PSY220 - Persuasion

persuasion

persuasion

the process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes or behaviours

central route

• analytical and motivated

• high effort and explicit

• occurs when individuals focus on arguements

• produces enduring attitude change

• the person has to be motivated to analyze the issue

• more likely to act this way for a long period of time

peripheral route

• not analytical

• low effort and implicit

• occurs when individuals focus on incidental cues (like attractiveness)

• temporary attitude change

• more inclined to be convinced

advertisements rely on

visual images as peripheral cues

elements of persuasion

communicator, message content, channel, audience

communicator

credibility, sleeper effect, physical attractiveness, similarity

credibility

perceived expertise and trustworthiness, believability

sleeper effect

delayed impact of a message, occurs when we remember the message but forget a reason for discounting it

6 persuasion principles

1. authority: people defer to credible experts

2. liking: people respond more affirmatively to those they like

3. social proof: people allow the example of others to validate how to think, feel, and act

4. reciprocity: people feel obliged to repay in kind what they’ve received

5. consistency: people tend to honour their public commitments

6. scarcity: people prize what’s scarce

message

the two routes of persuasion (peripheral vs central), reason vs emotion, the effect of good feelings, arousing fear, amount of discrepancy

emotion

if someone is analytical to begin with they might not believe just pure emotion

It also depends on how people’s attitudes were formed: 

1. When people’s initial attitudes are formed primarily through emotion, they are more persuaded by later emotional appeals;

2.  when their initial attitudes are formed primarily through reason, they are more persuaded by later intellectual arguments

the effect of good feelings

people are persuaded if they experience messaging with pleasant stuff such as treats or snacks

arousing fear

reducing negative behaviours as well as increasing positive behaviours

amount of discrepancy

depends on the communicator’s credibility

You should argue the extreme position if you appear to be a highly prestigious authoritative source, with lots of credibility (poem example, TS elliot’s praise changes opinions whereas Agnes Stearns does not)

how to deal with opposing arguments

• two side messages: that acknowledge ‘the other side’ were much more convincing 

  1. One sided appeals are more effective with those that already agree

  2. An appeal that acknowledged opposing arguments worked better with those who disagreed & if people are already aware of/has been exposed to opposing arguments 

early vs late effects

primacy vs recency, peoples preconceptions control their interpretations, so presenting information first could bias their interpretation of the following presentation BUT people also remember recent things best… 

primacy effect

information presented early is most persuasive, when two messages are back to back followed by a time gap

recency effect

information presented last sometimes has the most influence, less common than primacy effects

when does recency effect occur

1. when enough time separates the two messages

2. when the audience commits itself soon after the second message

channel

active experience vs passive reception, personal vs media influence

active experience vs passive reception

• exposure leads to familiarity

• increasing fluency leads to believability

• behaviours strengthen attitudes

personal vs media influence

• power of word of mouth

• two step flow: media —> opinion leaders —> public

opinion leader

perceived as the expert because they are being shown to the public

audience

age effects (life cycle or generational), thoughts

life cycle

attitudes change as people grow older

generational

attitudes do not change, generational gap between young people today and young people 50 years ago (evidence supports this)

thoughts

forewarning, distractions, uninvolved audiences, need for cognition

forewarning

someone is going to try to persuade you, this allows you to solidify your own opinions and be less flexible to change

need for cognition

the motivation to think and analyze

extreme persuasion

group indoctrination tactics and attitudes follow behaviour

group indoctrination tactics

cult or pyramid scheme

attitudes follow behaviour

compliance breeds acceptance

eg. foot in the door phenomenon

resisting persuasion

• attitude strength

• info processing biases

• reactance

• strengthening personal commitment

information processing biases

1. selective exposure and attention

2. selective perception and judgement

3. selective memory

strengthening personal commitment

challenging beliefs and developing counter arguments