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Social PsychologyDr. Leslie Case, BCBA

Chapter 7: Persuasion

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Persuasion

• Persuasion: The process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors

• When the message is “bad” and/or when we don’t approve it, we call it “propaganda.”

• When the message is positive and/or we approve it, we call it “education.”

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2 Routes to Persuasion

• Central Route: Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts

• Focus is on the arguments or the message• If the arguments are strong and compelling,

persuasion is likely• If the message contains weak arguments, thoughtful

people will notice and will counter argue• Example: Computer ads offer information on

competitive features and prices

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2 Routes to Persuasion

• Peripheral Route: Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues

• If we are distracted, uninvolved, or busy, we may not take time to think about the message content

• Easily understood familiar statements are more persuasive (“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” verses “Don’t risk everything on a single venture.”)

• Visual cues are used in advertisements for food, alcohol, cigarettes, focusing on images of beauty and pleasure

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Impact on behavior and attitudes?

• Central route processing leads to more enduring change

• As people think through the arguments and form their own thoughts in response, any changed attitude is more likely to stick

• The peripheral route will lead to superficial and temporary attitude changes

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Two Routes to Persuasion

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The Elements of Persuasion: The Communicator

• Credibility: Believability– A credible communicator is perceived as both

expert and trustworthy– Over time, people remember the message, but

not the source• The effects of credibility diminish after a month

• The sleeper effect: the impact of a noncredible person’s message may increase over time.

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The Communicator

• Perceived Expertise– One might begin by saying things the audience agrees with,

which makes one seem smart– One might be introduced as someone who is knowledgeable– Speaking confidently increases credibility

• Perceived trustworthiness – Looking straight in the eye – Not trying to persuade– Arguing against one’s self interest, being willing to suffer for

one’s beliefs• If one is perceived as being biased (an environmental activist speaking

on pollution), less persuasive

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The Communicator

• Attractiveness – We’re more likely to respond to those we like

• Having a fleeting conversation with someone is enough to increase our liking for them

– Arguments are more persuasive when they come from beautiful people

– More influenced by people who are similar to us

• On subjects of personal value, taste, or way of life, similar communicators have more impact. On judgments of fact, a dissimilar person (preferable an expert) has more impact

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The message content

• Reason versus emotion– Well educated, analytical, or interested people

respond better to rational appeals– When people’s initial attitudes are formed

primarily through emotion, they are more persuaded by later emotional appeals when their initial attitudes are formed primarily through reason, they are more persuaded by later intellectual arguments

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The message content

• The effect of good feelings– Messages become more persuasive through association

with good feelings

– People are more easily persuaded while eating, listening to nice music

• Enhances positive thinking

• Links good feelings with the message (respondent conditioning)

– People in a good mood make faster more impulsive decisions, rely more on peripheral cues

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The message content

• The effect of arousing fear– The more frightened people are, the more they

respond– Lead people to perceive a stronger norm for the

advocated behavior– When fear pertains to a pleasurable activity, the

effect is not behavior change but denial– Works best if the message contains specific

ways to avoid the feared stimulus

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The message content

• Discrepancy– People are more open to conclusions within their range of

acceptability• A couch potato will be more open to a leisurely walk than to a 10

mile run

– People who are deeply involved in an issue tend to accept only a narrow range of views

• The president of the national association for couch potatoes might only be open to a very short leisurely walk to the ice cream stand

– When advocating a position greatly discrepant from the recipient’s, a highly credible source will evoke the most change

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The message content

• One-sided versus two-sided appeals– One-sided messages work best with those who already

agree with the message– If people are or will be aware of opposing arguments, a

two-sided presentation is more persuasive

• Optimists versus pessimists– For optimists, positive persuasion works best

• “The new plan reduces tuition in exchange for part-time university service”

– For pessimists, negative persuasion is more effective• “Al students will have to work part time for the university, lest

they pay out-of state tuition”

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The message content

• Primacy versus recency• Primacy effect: Other things being equal, information

presented first usually has the most influence– People who succeed early seem more able than those who

succeed after failures

• Recency effect: Information presented last sometimes has the most influence. – Less common than primacy effects– Occurs when enough time separates the two messages and

when the audience commits itself soon after the second message

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The communication channel

• Active verses passive– Spoken appeals are not necessarily more persuasive

• Content must get attention, be understandable, convincing, memorable, and compelling

– Passively received appeals (such as commercials) can be highly effective on minor issues, such as which brand to buy, but are not as effective on significant or familiar issues

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The communication channel

• Personal versus media influence – Personal influence is stronger– Media influences penetrate the culture in subtle,

indirect ways– The more lifelike the medium the more persuasive it’s

message– Live > Videotaped > Audiotaped > Written– Difficult messages are most persuasive when they are

written; easy messages most persuasive when they are videotaped

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The Audience: How old are they?

• People tend to have different social and political attitudes depending on their age

• Older people are generally thought to be more conservative than younger people

• Generational explanation: the generation adopted those attitudes when they were young, and they persisted

• Because young people today develop different attitudes, a generation gap exists

© Kathy McLaughlin/ The Image Works

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How old are they?

• Older people DO change with the culture• Most become more liberal in their sexual and

racial attitudes in their 50s and 60s• Older adults near the end of their life cycle

become more suggestible• Teens and early 20s are important formative

years, and the attitudes formed then tend to remain stable

© Kathy McLaughlin/ The Image Works

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The audience: What are they thinking?

• Counter arguing:– If one is warned someone will try to persuade them, they are more

likely to counter argue• Defense attorneys sometimes use this to their advantage

– Distraction inhibits counter arguing• Political ads sometimes use visual images that keep us occupied so

that we don’t analyze the words

• We tend to think more about issues that are important to us, and less about things that don’t matter much– Would suggest that a central route is more effective on issues that

matter

© Kathy McLaughlin/ The Image Works

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The audience: What are they thinking?

• Stimulating thinking makes strong messages more persuasive and weak messages less persuasive– Steps to stimulating thinking include:

• Using rhetorical question

• Presenting multiple speakers

• Making person feel responsible for evaluating or passing along the message

• Using relaxed postures rather than standing ones

• Getting people’s undistracted attention

© Kathy McLaughlin/ The Image Works

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Case Studies in Persuasion: Cult Indoctrination

• Cult: A group typically characterized by (1) distinctive ritual and beliefs related to its devotion to a god or person, (2) isolation from the surrounding “evil” culture, (3) a charismatic leader

©AP/Wide World Photos

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Cults

• Attitudes follow behavior– New recruits immediately begin to perform

rituals and engage in fund raising activities– A great personal commitment is expected;

members then justify it by changing their attitudes

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Cults

• Foot-in-the-door phenomenon: Small behaviors are followed by bigger and bigger requests– One might start with a dinner, then a weekend retreat,

then joining in songs, activities, and discussions, then longer training retreats, and so on

– Jim Jones used this phenomenon. He started by asking people to help the poor by folding and mailing envelopes for five minutes

– Initially money offerings were voluntary, then they increased to 10% of income, then to 25%, eventually to 100%

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Cults

• The communicator– A charismatic leader, perceived as expert and trustworthy– Middle class Caucasian youths are more vulnerable

• The message– Vivid emotional messages used– Recruit is showered with warmth and acceptance

• The audience– Often under 25 years old– Vulnerable, facing crisis, or at some turning point in their

lives– Times of social or emotional upheaval

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Cults

• Group effects:– Members are separated from their previous support system– Social ties weaken until members only interact with other

members– Members lose access to counterarguments, lose touch with

reality– Disagreements are frowned on or overtly punished– Stress and emotional arousal are used, which make people

more susceptible to social pressures– Some cults use threats, intimidation, and physical violence

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Cult Tactics

• Some of these same tactics are used by– Fraternities / Sororities– Military training– Some self-help and substance abuse therapeutic

communities– Gangs

• They generally result in a very dedicated recruit• Although some cult leaders have abused the power

of persuasion, that doesn’t necessarily mean persuasion is bad

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Resisting Persuasion: Attitude Inoculation

• Strengthening personal commitment– Mildly attacking someone’s beliefs causes

people to become even more committed– Encourage people to build counterarguments– Attitude inoculation: Exposing people to weak

attacks upon their attitudes so that when stronger attacks come, they will have refutations available

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Resisting Persuasion: Attitude Inoculation

• Large scale inoculation programs– An anti-smoking program innoculated teens

against peer pressure to smoke– Students did role plays on how to respond if

someone called them a “chicken”, and they developed counterarguments for tobacco print advertisements

– They were half as likely as other students to smoke