Media and models of persuation

Question 1

Psychologists see attitudes in three components…

Answer 1

• Affective: feelings about the attitude object
• Behavioural: tendency to act in a certain way in relation to the attitude object
• Cognitive: beliefs and thoughts about the attitude object

Question 2

Hovland-Yale model

Answer 2

This model described the factors which affect how persuasive a message is, the process by which persuasion occurs and the outcomes: 
FACTORS:
-Source
-Message
-Audience

PROCESS:

• Attention
• Comprehension
• Acceptance or rejection

OUTCOME:

• if message is accepted -> change in attitude in
• Opinion
• Affect
• Behaviour

Question 3

Hovland-Yale: Factors

Answer 3

Source: who is doing the persuading
Message: The content of what is said, this can take different forms e.g. advert, article
Audience: the person being persuaded

Question 4

Hovland-Yale: Process

Answer 4

Attitude change is sequential
Attention: we are made to pay attention to the advert e.g. bombarded with daily adverts
Comprehension: we then have to understand it to be persuaded by it
We then either accept or reject the advert

Question 5

Hovland-Yale: Supporting research, Hovland & Weiss

Answer 5

Hovland & Weiss: experts are more persuaded by non-experts

Question 6

Hovland-Yale: Supporting research, Leventhal et al:

Answer 6

Leventhal et al: Persuasion can be enhanced if fear is aroused in the audience e.g. smoking adverts

Question 7

Hovland-Yale: Supporting research, McGuire:

Answer 7

McGuire: Those with moderate self esteem are persuaded more easily than people with high self esteem
Organised messages are more effective than disorganised ones
Intelligent people process arguments in more depth and so are likely to reject a simple one sided argument.

Question 8

Hovland-Yale: Supporting research, Kiesler & Kiesler:

Answer 8

Kiesler & Kiesler: Popular attractive people are more effective than unpopular and unattractive ones. Example of halo effect where someone who is attractive is seen to have other positive characteristics

Question 9

Hovland-Yale: Supporting research, Qualls & Moore

Answer 9

Qualls & Moore: We are more likely to be persuaded by someone similar to us; same ethnic background

Question 10

Hovland-Yale: Supporting research, Miller et al.:

Answer 10

Miller et al.: People speaking rapidly is more persuasive than people speaking slowly; because rapid speech conveys that the person knows what they’re talking about

Question 11

‘Psychologists have developed models to explain the persuasive effects of media. Describe the Hovland-Yale model.’

Answer 11

The model, which is based is media psychology, identifies various factors which affect how persuasive media communication is. First, persuasiveness depends on the audience of the communication- for example an exert is seen to be more persuasive than someone who is not an expert, so will be more persuasive. Secondly aspects of the message are important, such as how much fear a health advert arouses. Finally the nature of the audience is important, such as levels of self esteem (those with high levels are more resistant to persuasion)
The model says that the factors can contrast with each other: when the audience is more intelligent, a message which presents both sides of an argument is more likely to persuade than a one-sided argument. It says that persuasion occurs in three stages. First we have to pay attention to a message, for example notice an advert on a billboard. Secondly we have to process it. Finally we react to the message either with accepting or rejection.
If media communication is accepted by someone s/he has been persuaded. S/he has undergone what the model calls ‘attitude change’.

Question 12

Hovland Yale model as an explanation for the effectiveness of TV advertising

Answer 12

There are mainly two stages which are influenced by the model:
-Attention: advertisers make their advert as attractive as possible to keep people watching e.g. special effects, music, comedy, surprise and ‘mystery’ ads.

-Comprehension: viewers need to clearly understand the message e.g. the benefits of using this product, perhaps in comparison to a competitors product.

Question 13

Need for cognition:

Answer 13

NC is a personality variable that represents the extent to which individuals enjoy and engage in effortful cognitive activities
Those with a high NC score are more likely to form attitudes by paying attention to the central arguments, while those with a low NC are more likely to use peripheral arguments.

Question 14

Need for cognition supported by Vidrine et al.

Answer 14

-lab experiment with 227 student smokers who were measured on their NC and were then exposed to
-Fact based leaflet emphasising risks of smoking
-Emotion based leaflet emphasising risks of smoking
They found that those with a high NC responded better to the fact based leaflet and those with low NC to the emotion based leaflet.

Question 15

Elaboration likelihood model:

Answer 15

First the person exposed to persuasive communication
Central route:
-Higher involvement with the product message
-Attention focus on ‘central’ product info
-Comprehension ‘deeper’ thoughts on product
-Persuasion by product beliefs, purchase attention
Peripheral route:
-Lower involvement with product message
-Attention on ‘peripheral’ non-product info
-Comprehension ‘shallow’ thoughts on message
-Persuasion by non-product beliefs, attitudes towards purchase

Question 16

Elaboration likelihood

Answer 16

• If a person is persuaded as a result of deep processing then persuasion has occurred via the central route- Hard sell advertisement
• If a person is persuaded as a result of superficial features then persuasion has occurred via the peripheral route- Soft sell advertisement

-As the persuasion via the CR is longer lasting than persuasion via the PR, the higher the likelihood of elaboration, the stronger the persuasion will be.

Question 17

Two key things have to happen for persuasion via the central route:

Answer 17

• The person must be motivated to think carefully about the message; they have a high ND, or the message is relevant to them.
• The person must be able to think carefully about the message; they have relevant background knowledge, they are in a suitable mental state.

Question 18

Hard & soft sell

Answer 18

• When high elaboration is likely, adverts should be ‘hard sell’; present factual info such a product features, comparisons with other brands -CR
• When elaboration is low, adverts should be ‘soft sell’; highlight peripheral cues, music, lights, catchy slogans, attractiveness, aspirational features.

Question 19

Tailoring advert to product:

Answer 19

-People are more likely to be motivated to think carefully about a computer ad than a cereal ad. So chose type of ad to correlate with product.

Question 20

Tailoring advert to audience:

Answer 20

• Consider the audiences elaboration, if the product us directed at a market that is likely to elaborate then it should emphasise detailed factual content; it should target the CR.
• However this can be difficult to tailor, so adverts may want to appeal to a larger audience and include a mixture to maximise both CR and PR.

Question 21

Evaluation of one explanation of the effectiveness of TV advertising

Answer 21

Haugtvedt et al: High NV people based more on product attributes; low NC on peripheral cues.
Research inspired by HY considers individual differences to some extent but ELM’s explanations is more profound.
ELM is more sophisticated in distinguishing between permanent and temporary persuasion.
HY- attention and understanding = persuasion is too simplistic. ELM is more sophisticated in considering meaning and relevance of message to the receiver.
Agostinella & Grube: Found that most successful anti-drinking campaigns in USA have used celebs. Drinkers have little interest in anti-drinking messages.
Conceptual distinction between central and peripheral processing supported by distinction between high and low self monitoring. Synder and de Bono found people high in self monitoring to be more persuaded by soft sell adverts, and vice versa.