Chapter 5 social

dépends on the product being advertised - eg. pop or drug

in advertising what usually decides what route of persuasion will be used

can make attitudes changes that can persist and influence behaviour

what types of attitude changes does central route of persuasion lead to

forewarning that a message is going to try and persuade you to do something

what's one thing that conjures up resistance or disagreement in an audience

persuasion

the process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours

1) specific rituals made to honour/devotion to a god or leader 2) isolation from the surrounding "evil" culture 3) a charismatic leader

3 keys parts of a cult

sleeper effect

a delayed impact of a message; occurs when we remember the message but forget a reason for discounting it

cult

a group typically characterized by 1) the distinctive ritual if its devotion to god or a person 2) isolation from the surrounding "evil" culture and 3) a charismatic leader - also called a new religious movement

face to face - california heart promotion study media is especially influential if messages from the media are adopted by opinion leaders and then transmitted to others (two-step flow of communication)

are people more influenced by face to face interaction or with mass media, example, when is media effective as a channel of communication

credibility

believability: A -- communicator is perceived as both an expert an trustworthy

sect

different from a cult, a spinoff from a major religion

difficult = written format easy = video

difficult message are better transmitted via what channel of communication - easy messages ?

no often people will think for themselves and question thinks but they will then be forced to comply with the group

does everyone in a cult completely agree with the ideology

beautiful people

emotional message are more influential when they come from what type of communicator

attitude inoculation

exposing people to weak attacks on their attitudes so that when stronger attacks come they will have refutations available

attractiveness

having qualities that appeal yo an audience. An appealing communicator (often someone similar to the audience) is most persuasive on matters of subjective preference

liveability of the communicator may open us up to the message (via the central route) or elicit positive associations (peripheral route)

how can attractiveness effect both central and peripheral route persuasion

although somethings may not be as extreme as a cult; frats, AA, even psychotherapy uses some of the same techniques to cause good changes 1) supportive, confiding relations 2) offer of expertise and hope 3) a special rational that explains one's difficulties and offers a new perspective 4) a set of rituals and learning experiences that promise a new sense of peace and happiness - shows that none is immune to social control techniques and that between education and indoctrination, enlightenment and propaganda, act there is a blurry line - the power is neither inherently good or bad, just depend on how we use them

how can cult like influences also occur in real life - what does this show

-if someone mildly attacks a strong attitude someone holds,but not so strongly to overwhelm them they become even more committed - even weak arguments will prompt counterarguements which are then available for a stronger attack - however this effective attitude inoculation wil only work when it does not overwhelm our defence if they do then people will feel they have done a bad job resisting and their attitudes start to weaken, and resisting persuasion always drain energy from our self-control system so if this system is already tired it is harder to defend you attitudes, you may become worn down easier - the poison parasite defence shows that we can combine a poison (a strong counter-argument) with a parasite (retrieval cues that bring those arguments to mind when seeing the opponents ad) eg. the macabre man seen as a coughing, decrepit, cowboy

how can we strength our personal commitment to attitudes so that we can resist persuasion

primacy effect - most important - shows that information presented first tends to be most influential. Occurs because earlier info will tend to moderate or colour subsequent info - less common but still present is the recency effect: info presented last has the most influence due to limitations of memory. Tends to occur when 1) enough time separates the two messages and 2) when the audience has to respond soon after the second message was presented

how does order of one's arguments effect persuasion - why do they occur

the communicator can serve as a type of peripheral cue in that one's personal characteristics may enhance the the degree of persuasion e.g. credibility and attractiveness

how does the communicator effect persuasion

deeper more critical thinking elicited from central route messages result in more prolonged attitude and behavioural changes than peripheral messages, for complex issues central is better but sometimes people will still use peripheral because it is easier "trust the experts"

how does the method of persuasion differ in influencing behavioural change

- if they seem knowledgeable, they speak confidently - people also seem more trustworthy and persuasive she they seem like they aren't trying to persuade (eavesdropping) - also if they argue against one's own self-interest leads to them being seen as more trustworthy and sincere - makes us attribute that they are advocating the thing because they believe in and not to make money - how rapid the message is spoken

how to we tend to determine how credible someone is

depends on timing primacy effect is best if the two arguments are going to be back to back - then time to think - then response however if it is message one - time to think - second message, and immediately after respond then recency effect seems to be most effective overall though primacy seems best because it colours the views of everything said after it, but if a long time passes then people will forget and recency will be important

if people are to present both sides - in a debate - is there an advantage to going first or last

self-esteem and age - compared to people with low and high self esteem, those with moderate levels are the most susceptible to persuasion

in terms of the audience of the message, what factors seem to effect how persuadable they are - in what ways

familiar easily understood statements are more persuasive than novel statements that may have the same meaning

in times when people are busy distracted, lazy, and want to use the peripheral route what is key to note about the form of the statements

when the choice is of subjective preference such as personal values, fast, or way of life similarity wins out but if the judgment is on objective reality or facts, a dissimilar and credible person wins out.

in what situations is credibility more important and in which is similarity (attractiveness)

recency effect

information presented last sometimes has the most influence. - are less common than primacy effects

depends - well-educated and analytical or thoughtful and involved ppl tend to be more responsive to rational appeals (via central route) and disinterested audiences are more effected by how much they like the communicator (peripheral) - also depends how the attitudes were originally formed by ppl, if formed initially be emotion, emotion will persuade them more and vice versa - also in terms of emotion, if you put people in a good mood they tend to be more easily persuaded (peripheral route), partly because it enhances positive thinking and partly because it links good feeling with the message, people tend to be more impulsive and rely on peripheral cues more when in a good mood - fear arousal also have been show to increase response, these mssgs work best when they are trying to prevent a bad outcome than when trying to promote a good outcome, AND when they give people a solution, without this, the fear arousing message may just be denied.

is a purely logical message more persuasive or one that arouses emotion

research suggests that if people are aware or will become aware of opposing arguments then a two-sided argument is more persuasive - best to shoot them down before they start ie. court of law

is it better to ignore opposing arguments or acknowledge tim when persuading someone

central route to persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favourable thoughts

peripheral route to persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as speaker's attractiveness

primacy effect

other things being equal, information presented first usually has the most influence

best way is not just to continue to indoctrinate about your current beliefs but also to show them other beliefs and then counter argue - people who live among diverse views become more discerning and more likely to modify their views in response to strong but not weak arguments - also if you challenge someone's view and they refute it then this belief will increase - also if you able to knock down an ineffective appeal you are inoculated against further appeals so if we can teach people enough skills to get past the initial appeals then these skills will build as the requests are bigger. On the flip side, persuaders will try and get you even with a weak argument because it is better than no argument.

overall what are the best strategies for resisting persuasion

one sided appeals seem to be most effective with those who already agree, but in order to persuade new people to agree, two-sided is better especially if the person are (or are going to become) aware of opposing arguments. In these cases two-sided arguments are more persuasive and enduring

should the message express your side only, or should it acknowledge and refute opposing views

need for cognition

the motivation to think and analyze. Assessed by agreement with items such as "the notion of thinking abstractly is appealing to me" and disagreement with items such as "I only think as hard as I need to"

two-step flow of communication

the process by which media influences often occurs through opinion leaders, who in turn influence others

channel of communication

the way the message is delivered - whether face to face, in writing, on film, or in some other way

*self esteem - people with low self esteem are often slow to comprehend a message and thus hard to persuade while those with high self esteem may comprehend but remain confident of their own opinions, thus ppl with moderate self esteem seem easier to influence *age - two ways of explaining it life cycle explanation: attitudes change throughout life; generational explanation: attitudes do not change, older people hold onto their attitudes and young people develop new ons resulting in a generational gap - more evidence for generational explanation, attitudes of older people tend to be more stable then young people but once people do make their attitudes they remain pretty stable (young 20s very influential). However adults can be flexible found that some people in their 502-60s were more liberal about sexual and race things then they were before and that by the end of their lives people may again become susceptible to attitude change * thoughtfullness - if people want to think about someone have a need for cognition then the more we can get them to think about the message the more persuasive it will be - do things like repeating it, try to get people undistracted, make people feel responsible, use rhetorical questions ect. The stronger the message the more we want to get people to think about it because then it will be most effective, the weaker the message the more we don't want to get people to think about it due to counter-arguing

traits of audience that effect the persuasiveness of a message

anti-smoking campaigns - seem to better if people actually act out what they would say rather than just pure education similar results also shown about teaching children about advertising, but a lot of people this type of advertising shouldn't happen at all because children are gullible, vulnerable, and an easy sell

what are some real-life example of inoculation programs

purose of all perusaion is to endure behaviour change, for central you can have more enduring change because its not so much that the strength of the message is better but more so that these ways get people thinking, and when people think deeply rather than superficially they are more likely to have changed attitudes that will persist - peripheral route may cause superficial and temporary attitude change, usually not as likely to change behaviour but sometimes we will take the peripheral route for big decisions if we just don't have time and thus we will "trust the experts"

what are the different purposes of different routes

1) the communicator 2) the message content 3) how the message is communicated 4) the audience

what are the primary elements of persuasion

central and peripheral central - favourable thinking results from the presentation of systematic arguments endorsing something - the content does not to be clever or funny just need to make sure people can think critically about the message peripheral route - easily understood messages that use peripheral cues as their most compelling aspect ie. appeal to emotions/feelings, colours, speaker attractiveness/expertise, music

what are the two main routes of persuasion - explain briefly,

- we can get people to really think through issues and hope this will make them change their minds or we can try to change people's minds without having them think about the message at all

what are the two main ways we can get people to strategically be persuaded

if good = education, if bad = propaganda

what are the two ways persuasion can be viewed

education or propaganda

what are two ways the value of persuasion can be viewed

the effectiveness of the mode of the message's transmission i.e. spoken, written, visual, ect.

what are we considering when we consider the channel of communication

liking begets perusausion so we like the person we may actually listen to them more (central route) or it may trigger positive associations when we see a product later (peripheral route) - physical attractiveness and similarity are both things that have been shown to increase persuasion in certain situations

what can be said about attractiveness and persuasion

cults tend to separate people from their previous social support system and isolates them only with other cult members whereby the lose access to counter arguments - these group effects (combined with behavioural commitments act) will not lead to total persuasion and besides mind bending, arm twisting occurs as well whereby people are forced to give up their beliefs

what can be said about group effects in cults

hard to fully influence people passively with written signs and spoken words, but for issues that are rather significant they can have an effect (and sometime not always insignificant) - advertising with signage leads to bigger differences in consumer behaviour than those without signs - politicians who spend the most on candidate adverting, usually get the most votes, repetition in advertising tends to make the message more influential as opposed to flip-flopping

what can be said about passive repetitious messages (signs e.g.)

* once you become a member to a cult you quickly become active in the group doing different rituals, fund-raising act, the greater the personal commitment you make the more you need to justify these behaviours with attitudes * also foot-in-the-door can help people slowly elevate to a level of involvement in cult they would no have done initially

what can be said about the attitudes follow behaviour idea for cults

if a message is clear but unconvincing people will easel counter argue and won't be persuaded, however if your message overs convining arguments then you are more likely to be persuaded

what can be said about the conviciability of arguments usually in terms of centra route

public speaking tends to have little effects on big actions as well as putting up signs - both are kind of passive appeals - however passive appeals will work for certain things like picking brand of aspirin - and little tricks can make passive appeals more likely to work - mere exposure to unfamiliar stimuli breeds liking - repetition can make things believable, makes them also more fluent (ease with which they flow off our tongue) which also makes them more believable - rhyming also increases fluency and thus believability passive appeals are thus most effective when the significance of the issue is low, decreases as the significance increases. Overall when we act, we amplify the idea behind what we have done and if we feel responsible for it this will make behaviour more enduring

what can be said about the difference between active experience or passive reception in channel of communication

- messages are more persuasive when they are associated with positive feelings - OR they can be persuasive if they arouse fear, but have to get the right amount of fear

what can said about using emotions in the message content as persuasive tools

depending on who is in your audience - even a straightforward message will be processed differently depending on their subjective state of mind - they may conjure up thoughts of agreement or disagreement

what difference does the audience make in terms of persuasion

when asked to think critically, people will be more easily persuaded by strong attitudes but when we do not think about a topic/attitude, the strength of the argument doesn't matter - when attitudes are accessible, we process arguments via the central route and when they are not we process via peripheral route

what difference is made by asking an audience to think critically about our attitude (centrally process info)

high credibility strengths our confidence in our thinking, which strengthens the persuasive impact of the message

what does high credibility do to persuasion

* the communicator is usually a charismatic leader, who the audience tends to believe is trustworthy and an expert, making this person credible * the message is vivid, emotional and the group shows warmth and acceptance * the audience tends to be young people under 2, they may be less educated and thus have difficulty counter-arguing, or they may be a turning point in their lives; facing a perusal crisis. Times of social and economic upheaval are especially conducive to someone who can make apparent simple sense out of the confusion

what examples of persuasive elements exist in cult behaviour

our suggestions usually go against the other's views and a dissonance will arise - the people can then either discredit the suggestion or become persuaded - if the credibility of the communicator is high then a large discrepancy between what they say and what you think may lead in an opinion change, still a moderate credible communicator may be most effective if there is less of a discrepancy and thus the change doesn't have to be as drastic

what happens when we try to persuade someone of something, what are the possible results, what is one thing that can effect it

personal influence tends to override media influence (face to face contact) - however the media does still have an effect, often mores indirect. Things like 2 step flow of communication - where media effects someone who then tells someone else about it (oprah) thus even if you didn't see the original media blurb, indirectly you are being told about it. - also not all media sources are the same tends to go from decreasing effectiveness - live, videotaped, audio taped, written; however the if the message is complex it is best understood through writing because it allows the person to do their own pacing, and for easy message most persuasive media format was videotape

what is the difference between personal and media influence on persuasion as a channel of communication

hope is that we will not intensely focus on content and therefore develop not counterarguments

what is the point of displaying messages ith distractions

physical appearance - emotional messages similarity to the audience (Jfk and bay of pigs)

what makes a communicator attractive?

if they say things that the audience agrees with, being introduced as someone who is knowledgable about the subject, speak confidently

what makes someone have perceived expertise

- speech style - looking people in the eye - trust is higher is the audience believes the person is not trying to persuade them on anything - people who argue against their own self-interest - when people talk fast

what someone be perceived as being trustworthy

- if the audience is well-edication, logical arguments via central route delivery tend to be more effective , if disinterested audience respond better to peripheral route, persuasion also seems to mirror how the attitude was formed, if formed via emotions, then emotional appeals will be more effective and vice versa

what tends to be more effective in message content careful reasonings or emotion?

- notion that attitudes tend to follow behaviour - the more people perform cult rituals - the more they bring their attitudes in line, - also foot-in-the-door phenomenon, get people to agree to small request/invitations first and then they will probably comply with larger ones - persuasive elements (the communicator, the message, the audience), often highly associated with the characteristics of the leader, someone who is a charismatic, rapid and confident speaker. For message, tend to be emotional and affectionate messages that can lure people who are lonely or depressed. Audience tends to be young (>25), time when their attitudes and opinions are in transition - group effects, cults will consume recruits because people starts to lose ties to other ppl outside of cult - attitude inoculation - get people to strength their personal commitment to a belief by mildly attacking their position, causes the beliefs to be held more firmly. Also lead us to consider various counterarguements which will help us fight further attacks

what's some ways we can account for dedication to a cult

new religious movement

whats another name for a cult

when people are distracted or not likely to be critically thinking

when are peripheral routes of persuasion most effective

the message and not their personal traits anymore

when cruel people argue for peace and leniency what do we tend to focus on

central route

when we choose to deal with the message content what type of route of persuasion are we going through

not always the persuasiveness of a message delivered by a credible source may fade over time as we forget the source and, also, a message delivered by a non credible source may gain influence as we forget the source (sleeper effect)

will having a credible always make a mssg more persuasive than a non credible source

seems that the amount of discrepancy corresponds with credibility - the effect of a large vs. small discrepancy depends on whether the communicator is credible, if the person trying to persuade is viewed as credible better to promote a large change, if not just a moderate one. Also depends on how involved in the issue the person is, deeply involved people only tend to accept a narrow range of views, more discrepant it is the more radical it seems, less persuasive so if you are a credible person and your audience isn't super involved in the issue you should advocate an extreme view

will you get more opinion chance by advocating a position only slightly different from listeners existing opinions or by advocating an extreme point of view