The Power of Persuasion

Question 1

automatic vs controlled thinking

Answer 1

automatic = fast
controlled = slow

Question 2

what are persuasive messages

Answer 2

persuasion - attempts to influence others attitudes or behaviours
the elaboration model (ELM)
- Petty and Cacioppo
- routes to persuasion:
- central route: attending to and evaluating a given message (information based)
- peripheral route: attending to external cues, like the attractiveness of a speaker (aesthetics)

Question 3

central processing

Answer 3

• creates opinions that are resistant to change
• people rely on the message and their own reflections
• more cognitive effort makes more entrenched positions
• controlled (slow) processing
• requires: motivation and ability

Question 4

peripheral route processing

Answer 4

• creates opinions based on superficial factors
• relies on automatic (fast) processing
• involves a lack of ability or motivation to attend to the message

Question 5

what influences which route we take

Answer 5

• organizing and understanding the processes underlying the effectiveness of persuasive communication
• ELM attempts to explain which processing route we are likely to take by considering interrelated 3 factors:
  1. source
  2, message
  3. audience

Question 6

the source

Answer 6

the person or organization who delivers a persuasive message
attractiveness
credibility
- expertise
- trustworthiness
- similarity between the source and the audience:
- background
- values
- association
- appearance
- The Sleeper Effect: wont be persuades if we don’t think they’re credible, but overtime our association weakens and our opinion can change

Question 7

the message

Answer 7

content: tactics used to communicate a concept
valence of a message
- the attraction or aversion a person feels toward an object, event or idea - can be positive or negative valence

Question 8

fear based appeals

Answer 8

some public service announcements use fear based appeals

• negative valence elicited by a message designed to prevent an action
• works best when message evokes moderate strong fear and provides low cost ways to reduce threat

Question 9

message construction

Answer 9

presenting both sides of an argument 
- 2 sided refutational approach (making the other side known)
comparative messages
- present one sides virtues vis a vis a different side 
length of message
- adopted for medium:
- long message for informercial 
- medium message for commercial
- short message for billboard 
humor 
- comedy helps attract peoples attention

Question 10

audience

Answer 10

the intended recipient of an attempt to persuade
demographic features play a role in persuasion
- age: younger = peripheral route
- gender
- education
- personal relevance/importance;
- investment in an issue affects persuasion
- issues we care deeply about are resistant to persuasion
outcome relevant involvement
- the degree to which social or economic outcome is important to the receiver
proximity is also important - how near something is to us in time and space
- greater proximity increases central route processing (face to face most effective)

Question 11

audience: personality factors

Answer 11

need for cognition

• an individuals tendency to engage in an enjoy effortful cognitive activity
• those high in this need prefer deliberate analysis and will use central route processing
• they will also ness more information and ask more questions

Question 12

audience: self monitoring

Answer 12

• focusing on situational cues when deciding how to present ones self
• high self monitors are more vulnerable to attitude shifts
• eg. a women who is a high self monitor might buy an expensive purse if in a crowd that values popular accessories

Question 13

audience: ability to focus

Answer 13

• distracted or highly distractible individuals are more likely to use peripheral route processing
• this will lead them to be more open to persuasion
• might also be taken advantage of by the source:
• eg ads located in busy areas that emphasize peripheral elements

Question 14

mood of the audience

Answer 14

good moods - both physically and psychological - can enhance openness to persuasion

• want to maintain good mood
• rely on peripheral cues
• eg. Walmart uses greeters to improve the mood of customers as they walk in the door

Question 15

cultural differences in persuasion

Answer 15

• persuasive messages differ across cultures
• people from collectivist cultures are more likely to go along with the group (this is not an absolute though)
• people from individualistic cultures actually value straying from the group
• uniqueness has different meaning and value across cultures

Question 16

Cladini’s 6 weapons of influence

Answer 16

1. reciprocation 
2, commitment and consistency 
3. social proof
4. liking/ingratiation 
5. authority 
6. scarcity

Question 17

reciprocation

Answer 17

• repaying an act in order to avoid feeling indebted
• door in the face technique (I did somethin for you, you do something for me)
• advertisements use this by offering you discounts or extras to make it seem like they are doing you a favour
• ex. free samples

Question 18

commitment/consistency

Answer 18

• procuring a commitment creates obligation
• a person will then act in way that is consistent with that commitment
• foot in the door technique
• lowball technique
• rewards cards and RSVP are ways of using commitment as a persuasive technique

Question 19

social proof

Answer 19

• following others actions as an indication of what is true or right
• bandwagon effect

Question 20

liking/ingratiation

Answer 20

• we generally say yes to people we like and no to people we don’t like

Question 21

authority

Answer 21

• credibility = source

- we tend to do what people in authority positions want, even if it is only perceived authority

Question 22

scarcity

Answer 22

• people want what they cant have
• “limited time offer”
• “buy now before its too late”
• “hurry, this offer wont last”

Question 23

ex. can I get a lift

Answer 23

reciprocation: here is food, can you drive me
commitment/consistency: I’ll give you gas money
social proof: everyone else’s friends would do it
liking: praise them
authority: if you’re they’re boss it will work
scarcity: we don’t get to see each other very much, this will give us a chance to catch up

Question 24

what does research tell us about resisting persuasion tactics

Answer 24

forewarning:

• being informed ahead of time that an attempt to persuade is coming
• allow us to steal our defenses
• ex reviews

reactance:
- people do not like to feel “forced” into an action or a way of thinking
- basic idea behind reverse psychology
- ex getting told to do the dishes - no longer want to do the dishes even though you were going to

attitude inoculation:

• the process of building up resistance to unwanted persuasion
• present small does of arguments against persons own position - establishes threat and initiates defences
• process of refutation prepares for future stronger messages
• allows creation of arguments in favour of pre existing thoughts
• ex. argument changes to garbage collection are good - leaf and yard waste placed in paper bags
• might have becomes inoculated to changing mind to accept change by first thinking about things like privacy and then later refuting claim about environmental factors