I. The Evolution of Theory and Research on Persuasion
Persuasion is the conscious attempt to change attitudes through the transmission of some message.
The message-learning approach sought to identify what strengthens and weakens a persuasive message.
Developed by the Yale group: Hovland, Janis, Kelley, Kelman, Sherif
Applied basic principles of learning theory to explain the difference between effective and ineffective communication.
Attitude change follows a series of stages:
attend the message,
comprehend the message, and
accept the message.
Four factors influence persuasion:
source variables,
message variables,
medium/channel variables, and
target variables.
Explains how and when attitudes change, not why they change.
Generally takes a passive view of the recipient.
The cognitive-response approach seeks to identify what makes people think about persuasive arguments.
Explains why attitudes change.
Generally takes an active view of the participant.
Two routes to persuasion. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) assumes that people want to be correct in their attitudes.
When people are motivated and able to attend carefully, they elaborate on (carefully analyze) the persuasive communication, which is called the central route to persuasion.
When people are unwilling or unable to analyze message content, they rely on heuristics or irrelevant cues, called the peripheral route to persuasion.
Attitudes formed through peripheral routes are weaker, less resistant to counterarguments, and less predictive of behavior.
II. Source Variables: Who Is Communicating?
Low credibility is a discounting cue,
Discounting cues. A source whose credibility is low provides a discounting cue that can result in rejection of the message.
Cultural differences in source credibility. In America and Japan, people conceive of credibility as composed of expertise and trustworthiness, but Japanese people also include consideration as a determinant of credibility.
The sleeper effect. The gap in effectiveness between high and low credibility sources diminishes over time as the message becomes disassociated from the source.
Attractiveness enhances persuasiveness.
Physical appearance. An attractive appearance can sometimes overcome a poor presentation style.
Likeability and optimism can increase attractiveness.
Similarity in attitudes and values or in background increases effectiveness.
III. Message Variables: What Is the Content?
Vividness can make solid evidence even more persuasive, unless the vividness interferes with the ability to comprehend the evidence.
Fear appeals facilitate persuasion if certain conditions are met.
Fear can effectively persuade when the target is convinced that
the dangers are serious,
the dangers are probable,
the recommendations to avoid the dangers will be effective, and
he or she can competently take the recommended action.
However, if too much fear is produced by the appeal, the audience's anxiety may interfere with processing the message.
Humor increases attention to a persuasive message, but it may interfere with message processing.
A key variable is the relevance of the humor to the content of the message.
Two-sided messages can "inoculate" your audience against opposing views better than one-sided messages.
Two-sided messages are more effective in persuading those who initially disagree.
Two-sided messages are most effective for people who are well-informed or who are going to hear counterarguments in the future.
Inoculation: presenting weak versions of arguments counter to your position in order to strengthen future resistance to those arguments.
The order in which messages are presented can influence their persuasiveness.
Time between messages, and between the last message and the decision, will influence whether primacy or recency effects are strongest.
When personal relevance is high, primacy effects appear stronger.
Repeating a message increases its persuasive power.
Frequent exposure of an initially positive or neutral object will increase liking.
However, burnout may occur with overexposure.
IV. Channel Variables: How Is the Message Transmitted?
Rapid speech can benefit peripheral-route persuasion, yet often hinders central route processing.
Fast-talking speakers may give the impression of credibility.
Fast talking interferes with systematic message processing, and so would be more effective with audiences who are initially in opposition to the communicator's position.
Powerful speech is generally more persuasive than powerless speech.
Powerless speech includes hesitation forms, disclaimers, qualifiers, and tag questions.
There is a documented double standard for the "acceptable" speaking style for men and women.
V. Audience Variables: To Whom Is the Message Delivered?
Whether good moods help or hinder persuasion depends on message strength and degree of message elaboration.
People in a good mood are more susceptible to persuasion, perhaps because positive moods serve as a signal that everything is fine and no effortful thought is needed.
Works best with weak messages.
Degree of message elaboration is shaped both by issue and impression involvement.
Issue involvement: the attitudinal issue under consideration has important consequences for the self. High issue involvement usually increases central processing.
Impression-relevant involvement: one's response will be scrutinized and evaluated by others. High impression-relevant involvement may result in peripheral processing.
Individual differences affect susceptibility to persuasion.
Need for cognition (NFC): an individual preference for and tendency to engage in effortful cognitive activities. High NFC people are more likely to engage in central processing.
Self-monitoring. High self-monitors may be more affected by a "soft sell" characterized by peripheral cues.
Age. Adolescent and young adult experiences appear to play the largest role in shaping attitudes.
VI. The Role of the Self in Persuasion
Self-generated persuasion is very effective.
Getting people to actively generate arguments in favor of a course of action makes it more likely that their attitudes will change in the direction of those arguments.
Employing subtle labels can nudge people into attitude and behavior change.
If a person is convinced that she is "the type of person" who engages in some activity, it becomes easier to persuade her to engage in that activity.
VII. Application: Can You Be Persuaded by Subliminal Messages?
It is theoretically possible for people to respond to subliminal stimuli.
Research provides little evidence that subliminal messages have any effect in the "real world".
Supposed changes in behavior are more likely due to placebo effect than subliminal content.
