Persuasion Chapter 2

Heuristic systematic model of persuasion (HSM)

2 different modes of information processing: #1 systematic #2 heuristic; simultaneous processing of messages is commonplace; motivation & ability are two primary determinants; includes the sufficiency principal

Advice

A person giving this HAS motivation & wants an outcome

Inducement

Bribe, incentives, reason given for doing something (still have a choice)

Guidance

Help someone find their way; holding someone's hand along the way

Propaganda

Idealogical bent; mass persuasion; institutional in nature; bias; uses "ethically suspect means"

Borderline cases of persuasion

Instances that lie closer to the boundary of periphery of what we normally think of as persuasion

Instrumental goals

Involve attempts at compliance gaining

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

Hinting

Less direct than advice, manipulative, can be sneaky

Sufficiency principal

Part of HSM; people strive to know as much as they need to when making a decision, but no more or less; people balance their heuristic & systematic processing to create the best "fit" for the issue at hand

Asynchronous communication

Refers to a back-and-forth process that involves some delay, such as email or texting

Unimodel of persuasion

Single route to persuasion; central processing isn't qualitatively different than peripheral processing, there is simply more or less of it

Cognitive elaboration

Thinking about the content of a message, reflecting on the ideas and information contained in it, and scrutinizing the evidence and reasoning presented

Systematic processing

Thoughtful & deliberate way of processing a message

Socialization

A form of unintentional influence: children being socialized into their gender roles, cultural customs, religious practices, & socio-economic habits (some are mindful, some are not)

Interpersonal vs. Intrapersonal

Can be both; pure persuasion is often intra while borderline can be inter

Pure persuasion

Clear-cut cases of persuasion, on which most people would agree

Choosing between the central & peripheral route

Depends on #1 the individual's motivation to engage in central processing; requires more mental effort, so a person with greater motivation is more likely to rely on central processing, typically means person has HIGH INVOLVEMENT, if people have LOW INVOLVEMENT are more likely to go for peripheral #2 the individual's ability to process information; some people are more adept at grasping ideas/understanding concepts/making sense of things

Context

Determines the nature of the communication process; includes if it is synchronous or asynchronous, ratio of verbal to nonverbal cues, nature & type of media used in persuasion process, goals of the participants, & sociocultural factors

Teaching

Directed at an outcome, let people do it themselves, imparting information

Intentionality

Distinguishes persuasion from social influence; difference between STATED & ACTUAL

Effects criterion

Has persuasion taken place if no one is actually persuaded?; Emphasizes persuasion as a PRODUCT whereas communication is a PROCESS; Authors say even if a person is communicating badly, they are still communicating (could be INEFFECTIVE persuasion)

Need for cognition

Has to do with how much a person enjoys thinking about things

Relational goals

Has to do with what people want out of their relationships - how to develop them, improve them, change them, etc.

Self-presentational goals

Have to do with identity management; people want to project a favorable image of themselves to others

Compliance gaining

Informing people about the behaviors you'd like to see them do; does not tell you what methods are used

What isn't persuasion?

Most human communication involves at least the POTENTIAL to influence; human behavior is not unless & until some additional conditions are met

Social modeling

Parents instill beliefs, impart values, and model behavior for their children (sometimes unknowingly)

Central route

Part of ELM, involves cognitive elaboration; if you want people to retain information, drive them towards this

Peripheral route

Part of ELM, involves focusing on cues that aren't directly related to the substance of a message; e.g. focusing on someone's physical attractiveness/sheer quantity of arguments presented/catchy jingle as a basis for decision making

Free will & conscious awareness

People can make their own decisions; are informed on different perspectives/levels & can make their own informed decisions - however sometimes tough to know if you have this b/c hinting/persuasion/coaxing

Unintended receiver effect

Persuaders don't intend for a third party to be influenced, but they often are

Dual process models of persuasion

Postulate that persuasion operates via two basic paths

Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion (ELM)

Proposes 2 basic routes to persuasion that operate in tandem: #1 the central route or central processing #2 the peripheral route or peripheral processing; those two routes represent the ends (or anchor points) of an elaboration continuum: End #1 a person engages in no or low elaboration End #2 a person engages in high elaboration

Heuristic processing

Relies on mental shortcuts, based on the application of decision rules or heuristic cues that help simplify the thought process e.g. choosing one wine bottle over another because it is prettier

Synchronous communication

Simultaneous sending & receiving of messages, like face-to-face interaction

Nonverbal communication

The most prevalent form of communication; people are more likely to believe it (the different ways you say things can change meaning)

Coaxing

Think of an animal you can coax with food; GRADUAL persuasion/process often involves flattery

Education

To transfer knowledge

Parallel processing

Using central and peripheral processing at the same time

Coercion

Using force & threats to get someone to do something; can be threat of violence or taking something away

Symbolic action

Words are merely symbols, they mean nothing but we put a great deal of meaning behind them; WORDS HAVE POWER