Chapter 5: Persuasion

Question 1

What’s persuasion?

Answer 1

• The process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours
• Persuasion is a neutral act in itself

Question 2

What are the 4 main components of persuasion?

Answer 2

• Source
• Message
• Medium
• Audience

Question 3

What contributes to a source that makes it more persuasive?

Answer 3

• Attractiveness (physically) and liking (similarity)
• Credibility (perceived expertise and trustworthiness

Question 4

How is trustworthiness often manipulated?

Answer 4

• Testimonials and endorsements (ex. online shopping reviews)
• “Word of Mouth” (ex. influencers talking about product)
• Presenting the message as education (“Here are the facts”)
• The Maven - Yiddish for expert (ex. a famous fashion stylist promotes a specific clothing brand)

Question 5

What contributes to a message that makes it more persuasive?

Answer 5

• Quality (simple, clear, logical, refute counter-arguments)
• Emotions (are they sincere?)

Question 6

Which are the best and worst mediums to try and persuade someone?

Answer 6

• Live > video > audio > written

Question 7

What’s an important factor to have in your audience?

Answer 7

• They must be motivated!

Question 8

What are the two major routes to persuasion?

Answer 8

• The central route - occurs when people focus on the arguments, more often produces enduring attitude change
• Peripheral route - occurs when people focus on incidental cues. Faster, easier, but causes less entrenched persuasion and can be easily changed

Question 9

What are the 6 persuasion principles of Cialdini?

Answer 9

1) Authority
2) Liking
3) Reciprocity
4) Social Proof
5) Commitment/consistency
6) Scarcity

Question 10

How does the persuasion principle of reciprocity work?

Answer 10

• Reciprocity is a universal norm
• We feel obligated to reciprocate, and uncomfortable if we don’t
• You feel in debt to the person (reciprocity anxiety)
• Costco does this

Question 11

How does the persuasion principle of social proof work?

Answer 11

• The perception as correct and adoption of the observed behaviour of other people
• I.e., want to see what’s popular
• Form of conformity
• More likely to be used if others are perceived as similar to self
• Ex. Red bull in trash cans at night clubs
• Ex. seated near a open streetview window at a restaurant

Question 12

How does the persuasion principle of consistency work?

Answer 12

• We are all motivated to feel consistent (ourselves and others)
• Consistency simplifies our life
• Techniques: Assertions about self, public commitments, large investment

Question 13

How does the persuasion principle of scarcity work?

Answer 13

• People value rare or unique objects, ideas, and information more than their common versions
• People are more motivated by fear of loss than ant of gain

Question 14

What are some factors that affect persuasion?

Answer 14

• Attitude strength (how certain the person is)
• Information-processing biases (selective exposure, perception, and memory)
• Reactance

Question 15

What’s psychological inoculation?

Answer 15

• Methods used to protect against methods of manipulation used to propagate misinformation

Question 16

What’s the sleeper effect?

Answer 16

• A delayed persuasion after people forget the source or its connection with the message
• Effective when attitudes are based on beliefs rather than emotional info

Question 17

T/F: Fast-talking leads to higher perceived credibility.

Answer 17

• TRUE

Question 18

What does it mean to say that much of media’s effect operates in a two-step flow of communication?

Answer 18

• Media > Opinion leaders > Public

Question 19

What are two major explanations for age/generational influences?

Answer 19

1) Life cycle explanation = attitudes change as we age
2) General explanation = attitudes do not change, it’s strictly a generational thing (more evidence for this theory)

Question 20

What’s the ‘system justification’ tendency?

Answer 20

• A tendency to believe in and justify the way things are in their culture and not want to change the status quo.