Task 3 Flashcards
Resistance
Motivational state, in which people have to goal to reduce attitudinal or behavioural change or to retain one’s current attitude
- essential for persuasion
Types of Resistance:
1. reactance
2. skepticism
3. inertia
4. ACE
Difficulty of Resistance
- Resisting an influence attempt can be surprisingly difficult
- we are not always aware of the persuasive intent of a request/message
- or we otherwise lack the ability or motivation to resist a persuasive appeal
Reactance
Unpleasant motivational arousal
- resistance to the influence attempt, when freedom of choice is taken away
- m&m experiment, experimental condition ate more red (unalloyed) m&ms, control (allowed to eat everything) 50/50 of red & yellow m&ms
Skepticism
- presented information is not seen as valid (rejection)
- resistance to the proposal (content focused)
- large cognitive aspect
Inertia
- people don’t like to change from a specific status quo
- any change to status quo needs energy
- resistance to change, attachment to status quo
Cognitive Response Approach
argues that individual’s idiosyncratic responses to a counter-attitudinal message will determine whether the message is accepted (resulting in persuasion) or rejected (resulting in resistance)
provides a useful tarting point for anticipating some strategies that individuals may report using to resist persuasion
Cognitive Responses (Cognitive Response Approach)
typically measured by asking individuals to write out whatever they were thinking during the presentation of a counter-attitudinal message
- standard coding scheme classifies responses as favourable, unfavourable or neutral toward the message
ACE typology
how consumers resist advertisements (resistance strategies)
- such coping is often defensive but consumers may also embrace persuasive attempts as a form of entertainment or valuable source of information about products & services
- Avoidance
- Contesting
- Empowering
Avoidance (ACE)
Active avoidance:
- people have to be aware that an ad is there, but have to somehow force themselves not to see or hear it
Passive avoidance:
- does not necessarily require such action, and might therefore call for different types of neutralising strategies
Physical: not seeing or hearing the ad
Mechanical: zapping through channels, muting TV/radio, zipping
Cognitive: not paying attention to specific ads contradicting existing beliefs or opinions
> selective exposure & selective attention
Contesting (ACE)
- more active
- involves actively refuting the ad by challenging it
- Content/Counterarguing
- Source Derogation
- Persuasive Techniques
Empowering (ACE)
more positive approach
- empowering strategies are related to the recipients themselves, not to the content of the persuasive message
- involve reassuring the self or one’s existing attitude
- Attitude Bolstering
- Social Validation
- Asserting the Self
Content/Counterarguing
(Contesting ACE)
- decreases agreement with counter-attitudinal message
- people who engage in counter-arguing scrutinise the arguments presented, and subsequently try to generate reasons to refute them
- mediating variable between persuasive message and outcomes such as attitudes and behaviour
Source Derogation
(Contesting ACE)
- Dismiss validity of source (credibility, biased source)
- as a consequence, the message will loose credibility, which reduces its impact
- often used when the source can be constructed as biased
- e.g. consumers may question the source’s expertise, trustworthiness, or motives
Persuasive Techniques
(Contesting ACE)
- suspicion of manipulative intent, they resist the advertising message
Attitude Bolstering
(Empowerment ACE)
- defend existing attitudes & behaviours
- for this, they generate thoughts that are supportive of those attitudes and behaviours when they are exposed to a persuasive message that challenges them
Social Validation
(Empowerment ACE)
- validating one’s attitude with significant others (who share your beliefs)
- social proof
Asserting the Self
(Empowering ACE)
- remind themselves that they are confident about their attitudes & behaviours nothing can be sone to change this
boost for self-esteem, reduce social pressure
Persuasion Knowledge Model
framework for understanding how consumers recognise & evaluate persuasive attempts, and develop & employ those strategies to cope with those attempts
- such coping is often defensive
- but consumers may also embrace persuasive attempts as a form of entertainment to source of info about products and services
Persuasion Knowledge
- realising that you are being manipulated
- activated by disclosure
Study:
found that pp activate persuasion knowledge in response to disclosure, after which they used cognitive (counter arguing) and affective (Negative affect) resistance strategies to decrease persuasion