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2012

Chapter 8 Social Influence and Persuasion

Starting inter-personal processes

Attitudes are changed through various means:

Mere exposure Consistency theories
Cognitive dissonance Balance theory

Persuasion Can be a:
Big change: positive to negative or negative to positive. Little change: negative to less negative or positive to more

positive
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Persuasion:
Involves the use of communications to change beliefs,

attitudes and behaviors of others.

Esp. Started with WW2. After the war, Hovland, the director

of the mass communication program in the U.S. Army started a research program at Yale university and made persuasion and attitude change one of the central areas in social Today especially associated with advertising.

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The Yale approach to communication and persuasion

Investigated conditions necessary for successful

persuasion
Focused on:
Who is doing the persuading? (communicator, source) Content of the message (the communication, message) Who is being persuaded? (audience, recipient)

Who Says what To whom

The Yale approach to communication and persuasion

WHO says what to whom: The communicator/source

Credibility/Expertise
Can induce the greatest amount of change, even with

extreme discrepancy
Trust Attractiveness / Likeability Familiarity/ Perceived similarity
Esp. For issues concerning decision (not facts)

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Who says WHAT to whom: The message

One or two sided Interacts with the audience characteristics Repetition Facts vs. Emotions Framing the message Order of presentation (when multiple messages are present) Medium of communication Interacts with ease/difficulty of info & audience motivation

One-sided or Two-sided? The interaction of initial opinion with one- versus two-sidedness
Initially opposed Initially agreed 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 One-sided Two-sided
(Hovland et al., 1949)
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Opinion change %

The message

Message Repetition
Repetition is effective only when the initial response to

the message or product is neutral or positive

Repetition

Familiarity

Liking

We need not be aware of the repeated exposure for

repetition to have an effect.

Too much repetition can be harmful

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Emotions
One way is to grab peoples attention by playing to their

emotions.
Fear-arousing communications Emotions as heuristics

Can people be scared into changing their attitudes?

Fear can effectively

persuade when the target is convinced that the: Danger is probable & serious, Recommendations to avoid the dangers will be effective, and Individual can competently take the recommended action --Self-esteem is important
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A group of smokers who watched a graphic film depicting lung cancer and then read pamphlets with specific instructions about how to quit smoking reduced their smoking significantly more than people who were shown only the film or only the pamphlet.

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Which of these messages is more effective? Tobacco warning labels:

Smoking can kill you Quitting smoking reduces your chances of having heart

attack.
Framing messages for preventive behavior
Smoking increases your chances of premature death and illness

(loss-framed message)
Quitting smoking reduces your chances of premature death and

illness (gain-framed message)

Effectiveness depends on various factors, such as the

motivation of the respondent, level of self-efficacy.

Emotions can be used as heuristics

As a signal for how we feel about something.
The heuristic- systematic model: If we feel good, we must

have a positive attitude; if we feel bad, its thumbs down

E.g. Music in stores good mood positive evaluation of

the products. The positive attitude towards products is not because of the caharcteristics of the products but because of ones mood

Facts vs. Emotions

If an attitude is cognitively

based, try to change it with rational arguments.

vacuum cleaner: discusses

its price, efficiency, and reliability.

If it is affectively based, try

to change it with emotional appeals.

Perfume: associate with

sex, beauty, and youthfulness,

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Order of presentation

A persuasive message is most effective just after it is presented: The sleeper effect
25

% attitude change
20 15 10 5 0

Expert source

Nonexpert source
Immediate Three weeks

Time interval

When the source is reminded...

25 20 15 10 5

% attitude change

Expert source

Nonexpert source
0 Immediate Three weeks

19

Time interval

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Who says what TO WHOM: The audience

Self-esteem Motivation Education/ability Gender Age Prior beliefs Cognitive biases Individual differences Mood

Individual Differences
Need for cognition:
A personality variable reflecting the extent to which people engage in

and enjoy effortful cognitive activities.

People high in the need for cognition are more likely to form their

attitudes by paying close attention to relevant arguments (i.e., via the central route), whereas people low in the need for cognition are more likely to rely on peripheral cues, such as how attractive or credible a speaker is.

Preference for consistency And others...

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

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To sum up: Model of persuasive communication

medium

Source
Credibility Thrustworthiness Prestige Expertness Attractiveness

Content
Discrepancy One/Two sided Emotional/rational

Target
Personality Self-esteem Sex Commitment Intelligence Education Situation reaching Selective perception Group effects

How to persuade
Think about an advertisement that has been effective in drawing your attention. 2. What method(s) was (were) used by the advertisers to draw your attention? 3. Which was spoken to more by the advertisement your emotion or your reason? 4. What effect, if any, did the advertisement have in altering your attitudes or behaviors?
1.

The process of persuasion

The elaboration likelihood model: Assumes that attitude

change in response to persuasive communications can be mediated by two different modes of information processing: Central: People elaborate on what they hear, carefully thninking about and processing the conent of communication. Peripheral: People they notice only the surface characteristics of the message The probability that a recipient will critically evaluate arguments (the likelihood of elaboration)i is determined by both motivation and ability

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Central processing usually occurs for high involvement products

An ad using peripheral cues

Persuasion Attempt

Audience Factors High motivation and ability to think about the message

Processing/elaboration Approach Deep processing, focused on the quality of the message or arguments.

Persuasion Outcome Lasting change that resists fading and counterattack

Message
Low motivation or ability to think about the message Superficial processing, focused on surface features, e.g.: communicators attractiveness or number of arguments Temporary change that that is susceptible to fading and counterattack

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Persuasion may sometimes fail: Resistance to persuasion

Reactance: when people feel their freedom to perform a certain behavior is threatened, an unpleasant state of reactance is aroused, which they can reduce by performing the threatened behavior. Forewarning effect: Simply informing people that they are about to hear a persuasive speech activates their resistance and weakens the effect of the message on their attitudes Inoculation Effect: A person is more likely to reject a moderately good persuasive communication if the person first heard a weaker argument as opposed to hearing no prior argument

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