Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff THINK SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Chapter The Power of Persuasion 7

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What are Persuasive Messages? Persuasion – attempts to influence others’ attitudes or behaviors Interest peaked in the World War II era

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What are Persuasive Messages? Routes to persuasion  Central route – attending to and evaluating a given message  Peripheral route – attending to external cues, like the attractiveness of a speaker -Involves a lack of ability or motivation to attend to the message

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What are Persuasive Messages? (continued) Central route processing creates opinions that are resistant to change  People rely on the message and their own reflections  More cognitive effort makes more entrenched positions

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What are Persuasive Messages? (continued) The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)  Petty and Cacioppo (1986)  Attempts to explain which processing route we are likely to take

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Which Way to Spring Break

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? The source  The person or organization who delivers a persuasive message -Attractive = more persuasive (with limits) -Credibility = can increase or decrease persuasive ability The sleeper effect – the persuasive impact of a non- credible source actually increases over time!

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) The source  The person or organization who delivers a persuasive message -Similarity between the source and the audience Background Values Association Level of attractiveness -Likeability – if we don’t find the source likeable, it will be hard for that source to persuade us of anything!

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Which one of these people is likely to convince you that the iPad will revolutionize the way you study?

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) The message - two main components  Message content -The tactics used to communicate a concept  Message constructions -How the message is put together (data, length, repetition)  The valence of a message -The attraction or aversion a person feels toward an object, event, or idea -Can be a positive or negative valence

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) The message - two main components  Fear-based appeals -Negative valence that is elicited by a message designed to prevent a specific action -Most effective when trying to prevent a negative outcome

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Some public service announcements (PSAs) use fear-based approaches in an attempt to persuade the public to avoid certain unhealthy behaviors.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) Positive valence can be more effective than fear-based messages The effectiveness of either valence might be mediated by culture  Americans – more likely to respond to positive valence  Japanese – more likely to respond to negative valence

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) Other message factors can include length and strength of a message Presenting both sides of an argument is more effective than only giving one side

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) An individual’s investment in an issue affects persuasion Issues we care deeply about are resistant to persuasion

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) Proximity is also important – how near something is to us in time and space  Greater proximity increases central-route processing  Outcome-relevant involvement -The degree to which social or economic outcome is important to the receiver

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Short Messages

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) The audience – the intended recipient of an attempt to persuade  Demographic features play a role in persuasion -Age -Gender -Education

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) Need for cognition  An individual’s tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity  Those high in this need prefer deliberate analysis and will use central-route processing  They will also need more information and ask more questions

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) Self-monitoring – focusing on situational cues when deciding how to present one’s self  High self-monitors are more vulnerable to attitude shifts

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) Ability to focus  Highly distractible individuals are more likely to use peripheral-route processing  This will lead them to be more open to persuasion  Distractibility might also be taken advantage of by the source

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) Mood of the audience  Good moods – both physical and psychological – can enhance openness to persuasion

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What Influences which Route We Take? (continued) Many factors come together to determine which audience will be more or less open to persuasion

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Cultural Differences in Persuasion Verbal or non-verbal messages differ across cultures People from collectivist cultures are more likely to go along with the group  This is not an absolute, however! People from individualistic cultures actually value straying from the group Uniqueness has different meaning and value across cultures

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence Reciprocation  Repaying an act in order to avoid feeling indebted  Is it "You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours" NO!!!!  It is "I scratched your back, so now you owe me one!"  Have you ever "called in a favor?"

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence (continued) Commitment and consistency  Procuring a commitment creates obligation  A person will then act in a way is consistent with that commitment

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Asking a person to RSVP to an event is a way of using commitment and consistency as a persuasive technique.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence (continued) Social proof  Following others’ actions as an indication of what is true or right  “The bandwagon effect"

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence (continued) Liking  We generally say "yes" to people we like and "no" to people we don’t  Have you ever refused to buy something you needed because the salesperson was rude?  Have you ever bought something you didn’t need because the salesperson was friendly and polite?

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence (continued) Authority  We tend to do what people in authority positions want, even if it is only perceived authority

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence (continued) Scarcity  People want what they (think) they can’t have  “Limited time offer!"  “Buy now before it’s too late!"  “Hurry, this offer won’t last!"  Have you ever heard the saying "nobody wants to eat in an empty restaurant?"

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff How Does the New Store at the Mall Get You in Its Pocket

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What does Research tell Us about Resisting Persuasion Tactics? Forewarning  Being informed ahead of time that an attempt to persuade is coming  Allows us to "steel our defenses" Reactance  People do not like to feel "forced" into an action or a way of thinking

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What does Research tell Us about Resisting Persuasion Tactics? (continued) Inoculation  The process of building up resistance to unwanted persuasion  One process is to use weaker messages to "strengthen" your defense against future stronger messages  Children are less able to be inoculated against persuasive messages from advertisers

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff When Shouldn’t We Resist Persuasion? Some messages are beneficial to an individual and a society Messages dealing with health, for example, should not be immediately resisted Action learning: Getting fit and persuasive

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Getting Fit and Persuasive