Science of Persuasion - Midterm review

How is persuasion an art?

It allows artistic POV to be persuasive. (Think emotions through famous art and how its persuaded others).

How is persuasion a science?

Scientists are often persuaders. They use pervasive efforts to establish their credibility.

The 6 Digital and Online influences of persuasion

1. eWoM: electronic word of mouth, digital buzz

2. Sponsored content: peer-to-peer influence, promoted tweets & insta posts (paid advertisements)

3. Opinion mining: marketers monitor social media to gauge the public mood in nearly real time.

4. Gamification: stimulate consumer interest and involvement (games).

5. Crowdsourcing/ funding: puts out open call to anyone online to participate in completing task or solving problem

6. Persuasive technology: devices aimed at changing users attitude/behaviours through persuasion and social influence.

What are the 5 benefits of studying persuasion?

1. Instrumental function: improving ones own persuasive abilities, "communication competence"

2. Knowledge and awareness: enhance own knowledge and awareness about persuasive techniques, "habitual persuasion" (unaware of own patterns of persuasion)

3. Defensive function: studying makes more discerning consumer of persuasive messages, "third person effect" (underestimate themselves and overestimate others).

4. Debunking function: learning about non-obvious, counter-intuitive research findings

5. Well-being function: sense of satisfaction that comes from persuading others, satisfies 5 basic needs (accuracy, belonging, self-worth, control, & meanings)

2 criticisms of persuasion

1. Does learning about persuasion foster manipulation?

- persuaders motives determine influence effect

2. Are persuasion findings too inconsistent or confusing?

- (criticism explained) - findings are either overqualified or contradictory.

How does persuasion differ from similar, related terms?

pure vs. border line persuasion

What is "pure" persuasion? and examples

- Clear, cut-case persuasion

- Ex. A TV commercial, an attorney's closing remarks to a jury, a pop-up ad on the internet

What is "borderline: persuasion? and examples

- Less clear-cut cases of influence

- Ex. social modelling behaviour, persuasive attempt that backfire

5 criteria that limit persuasion

- Intentional vs. unintentional

- effective vs. ineffective (persuasion as a product)

- free will and conscious awareness vs. coercion and/or lack of awareness.

- symbolic action vs. pure behaviour

- interpersonal vs. intrapersonal (self-persuasion is common)

What is intentional persuasion?

Are there cases of "accidental persuasion?"

- distinguishes between persuasion and social influence.

- pure is intentional

- Social modelling: parents install beliefs, behaviour, attitudes etc on children (usually unintended)

- Socialization processes: moment children are born, they are socialized into respective gender roles, cultural customs, socioeconomic practices etc (unintentional)

- sometimes persuasion just happens

- Unintended receiver effect: persuaders don't intend for third-parties to be persuaded

- Difficulty interpreting another intent

- interpersonal influence is mutual, two-way

what is the effects criterion?

Has persuasion occurred if nothing changes?

- the activity of persuading occurs even if there is no observable change.

- persuasion is often two-way, not one-way or linear

- difficult to measure persuasive effectiveness

- persuasion may boomerang, producing the opposite of the intended effect.

Free will and conscious awareness

Is free, voluntary choice required?

- Persuasion often operates at a low level of awareness

- persuasive may occur w/o another conscious awareness.

- few decisions ever involve completely free choice (rewards, punishments, incentives, drawbacks) **

What is symbolic action?

Does persuasion exist in the world of words and symbolic actions?

- Much of persuasion is visual (images carry meaning outside of words)

- much of persuasion is nonverbal (not all nonverbal cues are clearly codified).

- A person who watched an infomercial with the sound off might still be persuaded.

Does persuasion require two or more persons? (inter vs intrapersonal)

No.

Self-persuasion is quite common.

Depends if its pure or borderline

What is the functional theory of attitudes?

- Utilitarian Function

- Knowledge function

- Value-expressive function

- Ego-defensive function

Gass & Seifers model of persuasion

Pure persuasion:

- intentional

- effective or successful

- non coercive

- relies on symbols and language

- involves two or more persons

Borderline:

- is missing one or more of these litmus tests

What is the working definition of persuasion?

"Persuasion involves one or more persons who are engaged in the activity of creating, reinforcing, modifying, or extinguishing beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, and/or behaviors within the constraints of a given communication context" (Gass & Seiter, 2014)

What isn't persuasion?

- Most human communication involves the potential for influence

- Things that don't qualify:

- breathing, sleeping, sneezing

- stubbing your toe on a rock

- torture

- hypnosis

- chameleon like behaviour in the animal kingdom.

What is the elaboration likelihood model (ELM)?

-theory that posits two routes to persuasion, via either conscious or automatic processing.

- most widely cited model in persuasion

- They represent qualitatively different modes of info processing

- They represent the ends of an "elaboration continuum"

What is central processing?

- the central route is reflective, requires mental effort, and relied on cognitive elaboration

- motivation (willingness) to process message

- ability to process (understand) a message.

- Persuasion via central route tends to be more lasting

What is peripheral processing?

(The peripheral route is reflexive, based on mental shortcuts:

- credibility, appearance cues, quantity of arguments ("as seen on TV, Always tip 18%, celebrity endorsement).

- heuristic cues (decision cues): rules for simplifying the thought process

- persuasion through peripheral route tends to be more transitory

Heuristic-Systematic Model of Persuasion (HSM)

operates on the assumption that individuals rely on two different modes of information processing; systematic and heuristic processing

- Systematic processing; more thoughtful, deliberate, analytical (similar to central processing)

- Heuristic processing: reflexive, automatic. Relies on decision rules (buying TV based on brand name - "Sony Tvs are reliable"), decision rules are activated under the appropriate circumstances.

What is simultaneous processing?

Messages travel through systematic and heuristic routes concurrently

Ex. driving + texting (difficult)

- limited empirical evidence of simultaneous processing available.

- HSM allows for the possibility of simultaneous processing (both systematic and heuristic)

Heuristic cues must be

Available, Accessible, Applicable

Available: stored in memory for potential use

Accessible: activated from memory

Applicable: related to the receiver's goals or objectives

There must be motivation and ability are key determinants if HSM is used.

What is the sufficiency principle?

People do not want to spend too much or too little time/effort making a decision

What is the unimodel of persuasion?

An alternative to dual process models

- Rejects the notion of two distinct types of processing

- There is simply more or less processing.

what is the definition of an attitude?

An attitude is "a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor "(Eagly & Chaiken 1993, p. 1)

Attitudes are relatively enduring overall evaluations of objects, products, services, issues, or people.

how do we measure attitudes?

- Explicit measures (likert scales, semantic differential scales)

- Visually oriented scales (visual analog scale VAS)

- Implicit measures (Implicit Association Test (IAT), Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP), Evaluation Priming.

What do attitudes do?

1.) Attitudes reflect tendencies or predispositions to respond to things in predictable ways-influence not control

2.) Attitudes reflect favorable or unfavorable evaluations of things-likes and dislikes

3.) Attitudes are always directed toward an attitude object

Attitudes are abstract and cannot be observed directly

functional theory of attitudes

Utilitarian function

Value-expressive function

Ego-defensive function

Knowledge function

Pitfalls in measuring attitudes

social desirability bias - respondents way provide the "socially correct" response

non-attitudes - respondents may make up opinions so as not to appear uninformed

mindfulness- respondents may not be aware of their own attitudes

how else do we measure attitudes?

Appearances

- clothing, artifacts, and other appearance cues

- risk of faulty sign reasoning

- textbook ex. gaydar

Associations

- memberships, affiliations, social networks

- segmentation; soccer moms, NASCAR dads, millennials

Behaviour

- actions, habits, lifestyles

Physiological measures

- galactic skin response, facial electromyography, fMRI (problem is they are bi-directional indicators of attitude pos or neg response - ex. heart rate compared crush to enemy, heart rate the same - hard to measure.)

What is the Reasoned Action Approach?

Developed by Fishbien & Ajzen in the 1970s

Views intention as the best predictor of behaviour.

- It presumes people are rational decision makers

- it presumes people make use of available info

Behavioural beliefs

Normative beliefs (descriptive (what people generally do) and injunctive norms (what people should do )).

Perceived behavioural control

how are attitudes persistent?

Attitudes formed via central processing are more enduring

- increasing a persons motivation to attend the message will increase central processing

- improving a persons ability to attend to a message will increase central processing

Attitudes formed via peripheral processing are more short-lived.

Attitudes and associative networks

Attitudes exist in associative networks

- Persuaders seek to establish connections among attitudes

The goal is to link their product, brand, idea to favourable attitudes.

Manufacturing Favourable Associations, how?

With..

- Brands and branding (creative distinctive product image that is linked to favourable qualities).

- Brand personality (brands may be perceived as honest, fun, exciting)

- Authenticity (emphasizes genuine, integrity, and down-to-earth values)

- Cause related marketing (making customers feel good about themselves by feeling good about their purchases).

- Sloganeering (slogans imbue the products w positive qualities that, over time, become embedded in receivers' minds.)

- Sponsorship

Psychological consistency

People desire consistency

- people prefer a state of harmony among their attitudes, beliefs, behaviours.

Inconsistency cause psychological discomfort

The magnitude of dissonance

- the degree of psychological discomfort depends on the certainty of the attitudes

People are motivated to restore consistency.

Methods of Maintaining Consistency

-Denial - ignoring the inconsistency

-Bolstering - rationalizing

-Bargaining- trying to reach a psychological compromise

-Differentiation - separating or distinguishing the attitudes in question

-Transcendence - focus on larger or higher level

-Modifying both or one attitude

-Communicating - trying to convince others to change or that you've done the right thing

Consitency in persusaion

-Brand loyalty (don't leave home w/o it)

- Merchandise and participation (call in and vote)

- Promote inconstancies (think different)

cognitive dissonance theory

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes

- making a decision produces distance or "buyers remorse"

- the more important the decision, the greater the dissonance

What are 3 ways to reduce dissonance?

Rationalizing

- which is not the same as being ratinoal

Selective exposure

- paying attention only to info that supports choice made

- avoiding info that is inconsistent with the choice made

Polarization of alternatives

- exaggerating the difference between the alternatives once the choice is made

The magnitude of dissonance (4)

Free Choice Paradigm: the more free choice one has in decision making, the more dissonance will suffer

Belief Disconfirmation: exposure to info country to strongly help beliefs may increase adherence to those beliefs (stubbornness)

Induced Compliance: when a person is forced to do something, little dissonance is aroused

Effort Justification: the greater the effort to the sacrifice involved, the greater the dissonance

psychological reactance

the theory that people react against threats to their freedom by asserting themselves and perceiving the threatened freedom as more attractive

- also known as "reverse psychology"

- backlash: a perceived threat to ones freedom produces a defence reaction

Commitment and persuasion

Once we are committed to a course of action, it is hard to turn back

social customer are designed to increase commitments (wedding customs)

Commitments can grow legs (people add additional justification for their original decision)

Counterattitudinal Advocacy

involves having a person create and present a message that is at odds with his existing attitudes. Causes psychological conflict within the individual.

- attitudes won't undergo complete reversal

What is the definition of credibility?

"Judgments made by a perceiver concerning the believability of a communicator" (O'Keefe, 1990)

celebrity endorsements

"Celebritocracy" - we are living in a culture that worships rich and famous

The match-up hypothesis - a good fir between the endorser and the brand is essential

Meaning transfer perspective - an endorsers' persona is projected onto the brand

What are the 4 credibility dimensions?

1. Credibility is a receiver-based phenomenon (eye of the beholder)

2. Credibility is a multi-dimensional construct

3. Credibility is situational (subject to change from one audience or setting to another)

4. Credibility is dynamic (can change over time)

What are the primary dimensions of credibility

expertise (competence)

- the persuader has knowledge, skills, knows their stuff

trustworthiness (character, integrity)

- the persuader is honest, safe, and dependable

goodwill (perceived caring)

- the persuader takes a genuine interest in you

What are the secondary dimensions of credibility?

dynamism (extroversion)

- a source is energetic, enthusiastic

composure (poise)

- a source is calm, cool, and collected

sociability (likability)

- a source is friendly, warm, and charming

Credibility as a Peripheral Cue

low level receiver take into account credibility more readily because it's a peripurial - this assumes people are cognitive lazy when they don't have a direct stake in what is going on.

What is the sleeper effect?

Generally, messages lose their effectiveness overtime, but the sleeper effect is an exception to the general rule:

Under the right circumstances, the delayed impact of a message may be more effective than its initial impact.

- the source and the message must be disassociated by using a discounting cue

- w/o the ball and chain of the low credibility source, the message becomes more persuasive

Credibility and Image Management

- Major corporations, government agencies (e.g., White House), and public service agencies have large public relations departments whose primary purpose is to feature the corporation in a positive light.

- One of these departments' major tasks is to restore the credibility of the organization when someone in the organization or some action associated with the organization lessens the credibility of the organization; e.g., the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

Strategies for enhancing credibility (11)

1. be prepared and organized

2. cite evidence for your position and cite sources for the evidence

3. cite your own or your sources qualifications to your listeners

4. build trust by demonstrating to listener that you are honest and sincere and have their best interest at heart

5. display goodwill (caring) toward audience

6. improve likability

7. adopt a language and delivery style suitable to your audience and occasion

8. avoid a powerless style of communication

9. emphasize similarity to another indirectly enhancing your credibility

10. If you think you have low credibility, try to increase receiver involvement and emphasize the central route

11. Have another source who is already perceived as highly credible introduce or endorse you

Interpersonal Credibility (impression management theory)

the ways by which individuals attempt to control the impressions others have of them

Demographic variables and persuasion (age)

Age:

- children are easy marks, cant distinguish between advertising and programming content.

- Elderly: life stages hypothesis: there is a curvilinear relationship between age and persuadability (child = easy, middle= less, elderly = easy)

- Age alone does not make people more gullible, however;

- Politeness reduced some seniors' willingness to hang up on telemarketers. etc.

Demographic variables and persuasion (gender)

Gender:

- Gender stereotypes affect persuasion more than actual gender differences

- Individual differences matter more then gender differences

- women are as different from one another as from men

Demographic variables and persuasion (Reinforcement Expectancy Theory - gender)

Because of certain norms, female doctors cant get away with using aversive strategies the same way male doctors can.

- Female MDs are expected to be more communal, nurturing

- Male MDs are expected to be more assertive, leader-like

Male MDs can employ more negative strategies than female MDs

Demographic variables and persuasion (ethnicity and culture). Individualism vs collectivism

Individualistic cultures value personal autonomy

- direct, assertive persuasion strategies

- ads that emphasize individual benefits, personal success

-rational strategies

Collective Cultures emphasize fitting in

- indirect, cooperative persuasion strategies

- aids that appeal to group benefits, harmony

- coalitions and gift-giving

Intelligence and Persuasion

- less intelligent people are easier to persuade

- less intelligent people have more difficulty comprehending the message

- Simple vs complex messages (easier for less intelligent people to understand simple message)

- intelligence is not synonymous with knowledge or education on a topic

What are the 12 states and traits?

1. Self esteem

2. Anxiety

3. Preference for consistency

4. Self monitoring

5. Ego involvement

6. Dogmatism

7. Authoritarianism

8. Social Vigilantism

9. Narcissism

10. Cognitive Complexity

11. Need for cognition

12. Aggression

Is a person who has low self esteem easier to persuade?

No.

The trade off between low and high esteem.

- Low esteem: more likely to yield, less likely to follow through (more insecure about self to pay attention to message)

- High esteem: less likely to yield, but more likely to follow through

People with moderate esteem are the most persuadable

Anxiety and persuasion, is it easier?

Persuasion requires attention, comprehension, and yielding to a message.

- Anxious people may have more trouble attending to a message as anxiety is distracting, can trigger panic

- Focus on reducing anxiety and fear so listeners will pay attention when persuading.

What do high preference for consistency people prefer vs. low preference for consistency people?

- High PfC: values consistency, predicability and are more susceptible to cognitive dissonance

- Low PfC: value spontaneity, unpredictability.

low self monitors vs high self monitors

Low-self monitors are:

- more independent, less conforming

- more responsive to product features and functions

High-self monitors are:

- more adaptable, sensitive to social cues

- more responsive to image-oriented ads

Ego involved people tend to have

Smaller latitudes of acceptance

Wider latitudes of rejection

Narrower views

What is the assimilation/contrast phenomenon?

Messages are distorted based on their perceived compatibility with existing beliefs and attitudes.

- Assimilation:

- A message is perceived as being closer to ones own position than it really is.

- Contrast

- A message is perceived as being farther from ones own position than it really is.

Person with high issue involvement vs low issue involvement:

According to the ELM, person with high issue involvement:

- tend to rely on central processing

- tend to be more responsive to good arguments and evidence

A person with low issue involvement:

- tend to favour peripheral processing

- tend to look for mental shortcuts, heuristic cues

- tend to respond better to testimonials

Authoritarian personalities tend to..

Be close minded and conservative

Dogmatic people tend to..

Be conservative or liberal

engage in rigid, doctrinaire thinking

are more persuadable by authority figures

What do social vigilantes believe?

Their beliefs are superior to others'

They actively try to persuade other of their own rightness

narcissistic people tend to

Grandiose views of themselves

Lack of concern for others

Persuaded by messages that fell their conceit.

cognitive complexity and need for cognition

Need for cognition involves a desire to think about, reflect on things

Cognitive complexity involves the number of constructs people use when thinking

People who rely on many constructs are cognitive comlex

- their thinking is more nuanced

- they are better at seeing things from another perspective

- they are better at adapting messages to listeners

cognitive complexity: people who rely on few vs many constructs

People who rely on many constructs are cognitive comlex

- their thinking is more nuanced

- they are better at seeing things from another perspective

- they are better at adapting messages to listeners

People who reply on few constructs are cognitively simple

- they tend to think of things in black and white, either/or

- they tend to have less tolerance for inconsistency, since they don't see things in degrees

Verbal aggressiveness vs argumentativeness

Verbal aggressiveness: A method of arguing in which one person attacks the other person's self-concept.

argumentativeness: a constructive form of assertiveness, involves the tendency to defend and refute positions on controversial issues.

Analyzing and Adapting to Audiences

know your audience

- adapt your messages to your audiences POV

- Tailor the message to the listeners frame of reference

- explain how the message is consistent with the other persons beliefs, attuitieds, and values.

Pay attention to situational cues

- the context of setting matters

- take cultural values into account

- consider Maslow's hierarchy of needs

- Consider states and traits

- consider audience demographics

How do words have power?

Words affect perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and emotions

-ex. undocumented vs. illegal immigrant

What are symbols?

Arbitrary words, images or behaviour that stand or represent something else.

- Symbols are arbitrary: the word "pig" could just as easily be "carp"

- Symbols include images (peace sign)

- Symbols can include behaviour (rituals rites or other symbolic action) .

What is the denotative meaning of a word?

the literal meaning of a word

What is the connotative meaning of a word?

reflects the individual's perception or interpretation of a given word

What are the ultimate terms?

- God terms - great blessings (family, values, peace, truth, modern)

- Devil terms- abhorrent

(deadbeat dad, sexual predator, sweatshop, hate crime)

- Charismatic terms (green, natural, democracy)

Terms why change, evolve over time (political correctness, affirmative action, liberal)

What is aphorism?

A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life (look before you leap)

- easy to persuade with

what is the power of labeling?

Peoples names influence impressions

- perceived liveability, friendliness

- Job titles like barista at Starbucks, Genus Bar at Apple.

Labels reflect attitudes

- male, guy dude

- female, girl, chick, broad

- gay, queer, fag, homosexual

What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

The language you have affects how you think.

Language can facilitate or inhibit certain types of thinking

More precise language = more focused thought

What is a euphemism?

a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

- Can help save face

Ex. "Im in-between jobs rn"

- Can hep convey tact

Ex. "I need to visit the men's room"

Is profanity a persuaders friend?

Rarely.

- Profanity tends to lower perceived credibility

- Religious profanity was perceived less negatively than sexual profanity

- perceptions of profanity are topic, audience, and situation specific

Vivid vs pallid language

Vivid language is more memorable than pallid language.

- colourful, picturesque language increase attention and retention

- Pallid language is boring

Vivid language must be congruent with the message

What is language intensity and how does it relate to the reinforcement theory?

Intense language demonstrates a sources bias on a topic or issue.

Reinforcement theory;

- Intense language facilities persuasion with friendly audience

Intense language can alienate a hostile audience

How can language intensity relate to Language Expectancy Theory

- Violations perceived positively facilitate persuasion

- violations perceived negatively inhabit persuasion

- how a violation is perceived depends no the status and reward power of the violator (credibility)

information processing theory

The theory argues that to be persuaded, you must first attend to and comprehend a persuasive message.

- If you attend to and comprehend the message, you then compare your own position on the message to the position that is being argued by the source.

Communication Accommodation Theory

people are especially motivated to adapt their communication when they seek social approval, when they wish to establish relationships with others, and when they view others' language use as appropriate

- Persuaders who match language style of the audience are more effective

- intense language users prefer intense speakers and vice versa

is powerful language more persuasive?

Yes, generally.

- conveys confidence, credibility

but...

- powerful language requires good arguments and evidence

- females may need to moderate their assertiveness for male audiences

What does powerless language signify?

Low status, low credibility

What are the types of powerless language? (7)

1. hesitations (signal uncertainty or anxiety)

- Well, I, uh, you know, um, would like to borrow...

2. Hedges (qualify the utterance in which they occur)

- I guess, sort of like you and you know, kind of want to get to know you

3. Intensifiers (fortify the utterance)

- I really believe and agree with you very much

4. Polite forms (indicate deference and subordination)

- Excuse me, if you wouldn't mind

5. Tag questions (lessen the force of a declarative sentence)

- This is fun, don't you think?

6. Disclaimers (utterance offered before a statement that anticipate doubt, signal a problem, etc)

- I know this is a really dumb question, but..

7. Deictic phrases (phrases indicating something outside of the speakers vicinity)

- that man over there is the one who stole my wallet

What are the 6 reasons nonverbal communication is important

1. Shape impressions of ourselves

- nonverbal cues can enhance or hinder, perceived attractiveness, credibility, status

2. Establish intimacy, rapport, immediacy

- through eye contact, smiling, nodding in agreement

3. Facilitate or inhibit attention

- nonverbal distractions

4. Model behaviour (social proof)

- putting on a seatbelt

5. Signal expectations

- eye contact to signal turn-taking during conversation

6. Violate others' expectations

- standing too close or too far away

Direct Effects Model of Intimacy

Describes the warm, friendly, involving behaviours that enhance persuasiveness of a message

- easier to comply w those we like

- we tend to trust warm, friendly people

Kinesics

non-verbal messages transmitted by the motion and posture of the body. ie facial expressions, gestures.

Kinesics and eye contact

Gaze avoidance

- Strangers are less likely to comply w a gaze avoiding requester

- Gaze avoidance may be perceived as rudeness, ostracism

- Jurors perceived gaze avoidance as less believable

Kinesics and smiling

Smiling increases sociability, likeability, attraction; Smiling students who were charged with academic; dishonesty received greater leniency; Smiling by food servers increased tips; Excessive smiling can hinder credibility

Kinesics: Mirroring

"Mirroring" body language enhances persuasion; Open body postures are perceived as more persuasive than closed postures.

Mirroring conveys; similarity, empathy