Articles - Main Takeaways Flashcards
Main Takeaway:
Knowles, E. S., & Linn, J. A. (2004) The importance of resistance to persuasion (Chapter 1)
Resistance is a reaction, ability, motivation, or outcome. Resistance can be affective, cognitive, or behavioral. The nature of resistance stems from reactance, distrust, scrutiny, and inertia.
Main Takeaway:
Wheeler, S. C., Briñol, P., & Hermann, A. D. (2007) Resistance to persuasion as self-regulation: Ego depletion and its effects on attitude change processes
There are two (of many) factors that influence resistance to persuasion; the characteristics of the attitude under attack, the characteristics of the message recipient. This study showed that when people are depleted, they are more likely to give in to persuasion.
Main Takeaway:
Fennis, B. M., Janssen, L., & Vohs, K. D. (2009) Act of Benevolence: A limited resource account of compliance with charitable requests.
The four social influence techniques are noticeable in charitable fundraisers. This study showed that the scripts/initial requests of fundraisers hinges on resource depletion because it weakens the other persons mind, leading people to perform heuristics and eventually give in to the initial request. FITD is the most common approach.
Main Takeaway:
*Hudders, L., De Pauw, P., Cauberghe, V., Panic, K., Zarouali, B., & Rozendaal, E. (2017). Shedding new light on how advertising literacy can affect children’s processing of embedded advertising formats: A future research agenda.
Contemporary advertising has transformed, so much that embedded advertising is now common. Embedded advertising is characterized by a more subtle, less intrusive commercial nature (e.g. product placement).
Advertising literacy refers to an individual’s knowledge of and skills related to persuasion. Compared to adults, children’s advertising literacy is precariously underdeveloped because their dispositional and situational advertising literacy is low. The PCMC model states that there are three forms of processing: systemic (high elabortion), heuristic (medium elaboration), and automatic (low elaboration).
Intertwined with the PCMC model is the associative network theory, stating that there are two primary nodes in the human brain, semantic nodes (refers to a subject/category) and emotional nodes (refer to a feeling or emotional state). The ease with which children can activate the relevant nodes depends on their coping skills.
Children need a comprehensive associative network related to advertising that they can address when confronted with embedded advertising. The proposed model suggests that children learn dispositional, situational literacy through advertising disclosures, training sessions, and parental mediation.
Main Takeaway:
Rozendaal, E., & Figner, B. (2019) Effectiveness of a school-based intervention to empower children to cope with advertising.
This study deployed an intervention technique called AdMasters that helped children’s advertising coping behavior and increase their advertising literacy to cope with advertising. The ability to cope with advertising largely depends on children’s cognitive skills. The AdMasters programed proved to be successful in helping children understand persuasive tactics but there was no evidence children’s actual use of coping strategies advanced.
Main Takeaway:
Rains, S. A. (2013) The nature of psychological reactance revisited: A meta-analytic review
Psychological reactance often invokes as a reason that a persuasive message or campaign was unsuccessful. In essence, a message inadvertently threatens the freedom of a target audience and creates psychological reactance, which in turn motivates the audience to restore their freedom through means such as derogating the source. There are two forms of reactance, cognitive (counter-arguing) and affective (anger).
This study depicted various models to describe reactance:
- Single Process Cognitive Model (Antecedents to Reactance > Cognition > Attitude)
- Single process affective model (Antecedents to Reactance > Anger > Attitude)
- Dual Process Cognitive Affective Model (Antecedents to Reactance > Cognition/Anger > Attitude)
- Linear Process Affective-Cognitive Model (Antecedents to Reactance > Anger then Cognition > Attitude)
- Intertwined Model Cognitive-Affective Model (Antecedents to Reactance > Reactance (Cognition * Anger) > Attitude). This model is most frequent.
Main Takeaway:
*Jenkins, M., & Dragojevic, M. (2013) Explaining the process of resistance to persuasion: A politeness theory-based approach.
Politeness Theory is a theory of language use that posits the systematic use of politeness strategies. Politeness theory asserts that, during a conversation, interactants are concerned with both the wants of self and their conversational partner(s). Politness Theory states there is a negative face: desire to be autonomous agents who are free of constraints and obligations. Positive face: pertain to the desire to be liked, respected, and viewed as competent. Messages that support positive and negative face wants = polite.
Main Takeaway:
Zuwerink Jacks, J., & Cameron, K. A. (2003) Strategies for resisting persuasion
There are eight primary resistance strategies: Counter-arguing, Attitude bolstering, Message Distortion , Social Validation, Source Derogation, Selective Exposure, Assertion of Confidence, and Negative Affect.
An assumption is that the best way to resist informational influence is with cognitively effortful strategies that are aimed at undermining the validity of the information presented in a persuasive message. Counter-arguing & attitude bolstering are cognitively effortful strategies.
The study tested all the resistance strategies and found that Attitude Bolstering was the most frequently used strategy, as well as counter-arguing.
Main Takeaway:
*Van ‘t Riet, J., & Ruiter, R. A. C. (2013) Defensive reactions to health-promoting information: An overview and implications for future research
If information is threatening and personally relevant, recipients rate information as (defensive responses); less accurate, examine the information critically, are more sensitive to the plausibility of contrary information. Why do people respond defensively? Physical threat (fear arouses, physical danger), and self-threat (threat to view of the self as morally adequate). By reacting defensively, recipients can avoid negative self evaluative emotions and maintain their self-worth without having to engage in the healthy behavior.
Dissonance arises when cognitive elements that refer to the behavior (e.g., ‘I smoke’) are at odds with cognitive elements that refer to the negative consequences of the behavior (e.g., ‘smoking causes lung cancer’). This is resolved by changing the behavior and targeting the dissonance-creating beliefs (avoidance, denial, suppression, cognitive reapprasial).
There are four defensive strategies: Avoidance, Denial, Suppression, Cognitive reappraisal. Avoidance and denial have traditionally been regarded as the most prevalent defensive strategies.
Main Takeaway:
Knowles, E. S., & Linn, J. A (2004) Approach-avoidance model of persuasion: Alpha and omega strategies for change (Chapter 7)
Approach-avoidance model of attitudes and judgement include Alpha and Omega strategies. Alpha strategies attempt to persuade by increasing the approach forces (pushing opinions and behaviors towards the goal). Omega strategies attempt to persuade by decreasing avoidance forces (pushing opinions and behaviors away from the goal).
Alpha strategies include: making messages more persuasive, add incentives, increase source credibility, provide consensus information, emphasize scarcity, engage a norm of reciprocity, emphasize consistency and commitment.
Omega strategies include: Sidestep resistance, address resistance directly, address resistance indirectly, distract resistance, disrupt resistance, consume resistance, use resistance to promote change.
Main Takeaway:
Fransen, M. L., Verlegh, P. W. J., Kirmani, A., & Smit, E. G. (2015) A typology of consumer strategies for resisting advertising and a review of mechanisms for countering them
Consumer Resistance Strategies:
ACE = Avoidance, Contesting, Empowering
Avoidance strategies include: Physical (aimed at not seeing or hearing the ad), Mechanical (zapping, zipping, or muting the television or radio when commercial starts), Cognitive (not paying attention to specific advertisements).
Contesting strategies involve actively refuting the ad by challenging it. They include: Counter-arguing the content of the message, Source derogation of the source message, persuasion knowledge model, meaning when they become aware of the persuasion from the advertiser they resit.
Empowering strategies are related to the recipients themselves, not to the content of the persuasive message. They involve reassuring the self or one’s existing attitude. Strategies include: attitude bolstering, social validation, self assertion.
Main Takeaway:
Aronson, E. (1999) The power of self-persuasion
Self-persuasion, there is no direct attempt made to convince anyone of anything. Rather, individuals find themselves in a circumstance where it becomes efficacious to convince themselves that a particular thing is the case. Self-persuasion has a long-term impact, because you are not being persuaded by a credible or powerful communicator but are persuading yourself.
Cognitive dissonance states that dissonance (an unpleasant feeling) is aroused when an individual says or does something that runs counter to his or her own beliefs, especially if this action threatens the individual’s self-concept of being a decent or rational person.
Self-persuasion is almost always a more powerful form of persuasion (deeper, longer lasting) than more traditional persuasion techniques. Where self-persuasion occurs, people are convinced that the motivation for change has come from within.
Main Takeaway:
Moyer-Gusé, E., Chung, A. H., & Jain, P. (2011) Identification with characters and discussion of taboo topics after exposure to an entertainment narrative about sexual health.
The aim was to examine whether exposure to efficacious characters who model sexual discussion will motivate viewers to engage in similar behavior. Second, they investigated the underlying mechanisms that account for this behavior change.
Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) states that individuals can learn vicariously by observing models, including those on television but individuals do not enact every behavior they learn; they have to be motivated to perform an observed behavior.
Narratives have involvement, identification, wishful identification and engross their readers. These engrossing narratives may reduce counter-arguing by identification with characters.
Main Takeaway:
Cummins, R. G., Gong, Z. H., & Reichert, T. (2021). The impact of visual sexual appeals on attention allocation within advertisements: an eye-tracking study.
Some studies argue that sexual appeals may improve memory for some ad element while inhibiting memory for specific brand information – the ad may be remembered, but not the advertiser (distraction effect).
Visual attention via eye tracking paints a different story, as participants – male and female alike – spent significantly more time looking at models within ads containing sexual appeals compared to models in ads without sexual appeals. The use of visual sexual appeals in advertising does appear to attract more attention to the model, but this did not translate into more time on the ad overall. Attention to brand and logo elements was lower in sexual appeal featured ads – distraction effect.
The most important finding demonstrated here is that inclusion of sexual imagery to embody sexual appeals in ads impacts how consumers allocate attention to the varied elements that often comprise an ad. However, the use of sexual appeals did not have ‘stopping power’ to generate longer overall exposure to an ad (models with sexual appeals did elicit greater visual attention).
Main Takeaway:
Strick, M., Holland, R. W., van Baaren, R. B., & Van Knippenberg, A. (2012). Those who laugh are defenseless: How humor breaks resistance to influence.
Humor in ads decreases counter-arguing, psychological reactance, and is especially effective when ads feature weak rather than strong arguments, suggesting that humor can interrupt the critical processing of arguments. Humor also reduces the number of negative thoughts + negative cognitions related to advertising. Humor elicits positive emotions.
The processing of humor is regarded as comprising two characteristic phases: (1) a cognitive phase, in which a schema-incongruity has to be resolved to “get the joke,” and (2) the experience of positive affect.
These experiments show that humor is a useful strategy to prevent the effects of resistance on the development of negative brand associations and to stimulate the development of positive brand associations. Humor forestalls the development of negative brand associations due to its distractive properties (cognitive mechanism), and engenders positive brand associations due to its positive emotional outcomes (affective mechanism).
When to use humor: To promote hedonic (fun, pleasure) products. High resistance among consumers is anticipated – unrelated humor can serve as a distraction.
