Chapter 7 Flashcards
Persuasion
Process where a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, behaviors
“Persuasion is everywhere. When we approve of it, we may call it ____”
education
Central route to persuasion
interested people (people who are motivated to think about something) focus on arguments and respond with favorable thoughts
Need to be good argument for persuasion to happen.
Peripheral route to persuasion
Influence of incidental cues (eg. attractiveness). Heuristics.
Which route of persuasion more enduring change?
Central route. It’s their own thoughts that make them do something.
When are peripheral route persuasion methods more useful?
TV commercials, things that we have no time to think through. Emotion-based.
4 elements of persuasion
communicator,
message,
how the message’s communicated,
audience
Sleeper effect
An initially unconvincing message becomes effective. We remember the message but forgot reason for discounting
Good factors for communicator to be persuasive
perceived to be knowledgable, speaking style is confident and fluent, trustworthiness,
attractiveness
what might increase trustworthiness of communicator?
if the person believes the communicator isn’t trying to persuade
An attractive person is most persuasive on what matters?
Things that have to do with subjective preference
Forms of attractiveness
physical attractiveness (beauty),
similarity (people like us or act like us)
Reason (arguments) vs. Emotion for persuasion
Depends on audience. Well-educated vs. uninterested respond different.
When people had initial attitudes by peripheral route, which route then is more persuasive?
peripheral again
How do good feelings influence persuasion?
Part of content. Good feelings enhance persuasion (possibly associates good feelings with the message)
What about fear has to do with persuasion?
Arousing fear is also a good strat
Is it more effective to persuade by framing on what someone will gain or what someone is losing?
Gain. “if you… you’ll have attractive skin” is more effective than “you’ll have unattractive skin”
fear-then-relief approach
Make someone fear, then relief = more persuasive (wallet ex.)
foot-in-the-door phenomenon
Agree to small request then comply later with large
Lowball technique
Agree on initial request, then upping = more compliance. (i thnk uber has done this to me)
door-in-the-face phenomenon
Make a large request, then more reasonable (ok, if you won’t accept this, would you do this much?)
One-sided vs. Two-sided appeals
Acknowledging other side is useful in persuasion
Primacy vs. Recency
Primacy is more common (first things have more influence).
if 1st section of arguments faded, then recency effect better
Court case for primacy vs. recency effects
Primacy more effective if:
#1, #2, time
Recency more effective if
#1, time, #2
What creates recency effect?
Forgetting
Active vs. Passive reception
Active is more persuasive.
Passive (writtten/visual/lecture) is not as good.
Mere repetition
Just repeating something makes it more persuasive
Personal vs. Media channels
Personal contact persuades.
Two-step flow of communication
What’s the lesson?
Media influence through opinion leaders (perceived experts), then to everyone else.
Media can have huge indirect effect
Order of persuasiveness by channels
Live, video, audio, written
What channel are messages best comprehended and recalled?
Written
Difficult to comprehend messages most persuasive with what channel? What about easy messages?
Difficult: written
Easy: videoed
Children and eating the crackers
Ate the one where no additional info said. Healthy least. Yummy in middle
2 Explanations for age differences in persuasion
Which is supported?
1) Life cycle: attitudes change as people grow older
2) generational: attitudes don’t change, and they hold onto attitudes (generational gap)
generational one is supported.
What breeds counterargument?
If you know someone is trying to persuade you, you will look to counterargue.
Multitasking and persuasion
Less likely to counterargue when there’s multitasking (political ads use a lot)
But sometimes distractions makes us fail to process the ad
Need for cognition and persuasion
people with high NFC prefer central route to persuasion (peripheral for low NFC)
How does thinking influence persuasion?
Motivation to think about the issue is important (rhetorical questions, repetition, attention)
Makes strong arguments more persuasive, weak ones less.
Attitude Inoculation
Exposing people to weak attacks on their attitudes, so they can refute stronger attacks in future
How does attitude inoculation relate to fake news?
Can help with detecting and looking out for fake news.
How one can inoculate children to ads
Inform them of the persuasive intent. Helps them not get peer pressured in other things too
