week 4: persuasion, social influence and bahvioural change

what does the attitude-behaviour link depend on?

specificity, time, self awareness, accessibility, strength

the theory of planned behaviour

behaviour can be pre ted by intentions. intentions are determined by: attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control

the intention-behaviour gap

good intentions often don’t become action. people forget, miss the opportunity, get distracted, or fall back on old habits

habits

behaviours triggered automatically by cues in the context, learned through repetition. for habitual purchases, you need to change the cues

habit discontinuity

when life changes old cues disappear so people are more open to new behaviours

theory of cognitive dissonance

suggests that individuals experience psychological discomfort when they hold two conflicting beliefs or when their bahviout conflicts with their attitudes. to reduce discomfort they are motivated to change structures, beliefs or behaviours

trivialisation

way of reducing dissonance, try to explain behaviour but end up resolving dissonance by adjusting attitudes

elaboration likelihood model

suggests there are two distinct routes through which persuasive communication can lead to attitude change: central route and peripheral route

central route

involves careful and thoughtful consideration of the content of the message. more likely to last and be resistant to counter persuasion

peripheral route

involves less cognitive effort and relies on superficial cues. tend to be more temporary and susceptible to change

cialdinis seven principles of influence

liking, reciprocity, social proof, consistency, authority, scarcity, unity

liking

people are more likely to comply with requests made by people they like. physical attractiveness, similarity, compliments contact and cooperation, conditioning and association

reciprocity

people repay in kind. when you offer first people feel indebtedness

social proof

people follow the lead of similar others. tend to trust more in things that are popular or endorsed by trusted

consistency

people align with their clear commitments. tend to stick with what we’ve already chosen

authority

people defer to experts. we follow people who look like they know what they are doing

scarcity

people want more of what they can have less of

unity

we say yes to people we see as one of us. family, locality, nation, team, shared identity

social norms

beliefs about what other people do, approve of and expect from us. guide behaviour without us

subjective norm

what the people who matter to me think i should do

descriptive norm

what most people actually do

injunctive norm

what most people approve or disapprove of

dynamic norm

how other peoples behaviour is changing over time

choice architect

has responsibility for organising the context in which people make decisions

nudge

any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or changing their economic incentives. defaults are among the most powerful

dark patterns

website or app designs that push consumers into choices they wouldn’t otherwise make: fake countdowns, hidden costs, hard to cancel subscriptions. exploit scarcity and social proof

uk law restrictions

falsely claiming that a product is only available for a very limited time is banned. (pressure selling)