Persuasion - Social Psychology Lecture Notes PDF

S O C I A L P S Y C H O L O G Y [ D M , J T ] T W E L F T H E DI T I O N GROUP 8 A L M A N Z A R - A R A D A - F A T A L L A - O R A P A - T A G O R A NA O S O C I A L P S Y C H O L O G Y [ D M , J T ] T W E L F T H E DI T I O N CHAPTER 7 PERSUASION...

S O C I A L P S Y C H O L O G Y [ D M , J T ] T W E L F T H E DI T I O N GROUP 8 A L M A N Z A R - A R A D A - F A T A L L A - O R A P A - T A G O R A NA O S O C I A L P S Y C H O L O G Y [ D M , J T ] T W E L F T H E DI T I O N CHAPTER 7 PERSUASION Presented by Group 8 PERSUASION PERSUASION The process by which a person’s attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors are influenced or changed through communication. While Persuasion is a form of influence, not all forms of influence involve persuasion.  1. WHAT PATHS LEAD TO PERSUASION? Routes to Persuasion 2. WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF Contents PERSUASION? Who says it? What is being said? SOCIAL INFLUENCE - PERSUASION How is it said? To whom is it said? What are they thinking? 3. HOW CAN PERSUASION BE RESISTED? Social Influence | Persuasion PERSUASION  PERSUASION EDUCATION = AGREE/GOOD PROPAGANDA = DISAGREE/BAD (Lumsden et al., 1980) How can we make ourselves and our message persuasive? And if we're cautious of influence, what tactics should we be aware of? Social Influence | Persuasion What Paths Lead to Persuasion? Social Influence | Persuasion Richard Petty, John Cacioppo, Alice Eagly and Shelly Chaiken theorized two routes to persuasion. CENTRAL ROUTE TO PERSUASION  CENTRAL ROUTE Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts iPhone Samsung CENTRAL ROUTE MOTIVATED CAPABLE THINKING FOCUSING STRENGTHS ARGUMENTS The Hurdles of the Persuasion Process To elicit action, a persuasive message that must clear several hurdles. Social Influence | Persuasion OUTCOME: YES = persuasion process continues and will be successful NO = no action and persuasion fails Social Influence | Persuasion PERIPHERAL ROUTE TO PERSUASION  PERIPHERAL ROUTE Occurs when interested people focus on cues that trigger automatic acceptance without much thinking. PERIPHERAL ROUTE DISTRACTED BUSY TAKE TIME CUES RELY & ACCEPTANCE FACTORS  CUES/FACTORS VISUAL EMOTIONAL CREDIBILITY FAMILIARITY attractive happiness, celebrity simplicity and images pleasure endorsements familiarity of and colors the message  BILLBOARDS A B “Don't put all your “Don't risk everything eggs in one basket" on a single venture" BILLBOARDS BILLBOARDS ADS PERIPHERAL ROUTE IMPULSIVENESS  DUAL PROCESSING CENTRAL = Explicit and Reflective PERIPHERAL = Implicit and Automatic Different Paths for Different Purposes  Behavior Change Are the two routes to persuasion equally likely to fulfill that goal?  Petty and colleagues (1995, 2009) Central route processing can lead to more enduring change than the Peripheral route. Social Influence | Persuasion CENTRAL ROUTE When people think deeply rather than superficially, any changed attitude will more likely persist, resist attack, and influence behavior PERIPHERAL ROUTE Often we take the peripheral route, by using simple rule-of- thumb heuristics, such as “trust the experts” or “long messages are credible” Social Influence | Persuasion What are the Elements of Persuasion?  ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION HOW THE THE THE MESSAGE MESSAGE IS THE AUDIENCE COMMUNICATOR COMMUNICATED? WHO SAYS BY WHAT TO SAYS? WHAT? METHOD WHOM? ?  Who Says? The Communicator effective persuaders know how to convey a message effectively. (WIEGMAN, 1985) BILLBOARDS SOCIALIST LIBERAL LEADER OF LEADER OF DUTCH DUTCH WHO SAYS? THE COMMUNICATOR the effectiveness of a message is influenced by who delivers it CREDIBILITY  CREDIBILITY A credible communicator perceived as both expert and trustworthy  BENEFITS OF EXERCISE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TABLOID SCIENCES INFORMATION ABOUT MPOX DOH FRIEND  BILLBOARDS CREDIBLE NONCREDIBLE may become more may diminish over time influential as the message if people forget the itself is remembered source, leading to better than the reason for reduced persuasiveness. initially dismissing it. SLEEPER EFFECT lack of credibility can become more persuasive over time as people remember the message itself but forget the reasons for discounting it. SLEEPER EFFECT PERCEIVED EXPERTISE  PERCEIVED EXPERTISE Perceived expertise affects how credible and trustworthy a person is seen to be by their audience. MESSAGE ABOUT TOOTHBRUSHING (OLSON & CAL, 1984) PERCEIVED EXPERTISE PERCEIVED EXPERTISE ALIGN WITH SHOW DEMONSTRATE AUDIENCE CREDENTIALS KNOWLEDGE BELIEFS EVIDENCE ENDORSMENTS PROFESSION AND DATA Shoretown Accounting | Mobile Solutions SPEAKING STYLE  SPEAKING STYLE speak confidently and fluently. Bonnie Erickson and colleagues (1978) fluent and confident delivery is more persuasive than hesitant or disfluent speech. PERCEIVED TRUSTWORTHINESS  PERCEIVED TRUSTWORTHINESS a person or source is seen as reliable, honest, and credible by others.  (Hong & Park, 2012; Sen & Lerman, 2007) Online reviews of products are seen as more trustworthy if they are negative—at least for practical products Reviews  Six Persuasion Principles INFLUENCE : Robert Cialdini, (2008), persuasion researcher illustrated how human relationships and influence work  AUTHORITY AND LIKING PRINCIPLE ATTRACTIVENESS AND LIKING  ATTRACTIVENESS AND LIKING having qualities that appeal to an audience  (Burger et al., 2001). Even a mere fleeting conversation with someone is enough we associate their message to increase our liking for that person and product with our good and our responsiveness to his or her feelings toward the influence communicatorand we approve and believe  PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVE NESS Chaiken, 1979; Dion & Stein, 1978; Pallak et al., 1983). M attractive ones, are often more influential when they come from people we consider beautiful  SIMILARITY “Mimic and Mirror”: We tend to like people who are like us. We also are influenced by them, RESEARCH CLOSE-UP: EXPERINMENTING WITH A VIRTUAL SOCIAL REALITY.” WHAT IS SAID? THE MESSAGE CONTENT It matters not only who says something but also what the person says.  What matters more? What people know or their feelings toward whom they know? Reason Well-educated Individuals and Analytical versus - Responsive to rational appeals - They are involved audiences who often Emotion travel the central route. Uninterested Audiences - Responsive to emotional appeals - They travel the peripheral route or are more affected by their liking of the communicator. They have found that... The participants liked the mimicking virtual Experimenting human more, as they found it more interesting, honest, and persuasive. with a Virtual The participants paid better attention to Social Reality the mimicking virtual human, and were more likely to agree with the message being by Social Psychologist presented. Jim Blascovich It highlighted the many advantages of using virtual environments in social psychology research. Virtual Environments can be a) cost effective used to manipulate social b) controlled environment situations with a high degree c) replicability control. THE EFFECT OF GOOD FEELINGS Good feelings often enhance persuasion, partly by enhancing positive thinking and linking good feelings with the message (Petty et al., 1993). THE EFFECT OF AROUSING FEAR These types of appeals tell people not just to be scared, but to do something about it, increasing their sense of efficacy (Ruiter et al., 2014). Social Influence | Persuasion Humor can also mitigate some negative effects of fear appeals “INAKUP AREKUP” FAMILY PLANNING COMMERCIAL BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (DOH) Social Influence | Persuasion  The context of your message can make a big difference. Message Other persuation techniques rely on the size Context of the request being made. a) Foot-in-the-door Phenomenon b) Door-in-the-face Technique  If you want people to do a big favor for you, you FOOT-IN- should get them to do a small favor first. THE-DOOR Cialdini and his collaborators (1978) explored a variation of the foot-in-the-door phenomenon by experimenting with the lowball technique. It is the tactic of getting people to agree to something. This takes advantage of the psychological commitment that was made during the initial agreement to ensure continued compliance even when the terms become less favorable. DOOR-IN- THE-FACE A technique used in negotiations and compliance tactics. It involves initially making a large request that is expected to be refused, followed by a smaller, more reasonable request.  One-Sided Appeals One-Sided It presents only the positive side of the argument and works best when the audience is already supportive or the versus Two- message is straightforward. Sided Two-Sided Appeals Appeals Acknowledges both the positive aspects and potential drawbacks or counterarguments. This approach can enhance credibility and is effective with audiences aware of opposing views.  POSITIVE NEGATIVE persuasion Works best for optimists. More effective for pessimists. Done by emphasizing on benefits and positive Done by emphasizing outcomes of something. what could go wrong. POSITIVE NEGATIVE persuasion  Would it be better to go first or to go last? People may pay more attention to what Primacy comes first but then, people remember recent things better. versus People’s preconceptions interpretations. control their Recency Primacy Effect Other things being equal, information presented first usually has the most influence. First impressions are important.  Can you sense a difference between these two descriptions? John is intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, and envious. John is envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious, and intelligent. Social Influence | Persuasion Recency Effect Information presented last sometimes has the most influence. These are less common than primacy effects. Primary Effect versus Recency Effect Social Influence | Persuasion HOW IS IT SAID? THE CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION For persuasion, there must be communication. And for communication, there must be a channel: The way the message is delivered—whether face-to-face, in writing, on film, or in some other way. Passive Reception Written and Visual Appeals Individuals passively consume information without deeply engaging with or critically thinking about it. Attitude changes through passive reception tend to be weaker and more temporary compared to active experience. Social Influence | Persuasion Active Experience Active experience also strengthens attitudes. Individuals actively engage with a message or information. They may discuss, debate, or think deeply about the content. Social Influence | Persuasion Active Experience [Eberle et al., 2013.] Dutch students were presented with two websites: 1) Showed only the corporate message. 2) Allowed users to comment. Those who appreciated the interactivity of the comment- enabled site saw the company as more credible and identified with it more. Social Influence | Persuasion Personal Persuasion studies demonstrate that the versus major influence on us is not the media but our Media Influence contact with people. Personal contact persuades. Harry Potter Book Series (Bond et al., 2012) Study during the 2010 Midterm Elections Media Influence: The Two-Step Flow of Communication The process by which media influence often occurs through opinion leaders, who in turn influence others. Opinion leaders are individuals perceived as experts. Comparing Media Studies comparing different media find that the more lifelike the medium, the more persuasive its message. Thus, the order of persuasiveness seems to be: live (face-to-face), videotaped, audiotaped, and written. Difficult messages were indeed most persuasive when written; easy messages, when videotaped. [Shelly Chaiken & Alice Eagly, 1976] The Influence Communication of Adults on flows from adults Children to children Children and Crackers experiment by Maimaran & Fishbach (2014) TO WHOM IS IT SAID? THE AUDIENCE Persuasion varies with who says what, by what medium, and to whom. audience characteristics: age and thoughtfulness. A Life Cycle Explanation Attitudes change as people grow older A Generational Explanation Attitudes do not change; older people largely hold onto the attitudes they adopted when they were young. Social Influence | Persuasion Generational Gap A generation gap in 2014 U.S. attitudes regarding same- sex marriage, as reported by Gallup.  The teens and early twenties are important formative years. Attitudes are changeable then, and the attitudes formed tend to stabilize through middle adulthood.  Most cults share Cults and some common traits: They're usually led Persuasion by a charismatic individual whom the members worship without question.  CULTS AND PERSUASION MARSHALL HERFF APPLEWHITE APOLLO QUIBOLOY Leader of Heaven’s Gate Leader of Kingdom Of Jesus Christ Organized a mass suicide in the forced-labour scheme that also involved sexual assault and abuse. year 1997  Recruiters tend to build What rapport with these people persuades The foot-in-the-door technique was used people to when they were being recruited. join a cult? Successful cults typically have a charismatic leader—someone who attracts and directs the members. The audience matters. Potential converts are often at turning points in their lives, facing personal crises, or vacationing or living away from home. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? If a message summons favorable thoughts, it persuades us. If it provokes us to think of contrary arguments, we remain unpersuaded. FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED —IF YOU CARE ENOUGH TO COUNTERARGUE. What circumstances breed counterargument? One is knowing that someone is going to try to persuade you. DISTRACTION DISARMS COUNTERARGUING Persuasion is also enhanced by a distraction that inhibits counterarguing. UNINVOLVED AUDIENCES USE PERIPHERAL CUES Analytical people—those with a high need for cognition —enjoy thinking carefully and prefer central routes (Cacioppo et al., 1996). People who like to conserve their mental resources— those with a low need for cognition—are quicker to respond to such peripheral cues as the communicator’s attractiveness and the pleasantness of the surroundings. UNINVOLVED AUDIENCES USE PERIPHERAL CUES Students who were more interested in a particular destination were more persuaded by the focus on the information provided on the website (the central route), while those who were less interested focused more on the website’s design (the peripheral route) [Tang et al., 2012] Many by using rhetorical questions; by presenting multiple speakers experiments (for example, having each of three have speakers give one argument explored instead of one speaker giving three); ways to by making people feel responsible stimulate for evaluating or passing along the people’s message; by repeating the message; or thinking by getting people’s undistracted attention. Stimulating thinking makes strong messages more persuasive and (because of counterarguing) weak messages less persuasive. SUMMING UP: WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION? THE THE MESSAGE 01 02 COMMUNICATOR CONTENT THE CHANNEL OF 03 04 THE AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION Social Influence | Persuasion Social Influence | Persuasion How can Persuasion be Resisted? Resistance Being persuaded comes naturally — it is easier to accept persuasive to messages than to doubt them. Persuasion To understand an assertion is to believe it — at least temporarily. We resist falsehoods with logic, information, and motivation. Strengthening Personal Commitment Resistance to Persuasion Before encountering others’ judgments, make a public commitment to your position. Having stood up for your convictions, you will become less susceptible (or, should we say, less “open”) to what others have to say. DEVELOPING COUNTERARGUMENTS Attitude inoculation “Poison parasite defense”  ATTITUDE INOCULATION William McGuire wondered: Could we inoculate people against persuasion much as we inoculate them against a virus? Is there such a thing as attitude inoculation? He found that there was: When participants were “immunized” by writing an essay refuting a mild attack on a belief, they were better able to resist a more powerful attack later (McGuire, 1964).  “POISON PARASITE” DEFENSE Robert Cialdini and colleagues (2003) agree that appropriate counterarguments are a great way to resist persuasion. But they wondered how to bring them to mind in response to an opponent’s ads. The answer, they suggest, is a “poison parasite” defense—one that combines a poison (strong counterarguments) with a parasite (retrieval cues that bring those arguments to mind when seeing the opponent’s ads).  Real-Life Applications: Inoculation programs Resistance to Persuasion Could attitude inoculation work outside the laboratory by preparing people to resist unwanted persuasion? Example: "Project SMART" (Smoking, Marijuana, and Alcohol Risk Training) - an intervention program designed to reduce smoking and substance use among adolescents.  HOW DO PEOPLE RESIST PERSUASION? A prior public commitment to one's own position, stimulated perhaps by a mild attack on the position, breeds resistance to later SUMMING UP: persuasion. HOW CAN A mild attack can also serve as an inoculation, stimulating one to develop counterarguments PERSUASION that will then be available if and when a strong attack comes. BE RESISTED? This implies, paradoxically, that one way to strengthen existing attitudes is to challenge them, although the challenge must not be so strong as to overwhelm them. POSTSCRIPT: Being Open but Not Naive As recipients of persuasion, our human task is to live in the land between gullibility and cynicism. Social Influence |Persuasion THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!