explaining the persuasive effects of media Flashcards
What are the two models that explain the persuasive effects of the media ?
The hovland-yale model and the elaboration-likelihood model.
who proposed the Hovland-Yale model ?
Carl Hovland
What did Hovland focus on?
who says what to whom
communicator (who)
the persuasive message (what)
audience (whom)
how did Hovland develop the model?
wanted to look at the factors that affect the likelihood that a change in attitude will take place
conducted an experimental approach.
source factors (who)
trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness.
message factors (what)
creates a moderate level of fear, emotional appeal.
Arkes et al. (1991): repeated exposure to an argument can make it more liked and feel more true,
thus increasing its persuasiveness.
audience factors (whom)
low or high intelligence, age also the situation.
evaluation ?
- cannot be generalised because it is based on students or army personal.
- Hume ->celebrities in adverts do not increase persuasiveness because people forget about the product in the adverts.
- Fear can be persuasive if it informs the audience on how to overcome the danger.
who proposed the elaboration-likelihood model ? (ELM)
peety and cacioppo
what does the ELM suggest ?
there are two ways of processing a persuasive message: the central
route, which involves elaboration and analysis of a message, and the peripheral route, which does
not.
what is the central route ?
the message itself is most important. Arguments are followed closely and have
to be convincing. If an individual finds a persuasive message personally relevant or important , and if they have the ability to understand the arguments being
used, then it is likely that they will process the message leading to a permanent attitude change.
what is the peripheral route ?
people are more easily influenced by
contextual cues and not focused on the message leading to a temporary attitude change.
what is the need for cognition -
individuals vary in their need for cognition (NC) i.e. the degree to which
they search for, scrutinize and reflect upon information, and how much they enjoy analysing
problems.
application of ELM ?
Lin et al. (2011): when deciding what products to buy in an online virtual shop, high NC individuals
were more persuaded by high review quality, which involved reviews that were mainly supported by
facts (central route).
evaluation ?
Lin’s study contributes to a better understanding of the effect of online reviews for different audiences.
penner and Fritzsche - strong likelihood that any change produced by the peripheral route is likely to be temporary.
