1) the way in which people remember information, 2) how they Read more…
Name of theory Six weapons of influence Key reference Book: (Cialdini, 1993) Article: (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2002) Description Robert Cialdini was interested in the various ways in which people are persuaded to comply with a request. To investigate what methods expert persuaders (e.g., salespeople) use to sell products to customers, Read more…
Name of concept Change blindness Key reference (Simons & Levin, 1997) Description Change blindness refers to the phenomenon that people fail to detect a change in visual stimuli. The effect is shown in many experiments, ranging from people swapping places while the participant is momentarily distracted, to people watching a Read more…
Description The Barnum effect suggests that people are likely to believe statements about themselves (usually their personality) that are presented as if they are tailored to them, but that in fact cover generic statements that could apply to anyone. This was demonstrated by Forer, who gave people statements such as Read more…