Chapter 7: Persuasion
content of the message
meaning the arguments that are presented and whether they're strong or weak, obviously influences persuasion.
factors that influence the source's effectiveness
- attractiveness - similarity - credibility
audience
Individual difference factors, such as age, gender, and personality traits, can influence the persuasiveness of messages.
sleeper effect
when non-credible sources can become more persuasive over time - This occurs because over time, people may remember the message, but not remember the speaker.
peripheral or heuristic route
when people don't think carefully about a communication message and are influenced by superficial characteristics.
forbidden fruit theory
you want what you can't have
Factors that influence type of processing used
- Ability to focus - Motivation to focus
virginity pledges have no effect on rates of sexually transmitted diseases
- First, those who made a virginity pledge did become sexually active at a later age than those who didn't make a pledge. On average, those who didn't make a virginity pledge began having sex at age 17, compared to age 19 for those who made a virginity pledge. - Most importantly, there were no differences in STD rates between those who made a pledge and those who didn't.
length
- Long messages are more effective if they are strong and processed centrally, but less effective if they're weak and processed peripherally - However, long messages that include weak or irrelevant messages can have less impact than short, strong, and focused messages, particularly if people are using central route processing
rate of delivery of the speech could be more influential than the messages that are presented
- Participants who heard weak arguments at a normal rate of speech were, not surprisingly, least persuaded. - However, participants who heard weak arguments at a fast rate were just as persuaded as those who heard strong arguments at either a normal or fast rate. - The faster delivery is more amenable to peripheral than central processing as it gives you (the audience) less time to think about the content of the message. - found a voice more credible (either a man's or a woman's) if it spoke with moderate intensity, no marked voice intonation, and at a fast speech rate
rebuttals
- Persuasive messages may be particularly effective when they provide direct counter-arguments that refute the common reasons that people give for not engaging in the target behaviour. - persuasive messages may be most effective, at least at increasing this type of altruistic health-related behaviour, when they specifically refute arguments against engaging in the targeted behaviour.
similarity
- Research says your good friend is more similar to you and therefore more persuasive. - We remember messages presented by in-group members better than those presented by out-group members - We tend to know the in-group members more than the outgroup members and are therefore more likely to trust them and be persuaded by them - We're more persuaded by people who we identify with - when people perceive that they have something in common with another person (e.g., first name, birth date), they assume they share other commonalities and, therefore, agree more with that person.
discrepancy
- The discrepancy between the message and the audience's original attitude can also impact its persuasiveness. Messages that differ excessively from people's attitudes are likely to be ignored. - should reduce cognitive dissonance to make an effective argument - This tendency to refute messages that differ too greatly from our original attitude helps explain why attitudes tend to become more extreme over time; people gather support for their own beliefs and ignore disconfirming evidence
people's need to think about things
- Those who are high in need for evaluating are less likely to answer "no opinion" on surveys, and are more likely to express evaluative thoughts when looking at new things (central processing route) -people who are low in need for cognition are more persuaded by attractive sources of persuasive messages. They attribute more desirable characteristics to them, again associating peripheral processing with cues that work like rules of thumb and therefore require little thought (peripheral processing route)
central vs peripheral route
- attitude change that is based in central route processing is longer lasting and more resistant to future persuasion efforts, suggesting that, in the long term, this is the more effective route to persuasion. - If you're trying to incite a crowd to protest, for example, you'll probably be more successful whipping them up with some peripheral processing than by presenting cogent arguments that require central route processing.
attractiveness
- attractive and likeable sources are more persuasive than unattractive and less likeable ones - we assume that if attractive people buy a particular car, or drink a particular pop, or use a particular shampoo, we might become more attractive by engaging in this same behaviour. - This is partly because people assume that attractive people have positive qualities such as honesty, generosity, intelligence, and agreeableness.
who influences children of ages 7-10
- best friends - peers in general (not just best friends) are also influential with this age group
two subtle factors that influence persuasion
- emotional appeals - subliminal processing
Factors that improve the efficacy of fear-based appeal
- fear appeals that focus on the short-term consequences of a behaviour can be quite effective. - Fear-based messages are most likely to change behaviour when they force people to actually imagine having a particular disease or problem, and thereby lead to heightened vulnerability. - In general, research evidence suggests that fear messages may be helpful if the audience is provided with specific means of preventing the feared outcome. - providing the opportunity to self-affirm can also lead to greater acceptance of fear messages ( smokers who write about important values, a commonly used way of triggering self-affirmation, are more accepting of information that smoking harms health - Self-affirmation also seems to enable an individual to objectively evaluate information that would otherwise evoke a defensive reaction.
two types of emotional appeals
- fear-based appeals - positive emotion appeals
4 factors that influence our ability to resist persuasion
- forewarning - reactance - inoculation - attitude importance
factors that influence the effectiveness of persuasive messages
- he source who delivers the message - the content of the message - the audience who receives the message.
factors the influence the effectiveness of content
- length - discrepancy
The impact of gender on persuasion
- men tend to use direct and assertive strategies to influence their subordinates, whereas women are more likely to use indirect and less assertive strategies - although men and women report using different strategies to influence others, they don't seem to differ in their preference in using particular strategies. - the use of direct and assertive strategies by women exposes them to a greater risk of social disapproval than does men's usage of the same strategies.
personality
- self-monitoring - focus on positive outcomes vs avoiding negative outcomes - high need to think vs low need to think
peripheral cues
- the length of the message - the source of the message - the speed at which the message is delivered - presumed expertise of the person delivering the message
factors that leads to the message and/or the source being ascribed greater credibility?
1) People who argue positions that seem to go against their own self-interests are viewed as more credible. 2) Repeated exposure to a persuasive message leads to greater credibility of the message source. 3) People who have recently been exposed to another persuasive message view the credibility of a speaker to be greater than if they haven't been exposed to another persuasive message.
two routes to persuasion
1. central or systematic route 2. peripheral or heuristic route
6 principles of persuasion
1. reciprocation 2. social validation 3. consistency 4. friendship/liking 5. authority 6. scarcity
demographic factors
Adolescent and early adult years: People in their late adolescent and early adult years are most influenced by persuasive messages, which may in part explain why this demographic group is coveted by television executives late adulthood: - are more responsive to persuasive messages than those in middle adulthood. - older adults are more persuaded by messages that focus on meaningful goals middle adulthood: middle-aged adults are more confident of their knowledge, of their own correctness, and of the importance of the attitude than younger or older adults.
Which route is more effective?
Both are effective at changing people's attitudes, although these different types of processing are effective in different ways for different people. - Messages that are of high personal relevance motivate us to pay attention, and as long as we have the ability (i.e., no distractions), we process such messages centrally. - On the other hand, messages that are of low personal relevance or that we need to process while distracted are processed peripherally.
humour in persuasion
Both men and women who scored high on traits of masculinity expressed greater intention to adopt the particular behaviour when the message was presented with humour than when it was not.
motivation to focus
Even if you have the ability to focus, you may not have the motivation to focus on processing central messages if you are uninvolved or uninterested in the message - With no motivation, you are likely to rely on peripheral cues - People whose involvement with a message was low were more persuaded by familiar phrases than by the literal phrases. These participants relied on the peripheral cues, and therefore were more persuaded by the familiar phrases. On the other hand, high involvement participants were equally persuaded by both phrases. These participants weighed the meaning of the phrases—which were of course identical—in making their decision. - These findings show that when people are not motivated to examine a message in an objective manner, or when they are distracted and have fewer cognitive resources to devote to considering the message, they are more likely to be persuaded by peripheral cues.
liking and friendship - Spain
If the Spanish worker was a friend of the person who was asking for a favour, or liked him or her, the participant was more likely to offer assistance. This reflects the notion of the Spanish word simpatia, which has no equivalent in English and characterizes Spanish cultures (Rodrigues & Assmar, 1988). People in "simpatia" cultures express high concern with the social well-being of others, giving high value to friendship and being actively friendly.
ability to focus
If you are distracted, and therefore have limited ability to focus, it is difficult to concentrate on central messages that require greater processing, and you may therefore rely on peripheral cues - Those who had no distraction were persuaded by the strong messages but not by the weak messages, as one would predict. Those who were distracted were somewhat persuaded by both types of messages, presumably because they didn't have a chance to generate counter-arguments to the weak messages.
consistency
Once we take a position, we tend to comply with requests that are consistent with that position.
How does reading information about both sides of an issue lead to greater attitude extremity?
One factor that contributes to this extremity is that people tend to see evidence that supports their view as quite strong, and evidence that opposes their view as quite weak
emotional appeals
One strategy that is often used to influence people's attitudes and behaviour is to create messages that try to arouse particular emotions.
inoculation
People are better able to resist persuasion after they have been exposed to a weak version of a persuasive message. - Such exposure helps people defend against a message as it gives them practice in defending their views. - Even increases attitude certainty
Why do positive messages lead to persuasion?
People who are in a good mood want to maintain this positive feeling, and thus are less likely to process information carefully. - This tendency to rely on peripheral route processing is particularly likely when people are concerned that focusing on the message's content will disrupt their good mood - Students who are in a happy mood when they receive a positive message are more convinced by strong arguments than weak ones, yet argument strength has no impact on persuasion when those who are in a happy mood receive a negative message
credibility
Sources who appear credible, meaning competent and trustworthy, are more persuasive than those who lack credibility - We're also more convinced by sources that we believe are trustworthy, meaning those who don't have an ulterior motive for convincing us. - People who argue unexpected positions—meaning those that seem to go against their own self-interests—are often especially persuasive because they're seen as highly credible - The credibility of a speaker is particularly influential when people have recently been exposed to another persuasive message - when people have just received a persuasive message from a source with low credibility, they're more persuaded by a message from a moderately credible source than if they had first received a message from a source with high credibility - Repeated exposure to a persuasive message can also lead individuals to attribute the message to a more credible source.
The influence of emotion in the ballot box
The brain areas responsible for reasoning did not show increased activity while participants listened to the politician's speeches, but the brain areas that controlled emotions did show increased activity. This finding suggests that unconscious feelings and emotions may have a stronger influence on our voting behaviour than more conscious and rational thoughts.
Presumed expertise
The hypothesis was that when the message people listen to involves them highly at a personal level, they will use central processing, and hence are more persuaded by strong arguments than weak ones, regardless of who delivers the argument. In contrast, people who are less personally involved with the message will use peripheral route processing, and hence are more influenced by the expertise of the speaker than by the strength of the message. Both hypotheses were supported.
fear-based appeals
The use of negative emotion, and particularly fear, is common in some types of persuasive messages. - Persuasive messages that use fear are designed to create the threat of impending danger or harm caused by engaging in a behaviour or by failing to engage in a behaviour. - a common way to try to persuade people to change health-related behaviours * people who receive high fear messages often report that they're very influenced, but in reality show lower levels of attitude and behaviour change than those who receive positive approaches* - Because many people, especially teenagers, aren't very concerned about long-term consequences, fear-based messages that emphasize the long-term consequences of a behaviour are usually ineffective.
Benefits of Persuasion Messages - Recycling
The validation condition revealed a 9 percent increase in recycling, indicating that validating another's complaint can be persuasive. However, the persuasion condition produced a 17 percent increase. While both of these increases were significantly higher than the increase observed in the control condition (3 percent), in which there were no signs, in this particular context, alerting people to the seriousness of pro-environmental actions (e.g., "It is important") is more effective than validating their experience.
Sad people use the central processing route
Thus, people who are in a sad or neutral mood are more likely to use the central route, and carefully evaluate the content of a persuasive message
social validation
We comply with a request if other people and those who are similar to us are also complying. - particularly effective when the social situation is unclear.
reciprocation
We comply with the requests of those who have done us a favour. This principle is universal and applies to most social behaviours, including pro-social behaviour (e.g., we help those who have helped us), self-disclosure (e.g., we disclose to those who reveal to us), cooperation/competition (e.g., we cooperate with those who cooperate with us and compete with those who compete with us), and compliance (we tend to be persuaded by those who have complied with our request in the past).
authority
We tend to comply with the requests of those who are authority figures.
scarcity
We value opportunities and products that are less available. The power of scarcity is used in sales techniques such as limited offers and creating deadlines so customers are pushed to make immediate purchases.
friendship/liking
We're more likely to comply with the requests of friends and others whom we like.
central or systematic route
When people think carefully about a communication message and are influenced by the strength of the arguments
guilt appeal
a persuasive message intended to stimulate the emotion of guilt, which is often experienced when a person thinks his or her behavior does not meet his or her own standards
magazine advertisements in western nations
appeal to individual benefits and preferences, and personal success and independence - were much more likely to focus on uniqueness. - give more value to independence and self-assertion - appeals that stress independence and autonomy.
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
argues that people focus on different aspects of a persuasive message based on their involvement in the message content
attitude importance
attitudes that are important to us are more resistant to persuasion. - Similarly, people who are highly aware of their attitudes are more resistant to persuasion than those who are less aware of their attitudes. - people who consider a message in terms of how it relates to their important values show greater resistance to attempts to change these attitude. - The amount of self-control that we have therefore plays a key role in determining whether we are influenced by persuasion attempts (hand grip experiment)
persuasion
communications that are designed to influence people's attitudes and behaviour
source of peruasion
efers to the person or persons who deliver the message, such as the spokesperson for a given product, the actor who appears in an advertisement, or a person who gives a speech.
Effectiveness of different persuasive messages
individualistic societies: - certain characteristics of the source, such as being an expert, increase the source's credibility and the message's persuasiveness collectivistic societies: - other factors, including being an older male and part of a famous family, increase credibility and therefore persuasiveness.
forewarning
making people aware that they will soon receive a persuasive message. - forewarning about an upcoming persuasion attempt allows people to construct counter-arguments and is particularly effective for resisting persuasion.
magazine advertisements in eastern nations
people from East Asian and Latin cultures tend to value cooperation and harmony - were much more likely to focus on conformity, in-group benefits, harmony, and family integrity - advertising appeals that stress interdependence and togetherness lead to more favourable brand attitudes.
Focusing on positive outcomes vs avoiding negative outcomes
people tend to regulate their behaviour either by focusing on their ideals, wishes, or aspirations, and on bringing about positive outcomes, or by focusing on duties, responsibilities, and obligations, and avoiding negative outcomes. - perceived persuasiveness of a message was increased when there was a match between a person's regulatory focus and the content of the message.
positive emotion appeals
people who are in a good mood (e.g., those eating snack foods, watching an upbeat program, listening to pleasant music) are more easily persuaded than those who aren't.
sublime persuasion
persuasion that occurs when stimuli are presented so rapidly that the observer is not conscious of having viewed them, can influence people's attitudes and behaviour. - subliminal persuasion can influence consumer preferences, at least in the short-term and when the consumer is open, or susceptible, to the message. Overall, research on subliminal priming suggests it works mainly when a person is already "primed" or in a receptive state, such as being thirsty. - The researchers concluded that subliminal priming can be used to enhance persuasion, but only when certain conditions are met (when participants are already primed). Both the priming of goal-relevant cognitions and the motive to pursue the goal were necessary for ads targeting the goal to be more persuasive.
"stealing the thunder"
presenting two-sided messages can be a very effective approach in the legal system, as long as one is reasonably confident that the opposing side will present the information anyway. It should be noted that presenting a two-sided argument is best whenever the audience is intelligent and paying attention
power distance - China
refers to how much people endorse an unequal power balance in society and respect those with power. - In China, authority was the primary reason for complying with the co-worker's request, with more willingness to offer help when the co-worker had high status and was a member of the participant's unit.
reactance (boomerang effect)
refers to the feeling that people have when their freedom is threatened and they want to restore their freedom. - If your parents really hate someone you're dating and try to break it off, how might you react? You might become even more attached to this person as a reaction against your parents' attempts to restrict your freedom. - One factor that can lead people to react against a persuasive message is having the opportunity to engage in the behaviour that is forbidden by the message - This research suggests that messages that emphasize moderation may be more effective than those that emphasize abstinence—because if people do engage in the behaviour, abstinence messages are much less effective than moderation messages.
How Waiters and Waitresses Can Increase Tips
small behaviours that activate positive moods in customers lead to significantly higher tipping - customers who received the joke card were more likely to tip than those who received no card or the advertisement card. - Simply learning the server's name also increases tipping. - Patriotic messages are effective
reciprocity - America
the American workers felt obligated to comply with a request from someone who had done some favour for them in the past. As you recall from previous chapters, the United States is the most individualistic society, where fulfilling individual needs and desires takes precedence over group goals and requirements. Americans, therefore, are more inclined to meet someone else's wishes if the person has already fulfilled their wish and request.
Research suggests that a longer message will be more persuasive than a shorter message under which condition?
when the message content is strong and processed through the central route
self-monitoring
which tends to result in people changing their attitudes and behaviour to fit the situation—on how people respond to image-based and information-based magazine ads - people who are more image conscious (self-monitoring) are more likely to be influenced by ads that appeal to image than by those that simply offer information.
consistency - germany
with the German employees being more likely to offer help if the co-worker's request was consistent with the organization's rules. Germans give high weight to official regulations and organizational rules and are therefore more inclined to agree to requests that are consistent with official policy.
