Persuasion Flashcards
What are central cues and central route to persuasion in the elaboration likelihood model?
central cues: persuasive features of a message, such as scientific arguments, encourages the target audience to process this
central route to persuasion: when the audience has the motivation to attend to the message carefully and evaluate its arguments, leads to people being persuaded by the central cues
variations in persuasion depend on the likelihood that participants will engage in elaboration of thinking about the arguments relevant to the issue
What is systematic processing and heuristic processing in the heuristic systematic model?
systematic processing: target audience scans and processes the argument put forward in a message
heuristic processing: target audience isn’t carefully considering the message, they use cognitive shortcuts (known as heuristics) to process the message
Easier to apply a simple rule (heuristic) to make a quick judgement about something rather than to weigh up pros and cons
What is the door in the face technique?
Persuader makes a large, unrealistic request which is refused, and then a small, realistic request
This request has to be asked by the same person
Persuader makes a concession by accepting the target’s refusal of the first request
The target then feels obliged to make a concession
Contrast effect: small request seems reasonable compared to the larger request
What’s the that’s not all technique?
Offer the target a product at a high price, allowing the target time to respond, then offering them a better deal by offering another product at a lower price
Target have to consider the offer and this effect is dependent on the size of the initial request
The consumer feels that they owe the influencer something because they were generous
What’s the foot in the door technique?
Making a small request, then a larger one
Persuader asks for a small favour which is universally granted, making it more likely they will succeed with the request they’re truly interested in
The larger favour is related to the small, initial favour
If the first request is too small and the larger request too large, this technique doesn’t work, as the link between the two requests is broken
Since the person is committed to the small request, they are likely to grant the bigger request
What’s the lowball tactic?
Persuader suddenly adds unattractive conditions (hidden costs) to something after the target has agreed to it
Once target’s are committed to an action and have made a decision, they will likely stick to it and go ahead even with the hidden costs
What’s reactance?
Increases resistance to persuasion
Defiant responses to an influence attempt is known as the boomerang effect
Threatens personal freedoms
Usually against blatant or persistent influence attempts
What’s prior knowledge/forewarning?
If people are forewarned about an attempt, they’re less likely to be persuaded
This gives people the opportunity to develop counterarguments and to do some research
More effective with important issues than trivial ones
What is counterarguing?
Resists persuasion by arguing against attitude incongruent arguments directly
Allows them to resist the persuasion attempt
People generate counterargue points that are inconsistent with their attitudes
Gave supportive arguments for points that were consistent with their attitudes
What’s attitude inoculation?
Present weak counter attitudinal arguments before presenting them, with a stronger influence attempt
Less susceptible to the persuasion
Being presented weak arguments allows people to create counterarguments of their own
However, this doesn’t always work, people can be influenced by follow up attempts
What’s the peripheral cues and peripheral route to persuasion in the elaboration likelihood model?
peripheral cues: slogans, jingles, models don’t require lots of processing
peripheral route to persuasion: people don’t have the motivation to attend to the message carefully and evaluate its arguments so people are persuaded by their peripheral cues
Why does society expect influencers to be clear that they are paid for advertising a product?
Persuasion can be competitive, audience will try to resist it and the message wants the audience to be persuaded
Persuaders motives can affect how persuasive they are, they will be more persuasive if the audience thinks they ‘mean’ it not just paid to say it
Misrepresenting your beliefs and motives gives you an unfair advantage over your audience
What routes do high or low motivation targets go through?
High ability or motivation leads to central route processing
Low ability or motivation can lead to peripheral route processing
Both lead to persuasion
What is the evidence for the ability to process?
Distraction decreases ability to generate counterarguments
Makes people more persuaded by peripheral cues and weak arguments
What is the evidence for the motivation to process?
As involvement in a topic increases, motivation to engage in central/systematic processing signals
This can be affected by an individual’s personality, like the ‘need for cognition’
And the situation, being in a good mood can enhance elaboration
How do attractive sources help to persuade?
Eagly and Chaiken: conventionally attractive vs unattractive people campaigning for petition signatures, attractive 41% success rate but unattractive had a 32% success rate
The more attractive the person, the more successful the persuasion attempt
Vogel:
People who think they are attractive, expect to be more persuasive, especially when their audience isn’t motivated to process information
They also seek out more face to face contact with low motivation audiences they implicitly understand the power of peripheral cues
How do likeable sources help to persuade?
Liked persuaders are more effective, but only in real time media (not writing)
Distracts us from the message and towards the characteristics of the source
Ingratiation (making your audience like you) is therefore an effective strategy
As long as you aren’t too obvious about it and arouse the audiences motivation
How do similar sources help to persuade?
Similarity with the audience can make a person more persuasive
Shared ingroup identity
mimicry: behave in a similar way
Bailenson study: politicians faces were morphed to look more like the participants, morphed politician faces were more successful at persuasion
What did Cialdini et al 1975 study for the door in face technique find?
Ps were asked if they would like to supervise a group of ‘delinquent juveniles’ on a trip to the zoo
83% said no
Of those who were previously asked to take part in a two year counselling programme with delinquents, 50% said yes
How does repetition and the truth effect help persuasion?
TV ads are the most effective when people are exposed to them 2-3 times a week
Work best when people are already familiar with the object of the advert and have a positive reaction
The truth effect: statements seem more true when repeated, only up to a certain point though, related to the mere exposure effect
What routes are the most effective in persuasion?
Central/systematic route more effective and longer lasting than peripheral/heuristic route
What is bullshit receptivity?
People with lower IQ were more intuitive and believe in the supernatural
Bullshit receptivity: more likely to see bullshit as profound
Bullshit sensitivity: less likely to detect deceptive vagueness of it
In politics, conservative supporters are more receptive to bullshit
Also, people who were highly receptive to bullshit tend to be less pro social
What types of people are more likely to fall for deep fakes?
People who are more receptive to bullshit are also more likely to be taken in by deep fakes
Does fake news receive attention?
Stories about scientific findings are much less engaged with than ‘fake news’ responses to those findings
