Lecture 7 & 8: Persuasion
Lecture Overview
Lecture 7 & 8 focuses on the topic of persuasion.
Understanding Persuasion
Definition of Persuasion:
"The process by which a message induces changes in beliefs, attitudes or behaviours."
Not inherently good or bad; the value depends on the direction of the persuasion (e.g., education vs. propaganda).
Routes to Persuasion
Central and Peripheral Routes:
Central Route to Persuasion:
Definition: "Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts."
Audience Characteristics:
Analytical, motivated, capable of systematic thinking.
Processing Style:
Elaborate, deliberate, effortful processing, focusing on logic.
Leads to strong, compelling arguments and enduring agreement.
Outcome of Persuasion:
Evokes enduring attitude change.
Peripheral Route to Persuasion:
Definition: "Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as the speaker's attractiveness."
Audience Characteristics:
Not analytical or involved, distracted, non-reflective.
Processing Style:
Effortless, using peripheral cues, relying on emotions and heuristics.
Outcome of Persuasion:
Cues trigger temporary liking and acceptance.
Comparison of Routes:
Central route leads to swift explicit attitude change; peripheral route leads to slow-building implicit attitude change through repeated associations.
Goals of Persuasion
Ultimate Goal:
To influence behavior.
Effectiveness of Central Route:
Results in more persistent attitude change that is resistant to counter-argumentation.
Use of Peripheral Route:
Necessary for efficiency; utilizes simple heuristics (e.g., trust scientists, more points = more likely to be correct).
Elements of Persuasion
Four Key Elements:
The communicator
The message
How the message is communicated
The audience
The Communicator
Factors Affecting Persuasiveness:
Credibility:
Definition: The believability of the speaker, consisting of perceived expertise and trustworthiness.
Impact on Persuasion: More persuasive if perceived as credible; effects can fade over time (about a month).
Sleeper Effect:
Definition: "A delayed impact of a message; occurs when we remember the message but forget a reason for discounting it."
Perceived Expertise:
More persuasive if the information comes from an expert.
Strategies: Appeal to cognitive biases, display credentials, speak confidently.
Trustworthiness:
More belief in information from a trustworthy source who doesn't have something to gain.
Influenced by speech style and body language (e.g., direct eye gaze)
Quick speech can enhance credibility.
Attractiveness and Liking:
Definition: Attractive communicators are more persuasive, especially in subjective preference matters.
Factors include physical attractiveness, similarity to audience, and being part of an in-group.
The Message Content
Key Considerations for Content:
Logic vs. Emotion for Persuasion
Impact of Message Extremity
One-Sided vs. Two-Sided Arguments
Order of Presentation: Talk First or Last
Reason vs. Emotion
Influence of Method on Persuasion:
Depends on audience and initial attitudes.
Analytical audiences prefer reason (central route); disinterested audiences prefer emotional appeal (peripheral route).
Positive Affect and Fear in Persuasion
Increasing Persuasiveness:
Positive emotions enhance acceptance of arguments; linked with faster decision-making.
Fear-arousing messages effective for certain issues (e.g., health warnings); must show threat severity and solution efficacy.
Discrepancy in Persuasive Messages
Discrepancy Interaction:
Highly discrepant messages require credible communicators.
Audience involvement reflects receptiveness to message discrepancies.
One-Sided or Two-Sided Messages
Effectiveness of Messaging Type:
One-sided messages better for those who already agree; two-sided better for those who disagree.
Primacy vs. Recency Effect
Influence of Order on Persuasion:
Primacy Effect::
First presented information generally has more impact.
Recency Effect:
Last presented information can also be influential, particularly after a delay.
Channel of Communication
Definition: The means by which a message is conveyed.
Active experiences foster stronger, more confident and stable attitudes.
Repetition breeds familiarity, enhancing believability; fluency increases through repetition and catchy phrasing.
Effectiveness of Different Media
Most to Least Persuasive:
Face-to-face > Video > Audio > Written.
Comprehension is crucial; for complex messages, written communication may be more effective.
The Audience's Role
Age of Audience:
Attitudes correlate with age; generational context influences attitude stability.
Thoughtfulness:
Favorable thoughts lead to persuasion; counter-arguments inhibit persuasion.
Distraction can reduce counter-arguing tendencies.
Audience's Need for Cognition
Definition: "The motivation to think and analyze."
Higher need favors central route; lower need favors peripheral route.
Personal relevance affects thought processes and required persuasion strength.
Certainty, Attitude Strength, and Biases
Certainty: Level of confidence attached to attitudes; higher certainty leads to resistance.
Cognitive Biases:
Selective Exposure: choosing information that aligns with pre-existing attitudes.
Selective Attention: paying more attention to agreeable information.
Selective Memory: biased recall of attitude-consistent information.
Practical Scenario
Context: Engage in a social gathering where a political candidate seeks to persuade.
Analysis Questions:
Identifying persuasion route, credibility of the communicator, one-sided vs. two-sided arguments.
Factors affecting your receptiveness to the persuasion attempt based on personal disconnect from environmental issues.
Answers & Conclusions
Route Taken: Peripheral route - good match for low engagement, low cognition.
Perception of Credibility: Low - due to perceived self-interest of candidate.
Response to Communicator: Positive due to similarities.
Discrepancy & Argument Type: Highly discrepant viewpoint may not create a match; one-sided approach is effective given lack of counter-exposure.