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c h a p t e r 8 – social influence & persuasion.

social psychology a south African perspective 2nd edition

➢ distinguish normative and informational influence.

➢ categorise the techniques of social influence in terms of the four basic principles and
describe ways of resisting these techniques.
➢ explain how a persuasion attempt can be described by “who says what to whom” and
identify which factors of each element are most likely to elicit successful persuasion.
➢ summarise the two routes to persuasion, applying the concept of the duplex mind to
describe the two routes.
➢ describe some of the steps you can take to increase your resistance to persuasive
attempts to change your attitudes.

8.1 two types of social influence

social psychologists distinguish between two major categories of social influence:

1. normative influence.
2. informational influence.

being liked and accepted: being correct:

normative influence informational influence

(def) normative influence – going along if you look at a pinpoint of light in a dark
with the crowd in order to be liked and room, the light appears to move, even
accepted. though it does not actually move at all. this
illusion of movement, caused by very slight
humans have a fundamental need to movements of the eye, is called
belong to social groups. being accepted the autokinetic effect.
and included improves one’s chances for
survival (and improves life in many other (def) autokinetic effect – illusion, caused by
ways). very slight movements of the eye, that a
stationary point of light in a dark room is
however, there is a long road to acceptance moving.
within the group.
Muzafer Sherif used the autokinetic effect
to live together, people usually need to to study the formation of group norms.
agree on a set of common beliefs, values,
attitudes, and behaviours that reduce (def) group norms – the beliefs or
ingroup threats and act for the common behaviours that a group of people accepts
good. as normal.

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therefore, people learn to conform to their these social norms are not temporary,
group’s rules. the more we see others either; they can last at least one year. these
behaving in a certain way or making social norms can also be passed on from
particular decisions, the more we feel one person to another.
inclined to follow suit. this happens even
when we are in a group of complete the studies conducted by Sherif indicate a
strangers: we will go along with the others second type of social influence
to avoid looking foolish. called informational influence.

Solomon Asch illustrated the power of (def) informational influence – going along
normative influence in 1951. with the crowd because you think the crowd
knows more than you do.
in his one study, participants went along
with the group even when the group made this involves going along with the crowd
obvious errors. to be accepted by the group because you think the crowd knows more
was more important to participants than to than you do (rather than because you want
be correct even though the other people to be liked, as with normative social
were strangers. influence).

in his other study, the implication was that people get valuable information from
people feel considerable pressure to others, and sometimes they rely more on
conform to a group if everyone agrees, but what others think than on what their own
if group members disagree about even the eyes and ears tell them.
smallest point, then people become willing
to stand up for what they believe. two types of situations increase how likely
you are to be affected by informational
when people deviate from group norms, influence:
they may pay a heavy price, including social
rejection. social rejection can be painful. a) ambiguous situations, in
Asch found that people would agree with which people do now know
the group, even when they knew that the how to behave.
group was wrong, rather than suffer social
rejection. b) crisis situations, in which
people do not have time to
other research has shown that people who think for themselves.
deviate from the group do in fact run a
heightened risk of being rejected. in these situations, people conform to what
others do because they assume that those
other people must know what they are
doing. sometimes this assumption is wrong
– others really do not know more than we
do.

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in fact, others may assume that we know

more than they do! in some cases, nobody
knows anything, which is called a state
of pluralistic ignorance.

(def) pluralistic ignorance – looking to

others for cues about how to behave, while
they are looking to you, collective
misinterpretation.

pluralistic ignorance occurs when people

attempt to match a group norm.

there are two different kinds of social influence: normative and informational.

a key difference is whether the conforming person comes to believe that others are right
(informational) or believes they are wrong but conforms simply to avoid rejection, ridicule,
hostility, or other kinds of punishment (normative).

informational social influence helps normative social influence may bring about
produce private acceptance. mere public compliance.

(def) private acceptance – a genuine inner (def) public compliance – outwardly going
belief that others are right. along with the group but maintaining a
private, inner belief that the group is
probably wrong or at least having serious
doubts about the group’s decision.

example:

some people become vegan because they believe it is a healthier lifestyle and better for the
planet (private acceptance), whereas others might become vegan because all their friends
think it is trendy and cool, even though inwardly they still love to eat meat (public
compliance).

8.2 techniques of social influence

 a primary purpose of human reasoning is to influence others, such as by arguing.

social influence techniques can be organised according to four basic principles:

1) commitment and consistency.

2) reciprocation.
3) scarcity.

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4) capturing and disrupting attention.

8.2.1 techniques based on commitment and consistency.

 once people make a commitment, they feel pressure (both from inside themselves and
from others) to behave consistently with that commitment.
 inconsistent behaviour causes a form of psychological discomfort called cognitive
dissonance,
 the influence techniques in this section exploit that principle: get the person to commit
to what you want, and the person is likely to do it.
 seemingly trivial commitments can lead to substantial compliance on more important
things.

a) foot-in-the-door technique:

(def) foot-in-the-door technique – influence technique based on commitment, in which one

222222222222 starts with a small request in order to gain eventual
222222222222222 compliance with a larger request.

➢ it is based on the principle that you start with a small request in order to get eventual
compliance with a much larger request.
➢ the term refers to the way that old-fashioned door-to-door salespeople would try to get
“one foot in the door” as a starting point to eventually getting their whole body into the
house. the assumption was that the customer won’t slam the door in your face as long as
your foot is in the way.
➢ complying with small requests seems like no big deal, but it increases the likelihood of
complying with larger requests later on.
➢ it is easier to comply the second time than the first time.
➢ if requests get bigger slowly and gradually, the person may be more willing to comply
with each one than if you had initially started with a large request.

b) low-ball technique:

➢ a second approach that shifts from a smaller request to a larger request is the low-ball
technique.

(def) low-ball technique – influence technique based on commitment, in which one first gets
22222222222 a person to comply with a seemingly low-cost request and only
2222222222 later reveals hidden additional costs.

➢ in this technique, the requester first gets a person to comply with a seemingly low-cost
request and only later reveals hidden additional costs.
➢ as with the foot-in-the-door technique, it is based on the principle of commitment and
consistency.
➢ commitments have a tendency to “grow their own legs” – that is, people often add new
reasons and justifications to support their initial commitment.

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c) bait-and-switch technique:

➢ car salespeople also use a technique called bait-and-switch.

(def) bait-and-switch technique – influence technique based on commitment, in which one

2222222222222 draws people in with an attractive offer that is unavailable
222222222222 and then switches them to a less attractive offer that is
2222222222 available.

➢ the car dealership places an ad for a car at a great price, but when you get to the
showroom the car is “sold out”. the dealership placed the ad simply to get you into the
showroom. once you are there, they can try to sell you another car. you are baited with
one car (usually a stripped-down model with no options, sold at an unbelievably low
price), and then you are switched to another car (usually with all the extras that goes for
a much higher price).

➢ in some countries this technique is illegal and fraudulent.

➢ the bait-and-switch technique is used by businesses other than car sales.
example:

you may go to a store because they advertised a product you want, but when you get to the
store you discover that the product is sold out. since you are already at the store, you decide
to go shopping anyway. the ad served its purpose – it got you into the store.

➢ the bait-and-switch technique, like the low-ball and foot-in-the-door techniques, is

based on the principle of commitment and consistency.
➢ it gets people to make a psychological commitment, and then relies on consistency
pressures to keep them loyal to this commitment even when the influencer changes the
terms.

d) labelling technique:

➢ the labelling technique is another way to induce compliance.

(def) labelling technique – influence technique based on consistency, in which one assigns
111111111111 a label to an individual and then requests a favour that is
222222222 consistent with the label.

➢ it involves assigning a label to an individual (“you are such a generous person!”) and then
requesting a favour that is consistent with the label.
➢ this technique is related to the self-fulfilling prophecy.
➢ people tend to live up to the positive labels others give them.

➢ research has shown that the labelling technique can persuade both children and adults.
➢ the labelling technique is also based on the commitment and consistency principle.

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➢ whether positive labels are assigned by oneself or by others, people like to live up to
them.
➢ labelling also uses the importance of self-concepts.
➢ how people think about themselves can influence their behaviour.
➢ thus, if you want to influence that person’s behaviour, an effective technique is to get the
person to think of himself or herself in a manner that will produce the desired result.
➢ a person who thinks of herself as helpful will often be more helpful than a person who
doesn’t.
➢ people also do not want to be labelled as cheap. so, they may find it hard to refuse a very
small request.

 several influence techniques are based on the principle of commitment and consistency,
including the foot-in-the-door technique, the low-ball technique, the bait-and-switch
technique, and the labelling technique.
 the commitment and consistency principle is a great time saver.
 if people had to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each decision, they would
soon feel overwhelmed, and they would not be able to function.
 it is much easier to make a commitment once and then behave consistently with that
commitment.

 the power of the commitment and consistency principle comes from the sense of
obligation that it creates.
 when people freely make commitments, they feel obliged to behave consistently with
those commitments.
 behaving inconsistently has personal and interpersonal costs.
 personally, inconsistency between one’s attitudes and actions can result in cognitive
dissonance, which is an unpleasant emotional response.
 interpersonally, if your inconsistent behaviours affect others, you may suffer social
rejection and ostracism, which don’t feel good either.

 however, you should not feel obliged to behave consistently with a commitment that you
were tricked into making.
 if it is not clear whether you were tricked into making a commitment, ask yourself this
question: “knowing what i know now, if i could go back in time, would i make the same
commitment?”

 another way to resist influence is to make a public commitment to your position.

 commitments are much more binding when they are made in public than when they are
made in private.
 standing up for your convictions in public (like making marriage vows in public) makes
you less influenced by what others have to say.

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8.2.2 techniques based on reciprocation:

 reciprocity – if you take care of me, I will take care of you.

 this is one of the foundations of culture.
 all cultures understand reciprocity and expect people to obey their norms.
 the appreciation of reciprocity is deeply rooted in human nature.
 one sign of this is that people feel guilty if someone does them a favour and they cannot
repay it in some way.
 this feeling is the foundation for some of the best moral behaviour and good treatment
of others. unfortunately, it is also something that sneaky people can exploit to influence
others.

two influence techniques are based on reciprocation:

a) door-in-the-face technique
b) that’s-not-all technique.

a) door-in-the-face technique

➢ an effective way to get people to comply with a request is to start by making an

exaggerated request (that will most likely be rejected) and then retreat to a smaller
request.

➢ the smaller request, the one that was desired all along, is likely to be accepted because it
appears to be a concession (a thing that is granted, especially in response to demands)
➢ this is called the door-in-the-face technique because the first refusal is like slamming a
door in the face of the person making the request.

(def) door-in-the-face technique – influence technique based on reciprocity, in which one

222222222 starts with an inflated request and then retreats to a
22222222222 smaller request that appears to be a concession.

➢ it is the opposite of the foot-in-the door technique, which starts with a small request in
order to get compliance to a larger request.
➢ in negotiations between labour and management, both sides often use this tactic.
➢ they initially make extreme demands that they do not expect to get.
➢ later they retreat to more reasonable demands.
➢ although the expression “door in the face” describes the process, the key to compliance
is not the initial refusal but rather reciprocity.
➢ after the first offer is refused, the salesperson or negotiator makes a more reasonable
offer, and people feel obliged to reciprocate this seemingly kind and generous offer by
becoming more agreeable themselves.

➢ the door-in-the-face technique does not work if the first request is so extreme that it is
seen as unreasonable.
➢ the door-in-the-face technique also does not work if different people make the first and
second requests.

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➢ this probably reflects the importance of reciprocation.

➢ the key to getting someone to agree is to pretend you are doing the person a favour by
reducing your request to a much more reasonable level, so the person will feel an
obligation to agree to it.
➢ if the second offer or request comes from someone different, no sense of reciprocal
obligation is created.

b) that’s-not-all technique:

➢ the that’s-not-all technique like the door-in-the-face technique, begins with an inflated
request. however, before the person can respond, the requester ‘sweetens’ the deal by
offering a discount or bonus.

(def) that’s-not-all technique – influence technique based on reciprocity, in which one first
222222222 makes an inflated request but, before the person can
2222222222 respond, sweetens the deal by offering a discount or bonus.

➢ first, the “regular” price is reduced, and then several additional bonuses are added, such
as getting two items for the price of one.
➢ people feel most obligated to reciprocate when they believed the seller was making an
exception for them personally.

➢ the that’s-not-all technique, like the door-in-the-face technique, is based on reciprocal

concessions and a sense of personal obligation.
➢ when a stranger or interaction partner does something kind for you, you feel an
obligation to do something nice or kind in return.
➢ a discount or bonus can increase compliance by sweetening the deal.
➢ reciprocity is one of the most basic traits of human beings because it goes to the essence
of what a cultural animal is.
➢ it is in our genes and very deeply embedded in culture to pay back what others do for us
and to recognise when other people do – or do not – reciprocate.
➢ thus, people can be readily exploited by unscrupulous salespeople who take advantage
of their basic human tendency to reciprocate.

 the American pastor and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (1843–1871) was promoting the
value of the principle of reciprocation: people should feel obliged to repay favours and
concessions.
 if people don’t reciprocate, they feel guilty.
 guilt often induces prosocial behaviour.
 generally, the principle of reciprocation is beneficial to society.
 in South Africa, the principle of ubuntu is often translated as meaning that people are
people through other people: we have deep connections to each other.
 it suggests that if we are generous or selfless with our time or resources, this will come
back to us somehow and at some point in time.

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 the problem, however, is that some people (those who want to persuade us) give us little
and expect a lot in return.

how do we defend ourselves against people who use these techniques (door-in-the-face
technique and that’s-not-all technique) to manipulate us?

 Robert Cialdini, a social psychologist famous for his studies on influence, recommends
that we accept initial favours or concessions in good faith, but that we also be ready to
define them as tricks if they prove to be tricks.
 once they are defined as tricks (and we learn this through experience), we will no longer
feel obliged to reciprocate them with a favour or concession.
 the reciprocation rule says that favours are to be repaid with favours.
 tricks do not have to be repaid with favours!

8.2.2 techniques based on scarcity:

 according to the scarcity principle in economics, rare opportunities and items are more
valuable than those that are plentiful.
 even everyday items can become valuable when they are scarce.
 scarcity is sometimes used as a heuristic cue (a prompt or stimulus that helps people
learn something for themselves) in decision making.
 we say to ourselves: what is rare is good – this can be referred to as the scarcity heuristic.

 one reason why the scarcity principle works is because it takes more effort to obtain rare
items than plentiful items.
 often, we have to compete with others for scarce opportunities.
 perhaps that is why potential lovers and potential employees “play hard to get”.
 they want others to think that they are a hot commodity with lots of options.
 if you don’t agree to the person’s request, you could lose a valuable partner or
employee.

 another reason why the scarcity principle works is that people, especially those from
individualistic cultures, value their freedom highly.
 as opportunities become scarce, we lose our freedom to obtain them.
 when our personal freedom is threatened, we experience an unpleasant emotional
response called psychological reactance.
 this unpleasant emotion motivates us to obtain the scarce opportunity.

various influence techniques are based on scarcity:

1. one is the limited-number technique, which says that only a limited number of
products will be available.

(def) limited-number technique – influence technique based on scarcity, in which one tells
2222222222 people that an item is in short supply.

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example:

in the motor car industry, we often find advertisements for a ‘special edition’ of a specific
make of car. it means that this car is scarce and not many of them are around. so if you buy it
before anyone else, it will have scarcity value and it will be more precious and valuable for
yourself.

2. another technique is the fast-approaching-deadline technique, which says that an item or

a price is only available for a limited time.

(def) fast-approaching-deadline technique – influence technique based on scarcity, in

22222222222 which one tells people an item or a price is
22222222222 only available for a limited time.

➢ consider specials at grocery and clothing chain stores.

➢ they sell low-priced items for a limited period of time.
➢ this often happens in the middle of the month when people have bought most of their
groceries and sales are taking a dip.

the point of both these techniques is that your chances to buy the product are limited,
either by how few of the product there are or by the deadline.

 the principle of scarcity generally serves people well.

 scarce items are usually regarded as being more valuable than plentiful items.
 in the business of influencing people, however, the scarcity principle is often used to
convince us that products are scarce and that we should get them now, while we can,
even when there may be plenty in stock.

how do we defend ourselves against people who use these techniques (the limited-number
technique and fast-approaching technique) to influence us?

 our natural response to scarcity is to panic.

 we want to seize the opportunity before it slips away.
 when our freedom is threatened, we experience psychological reactance.
 unfortunately, this emotional response to scarcity interferes with our ability to think
clearly.

Robert Cialdini recommends a two-stage process of resistance:

first, we should use the tide of emotional second, we should ask why we want the
arousal we feel in response to scarce items item. is it because we are told it is scarce, or
as a signal to stop short. is it because of its own merits?
we need to calm ourselves so we can think “because it is the last day of a sale” or
clearly and rationally. “because it is the last one” is not a good
reason for purchasing an item.
we should buy something only if we really
want it, not because it is scarce.

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8.2.3 techniques based on capturing and disrupting attention.

 other influence techniques try to capture the attention of the target of influence
(shoppers) or try to distract the target of influence.
 when influencers (retailers) have strong arguments, they want to attract the attention of
targets because they want people to think about the convincing arguments.
 when influencers have weak arguments, they want to disrupt the attention of targets, so
they won’t think too deeply about the unconvincing arguments.

a) pique technique:

➢ beggars often approach us at stop signs or traffic lights.

➢ they ask us for money or food, sometimes pressing their fingertips together and
touching their mouths with their hand, indicating that they are hungry.
➢ people who live in large cities have seen these requests so many times that they often
just ignore the beggar and drive on.
➢ drivers have various refusal scripts in mind the instant they see a beggar, such as closing
their windows when they see the person approaching, shaking their heads, lifting their
hands in a “no” gesture or giving some kind of a verbal refusal.
➢ to be effective, the beggar must disrupt this refusal script and capture (or arouse) the
driver’s attention.
➢ some beggars try to pique (arouse) the driver’s interest by holding up a clever sign,
collecting the rubbish from your car into a bin bag, or juggling balls.
➢ sometimes a beggar will give the driver something free, such as a flower or a condom,
pushing it through the window and dropping it into the driver’s lap.
➢ as the driver ‘accepts’ the gift, the beggar insists on being paid.
➢ the pique technique has also been used to influence drivers to slow down in residential
areas.

the pique technique thus captures the driver’s attention by doing something unusual or
novel, in the hope that this will spur the driver to give them some money.

(def) pique technique – influence technique in which one captures people’s attention, as by
222222222 making a novel request.

b) disrupt-then-reframe:

➢ in the disrupt-then-reframe technique, an unexpected element is introduced to provide a

momentary disruption.

(def) disrupt-then-reframe – influence technique in which one disrupts critical thinking by

2222222 introducing an unexpected element, then reframes the
22222222 message in a positive light.

➢ the disruption absorbs critical thinking functions and prevents individuals from
processing the persuasive message.
➢ the requester then reframes the message in a positive light.

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➢ to work, this technique requires both the disruption and the reframing, in that order.
➢ distraction prevents people from processing persuasive messages at a deep level.

➢ many influence and persuasion techniques are based on the duplex mind.
➢ in many cases, persuaders want to influence someone to do something that they would
not sensibly do.
➢ the deliberate mind is therefore the enemy, and the persuaders seek to neutralise and
bypass it by working with the automatic mind.

➢ for example, your willingness to buy something ought to be the same regardless of
whether its price is r10 or 1 000 cents.
➢ but it takes deliberate processing to recognise that those are the same amounts and that
your willingness to buy should be the same.
➢ the automatic system is more susceptible to such tricks and biases, so persuaders prefer
to work with it – and to keep the deliberate mind from getting involved.

 the pique technique is based on capturing attention.

 it catches people off guard, so they comply without thinking.
 so, the antidote is to stop and think before acting.
 whether someone asks you for a r5 or for 500 cents should not determine whether you
comply.

 the disrupt-then-reframe technique is based on disrupting attention.

 distraction increases persuasion for weak messages and decreases persuasion for strong
messages – however, the key is to eliminate the distraction so you can process the
message at a deep level.

8.3 Persuasion

 one important form of social influence is persuasion.

 a primary purpose of the human brain is to influence others and argue with them in an
attempt to persuade them.

(def) persuasion – an attempt to change a person’s attitude.

 the scientific study of persuasion can be traced back to Carl Hovland, a social
psychologist at yale university. he and his colleagues conducted a systematic programme
of research that analysed the process and effectiveness of persuasion in terms of “who
says what to whom”.

 whether persuasion succeeds or fails can be shaped by any and all of these factors:

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the "who"
the"‘says what" the "to whom"
component is the
component is the component is the
source of the
actual message, audience, the people
message, such as a
such as the content who hear the
person who is
of the speech. speech.
making a speech.

 Aristotle had proposed these same three components of persuasion more than 2 000
years before Hovland was born.
 in his work rhetoric, Aristotle specified three components of the persuasive process: the
speaker, the subject of the speech and the hearer to whom the speech is addressed.

Aristotle also identified three elements necessary to persuade an audience:

a) emotional appeal (pathos).

b) intellectual appeal (logos).
c) charisma (ethos).

8.3.1 who: the source.

 perhaps the most important characteristics of the source of a message are credibility and
likability.

a) source credibility:
 the source is the individual who delivers the message.
 credibility is ‘the quality or power of inspiring belief’.

(def) source – an individual who delivers the message.

 however, a source may inspire belief (be credible) in some situations but not others.
 for example, an actor like Brad Pitt is a credible source for acting, but he is not a
credible source on China or Tibet.
example:

participants read one speech promoting the development of atomic submarines. participants
reported their opinions about the topics in the speeches before, immediately after, and a
month after reading the speeches. the results showed that immediately after reading the
speech, highly credible sources produced more opinion change than did less credible
sources.

a month later, however, opinions in favour of the less credible source increased and opinions
in favour of the highly credible source decreased. so, in the long run, the overall amount of
opinion change was about the same for the two sources.

 Hovland and Weiss called this the sleeper effect.

(def) sleeper effect – the finding that, over time, people separate the message from the
22222222222 messenger.

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 over time, people separated the message from the messenger.

 if they remembered the speech, they forgot who gave it.
 subsequent research has shown that the sleeper effect is a very reliable effect.

Hovland identified two characteristics:

1. expertise – which is how much the source knows.

2. trustworthiness – which is whether the source will honestly tell you what they know.

➢ experts can influence us because we assume they know what they are talking about.
➢ but experts cannot be persuasive unless we also trust them.
➢ experts and professionals may be more highly trusted as they are probably seen to
possess expertise.
➢ powerful speakers are assumed to be credible sources.
➢ powerless speech, such as speech containing disclaimers (I’m not an expert, but …”),
detracts from the speaker’s credibility and therefore is less successful at exerting
influence.
➢ other factors make a speaker more or less credible.
➢ one such factor is how fast the speaker talks.

b) source likeability:
 we are also persuaded by sources we like.
 two important factors that influence whether we like someone are:
1. similarity and 2. physical attractiveness.

in a study that examined source similarity, students at the university of California, read a
speech promoting the use of standardised test scores in university admissions. strong
arguments were persuasive when the delegate who wrote the speech was a fellow student at
the university of California, but not when the delegate was a student from a different
university (the university of new Hampshire). weak arguments were not persuasive regardless
of who wrote the speech.

so, overall, the similar source was more persuasive than the dissimilar source.

physical attractiveness produces a positive reaction from other people. we assume that
attractive people also possess many other desirable traits – including characteristics that can
influence how persuasive a person is, such as intelligence.

in paintings a halo is the circle of light drawn above a person’s head to indicate their
holiness; angels are generally shown with haloes, and this reaction is called the halo effect.

(def) halo effect – the assumption that because people have one desirable trait
22222222222222 (attractiveness), they also possess many other desirable traits
2222222222222 (intelligence)

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for example, attractive political candidates are more effective at persuading people to vote
for them than are unattractive candidates, even though many voters deny the impact of
attractiveness on electability.

8.3.2 says what: the message.

messages can vary on several dimensions:

a) reason versus emotion:

there are two approaches in presenting a persuasive message:

1. one can present the cold, hard facts.

2. one can appeal to emotions.

 well-educated and analytical people are more responsive to arguments based on logic
and reason. however, emotional responses can also be very effective.
 research has shown that people who are in a good mood are more receptive to
persuasive messages than other people.
 using humour is one way to put an audience in a good mood.
 humour can also make the source more likable.
 on the downside, people may remember that a message was funny but forget what the
message was about.

 fear is another emotional approach.

 do scare tactics work to persuade people?
 Carl Hovland based his persuasion research on learning theory, which focuses on the link
between the stimulus and the response.
 Hovland predicted that a frightening message (the stimulus) would increase arousal,
attention, and comprehension of the message, which would result in attitude change (the
response).
 attitude change, in turn, should function as a reinforcement because it reduces the fear.
 fear appeal and attitude change may have an inverted (upside-down) u-shaped
relationship.

(def) inverted (upside-down) u-shaped relationship – a relationship that looks like an

2222222 upside-down u when plotted.

 attitude change is lowest for no fear and extremely high fear appeals, with the most
attitude change occurring for moderate fear appeals.
 subsequent research has shown that fear appeals are persuasive if they do not paralyse
the audience with fear, if the audience is susceptible to the danger, and if the audience is
told how to avoid the danger.

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fear appeal and attitude change:

the inverted (upside-down) u-
shaped relationship.

 the inverted u-shaped relationship demonstrates that increasing arousal through fear will
promote attitude change just up to the middle of the curve.
 after that the arousal will become too intense and not result in attitude change.
 think of exam stress. after a certain point you feel too stressed, and your performance
begins to suffer. at the extreme you get a blank.
 advertisers even want to frighten us into buying their products.
 for example, who to get caught with bad breath, dandruff, or stinky armpits?
 fear appeals can indeed be persuasive, as long as people don’t become too afraid.
 other approaches might also be more effective than fear appeals, such as promoting
efficacy (“I can do it!”).

b) one-sided versus two-sided messages:

 another factor in persuasion is how a message is conveyed.

 that is, does the presenter offer only one side of the argument, or are both sides given?

one-sided versus two-sided messages can be found in political campaigns. one-sided

messages are more effective when audience members are less educated or have already
made up their minds on the issue.

 should a political candidate talk only about his or her own strengths, or also about the
opponent’s weaknesses?
 in politics, negative campaigning is defined as trying to depict one’s opponent as bad –
instead of focusing on what is good about one’s own candidate, a negative
advertisement talks mainly about the other side and tries to turn voters against him or
her.
 polls indicate that many voters disapprove of negative campaigning, and many
candidates say they will refrain from criticising their opponents.
 nonetheless, one has only to watch television in the later stages of almost any major
campaign to see negative advertisements.

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 in south african politics, negative campaigning characterises many of the interactions

between the ANC and the opposition parties, mainly the da and the eff.

why are negative political adverts so common? does it work?

 in many cases, negative campaigning involves trade-offs.

 one cost is that negative campaigning tends to produce lower evaluations of both
candidates.
 in several laboratory studies, participants read campaign adverts that were either positive
or negative. when both sides used negative adverts, the participants perceived both
candidates more negatively.
 negative adverts also made participants less likely to say they would vote, at least if
voting was difficult (because of bad weather).
 negative campaigning may be most effective as a desperation measure by a candidate
who seems to have little chance and is willing to try anything to improve support.
 negative campaigning does not win very many votes, but perhaps that is not its goal –
instead, the goal is to reduce the other side’s votes.
 if voters for the other side stay home while one’s own supporters are fanatical enough to
vote despite an ugly, negative campaign, it might still work.

c) overheard messages:

 other research has shown that if people think they are overhearing a message, they are
more persuaded than if they see it as a sales pitch aimed directly at them.
 people are more persuaded by messages that do not seem to be designed to influence
them.
 advertisers sometimes use this “overheard communicator trick” to persuade consumers.

 research has shown that advertisements with omitted conclusions are more persuasive
than advertisements with conclusions.
 consumers appear to be more strongly influenced by the advertised message if they
draw the conclusion on their own.

 because it is so easy to skip advertisements on television today, advertisers sometimes

use product placement directly in television shows or movies.
 one reason product placements work so well is that people don’t realise that advertisers
are trying to influence them, so they let down their guard.
 product placement occurs in most forms of media, including video games.
 for example, product placement is very prominent in racing video games. players recall
the products placed immediately after the game and also months later.
 ”overhear” messages can be quite persuasive.

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people from individualistic cultures are people from collectivistic cultures are
more influenced by person-focused ads. more influenced by group-focused ads.

d) repetition:

 persuasive messages, such as advertisements, are often shown repeatedly.

does this help or hurt the message?

 remember that the mere exposure effect is the tendency for new stimuli to be liked more
after the individual has been exposed to them repeatedly.
 accumulated research confirms that repeated exposure to adverts does influence
memory for adverts.
 the initial attitude toward the product makes a difference.
 if the person has a neutral or positive response to the message initially, then repeated
exposure can make the message more persuasive; if the person hates the message right
from the start, hearing it again and again will only make things worse.

 even if audience members initially like the message, they don’t want to hear it too many
times, or advertisement wear-out might occur.

(def) advertisement wear-out – defined as a condition of inattention and possible irritation

222222222222 that occurs after an audience or target market has
22222222222 encountered a specific advertisement too many times.

 it is possible that the advertising industry over-states the danger of wear-out, because
the greater the perceived danger of wear-out, the faster companies buy new ad
campaigns, and the more money advertisers make.
 advertisers have to influence their clients as well as the people who watch their ads.
 one good way to prevent advertisement wear-out is to use repetition with variation –
repeat the same information, but in a varied format.

 the same idea of repetition applies to the home.

 parents may repeat themselves as they keep reminding children of a task they need to
do, such as tidying up or completing homework.
 the more this happens, and after a certain point, the child starts to ignore the nagging of
the parents and pretends not to hear.
 so, when is repetition (as a parent) enough and when does it get too much?
 maybe parents need to follow the advertiser’s lead, and use repetition with variation.

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8.3.3 to whom; the audience.

 in studying persuasion, one cannot ignore the characteristics of audience members, such
as how intelligent they are.
 some people are easier to persuade than others, and certain persuasion techniques work
better on some people than on others.
 it is always interesting to see, within your own circle of friends and family, who enjoys
which advertisement on television.

what does this depend on?

a) intelligence.
b) need for cognition.
c) concern about public image.
d) cultural differences.
e) distraction.

a) intelligence:

 studies conducted by Hovland, and his colleagues showed that more intelligent soldiers
learned more from films, analysed the ideas more thoroughly, and were more persuaded
by two-sided arguments than by one-sided arguments.

building on this research, Hovland’s colleague William McGuire developed a model for
persuasion that emphasised processes such as reception and yielding.

(def) receptivity – refers to whether you (def) yielding – refers to whether you
“get” - the message (do you pay attention “accept” the message (do you believe, and
to understand it?) especially whether you change your attitude
to agree with it and were you persuaded by
it?)

 McGuire found that audience members with high self-esteem listened with an open mind
to persuasive messages because they had confidence in their initial positions.
 however, they did not yield to the message because they were satisfied with their
existing attitudes.
 he also found that audience members with high intelligence were receptive to persuasive
messages because they had longer attention spans and were better able to comprehend
arguments.
 they too did not yield because they had confidence in their existing attitudes.
 later work has largely confirmed McGuire’s model.
 moderately intelligent people and people with moderate self-esteem levels are easiest to
persuade.

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 thus, there is an inverted-u relationship between intelligence and persuasion and

between self-esteem and persuasion.

b) need for cognition:

 most people are mentally lazy; they are cognitive misers.

(def) cognitive miser – a term used to describe people’s reluctance to do much extra
2222222222 thinking.

 in contrast, people high in need for cognition like to think, analyse situations and solve
mental problems.

(def) need for cognition – a tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful thinking, analysis and
22222222222 mental problem solving.

for example, people high in need for cognition may be more likely than others to watch the
debates in an election because they like to think about the issues and candidates.

 research has shown that people high in need for cognition are more persuaded by strong
arguments and are less persuaded by weak arguments than are people low in need for
cognition.

c) concern about public image:

 some people, such as those high on the traits of self-monitoring and public self-
consciousness are very concerned about their public image.
 persuasive messages that focus on name brands and stylish products appeal to such
people.
 in one study, people high in self-monitoring gave advertisements that focused on image
higher ratings than adverts that focused on quality.
 another study showed that people high in public self-consciousness were even
concerned about the brand of peanut butter they ate.

d) cultural differences:

 people from individualist cultures tend to place more emphasis on the individual,
whereas people from collectivist cultures tend to place more emphasis on the group.

 one cross-cultural study tested what types of advertisements appealed to members of

two cultures.
 one set of adverts focused on the person (“treat yourself to a breath-freshening
experience”); the other set of advertisements focused on the group (“share this breath-
freshening experience”).

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 Americans (from an individualistic culture) were more persuaded by the individualistic

adverts, whereas South Koreans (collectivistic) were more persuaded by the collectivist
adverts.
 another study showed that Americans had more favourable attitudes toward products
that offered “separateness”, whereas Chinese had more favourable attitudes toward
products that offered “togetherness”.
 the implication is that people are more persuaded by messages that match what their
culture values.

summary of the major results of persuasion studies conducted by Hovland, his colleagues,
and other researchers:

what type of sources what types of who is receptive to

are most persuasive? messages are most persuasive messages?
persuasive?
• highly credible sources. • logical messages – • people who are in a
mainly with educated, good mood.
analytical people.
• likable sources. • moderately fear- • people of average
inducing messages. intelligence and self-
esteem.
• convert communicators. • two-sided messages. • people concerned about
their public image (high
self-monitoring & high
public self-
consciousness)
• sources who argue • moderately discrepant • very young or very old
against their own self- messages. people.
interest.
• messages that are
repeated (but may
backfire)

 a study in Kenya showed that it is important to understand the cultural traditions and the
history of Kenyans when developing and showing advertisements.

this includes:

➢ ethnic traditions.
➢ a specific lifestyle.
➢ their heritage.
➢ their sensitivity towards being stereotyped.
➢ not feeling valued, disrespected, or excluded.

 for these reasons the study found that Kenyans are very loyal to advertised products that
understand and reflect the awareness of their ethnicity.

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 the implication is that people are more persuaded by messages that match their culture’s
general attitudes.

e) distraction:

 distraction is sometimes helpful to influence because it gets the conscious mind out of
the way, leaving the more susceptible automatic system to deal with the message.
 persuasion researchers have shown that distraction can help persuasion by preventing
the conscious mind from thinking of counterarguments.

the advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi used the art of distraction
in their Operation Smile South Africa campaign, run for a non-profit
organisation that provides free reconstructive surgery for those with
cleft lips and palates. they used illustrations and rhyme from three
children with cleft lips in a radio and print campaign.

to gather public support for this project, the campaign focused on three children with
cleft lips: Sally, Elvis, and Charlie. they distracted the viewers’ attention from the
children’s cleft lips by using “illustrations that combined a sense of fantasy with reality
based on the universal insight that people will do funny or strange things to divert
attention away from the things that they are self-conscious about”.

this prevented viewers from being shocked by the children’s cleft lips, while also
making it easy for the viewers to relate to feeling self-conscious about something. so,
for example, Sally had a monkey that lived in her hair, Charlie had a purple dot on his
forehead and Elvis had a very clever sock puppet.

the adverts then reminded the viewers about the cleft lips and asked them to help the
children forget about them permanently by donating to the fund.

 distraction isn’t always helpful. if you have a really good argument but the person
listening is distracted, they won’t understand how good your case is.

8.3.4 two routes to persuasion.

 the mind has two systems, one deliberate and the other automatic.
 attempts at influencing others can operate by accessing either system.
 that is, some forms of influence rely on appealing to conscious, rational, deliberate
processing, whereas other forms rely on activating automatic responses.
 one appeals to enlightened self-interest; the other appeals to motivations or responses
that may not be fully understood.
 illicit or “tricky” forms of persuasion rely more on the latter.
 both types of influence can be successful.

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 social psychologists have studied persuasion since the 1940s and have reported many
findings, some of them seemingly contradictory or incompatible.

in order to resolve these ambiguities, (or ELM for

short), and / both suggest two different routes to
persuasion.

➢ one route involves deliberate processing, whereas the other route involves automatic
processing.
➢ the two theories are quite similar, and experts use either set of terms.
➢ these routes correspond with the duplex mind.
➢ we describe the ELM and refer to the heuristic/systematic model when the two models
differ.

(def) elaboration likelihood model (ELM) – theory that posits two routes to persuasion, via
22222222222 either conscious or automatic processing.

(def) heuristic/systematic model – theory that posits two routes to persuasion, via either
2222222222222 conscious or automatic processing.

1. the route to persuasion that involves deliberate processing is called the central
route (or systematic processing in the heuristic/systematic model); it is depicted on the
top path in the image above.

(def) central route – the route to persuasion that involves careful and thoughtful
22222222222 consideration of the content of the message (conscious processing) –
222222222 also known as systematic processing.

➢ persuasion that occurs along the central route involves careful and thoughtful
consideration of the content of the message.

2. the route that involves automatic processing is called the peripheral route (or heuristic
processing in the heuristic/systematic model); it is depicted on the bottom path in the
image above.

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(def) peripheral route – the route to persuasion that involves some simple cue, such as
22222222222 attractiveness of the source (automatic processing) – also known as
22222222 heuristic processing.

➢ persuasion that occurs along the peripheral route involves the influence of some simple
cue, such as how attractive the source is. we will start at the left of the figure and work
our way to the right side.

 first, the person encounters a persuasive message (“vote for Hlomo!”).

 the first question is whether the person is motivated to process the message.

this is influenced by two factors:

1. personal relevance.
2. need for cognition.

1. personal relevance:

 personal relevance refers to whether people expect the issue “to have significant
consequences for their own lives”.

(def) personal relevance – degree to which people expect an issue to have significant
2222222222 consequences for their own lives.

 the more personally relevant the issue, the more motivated people are to think about the
persuasive message at a deep level.
 some issues have personal relevance throughout our lives (for example, the tax structure
of the country we live in, the quality of water and air where we live); other issues have
personal relevance for a certain period of time (for example, raising university fees, the
price of textbooks); still others have personal relevance only under very transient
conditions (for example, dishwasher adverts are personally relevant only when a person is
shopping for a dishwasher).

2. need for cognition:

 the other factor that influences motivation to process the persuasive message is need for
cognition.
 people high in need for cognition like to think and are therefore more likely than people
low in need for cognition to think about the message at a deep level.

thus, both situational and personal factors (need for cognition) influence personal relevance.
recent research shows that messages processed at a deep level are especially resistant to
change.

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 just because people are motivated to process a message does not mean they will be able
to process it.

two factors influence one’s ability to process the message:

1. distractions.
2. knowledge.

 distraction disrupts the ability to think about a persuasive message.

weak arguments were more

effective with distracted
participants, probably
because they were unable to
think carefully about the
half the participants message and discover its
participants in one were distracted by weaknesses.
study were exposed to having them count the
adverts for a variety of number of random
consumer products. clicks on a tape in contrast, strong
recording. arguments worked best on
the central route – that is,
when people were not
distracted and could think
consciously about the
message.

 deliberate (central route) processing also depends on having sufficient knowledge to

appreciate a message and possibly to understand what is wrong with it.
 this factor may help explain why females are more easily persuaded than males in some
domains, whereas males are more easily persuaded than females in other domains.
 both situational (distraction) and personal (knowledge) factors influence motivation.

 if a person is motivated and able to process the message, the outcome of the processing
that occurs depends on the quality of the arguments and the initial attitude.

a persuasive message can be either strong or weak:

when arguments are strong, thinking about in contrast, thinking about a message with
them leads people to recognise their weak arguments leads people to recognise
validity and to come up with further its flaws and to come up with thoughts that
thoughts that support the message. argue against the message.

strong messages lead to strong positive weak messages can lead to strong negative
attitude change. attitude change.

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 the person’s initial attitude sets some limits on how much the attitude can change.
 if the person has a very strong initial attitude, even a very strong opposing message may
fail to change it.
 additionally, people process information in a biased way.
 they are much more critical of messages that go against their views than of messages
that agree with their initial attitude.
 if people are not motivated or able to process a message, they may be persuaded by
cues peripheral to the message.

some examples of peripheral cues are:

➢ experts know best.

➢ the more arguments, the better.
➢ expensive products are good.
➢ rare products are good.
➢ what is beautiful is good.

SUMMARY:
 attitude change can take two routes.
 people who think about the message travel down the central route, whereas people who
don’t think about the message take the peripheral route.
 attitude change that occurs via the peripheral route tends to be weak.
 it is temporary, is vulnerable to change, and does not predict future behaviour very well.
 persuasion by the central route produces much more durable and powerful attitude
change, and it predicts behaviour very well.
 but of course, the central route is often the more difficult one to use because you
actually have to have strong, effective arguments.

8.4 resisting social influence techniques.

 before and during elections political parties try to obtain votes by trying to persuade the
electorate through all kinds of promises – depending on their political stance.
 in the retail sector, advertisers work even harder as black friday approaches, and apply
great pressure to persuade people to spend money on these sales.
 it seems difficult to resist all the persuasion in the media, but it is possible.

you can take steps to increase your resistance to persuasive attempts to change your
attitudes:

1. attitude inoculation.
2. forewarned is forearmed.
3. use all your resources.

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8.4.1 attitude inoculation:

 people brought up in a germ-free environment are highly vulnerable to diseases because

their bodies have not built-up antibodies to attack them.
 medicine has helped to solve this problem by inoculating people: exposing people to
weakened doses of viruses (as in a flu shot) helps make their immune systems stronger.
 William McGuire and his colleagues transferred this idea to the study of attitudes.
 they argued that cultural beliefs (“smoking is bad for your health”) should be especially
vulnerable to counterarguments because they exist in a kind of “germ-free” environment
where their validity is never challenged.
 they argued that in order to immunise people against persuasion, it is good to expose
them to some of the counterarguments against these cultural beliefs and let them build
up defences against the counterarguments.
 being exposed to too many counterarguments, like too heavy a dose of the live virus,
could have the opposite effect, reducing resistance rather than strengthening it.

 research has shown that inoculation works in the real world.

 one theory of persuasion is based on the statement, “what doesn’t kill me makes me
stronger” – according to this theory, when people resist persuasion, they become more
confident in their initial attitudes.
 when people think they have successfully resisted persuasion, they decide that their
initial attitude is correct and therefore feel more certain about it.
 such a pattern helps explain why inoculating people by exposing them to weak
arguments can protect them against stronger arguments.
 inoculation can help people counter-argue better.

8.4.2 forewarned is forearmed:

 unexpected sneak attacks on attitudes can be devastating.

 however, if you know an attack is coming, you can prepare to defend yourself.

high school students in a us study were forewarned either two or ten

minutes in advance that they would hear a speech on “why teenagers
should not be allowed to drive” (not a very popular message).

the remaining students heard the same talk but received no forewarning.
the results showed that students who received no forewarning were persuaded the most,
followed by those who received two minutes warning, followed by those who received ten
minutes warning.

when people believe that someone is trying to persuade them (and take away their
freedom of choice), they experience an unpleasant emotional response called
psychological reactance, which motivates them to resist the persuasive attempt.

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 often people will do exactly the opposite of what they are being persuaded to do; this is
called negative attitude change or the boomerang effect.

(def) negative attitude change (boomerang effect) – doing exactly the opposite of what one
222222222 is being persuaded to do.

8.4.3 use all your resources.

 to deal with persuasion attempts, we should use all the resources at our disposal:
physical, cognitive, and social.
 although irritating music has been only lately used to break down resistance in prisoners,
sleep deprivation is a very common tactic used on POWS (prisoners of war) during times
of war.

 we all function much better after a good night’s sleep.

 people may be more susceptible to persuasion tactics when they are tired.
 when we hear someone make a statement, we immediately accept the statement as
being true, regardless of whether it is actually true.
 it is only with mental effort that we recognise the statement to be false and reject it.
 all of this happens in a fraction of a second.
 people usually have enough cognitive energy and motivation to mentally reject
statements that sound false, but when people are tired, their mental energy levels drop,
and they become more susceptible to false statements.

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