In a Study by Hovland and Weiss, Subjects Heard Arguments

question 13

Multiple Choice

In a study by Hovland and Weiss, subjects heard arguments regarding the feasibility of atomic submarines. Subjects were more persuaded by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer rather than the Soviet newspaper Pravda because:

• A) Oppenheimer was an attractive source, and thus subjects wished to identify with him
• B) Oppenheimer was perceived as an expert and trustworthy source of information, unlike Pravda
• C) Oppenheimer's arguments contained vivid examples, whereas Pravda presented the information in the form of statistics
• D) subjects knew that Pravda was arguing against its own self-interest and thus could not be trusted

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Definitions:

Oxidation Number

A number assigned to an element in a chemical combination that represents the number of electrons lost or gained by an atom of that element in the compound.

Oxidation Number

A figure that represents the total number of electrons an atom either gains or loses in order to form a chemical bond with another atom.

Oxidation Number

A value that represents the total number of electrons that an atom either gains or loses in order to form a chemical bond with another atom.