Lecture 5 - Persuasion Flashcards
Persuasion
Change in an attitude or belief as a result of receiving a message
- A form of social influence that involves changing others’ thoughts, attitudes or behaviors by applying rational and emotional arguments to convince them to adopt your position
Two Approaches to Attitude Change
- The Message Learning Approach
2. Cognitive-Response Approach
The Message Learning Approach
1950s
- (aka: Yale Communication Model)
- Focus on the role of the communicator, the nature of the message, the audience, and the channel of communication
Cognitive-Response Approach
- Focus on how people cognitively process persuasive message
- Focus more on the recipient of the message
The Message Learning Approach
Three factors manipulated via experiment:
(1) Attention
(2) Comprehension
(3) Acceptance
- Most research focused on the acceptance mediator
Credibility
Sources effects –> Expertise and trustworthiness
- Less likely to focus on the content of the message if coming from a trustworthy source
- More likely to focus on the content of the message if coming from an untrustworthy source
- We will rely more on a trustworthy source if arguments are weak to begin with
Sleeper effect
Credibility doesn’t matter so much over time; A persuasive message that has more effect on attitude change after a delay
- Supports the Spinoza Model
Factors necessary for a sleeper effect
- A strong persuasive message
- Time passes so that the message becomes disassociated from the discounting cue
- Likely to occur if receive discounting cue after you hear the message rather than before
Gender domain effect
- male may be more persuasive for male oriented issues
- female more for female issues
Primacy effect
First persuasive argument more effective than subsequent arguments
- NO DELAY BETWEEN MSGS
- but DELAY FOR EVALUATION
- Both messages must be equally strong
- People must be motivated to attend to the messages
Recency effect
Second message has greater impact
- DELAY B/W MSGS
- but NO DELAY B/W EVALUATION
- Both arguments must be equally strong
- People must be motivated to attend to the messages
Content Effects:
- the power of fear
- one sided versus two sided msgs
- mood
The power of fear
- Moderate = most effective
- High levels of fear seem to be effective
- Low = least effective
- Some sort of solution must be provided within the context of the fear message
- Emotional vs. Rational Appeals
- Protection-Motivation Hypothesis
Protection-Motivation Hypothesis
We seek ways to protect ourselves
One-Sided messages
- works best with less educated, less formal audiences, audience already agrees
Two-Sided Messages
works best with educated, formal audiences, if audience is against your position initially
Inoculation Theory
- Expose audience to weakened version of opposing argument, audience will devise counterarguments to that weakened version and avoid persuasion to stronger arguments later
- Motivates people to generate their own counterarguments and therefore, more likely to believe persuader’s message
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
Cognitive-Response Approach
- Focus on the target’s attention, self-esteem, intelligence, etc
- 2 routes of attitude persuasion - each differing in the amount of cognitive effort required
2 routes of attitude persuasion
- Central Route
2. Peripheral route
Central route
- People think carefully about the message
- Typically occurs when the message is personally relevant or when individuals have preexisting beliefs about the message
- Key: Strength of the arguments (i.e., the content of the message)
- Less amenable to change – more stable/long-lasting
Peripheral route
- People do not think about the message
- Rely on something other than the message to be persuaded (e.g., the appearance, emotional cues, etc)
- Key: Cues irrelevant to content or quality of the message
- E.g., Attractiveness, number of arguments presented, your own mood while receiving the message, humor, etc
Central route attitude change
o Attitudes tend to be strong
o Attitudes are resistant to change
o Attitudes are predictive of behavior
Peripheral route attitude change
o Attitudes tend to be weak
o Attitudes are susceptible to change
o Attitudes are less predictive of behavior
Need for cognition
An individual difference in the degrees to which people prefer effortful processing of information
High need for cognition
Central route
- prefer to think carefully
Low need for cognition
Peripheral route
- Prefer not to process carefully
ELM vs. Heuristic Model of Persuasion
Heuristic and Systematic Model of Persuasion (HSM)
- Systematic Route = Central Route
- Heuristic Route = Peripheral Route
- Key Difference:
- HSM: People prefer to use heuristic route
- ELM: Makes no assumption about preference
Cognitive consistency
The tendency to seek consistency in one’s cognitions (one of the principle motivations for attitude change)
Cognitive dissonance
Inconsistency in cognitions and/or behavior leads to aversive arousal that people are motivated to reduce
Ways to reduce dissonance
- Change behavior
- Change attitude
- Increase consonant cognitions
eg The behavior was not that inconsistent
Post-decision dissonance
Once you choose between two equally attractive alternatives, you experience dissonance
- In order to justify your behavior, you can decide that the two alternatives were not equally attractive
Self-Affirmation Theory
People may reduce dissonance, by affirming their self-worth in a domain unrelated to the discrepancy, but important to one’s self-worth
- By boosting self-worth, we somehow reduce dissonance
Propaganda
A deliberate attempt to persuade people, by an available media, to think in a manner desired by the source
Techniques of propaganda
o Use of stereotypes o Substitution of names o Unbalanced view o Repetition o Lying o Assertion o Pinpointing enemy o Appeals to authority
