Understanding Persuasion

Persuasion

• Persuasion involves a message altering a person’s attitudes or behavior.

Defining Persuasion

• Persuasion is the process by which a message changes a person's attitudes or behavior
• Radicalization and advertising represent its negative aspects
• It can be positive, as seen in health messaging and Road Safety Authority (RSA) campaigns.
• Effective persuasion isn't guaranteed for all efforts
• Individuals have unique susceptibilities to different messaging types.

Successful Persuasion: The Yale Approach

• The Yale approach considers three factors: source, message, and audience

Source

• It refers to who is trying to persuade
• Attractive sources are generally more persuasive, such as celebrities in advertising
• People find those similar more likable and are easily persuaded by them.
• "In-group" members persuade more effectively because their messages are better remembered.
• Individuals are more persuaded by speakers from their own university, as shown in a study by Mackie et al. (1992).
• Familiarity strengthens persuasion within groups
• It is weaker between groups
• Acting in a similar way, like using similar gestures, can make people more persuasive, as noted by van Baaren et al. (2003).
• Expert sources prove more persuasive than non-experts
• Dentists advertising toothpaste serves as an example.
• Belief in the message increases when people view the source as qualified to comment.
• People distrust those with ulterior motives, decreasing persuasiveness.
• Fast talkers are often seen as more trustworthy (Miller et al., 1976)
• If there is recent exposure to non-credible messages, it increases trust in more trustworthy sources (Tormala & Clarkson, 2007).
• Repeated exposure to a persuader increases perceived credibility and successful persuasion
• Repeating a message makes it appear truer and a brand appear more famous, boosting credibility

Sleeper Effect

• The sleeper effect is a Message initially unpersuasive due to source credibility concerns becomes more persuasive over time
• The message's features become more influential than the source's credibility.
• Hovland and Weiss (1951) first discovered this effect. In their study, the credibility advantage faded after four weeks unless participants were reminded of the source.

Message

• What is said and how it is presented influences persuasion
• These features determine if a message is persuasive
• Message length can play a role, where link between length and effectiveness is complex.
• Longer messages are more effective if "strong" and less effective if "weak".
• Strong messages contain relevant, objective facts
• Weak messages contain information is peripheral.
• Consistence in the message and consistency with the audience also affects persuasiveness
• The consistency between a persuasive message and a target's original attitude is an important predictor of persuasiveness
• Messages too different from the audience's views are likely to be ignored.
• Coffee drinkers are less receptive to messages linking caffeine to health risks and rejecting incongruent messaging can cause attitudes to become more extreme
• People become more extreme when exclusively hearing agreeing opinions
• Original attitudes strengthen when interacting with like-minded individuals and congruent information.
• In a study by Lord, Ross, and Lepper (1979), participants for or against the death penalty strengthened their views after reading fictional studies, illustrating the effect of consistency
• Viewing both sides of an argument doesn't guarantee impartiality.

Message: Repetition

• Repeated messages become more effective by consolidating memory.
• Advertisements are most effective when aired two or three times a week (Tellis, 1987).
• Repetition can make information seem truer (Arkes et al., 1991).
• Repetition is most effective when people are already familiar with and positive towards the advertised product (Campbell and Keller, 2003)
• Advertising benefits from a certain level of familiarity for repeat ads to be effective.
• The effectiveness of ad campaigns diminishes with excessive repetition and repetition is more effective with variety in ads.

Message: Fear Arousal

• Persuasive attempts are designed to arouse fear.
• Health messaging uses fear campaigns extensively.
• Aronson (1997) argues fear can be ineffective if problems seem unsolvable and Denial results
• Tangible solutions are needed alongside fear appeals to avoid denial.
• The "Inverted-U" curve suggests a moderate amount of fear is optimal for attitudinal change which too little fear fails to motivate processing and too much leads to anxiety and denial.
• It should be like Goldilocks and the 3 bears. .

Message: Scarcity Technique

• This persuasive technique emphasizes the rareness of an item to increase its appeal.
• Worchel, Lee, and Adewole (1975) showed in experiment that participants rated a chocolate chip cookie as more desirable when it was one of only 2 in a jar, compared to when there were 10.

Message: Factual vs. Emotional Appeals

• Factual advertising = objective facts, emotional = subjective opinions.
• The target audience that will be receiving the message determines which method should be used
• Rational appeals more effective for analytical and educated people (Cacioppo et al., 1983)
• Liking the deliverer sways disinterested audiences (Chaiken, 1980)
• Appeals should align with how the initial attitude was formed

Message: Method

• How a message is sent affects its persuasiveness

Message: Two-sided Messages

• This when you present the pros and cons of messaging to your audience
• It offers counterarguments preemptively making persuasion more effective, particularly for aware audiences
• In court, defense benefits from preempting prosecution's information.
• Presenting conflicting information early controls the damage aka "Stealing the thunder”.

Message: Framing

• Framing a message affects its reception by influencing its meaning
• It's more appealing to call something "reverse discrimination" instead of “equal opportunities”
• Company advertising shows the importance of being effective in promoting their business
• To advertise as having "equal opportunities" proves to be more effective than having a "quota place"
• Positive framing like, "smoother, healthier skin in 4 weeks!” works better than negative framing like, "look less old and tired in 4 weeks!”

Message: Primacy and Recency Effects

• Items presented first and last are more persuasive
• First arguments in speeches tend to garner more agreement (Miller and Campbell, 1959).
• Top-listed candidates on ballots and first impressions benefit from primacy (Moore, 2004)
• Recency Effect
• Last items are persuasive
• This occurs when recall of earlier information decreases.
• Luchins (1957) demonstrated primacy with immediate item presentation and a delay triggers recency.

Message: The Channel

• The mode of presentation, such as video, text, or face-to-face, impacts persuasion
• Visual advertising is known for its visual advertising, and images are more cognitively powerful than text
• Text is most influential for complex information (Chaiken and Eagly, 1976).
• Visual best promotes attitudinal change + written is best when complex.

Target

• Target audience features greatly influence message effectiveness (e.g. age, gender).

Target: Gender

• Women may be more susceptible to persuasion due to social roles
• They are more persuaded by face-to-face appeals
• Men show no persuasive difference by face-to-face appeals
• Considering "easily persuaded” can be a negative stereotype, and in 2009, Eaton found persuasion relies on gender role salience.
• Female roles prime reduced attitude strength in women and openess to attitudinal change.
• The persuader qualities, audience and the context influence gender-persuasion dynamics.
• Male targets are more susceptible to persuasion when female speakers are tentative (Carli, 1990).
• Speaker style is irrelevant with male speakers.

Target: Age

• Late adolescence and young adulthood are most susceptible to it
• In the demo they have unstable attitudes, show less resistance to authority
• Visser and Krosnick (1998) found High susceptibility in early adulthood which decreases with age.
• They said people are generally open to attitude change across lifespan, but core values are resistant.

Target: Personality and Differences

• Assessed by self-reports on enjoyment of thinking.
• With High NFC those are more able to persuaded depending on message strength
• Lower effect from weaker messages if those people are high need to evaluate information
• Need for cognitive closure (NFCC) defines and individuals is either close-minded, desiring quick and/or certain answers to questions and resistant to ambiguity or disconfirmation.
• NFCC High scorers tend to be less persuadable and are usually cognitivly more close-minded.

Target: Mood

• Good improves effectiveness, associate more easily and increases persuasion.
• Janis demonstrated that people snacked that they felt more persuated
• A good or bad mood can increase likelihood of persuasion and is reliant on how people feel
• A persons mood can effect cognitition, and reach accurate opinions ( rational thinking)
• Strong arguments are associated with Sadness (and visa versa)

Dual Process Models

Elaboration Likelihood Model

• Argues that persuasion success relies on recipient elaboration
• The ELM argues that people are persuaded through 1 of 2 routes, depends what cues they engage in the process
• Central and peripheral cues are the two possible routes
• Central ones are features of a message/argument
• Central cues need effortful processing that depends on motivation/ability
• It occurs with ability and motivation, carefully attending to the message.
• Then evaluating the strength and persuasive cues with systematic processing

ELM: Peripheral Cues

• It occurs from superficial characteristics, not the message itself.
• Process of a messages if people do not have the abillity to assess the message carefuly and validate it fully.
• If people are more persuaded with a message carefully evalutation and validate peripheral cues.

The Heuristic-Systematic Model (HSM)

• Involves either the process or persuasive message that occurs when people pay careful attention to a message.
• How people use heuristics to help with messages

Processing Routes Factors

Ability to Focus

• Focus is imperative when someone is distracted it becomes difficult to concentrate on the central cues
• They will rely on periperal cues to guide the discussion
• Petty et al. showed Undistracted = persuaded by strong arguments and Distracted = equally convinced by weak arguments Petty: distraction inhibits dominant cognitive responses.

Ability to Process

• Found that people who are standning were less persuadable than those lyring down
• Standing can either argue or enable resistance to persuasive discussion by inhbiting bad message outcomes.
• Cacioppo, 1978) condistioned more hear rate- that were more resistant to be persuaded

The Motivation Process

• There wasn't a interest, they don't understand what is being mentioned, or the relavence to the top ( it acts as result
• Without notivation, they people are more likely in other cues ( length of message)
• As a persons involvement and levels, they have more infromation to have sytematic process
• If there is higher degrees of cognition, they they will have an over-stimulation and be influence though sytematics
• Mood influence a mesage while persuation is happening, this can influence on whether there will elaboration

Central/Systematic vs Peripheral/Heuristic

• Depending otivation and factors More or less:
• Systemic/central is effect to attidues etc
• Periperheral/hesutic leads to shorter change of attitude.

Interpersonal Persuasive Techniques

• What can we do to persuade others?

Ingratiation and Reciprocity

• Ingraitation is making the target like you in order to persuade you
• Overboard? It can backfire
• The Reciprocity Principle does a favor for to get someone to do something for you

Door in the Face Technique

• You persuarder in this technique helps improve the persuarder's chance in gaining realstic results, its effectivelity as its capitalitses on an event, and seems more reasonable. if not only, both requets are requested

The "That's-Not-All" technique

• Making a request but adding bonuses to target to reciprocate
• Pollock 1998-This happens more often and if if instinctively

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

• More likley to have larger impact
• Freedman did various experiment ( small requets) to increase safety measurements and 1 revieew and taking bigger request

Lowball Tactic

• Intorducuign hiding facts, changing the terms if already agreeded.
• Ryanair-hidding cheap flight prices

The results of that method came from Cialdini 1978

• The experiment was set to began at 7am (showed at 95%)
• 24- was more likeable from more participation

When does Persuasion not work?

• Reactance attitude change

Reactance or Negative Change

• If there is a change from the freedom, increases resistence. the targer becomes, irritated.
• Bomerang - for reactance

Prior Knowledge Warning

• Having more knowledge and more prepared
• More knowledge, protected, and if if there is a change to try we protectives
• Activates that aare for persusasion
• To produce counteraguments

Counterarguing

You're able

• Able to counter augments

• less likley There

• People protecet agains attitudinhal messages

Attitude Inoculation

• Presenting people with a weak help. They aare inoculated
• As shown with various cases on how we defend persaision attempts
• Van der Linden and a kind

Avoidance

• Selectivitey- filter infromation and increases resistance, we filter out consistent attidues and pre existing attudied to the message

Other means of resistence

• Evaluating mixed info that makes a
• Hostie; tend to view