Persuasion Exam 2

Credibility definition

judgments made by a receiver concerning a communicator’s believability (O’Keefe); or, the attitude toward a source of communication held at a given time by a receiver (McCroskey)

Credibility exists where?

in the mind of the audience

The three underlying dimensions of credibility

expertise, trustworthiness, goodwill 

Expertise

endorser must know what they’re talking about

Trustworthiness

the source must appear truthful/reliable/dependable

Goodwill

the source should display empathy/care 

Credibility & ELM model

Credibility is a cue to the peripheral route; if you don’t know much about something but someone credible recommends it, you’re likely to buy it

Credibility is most effective

When receiver motivation and need for cognition are low (peripheral/heuristic)  

Charisma

a quality of communicators that sets them apart from ordinary individuals and, in the perceiver’s mind, endows them with supernatural, exceptional qualities

Three fundamental communicator characteristics

credibility, attractiveness, authority (aka, charisma) 

Authority (Milgram study) ex.

“teacher” in white coat tells participant to shock a “learner” while they scream; shows how far people are willing to go to listen to authority 

The four components of credibility (often relates to celebrities)

source expertise, source attractiveness, match-up hypothesis, meaning transfer perspective 

Source expertise

perceived knowledge, skills, experience

Source attractiveness

looks matter

Match-up hypothesis (aka congruence)

endorser must be a good fit for the brand

Meaning-transfer perspective

celebrity’s image transfers to the product they endorse (ie., Messi’s image boosts Adidas sales)

Halo Effect (Cialdini)

one positive characteristic of a person causes us to see everything about the person in a positive light; experts/celebrities don’t need to have expertise in certain fields for us to give them credibility 

Some age groups may be more susceptible to influence, including

Children (less cognitively developed); elderly (cognitive decline, lonely, can be naive) 

Gender that is perceived to be a better persuader

Males; creates a double-bind for females because assertive women are seen as cold and we’re expected to balance competence and warmth 

Cross-sex effect

people are more easily persuaded by the opposite sex

Reinforcement expectancy theory

people are motivated to act based on expected outcomes of behavior 

Social Judgement Theory (SJT)

when persuading, craft messages that align with your audience’s anchor position (rather than latitudes of rejection or acceptance) 

(SJT) people tend to avoid messages in their

latitude of rejection (LOR)

(SJT) your truest belief is your

anchor position

(SJT) positions similar to what you believe fall into your

latitude of acceptance (LOA)

Assimilation

when perceiving a message within your LOA/close to what you believe, you see it as closer to your position than it is in reality 

Sexual appeals (“sex sells!”)

uses sexual imagery, innuendo, or alluring models to grab attention, induce arousal, and persuade consumers to buy products, often by associating the item with desirability, romance, or status

Cons of sex appeals

some audiences may resent them due to objectification; can be perceived as sexist, too distracting

Why/how do sex appeals work

they function as peripheral cues to persuasion; the receiver associates the product with sexiness/sensuality 

Extended parallel processing model (EPPM)

four-step process model emphasizing severity, susceptibility, response efficacy, and self-efficacy

(EPPM) Severity

info. about seriousness or magnitude of the threat

(EPPM) Susceptibility

info. about the likelihood that the threatening outcomes will occur

(EPPM) Response efficacy

info. about the effectiveness of the recommended action

(EPPM) Self-efficacy

argues that the individual is capable of performing the recommended action (you have what it takes to conquer this) 

Example of EPPM (COVID)

severity (respiratory issues and death may occur), susceptibility (highlight danger to elderly/children, or say loved ones are susceptible if middle-aged), response efficacy (wear masks, get vaccine; statistics), self-efficacy (others do these things and it works; you could, too!)

Factors that promote crowd conformity

group size (the larger the group, the greater the pressure to conform); social proof

Conformity

norms/expectations governing group behavior

Social proof

others’ behavior is used as a yardstick for how to behave; bandwagon effect 

Groupthink (Janis)

members are so concerned with achieving consensus and getting along that they don’t disagree when they should 

De-individuation

getting caught up in crowd; doing things you wouldn’t do alone 

Peer pressure

peers influence you to do something; often shapes teenagers’ attitudes towards drinking, drug use, sex, etc. 

Connotative meaning

subjective feelings, emotions attached to a word (ie. “lit” means cool/a good time)

Denotative meaning

explicit dictionary definition; common usage (ie. “lit” means to ignite)

Euphemisms

“sugar coating” language; making the worst appear better and vice versa 

Profanity and persuasion

can decrease attraction, credibility, and persuasiveness, but is becoming more acceptable

Direct Effects model (Andersen)

simple relationship between nonverbal behavior and social influence → warm, involving, immediate nonverbal behaviors increase persuasion

Non-verbal behaviors

chronemics, haptics, artifacts, proxemics, kinesics 

Chronemics

timely expressions like “instant results!”, persuaders prey on quick-fix mentality, but people may be scared off by this (psych resistance)

Haptics

touch (too much, like fidgeting/touching hair, can decrease credibility) 

Psychological resistance

pushback against persuasive attempts due to sudden negative emotions like skepticism, annoyance, disgust, etc.

Artifacts

items that shape judgement and communicate perceived credibility/status; clothing, body art, jewelry, possessions

Proxemics

space and distance between persuader and persuadee 

Kinesics

all body movement (eye contact, expressions, posture, stride)

Amy often fidgets with her necklace while presenting and avoids eye contact. Which nonverbal techniques is she poorly exhibiting, and how might this impact her credibility?

Amy is poorly exhibiting haptics and kinesics, and this will make her less credible 

George stands too close to Carol when he is trying to persuade her to buy his product. What did he do wrong?

He overestimated proxemics, standing too close to comfort and creating psychological resistance in Carol while decreasing his credibility/attractiveness

Inoculation theory definition

individuals can be inoculated against persuasive attacks on their attitudes in a similar manner to the way they can be immunized against a virus  

Process of inoculation

Topic presented → a forewarning → a weak attack & potential counterargument → a refutation/rebuttal that supports the initial stance 

Example of inoculation

Forewarning (someone will try to persuade you e-books are superior to physical books) → Weak attack (e-books are better because paper books are heavy to carry) → Rebuttal (digital reading is superior because it democratizes access to information) →  Due to forewarning/attacks, inoculation suggests you’d still believe in superiority of physical books 

Why does inoculation theory work?

Attitudinal resistance can be induced by forewarning an individual about an impending attack on the attitude they hold by presenting a weakened argument against the attitude 

Gain framed messages

emphasize positive results of using a product

Loss framed messages

emphasize negative results of not using a product 

Peripheral processing

low receiver involvement; quantity of argument matters more  

Central processing

high receiver involvement; quality of argument matters more

Anticlimax

first information presented is most memorable

Climax

last information presented is most memorable

Pyramidal

information in the middle is most important

Primacy effect

people tend to remember the first thing they hear

Recency effect

people tend to remember the last thing they hear

Considering the primacy and recency effect, what is a key tactic to use when crafting a persuasive message?

Repetition, repetition, repetition

Explicit messaging

claims are directly stated to recipients; ie., you should buy this product 

Pros of explicit messages

often more effective because they provide clear directions for receivers; less risk of misunderstanding action step 

Cons of explicit messages

can increase psychological resistance; people don’t like being told what to do  

Implicit messaging

claims are indirectly stated and recipients make their own conclusions; ie., selling a feeling rather than directly stating product 

Pros of implicit messaging

less risk of psychological resistance 

Cons of implicit messaging

self-generated conclusions; message can be misinterpreted if it’s unclear 

Narrative and statistical evidence

a combination of qualitative and quantitative research is the most effective