Social Judgment Theory

Peyton Starnes

What is it???

Social Judgment Theory predicts successful persuasion by a message depending on how the message is related to a person’s current beliefs.

Who uses it???The main type of people that use Social Judgment Theory are ego-involved people. There are two different types of ego-involved, high and low. High ego involved people are more close minded and low ego-involved people are more accepting.

High ego-involved

Low Ego-Involved

Why is it important???Social Judgment Theory is important because it is involved in every aspect of life. It is the reason people say, believe, and do the things they do.

A situation where Social Judgment Theory would be used is asking someone what they think about gun control. Someone who has grown up around guns and found no harm in them might not feel the need for gun laws.

Persuasion is important in Social Judgment Theory because people can be persuaded to change their judgment in certain

situations. Someone against gun control might listen to a speech by someone for it, learn things they did not know, and be

persuaded to change their beliefs.

Critics have found that Social Judgment Theory is more successful in low ego-involved people because they are more willing to be persuaded. It is hard to persuade a person who is highly ego-involved, therefore it is a lengthy process to measure the success of persuasion in this theory.

The act of persuasion is the main focus in this theory. If someone can persuade someone to change their judgment, that is a success in Social Judgment Theory!

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