ADPR 3850 Lecture 9 Outline of Last Lecture I Goals II Objectives Outline of Current Lecture II Attitudes and opinions III Public opinion persuasion Current Lecture Tuesday February 18 Lecture 9 Guest Speaker Nicholas Browning Key Distinctions Attitudes o Learned unexpressed predispositions to respond in a given way o The thoughts in your head unexpressed o But when you express them they become opinions Opinions o Verbal expressions of thoughts or beliefs Highly sensitive to important events These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Often temporary Usually reactionary o Opinions with action don t mean a whole lot Behavior o This is our currency Public Opinion why should we care In democratic states policy rests on it Respect for it as safeguard against dictatorship Tells us about the culture o What do we value Must sometimes be mobilized via persuasion o Neutralize hostile opinions o Crystallize latent opinions o Maintain favorable opinions Dictate bounds of US foreign policy What is public opinion 5 definitions o 1 Aggression of individual opinions me going around saying what do you think about this to everyone and aggregating it all up public opinion as grouping everyone s opinion o 2 Reflection of majority beliefs o 3 Clash of group interests o 4 Media and elite opinion o 5 Complete fiction Measurement and Polling Aggregate individual opinions o Ask individuals o Add it together Media Opinion as Public opinion Agenda setting o People talk about what they see and hear in media Set agenda for discussion o They media don t tell us what to think only what to think about Why did I feature a poll about hard work leading to success o Maybe because I watched the State of the Union address promoting this Framing How is the story shaped and presented Which pieces are emphasized Affects interpretation Uses and Gratifications Active audience o Not passive consumer Pay less attention to what media do to people and more to what people do with media People seek and have different rewards for different media Audience needs o Information o Entertainment o Social interaction o Escapism Elite Opinion as Public Opinion Multi Step Flow Model o Information Media message Opinion leaders attentive publics less attentive publics Oprah s Book Club From 1996 to 2010 o 70 books chosen o 55 million copies sold o People buy because they look up to Oprah The Cornerstone of Persuasion What is persuasion o A communication process often using appeals to self interest that conveys information in an attempt to get people to adopt a desired behavior Wal Mart because we love to hate them Attitudes about Wal Mart And I care because Behavior change you can get people to shop here or not to BEHAVIOR Will need to PERSUADE if you want to change someone s behavior Classic Elements of Persuasion The Speaker o Credibility o Ethos The Audience o Emotional appeal o Pathos The argument o Logic of position o Logos Source Credibility 3 elements o Expertise does this person appear to know what he she is talking about o Sincerity Does this person even believe what he she is saying o Charisma Do I like this approach Who do you trust CNN Fox News MSNBC BBC News etc Nature of the audience Elaboration Likelihood Model ELM o Central Route Motivation Involvement Relevance Ability Not distracted Knowledgeable Argument Quality Logical appeal o Peripheral Route Speaker credibility External cues Emotional appeal Central route is the logical side of argument peripheral is more of the emotional side A series of simple yes no questions about how you want to approach it o Ex is the audience motivated to pay attention to my argument Argument type the learn feel do model Do learn feel These are all interchangeable depending on if you want an emotional or rational reward or high or low consequence High consequence emotional reward engagement ring o Feel learn do High consequence rational reward car purchase o Learn feel do Rational reward low consequence ketchup o Do learn feel Emotional reward low consequence miller lite o Impulse buy Maybe based on flashy packaging o Do feel learn Keys to persuasive messages receiver centered approach Audience analysis o Who am I talking to and what do they want Audience participation o How involved are they How involved can they be Suggestions for action o What outlets can I provide for them to do what I want them to do Source credibility o Who can I get to deliver the message that they will believe Keys to persuasive messages receiver centered approach continued Clarity of message o Will they understand what I am talking about Content and message structure o Learn feel do model to guide choices Channels o What media can I use to reach them o Ex newspaper may be fading but if you were campaigning a hearing aid you would want to use a newspaper Timing and content o In which environments will my message be most persuasive Reinforcement o How can I align my message with existing audience beliefs and attitudes Limits to persuasion Cognitive dissonance o Tension of incongruent thoughts o Often results when attitudes and behaviors conflict Doing one thing and saying another o How do audience members overcome this Search for information that confirms existing beliefs Avoid information that contradicts existing beliefs Distort information to fit with existing beliefs Adopt different beliefs hard to achieve this Lack of message penetration Competing or conflicting messages Ethical don ts of persuasion Use false or distorted evidence Use unsupported or illogical reasoning Misrepresent your level of expertise Divert attention with irrelevant appeals Relate your proposal to unrelated emotional values Conceal your purpose to deceive audience Misrepresent the undesirables Use emotional appeals that lack evidence Oversimplify the complex Exaggerate the level of certainty Advocate for something you don t believe