Persuasion

Question 1

What is persuasion?

Answer 1

The process by which a message changes a person’s attitude or behaviour

Question 2

Conspiracy theory study - Douglas & Sutton., 2008

Answer 2

Control group -> given a list of statements surrounding the death of Princess Diana

Experimental group -> asked to read a bunch of articles about it

Findings -> Both asked to rate their perceived agreement of the other students
- found that the experimental group accurately estimated the other’s attitude change but underestimated the amount that their own opinion changed

Question 3

What are the three main variables to consider in persuasion?

Answer 3

1) The communicator
2) The message
3) The audience

Question 4

1) The communicator -> similarity study (Mackie & Skelly., 1992)

Answer 4

• Asked student’s to read a persuasive speech about euthanasia or gun control - speech was from students own university or a different one
• Results: students were persuaded by the speech from a person from their own university
  FAMILIARARITY IS STRONG WITHIN GROUPS

Question 5

2) What is the key message of ‘The message’

Answer 5

Repetition
- repeated exposure increases familiarity (Arkes et al., 1991)

Question 6

We dont want to be persuaded (Walster & Festinger., 1962)

Answer 6

Messages which are not obviously designed to change our attitudes are often more successful than those that are clearly designed to do so

Question 7

Study (Liberman & Chalken., 1992) - Coffee vs non-coffee drinkers persuasion advert

Answer 7

• Coffee drinkers were more likely to reject a message arguing for a link between caffeine and ill health
• messages that are inconsistent with our attitudes can have important consequences (attitude polarisation)

Question 8

Consistency

Answer 8

If a message is too distant fro the audiences attitude, likely the message will be ignored

Question 9

Can fear arousing responses enhance persuasion?

Answer 9

Keller & Block - when fear is low, people are less motivated to engage with the message

BUT.. much research shows its not effective in changing peoples health related behaviours (de Hoog et al., 2007)
- health messages are more effective if presented in a positive manner

Question 10

Protection motivation theory (Wood, 2000)

Answer 10

when a fear message is combined with information on how to avoid harm, then it can be effective

Question 11

Social norms approach (Berkowitz., 2005)

Answer 11

• Shared set of acceptable behaviour by a group
• A strategy for promoting behaviour change by correcting misperceptions about what other people actually do or believe.
• It is based on the idea that people’s behaviour is influenced by their perceptions of social norms, or what they believe others in their social group are doing or thinking
• However, these perceptions are often inaccurate, and people may overestimate the prevalence of certain behaviours or attitudes
• When misinterpretations are corrected, social pressure to engage in that behaviour is reduced (Neighbours et al., 2006; McAlaney et al., 2011)

Question 12

3) The audience
Harper & Baguely (2019)

Answer 12

Found that people on both sides of the traditional left-right divide are equally likely to believe political news that’s consistent with their ideology

Also, if you are way left or way right you are more likely to cognitively distort yourself in many ways to believe news that supports your party or bend over backwards to disapprove theory that doesn’t support them

Question 13

Audiences relationship with gender

Answer 13

Research shows that women are more susceptible to persuasive messages than men - could be due to women being more cooperation focused (Eagly & Carli., 1981)

Face to face messages are more effective with female audiences (Guagago & Cialdini., 2002) - could be due to experimental biases (topic of convo)

Question 14

Audiences relationship with age

Answer 14

1) Increasing persistence: susceptible to attitude change high in early adulthood; declines steadily with age

2) Impressionable Years: beliefs, feelings, attitudes, stereotypes set during early adulthood

3) Life Stages: high susceptibility during early adulthood and later life: a low middle bit (U curve)

4) Lifelong openness: susceptible throughout life

5) Persistence: most beliefs, attitudes, feelings set during the pre-adult stage; very little change after that.

Question 15

Audience: Personality and individual differences

Holvard (1953) Cacioppo/Petty (1983) Webster (1993)

Answer 15

• Originally low self-esteem associated with high persuasion (Hovland et al 1953)
• Need for cognition – people high in this will think more about the message, so they are more likely to be persuaded if the message is strong (Cacioppo, Petty, & Morris, 1983).
• Need for cognitive closure – people high in this are less susceptible to influence (Kruglanski, Webster, & Klem, 1993).

Question 16

Examples of paths that lead to persuasion

Answer 16

2) Elaboration likelihood model (Petty & Cacioppo., 1986)
3) Central cues
4) Peripheral cues

Question 17

The dual processing model - the two cognitive processes involved in persuasion

PETTY & CACIOPPO., 1986

Answer 17

Central:
- Involves thoughtful processing
- Listener considers the logic of an argument
- Argument strong & compelling = more chance of persuasion
- Persuasion is likely when listener is engaged and motivated

Peripheral:
- Involves superficial processing & careless consideration of the message (busy, distracted)
- Influenced by cue such as attractiveness of the speaker to trigger acceptance
- If cues are strong = persuasion is more likely
- use mental shortcuts to evaluate

HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANCE OF MESSAGE CONTENT, CHARACTERISTICS & PERSUASION MESSAGES IN SHAPING BEHAVIOUR

Question 18

Elaboration likelihood model - Petty and Cacioppo 1986

Answer 18

• Persuasion happens in one of two ways: Peripheral or central route

Question 19

Central cues

Answer 19

• Require MORE effort and elaboration, depends on one’s motivation
• Processing capacity is high
• Features of a message such as: scientific arguments, expert arguments
• e.g. look at reviews for a holiday on a trusted website like TripAdvisor

Question 20

Peripheral cues

Answer 20

• Require LESS effort, less elaboration, less motivation, so can be successful under the right conditions
• Processing capacity is low
• e.g. paying more attention to peoples pics of a holiday rather than detailed written accounts
• Being persuaded by these type of cues requires a peripheral route
• Relevance is low = heuristic processing
• Less effective in changing opinions long term, superficial and temporary change (Mackie, 1987; Haugtvedt & Smith, 1995)

Question 21

What is the elaboration likelihood model determined by?

Answer 21

1) Motivation: One’s personal relevance, cognitive competence or prior expertise to the persuasive message

2) Ability to elaborate

• Findings show that if someone is not interested in a message, they rely on peripheral cues of the message: e.g. messages speed or length (Smith & Shaffer., 1991)

Question 22

What are Claldini’s 6 Principles of persuasion?

Answer 22

THE WAYS IN WHICH PEOPLE ARE PERSUADED

1) Authority
2) Liking
3) Social proof
4) Reciprocity
5) Consistency
6) Scarcity (rare, premium)

CARLS SP (to remember them)

Question 23

What is the ‘Door in the face technique?’

What is the ‘Foot in the door technique?’
CIALDINI (1984)

Answer 23

When a large request is rejected, so then turned into a smaller request = persuasion success

• Related to the reciprocity principle

foot in the door: persuader makes a small request, before making the intended large request
- persuader gets their foot into the door with a reasonable appeal, making it more likely to succeed with request