2.  Thanks to the pervasiveness of television and other mass media, it is possible to reach millions of viewers with a single message that can have strong intended or unintended effects  The Day After (1983): a made-for-TV movie about the aftermath of a nuclear attack  More than 40 million viewers watched  After the movie aired, even those who did not watch it became more frightened of nuclear war, thought nuclear war was more likely, and thought survival as less positive  So just 2 hours of TV can have a major impact on individual Americans, which can influence our political lives as well

3.  Television can also unintentionally have a very negative impact:  After Cry Rape was aired depicting the struggles of a young rape victim who chose to press charges against her attacker, there was a sharp decline in the number of rapes reported to police  Thus, even when not intentional, the media can have a strong influence, for good or bad  Sometimes the influence of media is subtle and unintentional – for example, what television news chooses to broadcast can be shaped according to what is most entertaining; however, this can really impact the way viewers understand the world

4.  We think of the news as objective and not as trying to convince us of something  However, it often exerts a powerful influence on our opinions by choosing which events to cover, how much time to give them, and whether they are portrayed in a particular light  The news does not provide a balanced view of what is going on – often good news or even news that is less sexy but has pervasive impact on our daily life is not discussed!  Other issues are discussed so frequently that they seem more common than they actually are, and the world seems like a more dangerous place

5.  How does our exposure to mass media shape our attitudes and behavior?  May make us less likely to visit certain areas that we think are violent (the “bad” neighborhoods in the city)  May influence our attitudes about other nations  May affect our voting decisions  May cause people actually to behave more violently  Watching aggression on TV is associated with more violent behavior – for example, repeated broadcasting of the collapse of the Twin Towers and repetition of the slogan, “The War on Terror,” contributed to the arousal of intense emotions in viewers and reduced the possibility of any real debate regarding going to war against Iraq

6.  Emotional contagion is the rapid transmission of emotions or behaviors through a crowd  Examples of emotional contagion:  In 1982, several people in Chicago died after taking Tylenol laced with cyanide  After this was covered by the news, similar poisonings were reported all over the US, but many of the suspected “copycat” poisonings were actually false alarms  Copycat suicides  The more coverage devoted by major TV networks to suicide, the greater the subsequent increase in suicides (Phillips, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992)  Sometimes the coverage can be more newsworthy and influential than the event itself  Beirut Hostage Crisis in 1985  The media may have prolonged the ordeal by providing free publicity for the Shiite cause

7.  It can be difficult to tell the difference between education and propaganda  According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:  Propaganda is “the systematic propagation of a given doctrine”  Education is “the act of imparting knowledge or skill”  Whether we regard a particular course of instruction as educational or propagandistic depends on our values  For example, teaching creationism in schools is seen by some as education and by others as propaganda

8.  Persuasion is the process by which attitudes are changed (Brehm et al., 2002)  There are two ways to persuade people according to the Elaboration Likelihood Model ~  The Central Route: when people think critically about the contents of the message and are influenced by the strength and quality of the message  The Peripheral Route: when people do not think critically about the contents of a message but instead focus on other cues

9. The Central Route:  Involves weighing arguments, considering relevant facts/figures, thinking about the issues in a systematic fashion, and coming to a decision  When we take this route, we are persuaded by the content of the message  For example, in Obama’s State of the Union Address, he attempted to rationally persuade Americans to support his policies  This is most effective when:  The receiver cares about the issue  The receiver is able to think about the message  There are compelling arguments

10.  The Peripheral Route:  Involves responding to simple, often irrelevant (peripheral) cues that suggest the rightness, wrongness, or attractiveness of an argument without giving it much thought  This is when you are persuaded in a manner that is not based on content  Peripheral communication strategies include:  Associating the advocated position with other positive things (e.g., money, food, sex), using an expert appeal, contrasting it to other terrible options  These strategies are most useful when:  The receiver is unmotivated or unable to listen to the message  The available arguments are weak

11. WHICH ROUTE TO PERSUASION ARE THE CANDIDATES TRYING TO USE IN EACH PICTURE?

12. The Central Route The Peripheral Route

13.  Few persuasive appeals are purely central or peripheral  For example, the Mac vs. PC ads use both techniques  Peripheral route appeals can be surprisingly subtle  A study showed that college students were more persuaded when unfamiliar ideas were presented in rhyme than in regular speech (McGlone et al., 2000)

14.  Factor 1: Source of the communication (who says it)  Our opinions are influenced more by communicators who are expert and trustworthy because they have credibility  For example, which salesman would you be more likely to buy from??

15.  Source of the communication, cont.  Whether we believe a source is credible is somewhat subjective – people can differ on this  For example, I find a scientist credible enough to persuade me that evolution is true. However, others find conservative clergy more credible, so they are persuaded more by creationism.  Peripheral attributes of the communicator may play a role  In the last slide, the first salesman was more credible because he was wearing a suit – which is a peripheral trait  Studies have shown that if a person is racially prejudiced, he or she will find African-Americans less persuasive than Caucasians, even if the African-American says the exact same thing, and race has nothing to do with what they are discussing

16.  A communicator can increase trustworthiness and effectiveness by:  Arguing against his or her own self-interest  For example, if a convicted felon argued that the justice system was too lenient, that would be more convincing than if he or she argued it was too harsh  Not seeming as though he or she is trying to influence our opinion  For example, if you overhear a stock broker talking highly about a certain stock, it is more persuasive than if he or she directly tries to talk us into it

17.  Our opinions are also influenced by the attractiveness and likability of the communicator (regardless of their expertise or trustworthiness)  For example, the Kardashian credit card got a lot of interest (despite the Kardashian’s lack of banking expertise!) until it became widely known that they were charging outrageous interest fees  Studies have shown that beautiful women can have a major impact on opinions on a topic irrelevant to her beauty (Mills & Aronson, 1965) – perhaps this explains some of Sarah Palin’s appeal?

18.  Factor 2: the nature of the communication – it matters how we say things  Appeals that are primarily emotional tend to be more effective than primarily informational/rational appeals  Appeals involving fear are also highly effective  Leventhal (1970) found that the more frightened a person is by a communication, the more likely he or she is to take positive preventative action – this is one reason that countries who put graphic images of cancer-ridden lungs on cigarette packages have lower smoking rates

19.  But this can backfire – linking something pleasurable (like sex) with something frightening (like AIDS) can cause the person to avoid thinking of the negative consequences altogether!  Messages that arouse fear and are accompanied by specific instructions about what to do are more effective in changing behavior than those without instructions (Leventhal, 1970)  In this case, the person will just convince him or herself that the dangers contained in the message were overstated (Uberman & Chaiken, 1992)

20.  Fear-based appeals that are vague in terms of the source of danger or recommendations for action are effective only in raising anxiety levels but not in producing action  For example, raising the terrorist threat level makes people nervous, but they don’t have anything concrete they can do about it!

21.  People tend to be more persuaded by personal examples that are vivid than by logical statistical arguments (Nisbett et al., 1976)  For example, even though Toyotas tend to be very reliable cars, after they were widely publicized for having the gas pedal stick and creating very frightening situations, their sales went down even after this problem was fixed.  The more vivid the example, the greater the persuasive power  In one study, homeowners were 4x more likely to buy weather- stripping (in order to improve the energy efficiency of their homes) when they were told that if all of the cracks around their doors were added up, they would equal a hole the size of a basketball, than if all of the cracks were merely pointed out

22.  One-sided arguments work better when the receiver is already predisposed to believe the communicator’s argument  Two-sided arguments seem to work better when the receiver is:  Well-informed: they may know some counter-arguments and you would lose credibility if you didn’t address them  Initially leaning in the opposite direction: then there is more of a chance to convince them!  Politicians capitalize on this by presenting one-sided arguments when talking to the party faithful and two-sided arguments when talking to audiences of mixed loyalties

23.  The order in which arguments are presented also matters  The primacy effect : people tend to remember and be most persuaded by the first argument presented if several are presented in a row  The recency effect : however, if many arguments are presented, people also could be most persuaded by the last argument presented – it was the one they heard most recently; thus, they may remember it best  Arguments presented in the middle tend to be least memorable

24.  The amount of discrepancy between the opinion of the audience and that of the communicator also matters  Research has been mixed on this –  Some research shows that the more different the opinions are between the communicator and the audience, the more the opinions will change (Zimbardo, 1960)  However, other research shows a more complex relationship – if the difference in opinion is too large, the audience will discount the argument, and they won’t change their opinion. If the difference is too small, there also will be little opinion change. But if there is a moderate difference in opinions, change is most likely (Hoveland, Harvey, & Sherif, 1957)

25.  However, the communicator’s credibility also matters  If there is a large discrepancy between the beliefs of the communicator and audience and the communicator’s credibility is high, then this will be the most persuasive  But if the communicator’s credibility is low and there’s a large discrepancy, the audience will question his or her wisdom and be less likely to be influenced  In this case, the moderate discrepancy between communicator and audience is the most persuasive condition

26.  The audience also matters!  Individuals with low self-esteem are more easily influenced than those with high self esteem  If people don’t like themselves, they don’t place a premium on their own ideas, so they are more likely to believe others  Audience members are more receptive to a communication if:  They are not hungry; they are in a good mood; they have had their self-esteem boosted recently  Audience members are less receptive to a communication if:  They are forewarned that an attempt will be made to persuade them; their sense of freedom is threatened (then we react by trying to demonstrate our independence and resist being persuaded)

27.  How can we help people resist attempts to influence them?  The Inoculation Effect (McGuire et al., 1961): by initially exposing people to small doses of the argument against their position, they become less likely to change their opinion when others try to persuade them  This is because we become motivated to defend our beliefs and because we get practice defending our beliefs and more fully think through why we hold them

28.  Changing others’ opinions is actually not so easy!  As an individual’s confidence weakens, he or she becomes less likely to listen to arguments against their beliefs (Canon, 1964)  The people whom you want to convince are least likely to expose themselves to that type of communication – if I am a staunch Democrat, I’m probably not tuning in to Rush Limbaugh every day!  People are most susceptible to influence when they are unaware that we are trying to influence them; less explicit attempts at persuasion are most effective but may be unethical  Most of our beliefs develop gradually through repeated contacts with people and information over time

29.  Opinion vs. Attitude:  Opinion: what a person believes to be factually true  These are rational and logical  These may be changed by evidence to the contrary  For example, it is my opinion that 16 Handles is the best frozen yogurt shop, but I could be persuaded by a strong argument for another shop and don’t have strong feelings about 16 Handles  Attitude: an opinion that includes an evaluative and emotional component  Usually there will be a feeling of strong like or dislike associated with an attitude  These are difficult to change  For example, I have a strong attitude that my daughter is adorable – no rational argument could change that belief  Human thinking is not always (or usually) logical; people have many motivations to resist change that are often not conscious!