Persuasion and Attitude ChangeElaboration Likelihood Model: People can be persuaded by a message through two routes:Central route: thinking carefully and deliberately about the content of a messageLogic, Arguments, PrinciplesPeriphery route: attending to the simple superficial cues related to the message and speakerLength of Message, Expertise and Attractiveness of Communicator, number of big words used, Consensus (“Is everyone doing it?”)What determines which routed is taken?Motivation to spend time and resources on understanding the messageWe have to want to take time to understand fullyAbility to process the message in depthWe have to have the mental capability/resources to able to understand the message fullyCentral Route taken if:1) The message is personally relevant2) We have knowledge about the issue3) The message makes us feel responsible for an outcomePeriphery route taken if:1) We have low motivation2) We have low ability to process attend to the message (e.g. feel distracted)Characteristics of PersuasionPeople can be persuaded by a variety of factors…Characteristics about the MessageQuality (Central route): Higher quality is more persuasiveStraightforward, clear, logical, appeal to core valuesVividness: Emotionally gripping messages are more persuasiveFear: Scary ad campaigns (graphic films) are more effective, especially when presented with suggestionsTargeting a specific group: American ads more persuasive when about the individual. Korean ads more persuasive when focusing on the benefit to groupsCharacteristics about the SourceAttractiveness of speaker: Beauty increases attitude change – more likely to trust and likeCredibility of Speaker: Expertise and Trust are more persuasiveSleeper Effects: Unreliable sources can have little influence on people at first, but over time or after a delay, people forget about/dissociate the message from the source, and their attitudes change moreStart out remembering, “Donald Trump says…”End up remembering, “It has been said…”Characteristics about the Receiver (you)Need for cognition: how much people like to think deeply about things. People who are high in Need for cognition are more persuaded by high quality messagesMood: Persuasion is more likely when the mood of the message matches the mood of the recipientAge: Younger people are more susceptible to persuasive messagesMedia and PersuasionAgenda Control: Efforts of the media to select certain events and topics to emphasize, which shapes the issues we think are importantThe media’s exposure of an event influences that event’s perceived importance among people– LESS exposure=LESS ImportanceResistance to PersuasionThird–Person effect: the widespread belief that “other people” are more prone to being influenced persuasive message than yourselfMedia tends have more indirect impact than directFour ways people resist persuasion:1. Attention (attentional biases)Preexisting attitudes may resist change by guiding how information is attended to, evaluated, and rememberedExample: women who drink coffee want to discredit information that coffee is bad for women’s health.2. Previous CommitmentsAttitudes tied to our social identity are more resistant to changePublic commitments to certain attitudes make them resistant to changePublically discussing or announcing an opinion will make it resistant to change because we want to keep a consistent self-conceptThought Polarization: When you state your attitude, and then think for a few moments about an issue, your attitude becomes more extreme the second time around.3. KnowledgeAttitudes based on more knowledge are more resistant to changeHaving greater knowledge means we can offer more and better counterarguments to defend our attitude4. Attitude InoculationRepeatedly defending an attitude in response to small attacks will strengthen it and increase its resistant to changeCh. 9 Persuasion 10/22/2012Persuasion and Attitude ChangeElaboration Likelihood Model: People can be persuaded by a message through two routes:-Central route: thinking carefully and deliberately about the content of a messageoLogic, Arguments, Principles-Periphery route: attending to the simple superficial cues related to the message and speakeroLength of Message, Expertise and Attractiveness of Communicator, number of big words used, Consensus (“Is everyone doing it?”)-What determines which routed is taken?oMotivation to spend time and resources on understanding the messageWe have to want to take time to understand fullyoAbility to process the message in depthWe have to have the mental capability/resources to able to understand the message fullyoCentral Route taken if:1) The message is personally relevant2) We have knowledge about the issue 3) The message makes us feel responsible for an outcomeoPeriphery route taken if:o 1) We have low motivationo 2) We have low ability to process attend to the message (e.g. feel distracted)Characteristics of PersuasionPeople can be persuaded by a variety of factors…Characteristics about the Message-Quality (Central route): Higher quality is more persuasiveoStraightforward, clear, logical, appeal to core values-Vividness: Emotionally gripping messages are more persuasive-Fear: Scary ad campaigns (graphic films) are more effective, especially when presented with suggestions-Targeting a specific group: American ads more persuasive when about the individual. Korean ads more persuasive when focusing on the benefit to groupsCharacteristics about the Source-Attractiveness of speaker: Beauty increases attitude change – more likely to trust and like-Credibility of Speaker: Expertise and Trust are more persuasive-Sleeper Effects: Unreliable sources can have little influence on people atfirst, but over time or after a delay, people forget about/dissociate the message from the source, and their attitudes change moreoStart out remembering, “Donald Trump says…” oEnd up remembering, “It has been said…”Characteristics about the Receiver (you)-Need for cognition: how much people like to think deeply about things. People who are high in Need for cognition are more persuaded by high quality messages-Mood: Persuasion is more likely when the mood of the message matches the mood of the recipient-Age: Younger people are more susceptible to persuasive messagesMedia and Persuasion-Agenda Control: Efforts of the media to select certain