Psych 315 1nd Edition Lecture 18 Outline of Current Lecture II. Components of attitudes III. Elaboration of likelihood model of persuasion IV. Characteristics of messengers V. Advertising VI. Theory of planned behavior Current LectureAttitudes and Persuasion 3 components of attitudes: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral elements Cognitive and emotional elements motivate behavioral element, but the correspondence between the behavioral element and the other two is not always so close, as we will see later  Cognitive: thoughts about the “Ford” Emotional: how you feel about “Ford” Behavior: How you react to “Ford”Functions of attitudes Utilitarian function: alert us to rewards and punishments in the environment. Organize our world into good or bad.  Ego-defensive function: some attitudes allow us to protect our self-esteem. Allow us to protect our ego. EX: don’t take importance in athletics because it will hurt our self- esteem since he/she is bad at athletics. Fulfillment of Needs: ex: concerned about feelings of control. Two things make us feel in control: government and God. Value expression function Knowledge function: operate as part of our schemas; guide our attention, learning and recall. Helps us learn Reduce Uncertainty and thus reduce stress Social Solidarity- helps us create positive groups Formation of attitudes Classical conditioning- we pair an attitude with a person. Such as fathers. We form a certain attitude because he has the same attitude.  Mere exposure effect- the more you look at something/someone, the more you like itThese 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. Social proof- we tend to believe what everyone else believes  Identification with people and groups Persuasion through messages, advertising, etc. Genetics (e.g., traditionalism)- we model attitudes based on parents and others. Some attitudes are geneticso Traditionalism: religious and conservatives people. This is genetically inherited Special Topic: Attitudes, Beliefs, and Coping with Trauma: Taylor’s Breast Cancer Study Successful copers: Developed beliefs about why cancer occurred – combats sense of randomness Developed beliefs about positive consequence of the experience of cancer Developed beliefs about mastery; how to control cancer Regained lost sense of self-esteem Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion Two routes to persuasion: central and peripheral Motivation to pursue the central route- change attitude logically Is issue personally relevant- what a person says Knowledge of domain Personally responsible for some sort of action Need for cognition – need for high thinking ** Motivation to pursue the peripheral route- change attitude on consistency Issue is not personally relevant Distracted or fatigued Message incomplete or hard to comprehend  Factors promoting attitude change in the central route: quality of the arguments Factors promoting attitude change in the peripheral route: source of message attractiveness (fame, expertise, physical attractiveness), number and length of arguments, agreement of others with the message  Change more long-lasting through the central route  Dissonance and attitude change: change behavior – change attitudes Who says what to whom and persuasion: characteristics of the communicator, the message, and the recipient of the message. The message:  A high quality message conveys a novel and desirable reason for taking the actionthe communicator want the recipient to take  High quality messages often appeal to the core values of recipients High quality messages are clear, straightforward, and logical High quality messages make their conclusions explicit High quality messages explicit refute the opposition Messages are more persuasive if you argue against your own interests  Messages are more persuasive if they contain vivid stories about real people than statistics or other “cold” facts and figures. This is sometimes referred to as the “identifiable victim effect.” Messages, particularly health campaign messages, often involve fear. What are the effects of fear? Turn off the message due to anxiety/fear; Messages can’t let fear be too strong and should give a way to combat the fear arousing topic of your message Collectivist messages (e.g., the ad, “We have a way of bringing people closer together.” ) vs. independent messages (e.g., the ad, “Making your way through the crowd.”) work better in the east and west, respectively. “Everyone wants to be the best” ad (Best Buy ad) Message recipient characteristics Need for cognition – quality of arguments is critical Mood – good more persuasion  Age – young and older adults are more persuasive.  IQ – middle IQ most easily persuaded; high and low problems. High IQ already has a set a preexisting attitudes. Low IQ does not understand message. Message source characteristics Fame, celebrity, attractiveness (peripheral route) Credibility (expertise and trustworthiness), relevant in all cases, but particularly relevant to persons proceeding down the peripheral route Media and Persuasion  1550 hours of TV per year in 2000 1200 hours of radio per year in 2000 100 ads on TV per day in 2000 Has a lot of access to the public Consumer Advertising Split market studies show that advertising is effective, particularly for new products Correlations between ad budgets and market share is small to non-existent, but ads do increase product loyalty, product awareness, and good feelings about the product Political advertising Has little effect on voting Affects late deciding voters mainly and may work both for and against the candidate Historical rise in negative advertising has been correlated with a decline in voter turn out A study of 1992 senate races showed lower turn out in those with more negative Public service announcements Do PSA’s have much effect on behavior? Yes, but only to a limited extent. D.A.R.E. Children who participated in this program in the 6th grade did not use drugs either initially or 10 years later more or less than appropriately matched children who did not participate.  This does not mean that educational programs can’t help ….. Media and