Psy 102 Persuasion

persuasion

the process of intentionally trying to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors through spoken/written communication

elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

a model of persuasion maintaining that there are two different routes to persuasion: central and peripheral

ELM central route

“elaborate”/think deeply about

occurs when people think carefully and deliberately about the contents of a persuasive message, attending to its logic and the strength of its arguments as well as to related evidence and principles

ELM peripheral route

on “autopilot”

primarily attend to peripheral aspects of a message: relatively superficial, easy to process features of a persuasive communication that are tangential to the persuasive information itself

ex. length, expertise/attractiveness of the source

what determines whether we will engage in central or peripheral processing?

motivation and ability

if we are both motivated and able to engage in in-depth processing: central

if either or both are lacking: peripheral

central processing creates attitudes that are..

more resistant to change/longer lasting

three components of persuasive messages

who: the source

what: the content

to whom: the intended audience

source characteristics of persuasion

characteristics of the person who delivers a persuasive message, such as attractiveness, credibility, and certainty

message characteristics of persuasion

aspects, or content, of a persuasive message, including the quality of the evidence and the explicitness of its conclusions

quality, vividness, culture, and fear

audience characteristics of persuasion

characteristics of those who receive a persuasive message, including need for cognition, mood, age

attractiveness (source characteristic)

attractive spokespeople are more persuasive, even for unrelated topics

effects of attractiveness are through the peripheral route: attractive people are rated more favorably, and those favorable feelings become associated with the message

credibility (source characteristic)

people who are seen as knowledgeable and trustworthy are more persuasive

sleeper effect

an effect that occurs when a persuasive message from an unreliable source initially exerts little influence but later causes attitudes to shift

certainty (source characteristic)

sources who express their views with certainty and confidence tend to be more persuasive

message quality (message characteristic)

high-quality messages are more persuasive in general, especially for people who are strong in motivation and ability

more attitude change will result if the conclusions are explicit in the message

vividness (message characteristic)

when information is vivid (colorful, interesting, memorable) it tends to be more effective

identifiable victim effect

the tendency to be more moved by the vivid plight of a single individual than by a more abstract number of people

culture (message characteristic)

it can be important to tailor a message to fit the norms, values, and outlook of a particular cultural group

fear (message characteristic)

fear messages containing vivid information can be very persuasive

fear messages are most effective when combined with instructions on how to avoid negative outcomes

need for cognition (audience characteristic)

the degree to which people like to think deeply about judgements

people high in need for cognition are more persuaded by central route messages than by peripheral route messages

mood (audience characteristic)

messages are more persuasive when they match the mood of the receiver

optimistic messages work best on happy people

age (audience characteristic)

younger people are more persuadable than older people

older people may have strong and long-held attitudes

children may be most vulnerable to persuasion attempts

sources of independent thought that help us resist persuasion

perceptual biases, previous commitments, prior knolwedge

selective attenion

people are inclined to attend selectively to information that confirms their original attitudes

ex. students in favor of legalizing weed preferred to listen to strong arguments in favor and easy-to-refute arguments against

selective evaluation

we tend to evaluate information in biased ways to support our preexisting opinion

ex. patients who receive unhealthy diagnoses are more likely to downplay the seriousness of the diagnosis and the validity of the test that proved it

selective framing

we tend to selectively frame issues in a manner that shines a more positive light on positions we support and a more negative light on positions we oppose

ex. pro-choice vs pro-life

previous commitments

attitudes tied to our social identity are more resistant to change

public commitments to certain attitudes make them resistant to change

• publicly discussing or announcing an opinion will make it resistant to change because we want to keep a consistent self-concept

thought polarization hypothesis

the hypothesis that more extended thought about a particular issue tends to produce a more extreme, entrenched attitude

knowledge

attitudes based on more knowledge are more resistant to change

having greater knowledge means we can offer more and better counter-arguments to defend our attitude

moralization of attitudes

attitudes backed by moral conviction can also be particularly resistant to persuasion

• they can also be harnessed to increase the likelihood of swaying attitudes if a position is framed in terms of the moral principles of the target audience

attitude inoculation

small attacks on people’s beliefs that engage their preexisting attitudes, prior commitments, and background knowledge, enabling them to counteract a subsequent larger attack and thus resist persuasion