Attitude (defined)

• ATTITUDES: Relatively stable and enduring

evaluations of objects, issues and people.

• PERSUASION: The act of convincing people to

change their attitudes.
 The Message should be:
• WELL CONSTRUCTED
• CONTAIN STRONG ARGUMENTS
• BE WELL REASONED
• CONTAIN THE FACTS, if applicable
• DELIVERED ARTICULATELY
• or, should they?
Dual Process Models of Persuasion
• Petty and Cacioppo’s (1986) Elaboration
Likelihood Model

• Two Routes to Persuasion

Central Route
Peripheral Route
 Central Route
• People analyze and scrutinize the content of a
persuasive message
• People are persuaded as a function of the
cogency of the arguments

The great orators rely on central route processing.

 Peripheral Route
• Persuasion that occurs when people are
influenced by factors incidental to the content
of the message.
– The search for quick rules of thumb to decide
whether to believe a message or to feel favorable
about the attitude object
 Peripheral Route Persuasion

• Recipient asks, What are the short-cuts that tell me

whether I should believe this message?
• Heuristics could include:
– “Has a lot of arguments”
– “Communicator seems to know what (s)he is talking about.”
– “Message has a lot of details; must be true”
– “Makes me feel good.”
• Humor
• Sex appeal
– “Makes me feel bad”
• fear
 When do people use central processing?

• When they are motivated

• When they have the ability

Otherwise, people use peripheral processing.

A study on Central & Peripheral Processes:
Persuasion about a commercial product
• Participants were asked to read and evaluate
advertisements for the Edge razor.
• Motivation was manipulated by personal
involvement with the product
– Half of the participants thought they would be
choosing from among various razors (as a free gift)
– Half thought they would be choosing from among
various toothpastes as a free gift.
Central Processing

Strong Arguments Weak Arguments

• Scientifically Designed
– New advanced honing method
creates unsurpassed
sharpness
– Special chemically formulated
coating eliminates nick and
cuts
– Handle is tapered and ribbed
to prevent slipping
– In tests the Edge gave twice as
many close shaves as its
competitor
• Designed for Beauty
– Floats in water with a
minimum of rust
– Designed with the bathroom
in mind
– Comes in various sizes and
colors
– Can only be used once but
will be memorable
The Peripheral Route: Edge is endorsed by

Celebrity Athlete Average Citizens

 Results
Attitudes toward Edge Razors
• If participants were highly involved (would choose a razor)
– Strength of arguments mattered
– Celebrity status of the source did not matter.

. If participants were not involved (would choose toothpaste)

--Celebrity status of the source mattered.
--Strength of arguments did not matter.

(from Petty, Cacioppo & Schumann, 1983)

Central route persuasion for a car
Peripheral route persuasion for a car
 The media and persuasion: Assumption of
low motivation highlights peripheral processing

• Make the audience feel good about the

product, person or issue.
• Make the audience feel fear of not using the
product (or voting for the candidate)
• Make the audience believe that having the
product (or liking the person or endorsing the
issue) will link the recipient to the image that
the advertisement creates.
• Videos of advertisements for feeling good
– (e.g., Sprite, Ikea)
• Feeling fear
– (The “Daisy Ad” in Lyndon Johnson’s campaign)
• And image
– (e.g., Apple)

were then shown