AP Psychology: Attitude Formation and Attitude Change — Drill 20

About This Drill

AP Psychology: Attitude Formation and Attitude Change — Drill 20 is a Multiple Choice practice drill covering Unit 4: Social Psychology and Personality. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

AP Psychology practice questions on attitude formation and attitude change — sharpen your AP exam prep with scenarios covering the mere exposure effect, cognitive dissonance, the central and peripheral routes of persuasion, the foot-in-the-door technique, and the door-in-the-face technique.

Questions in This Drill

1. Priya has moved to a new city and initially dislikes a regional style of music she hears constantly in stores, restaurants, and on the radio. After six months, without ever deliberately trying to appreciate it, she finds herself tapping along and even enjoying certain songs. Which principle best accounts for this shift in her attitude?
2. A nonprofit first asks a homeowner whether he would be willing to display a small 3-inch window sticker supporting neighborhood safety. Two weeks later, volunteers return and ask whether he would now allow a large sign to be installed in his front yard. Homeowners who agreed to the initial small sticker were significantly more likely than a comparison group to agree to the large sign. Which persuasion principle does this result most directly demonstrate?
3. An environmental group is designing a persuasive campaign. Their target audience is a group of policy experts who read the group's white papers closely and evaluate each argument in detail. The group is considering four possible approaches. Based on the elaboration likelihood model, which approach is most likely to succeed with this audience?
4. A researcher wants to test the mere exposure effect on attitudes toward unfamiliar visual symbols. She plans to show participants a set of novel, meaningless symbols at varying frequencies — some symbols 25 times, some 5 times, and some only once — and later measure how much each participant likes each symbol. Which of the following is the most important methodological consideration for isolating the exposure effect?
5. A researcher randomly assigns participants to write an essay publicly arguing against a position they privately support. Half the participants are paid a very small amount ($1) for writing the essay; the other half are paid a large amount ($20). Participants then report their private attitudes toward the position. The results are shown below: Group | Mean attitude shift toward the essay's position $1 payment | 5.2 (substantial shift) $20 payment | 1.1 (minimal shift) Which interpretation is most directly supported by these data?