Psychology of Social Interaction - 7: Persuasion

PSYC 3330

persuasion

the process of getting someone to change belief/attitude/behavior on an attitude object

• message can be

  • deliberate or subtle

  • prosocial or manipulative

  • good or bad in general

carl hovland and the yale group’s systemic study of persuasion (1950s)

bow do messages influence attitudes and beliefs? very piecemeal, not much of a theory

WW2 propaganda used to persuade soldiers and public

• source credibility:

  • higher → immediate, larger effect

  • lower → slower effect

• message order

  • primacy (1st) → short timespan

  • recency (after) → longer timespan

• message structure

  • two-sided (pros and cons): works better when person has an opposing view

  • one-sided: works better when person already agrees

richard petty and john cacioppo’s elaboration likelihood model (ELM) (1980s)

how much elaboration people use affects attitude formation and change

• central route vs peripheral route

  • variables: personal relevance, argument strength, source expertise/credibility

central route (ELM)

usually only on this route if you

• find it personally relevant

• are motivated

• have time and energy to care

→ need strong, quality, evidenced argument to be convinced → use of reasoning creates lasting change

peripheral route (ELM)

if not on central route → then you are on this route

focus on incidental cues of appearance, emotions, authority → use of mental shortcuts creates only superficial and temporary change

speed and ELM

shows how you can switch between the central and peripheral routes

if the speaker is talking too fast →

• expert → more persuasive

• non-expert → less persuasive

elements of persuasion

• communicator: who

  • credibility

    • perceived expertise

    • speaking style

    • perceived trustworthiness

    • sleeper effect

  • attractiveness and likability

    • similarity

    • mirroring

• message: what

  • reason vs emotion

  • effect of good feelings

  • fear appeals

  • message context

    • fear-then-relief

    • two-sided vs one-sided

  • primacy and recency

• channel: how

  • face-to-face

  • mass media

    • mere exposure

  • written

  • videos

• audience: to whom

  • age

  • thoughtfulness

    • cognition

credibility (communicator)

being believable, expert, and trustworthy has an effect

• perceived expertise

• speaking style

• perceived trustworthiness

• sleeper effect

perceived expertise (credibility)

increases persuasion

can be actual expertise (pHD, etc) or appearance cues (lab coat, suit)

speaking style (credibility)

being more confident, fluent, charismatic, and energetic increases persuasion

perceived trustworthiness (credibility)

more trust → more persuasion

• negative reviews are more trustworthy

• if the speaker comes off as not trying to persuade you/not benefitting from their argument

sleeper effect (credibility)

though high credibility does increase persuasion

lower credibility sources can gain influence over time as you forget why you did not believe it to begin with/the source gets unclear

attractiveness and likability (communicator)

being more attractive/likable helps especially with topics of subjective preference

• similarity

• mirroring

similarity (attractiveness and likability)

the more similar you are to your audience → increases persuasion

mirroring (attractiveness and likability)

the more you mirror your audience’s nonverbal movements → increases persuasion

reason vs emotion (message)

depends on interest/processing level

• high interest/processing level → logical appeals work better

• low interest/processing level → emotional appeals work better

effect of good feelings (message)

happy → increases positive thinking and impulsivity → easier to persuade, more reliance on peripheral cues

unhappy → more thoughtful, harder to persuade

fear appeals (message)

has to be the right level

• high fear → anxiety and avoidance, ignore message due to fear

• moderate fear + clear, actionable steps → easier to change behavior

message context (message)

what precedes the argument is very important

• fear-then-relief

• two-sided vs one-sided

fear-then-relief (message context)

fear → relief → increases persuasion

• ex: “did you lose your wallet?” → no phew → more likely to buy christmas cards

two-sided vs one-sided (message context)

• two-sided: works better when the audience opposes you → creates credibility and perceived honesty

• one-sided: works better when the audience agrees with you already

primacy and recency effect (message)

• primacy: going first creates the most influence, first impressions

• recency: going after or last creates a more potent influence as time passes

face-to-face (channel)

works best for personal influence with just one person

mass media (channel)

uses repetition and exposure to increase belief and persuasion

repetition creates fluency that makes it easy to talk about

• mere exposure effect

mere exposure effect (mass media)

we like familiarity, so even brief repeated exposure creates influence

• ex:

  • people remember original stories even after retraction

  • seeing someone numerous times over time makes you like them more

written message (channel)

works best for complex issues that you have to think through and reread

videos (channel)

works best for emotional appeals

age (audience)

younger are more susceptible to atttiude change

• more widely accepted explanation → generational: older people hold onto attitudes they held when young, generation gap

• life cycle: attitudes change as people grow older, people adopt new attitudes

thoughtfulness (audience)

higher need for cognition respond better to strong arguments

• central route processing: response evoked creates lasting behavioral change

• distraction on the other hand disarms counterarguments they may hold

cognition (thoughtfulness)

stimulating cognition makes people less likely to be persuaded

ways to stimulate cognition →

• rhetorical questions

• multiple sources presenting parts of the argument

• creating personal responsibility

• repetition of the message

• get all of their attention

• warn them that they are going to be persuaded

resisting persuasion

attitude inoculation/inoculation effect works best

expose them to weaker versions of the opposing argument and provide them with refutations → more resistant to opposing views thanks to familiarity and ammo