Persuasion and Communication Theory Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary terms and definitions extracted directly from the lecture notes on persuasion, communication campaign planning, cognitive and processing theories, emotional appeals, parasocial interaction, cognitive dissonance, agenda setting, and framing.

Persuasion

A symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to change their attitudes or behaviors regarding an issue through the transmission of a message in an atmosphere of free choice.

Symbolic process

A process that uses symbols such as words, images, gestures, logos, and other representations of ideas.

Free choice

The requirement that the audience must perceive that they have the ability to choose differently for communication to be considered persuasion.

Social influence

The process of influencing people without forcing them to change.

Persuasion vs. coercion

Persuasion allows perceived freedom of choice, while coercion relies more heavily on force or threats.

Three effects of persuasion

Shaping responses, reinforcing responses, and changing attitudes or behaviors.

Shaping responses

Influencing how people initially respond to an issue, person, product, or behavior.

Reinforcing responses

Strengthening an attitude or behavior that a person already holds.

Changing responses

Moving someone from an existing attitude or behavior to a different one.

Utilitarianism

An ethical theory that evaluates actions primarily by their consequences or outcomes.

Deontological theory

An ethical theory that focuses on duties, obligations, and intentions.

Categorical imperative

The idea that people should be treated as ends in themselves rather than merely as means to an end.

Ethical persuasion

Persuasion that respects the dignity, autonomy, freedom, and ability of the audience to make their own decisions.

Persuasive campaign planning process

The sequence consisting of situation analysis, set objectives, define target audiences, develop message and source strategy, choose channel mix, and evaluate and learn.

Situation analysis

Examining what is happening and why by considering the organization/brand, audience, competitors, and larger cultural environment.

Purpose of situation analysis

To make sure the campaign is solving the correct problem.

Campaign objective

What the campaign wants the audience to think, feel, or do.

Strong campaign objective

An objective that identifies a meaningful audience response that communication can realistically influence.

Objective vs. tactic

An objective is the desired audience change; a tactic is an action used to achieve that change.

Target audience

The people whose response must change to accomplish the campaign objective.

Demographics

Audience characteristics such as age, income, and other population characteristics.

Geographics

Where members of the target audience live or are located.

Psychographics

Audience beliefs, attitudes, motivations, lifestyles, and related characteristics.

Product usage

How the target audience currently uses or purchases a product or service.

Media behaviors

Where, when, and how the audience consumes media and information.

Audience drivers

Beliefs, needs, benefits, or social influences that move someone toward the desired response.

Audience barriers

Factors that prevent someone from responding in the desired way.

Customer Decision Journey (CDJ)

The process a person moves through when becoming aware of, considering, choosing, using, and potentially repurchasing a product or brand.

Message and source strategy

Determining what should be communicated and who should communicate it.

GET / WHO / TO / BY framework

A strategy format where GET is who the campaign reaches, WHO is what the target audience currently thinks/feels/does, TO is what change to create, and BY is what message produces that change.

Channel mix

The combination of communication channels used to reach a target audience.

Reach

The percentage or number of the target audience exposed to a message.

Frequency

How often members of the target audience encounter a message.

Channel synergy

The idea that communication channels should complement one another and work together.

Dumb Ways to Die objective

Encourage safer behavior around trains and railway platforms.

Pepsi Refresh weakness

It generated substantial participation and attention, but the connection between those activities and Pepsi's ultimate organizational objective was less clear.

Hovland-Yale Model

A persuasion model describing the process of attention, comprehension, learning, acceptance, and retention leading toward attitude change.

Hovland-Yale sequence

Attention -> Comprehension -> Learning -> Acceptance -> Retention -> Attitude change.

Hovland-Yale weakness

It can treat audiences as relatively passive receivers of information and does not fully account for active cognitive responses such as counterarguments.

Cognitive Response Model

A theory focusing on the thoughts people generate in response to a persuasive message.

Pro-arguments

Thoughts generated by an audience that support the persuasive message.

Counterarguments

Thoughts generated by an audience that oppose or criticize the persuasive message.

Forewarning

Warning people that they are about to encounter a persuasive attempt, which can increase resistance.

Distraction

A factor that can reduce the amount of counterarguing during persuasion.

Inoculation Theory

A theory that explains how exposing people to a weakened opposing argument and helping them refute it can strengthen resistance to later attacks.

Pre-bunking

Preparing people to resist misinformation or opposing arguments before they encounter them.

De-bunking

Correcting misinformation after people have already encountered it.

Inoculation process

Warn the audience, present a weakened opposing argument, and provide a refutation.

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

A theory explaining persuasion through two routes of processing: central and peripheral.

Central route

High-effort processing in which people carefully evaluate arguments and evidence.

Peripheral route

Lower-effort processing in which people rely on simple cues or heuristics.

Central route requirements

Motivation and ability to process the message.

Motivation in ELM

The degree to which a person wants or is willing to think carefully about a message.

Ability in ELM

Whether a person has the knowledge, time, attention, and cognitive capacity needed to process a message.

Peripheral cues

Simple factors such as source attractiveness, expertise, number of arguments, or other persuasive cues.

Heuristic-Systematic Model (HSM)

A theory explaining persuasion through heuristic and systematic processing.

Heuristic processing

Using mental shortcuts or simple rules to make judgments.

Systematic processing

Carefully examining and evaluating information.

Major ELM vs. HSM difference

ELM emphasizes central versus peripheral routes, while HSM allows heuristic and systematic processing to occur at the same time.

Sufficiency principle

The principle that people generally use the minimum amount of mental effort needed to feel sufficiently confident in a judgment.

Sufficiency threshold

The point at which a person feels confident enough to stop processing information and make a decision.

Authority heuristic

A shortcut in which people rely on the expertise or authority of a source.

Consensus heuristic

A shortcut in which people rely on the fact that many other people appear to agree or behave similarly.

Emotional appeal

A persuasive strategy that uses emotion to motivate or influence an audience.

Fear appeal

A persuasive message that emphasizes a threat or negative consequence to encourage behavior change.

Severity

In EPPM, how serious or significant the threat is.

Susceptibility

In EPPM, how likely the audience believes the threat is to happen to them.

Response efficacy

The belief that the recommended response will effectively reduce or prevent the threat.

Self-efficacy

The belief that you are personally capable of performing the recommended response.

Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM)

A theory explaining how people respond to fear appeals based on perceived threat and perceived efficacy.

Threat in EPPM

Severity plus susceptibility.

Efficacy in EPPM

Response efficacy plus self-efficacy.

Danger control

The EPPM response in which people focus on controlling the danger by taking the recommended protective action.

Fear control

The EPPM response in which people focus on controlling their fear through denial, avoidance, or minimizing the threat.

Illusion of invulnerability

The belief that negative events are less likely to happen to oneself than to other people.

Guilt appeal

A persuasive appeal that motivates action by making the audience feel responsible for a problem or behavior.

Humor appeal

A persuasive strategy that uses humor to attract attention and influence audiences.

Sex appeal

A persuasive strategy that uses sexual imagery or themes to attract attention.

Parasocial Interaction (PSI)

A perceived interaction between an audience member and a media figure that occurs during media exposure.

Parasocial Relationship (PSR)

An enduring, asymmetrical bond between an audience member and a media figure.

Identification

When an audience member relates to or adopts the perspective or characteristics of a media figure.

Social Penetration Theory (SPT)

A theory explaining how relationships develop through gradual self-disclosure.

Self-disclosure

Revealing personal information about oneself to another person.

Breadth

The number of different topics discussed in a relationship.

Depth

How personal or intimate the information shared is.

De-penetration

Movement toward reduced intimacy or disclosure in a relationship.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

A theory stating that psychological discomfort occurs when important beliefs, attitudes, identities, decisions, or behaviors are inconsistent.

Cognitive dissonance

Psychological discomfort caused by inconsistency among thoughts, attitudes, identity, decisions, or behavior.

Expenditure of effort

The tendency for people who invest significant effort into joining or remaining in a group to convince themselves that the group is valuable.

Induced compliance

Freely engaging in behavior that conflicts with an existing attitude when there is insufficient external justification.

$1$ vs. $20$ dissonance study

A classic study showing that people paid $1$ to say a boring task was enjoyable experienced more dissonance than people paid $20$ because the $1$ provided less external justification.

Agenda Setting Theory

A theory explaining how repeated and prominent media attention can influence which issues audiences perceive as important.

Media agenda

Issues that the media determine or emphasize as important.

Public agenda

Issues that the public considers important.

Policy agenda

Issues that influence the decisions of public policymakers.

Gatekeeping

The process through which information is selected, filtered, and allowed to reach audiences.

Salience transfer

The process through which the perceived importance of issues can move from media attention to audience perceptions.

Priming

Media influence that prepares audiences to evaluate or think about an issue using certain considerations.

Framing Theory

A theory stating that the way information is presented influences how people interpret and reconstruct reality.

Frame

An interpretive structure people use to make sense of information and reduce complexity.