1. Changing beliefs with research findings: Dead Sea Scrolls View as slide show Adapted from AdPrin.com

2. Dead Sea Scrolls Experiment Researchers meeting with a church youth group explained (falsely) that scrolls had been found near the Dead Sea. Scientific tests showed them to be authentic correspondence among the apostles after Jesus Christ had been crucified. This revealed that Christ was not God. The members of the youth group were told that the New York Times, under pressure from the World Council of Churches, was withholding the story. The group was told that the reactions of people were being studied to see what would happen if and when the New York Times released the story. What do you think happened to the beliefs of those who initially believed that Christ was God, and who also believed that the evidence was authentic? Did their belief that Christ was God a. ____decrease, or b. ____increase? Explain. Click to see the answer. Increased due to cognitive dissonance (Batson 1975)Batson 1975 Adapted from AdPrin.com2

3. People have a bias for the status quo. They want to defend their current beliefs and behavior. An experiment to test US Surgeon General warnings on bottles and cans of alcoholic beverages found that those exposed to the warnings reported higher drinking intentions than those not (Snyder and Blood 1992). For further evidence, see Persuasive Advertising p 103-105) 3 Evidence

4. Based on this exercise, write a small application step for yourself, and set a deadline, preferably within one week. If you are working with someone else, share your application plan and the results of your application. For example, identify the target market’s current beliefs. Adapted from AdPrin.com