David Myers

Chapter 7 Persuasion
“To swallow & follow” or “…be a free agent”….
…which is it?

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Persuasion...matters
 Process by which a message induces change in beliefs,
attitudes, or behaviors
 Education or propaganda?
 Issues on…
 Global warning
 Weird beliefs
 Trillion dollar war
 Promoting healthier living
 Recruiting terrorists for ISIL
 Existential threats
 To Israel, U.S.? 2
What Paths Lead to Persuasion?
 Factors related to:
 Communicator, message, channel, audience
 (C. Hovland at Yale)
 Cognitive responses – clear/ convincing
 (Ohio State U)
 Central Route – (Explicit)
 Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments
and respond with favorable thoughts
 Peripheral Route (implicit)
 Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues,
such as a speaker’s attractiveness
 Focuses on cues that trigger automatic acceptance
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Persuasion Elements
 Who Says? The Communicator
 What makes a communicator persuasive?
 Credibility (perceived expertise & trustworthiness)
 Believability
 Sleeper effect

 Delayed impact of a message that occurs when an initially

discounted message becomes effective, as we remember the
message but forget the reason for discounting it

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What Are the Elements of Persuasion?
 Who Says? The Communicator
 Credibility
 Perceived expertise
 Helps to be seen as Knowledgeable

 Speak confidently

 Perceived trustworthiness
 Eye contact

 Gordon Hemsley and Anthony Doob (1978)

 Not trying to persuade them

 Arguing against own self-interest

 Alice Eagly, Wendy Wood, and Shelly Chaiken U of

Massachusetts
 Speak quickly 5
What Are the Elements of
Persuasion?
 Who Says? The Communicator
 Attractiveness and liking
 Physical attractiveness
 Perceived Similarity
 In values, attitudes, group identification

 Mimicry and attractiveness?

 J. Blascovich, Bailenson, Yee

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What Are the Elements of Persuasion?
 What Is Said? (Message Content)
 Reason versus emotion (depends on the audience)
 Reason works with more educated, analytical people
 Effect of good feelings
 …use peanuts and Pepsi! I. Janis (‘65)

 Effect of arousing fear

 Scare the hell out of them!

 Saliency is important

 Provide a solution

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The Message itself
Discrepancy
 Depends on the communicator’s credibility
 And the range of the audience’s “acceptability”
 A credible source (T.S. Elliot)
 Is more persuasive for a highly discrepant message
 -what exercise regimen should Nicole recommend for her
father
 Depends on what?

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What Are the Elements of Persuasion?
 What Is Said? The Message Content
 One-sided versus two-sided appeals
 Which one is more effective?
 Depends on whether the audience already agrees with the
message; if the audience is unaware of opposing arguments, it
is unlikely later to consider the opposition
 If they already oppose it, give both sides

 …Or if they already know the opposing view

 …Or if you know they will hear it

 E.g. ….. “….now Senator McCain is going to tell you that….”

 “O” during the presidential campaign..”

 C. Hovland (1949) tested it out with U.S. soldiers WWII

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What Are the Elements of Persuasion?
 What Is Said? The Message Content
 Primacy versus recency
 Primacy effect
 Other things being equal, information presented first usually
has the most influence
 E.g. “..intelligent…..to envious” (S. Asch, ‘46)

 Recency effect
 Information presented last sometimes has the most influence.
Recency effects are less common than primacy effects
 But it works when there is:

 1. sufficient time between for forgetting the first

 2. And the audience commits itself soon after the second

message 10
What Are the Elements of Persuasion?
 How Is It Said? The Channel of Communication
 -Face to face/sign/media ad
 On sermons (T. Crawford, ‘74)– “bigotry and prejudice” –
when asked:
 10% recalled the topic
 30% recognized the topic
 -little or no effect!
 Must be:
 Attention getting, understandable, memorable, compelling

 Active experience or passive reception?

 Active experience strengthens attitudes (self-perception?)
 Repetition and rhyming of a statement serves to increase its
fluency and believability
 What about “hands up, don’t shoot!” ? 11
What Are the Elements of Persuasion?
 How Is It Said? The Channel of Communication
 Personal versus media influence
 Personal - tell them to vote to change that city charter
provision! (75% complied!)
 Personal – most change in Watsonville with personal appeals
to change high risk behaviors for heart disease
 Media influence: The two-step flow
 Process by which media influence often occurs through
opinion leaders who, in turn, influence others
 Media -> Opinion leaders & “trend setters” (the “influentials”)

 -> rank and file (us)

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What Are the Elements of
Persuasion?
 How Is It Said? The Channel of Communication
 Personal (<- major influence) versus media influence
 Comparing media
 The more lifelike the medium, the more persuasive its message

 F to F, video, audio, written

 But best comprehension with written!

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What Are the Elements of Persuasion?
- age and thoughtfulness

 To Whom Is It Said? - The Audience

 How old are they?
 Life cycle explanation
 Attitudes change as people grow older

 Generational explanation (more supporting evidence )

 Attitudes do not change; older people largely hold onto the
attitudes they adopted when they were young

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What Are the Elements of
Persuasion?
 To Whom Is It Said? - The Audience
 What are they thinking? (central route)
 Forewarned is forearmed—If you care enough to counterargue
 Steal the opponent’s thunder!

 Distraction disarms counterarguing

 Words are used to promote candidate/product…while

 Visual images keep us occupied so we don’t analyze the words

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What Are the Elements of Persuasion?
 To Whom Is It Said? The Audience
 What are they thinking?
 Analytical people …need cognition (use central route)
 Uninvolved audiences use peripheral cues
 Ways to stimulate people’s thinking

 Use rhetorical questions (“can’t you do anything right?”)

 Present multiple speakers

 Make people feel responsible

 Repeat the message

 Get people’s undistracted attention

 Summary:
 Study suggestion -
 Read carefully the summary box on p 251!!!!
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Extreme Persuasion: How Do Cults Indoctrinate?
 Cult
 “New religious movement”
 1997 Marshall Applewhite took 37 people to Hale-Bopp
 Where is Hale-Bopp? Who lives there

 How did they get there?

 Why did the take them there?

 Did he truly believe it would work?

 Group typically characterized by

 Distinctive ritual and beliefs related to its devotion to a god or
a person
 Isolation from the surrounding “evil” culture
 Charismatic leader
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Extreme Persuasion: How Do Cults Indoctrinate?
 Attitudes Follow Behavior (Behavior -> Attitude)
 Voluntarily (perceived free choice)
 Publically
 repeatedly
 Compliance breeds acceptance
 Initiates become active members of the group
 Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
 Gradual induction – one step at a time-
 Jim Jones “People’s Temple” example

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Extreme Persuasion: How Do Cults Indoctrinate?
 Persuasive Elements
 Communicator
 Charisma --How did Jim Jones establish his “credibility?

 Message
 The “one way” to solve your problems…

 Direct appeal, small group discussions, social pressure

 The recruits’ need for approval and to belong
 Audience
 25 and younger….more malleable attitudes

 Educated, middle class, idealistic

 In crisis
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Extreme Persuasion: How Do Cults Indoctrinate?
 Group Effects
 Social implosion
 Isolation of members with like minded groups
 External ties weaken until the group collapses inward socially

 Monasteries

 Military organizations

 Fraternities and sororities

 Therapeutic communities for recovering drug and alcohol

abusers
 Strong social group norms prevail (conformity, obedience)

 Through need for information or group approval? (S. Asch)

 Can start with “folie a deux” Applewhite & Nettles

 True of Boston Marathon bombing as well?

 Is all group indoctrination bad?

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How Can Persuasion Be Resisted?
 Challenging authority:
 Dogmatic authority v. expert authority
 Strengthening Personal Commitment
 Make a public commitment to your argument
 Challenging beliefs
 A mild challenge (not strong enough to persuade)
 Causes them to become even more committed to their positon
 Developing counterarguments
 Attitude inoculation (W. McGuire, ‘64)
 Exposing people to weak attacks upon their attitudes so that
when stronger attacks come, they will have refutations
available
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How Can Persuasion Be Resisted?

 Real-Life Applications: Inoculation Programs

 Inoculating children against:
 Peer pressure to smoke
 Role playing on how to resist – gave them ammunition

 Elicit a public commitment not to smoke

 The influence of advertising

 Are there two sides to this?

 Harmful v. beneficial

 Can you think of any beneficial uses of ads?

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How Can Persuasion Be Resisted?

 Prepare others to counter persuasive appeals

 An ineffective appeal can be worse than none
 A way to strengthen existing attitudes is to weakly
challenge them

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