10 13 2012 What is Persuasion Comm 475 Exam 1 Study Guide What does it mean to say persuasion is pervasive and unavoidable o Serves four functions o Knowledge function better understanding of the persuasive process what strategies work o Instrumental function o Defensive function o Debunking function everyone has common beliefs about persuasion some aren t accurate What is the difference between pure cases of persuasion and borderline cases of persuasion o What are criteria and what are their limitations o Intentionality source oriented definition Problems may be accidental or unconscious persuaders aren t always aware of their intentions unintended receivers may be influenced intra audience effects linear view of persuasion o Change or effects receiver oriented view only limited persuasion rests in mind of perceiver Problems product Persuasion is a process not an outcome or Difficulties with measuring persuasive effects The success of an influence attempt depends on the point of view of the receiver o Choice or Free Will Problems coercion symbols Problems Difficult to differentiate between persuasion and Coercion is sometimes in the eye of the beholder o Symbolic Actions use of words and or clearly codified Excludes many non symbolic that carry persuasive potential eg non verbals behaviors images colors o Number of people 2 or more people Problems Intra personal persuasion well documented Basic persuasion theories eg consistency theories focus on cognitive processing Class definition of persuasion o Is a process is dynamic takes place in a context o The process of creating reinforcing modifying or eliminating beliefs attitudes intentions and or behaviors Coercion o choice vs no choice Compliance Gaining o Getting someone to do something or act in a particular way Social Influence CHART IN NOTES o The power of persons or things to affect others The dual process models of persuasion the ELM and HSM o Elaboration Likelihood Model Petty and Cacioppo 1986 Integrates previous research on effects of source message receiver and context on persuasion Focus is on receiver of a message A message can change attitudes or create resistance to change by Getting people to think about the message central route Introducing person to focus on cues external to message peripheral route Central route to Persuasion Sees persuasion as cognitive process Attitude change based on careful evaluation of the quality of the arguments in the message Elaboration extent person thinks about the issue relevant arguments in a message Strong arguments positive messages relevant thoughts greater persuasion Attitudes formed through central route are enduring resistant to change predictive of behavior Peripheral Route message the message Non cognitive process not thinking about Use factors or cues un related to actual merits of Liking harder to say no to someone we like attractiveness Authority if there an expert I believe them Social proof if everyone is doing it I will too Scarcity want things others cant have Consistency like to appear consistent one you agree more likely to do it Reciprocity if you get something you want to give it in return Less enduring attitude about change Central or Peripheral Depends on motivation and ability to process message Motivation to process Involvement o High message perceived as personally relevant o Low message not personally relevant diffusion of responsibility Need for cognition o Inherent characteristic o NFC 1 Involvement 1 ability to process message when able to process message one should engage in issue relevant thinking factors affecting ability o distraction o message repetition o written vs audio presentation o person s knowledge about subject if both motivation and ability are HIGH likely to take Central Route Criticism of ELM conceptualizing argument unclear what constitute central and peripheral variables multi channel processing methodologically difficult to distinguish between the routes o Heuristic Systematic Model Eagly and Chaiken 1993 Systematic Processing thoughtful and deliberate analytical central route Heuristic processing relies on mental shortcuts or decision rules peripheral route Agree that motivation and ability affect processing Sufficiency principle think enough but not too much HSM allows for simultaneous processing Additivity hypothesis two processes reinforce or complement each other Bias hypothesis a heuristic cue may bias systematic processing if the message is ambiguous Attenuation hypothesis if H and S are in opposition S overrides H o Unimodel Kruglanski and Thompson 1999 One route to persuasion In ELM and HSM different routes reflect different messages NOT different routes to persuasion Attitudes and Behavior Attitudes defined o Learned predisposition to respond favorably or unfavorably toward some attitude object Fishebein and Azjen Learned not born with attitudes Predisposition tendency stable but changeable Evaluation Directed toward attitude object o How do attitudes differ from values beliefs opinions Values more global than attitudes ideals values as core elements in a person s system of attitudes and Beliefs cognitions or thoughts people have about beliefs attitude object Opinions difficult to differentiate from attitudes opinions are cognitive judgments whereas attitudes have an affective component Attitudes as associative networks o Attitudes values and beliefs are interconnected o A change in one attitude may affect other components in the network o Key element of persuasion is creating positive associations and breaking negative links between attitudes and an attitude object Why study attitudes Images slogans sponsorship o A critical element in understanding persuasion Help to predict explain modify behavior Not a perfect predictor but the best we know of Key is to get a good measure of what an attitude is Measuring Attitudes o Likert Scale o Semantic differential scale o Visually oriented scale Problems associated with attitude scales o Social desirability bias o Bounded scales o Non attitudes o Mindfulness o Acquiescence bias measure o Appearance o Association o Behavior o Physiological measures Pupil dilation Galvanic skin response Facial electromyography Other ways of measuring attitudes and problems with those Do attitudes predict behavior Previous research current view o Previous research LaPiere 1934 showed that attitudes don t always predict behavior Wicker 1969 weak correlation between ones attitude and how they behave