Social Psychology
Chapter 7: Persuasion
What paths lead to persuasion?
What are the elements of persuasion?
How do cults indoctrinate?
How can persuasion be resisted?
Persuasion
Persuasion: The process by which a message
induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or
behaviors.
– If a message is good we call it education which is
hopefully more factually based, if it is bad we call it
propaganda.
– In the last decade, American’s support for gay rights
and gay civil unions or marriage has significantly
increased. Some people view such attitude
changes as reflecting ―education,‖ others as
reflecting ―propaganda.‖
Persuasion
Operation Iraqi Freedom Leaflets
Persuasion
Persuasive messages must cross multiple
hurdles before they are effective.
– Effectiveness can be enhanced at any point,
perhaps by using an attractive messenger thus
increasing attention.
What Paths Lead to Persuasion?
The Central and Peripheral Routes
• Central Route to Persuasion: Occurs when
interested people focus on the arguments and
respond with favorable thoughts.
– Most effective when the audience cares deeply
about the issue.
– We can’t put deep thought into every issue.
• Peripheral Route to Persuasion: Occurs when
people are influenced by incidental cues, such
as a speaker’s attractiveness.
– Most effective when people do not care enough to
put a lot of thought into the message.
What Paths Lead to Persuasion?
Different Routes for Different People
• ―All effective propaganda must be limited to a few very sharp
points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member
of the public understands.‖
– Adolph Hitler
The goal of all
persuasive
messages is not
to change
opinions, but to
change
behaviors.
What Paths Lead to Persuasion?
Different Routes for Different People
What Paths Lead to Persuasion?
Different Routes for Different People
What Paths Lead to Persuasion?
Different Routes for Different People
What Paths Lead to Persuasion?
Different Routes for Different People
Which Path is this one?
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
Who Says? The Communicator
Credibility
• Credibility: Believability. A credible
communicator is perceived as both expert and
trustworthy.
– Perceived Expertise: Degree to which an audience
believes one is an expert.
• Sleeper Effect: A 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 (because it was a noncredible
source).
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
Who Says? The Communicator
Attractiveness and Liking
• Attractiveness: Having qualities that appeal to
an audience. An appealing communicator (often
someone similar to the audience) is most
persuasive on matters of subjective preference.
– Physical Appeal: Athletes make very persuasive
spokespeople.
– Similarity: Members of our own group are more
persuasive than members of a different group.
Six Persuasion Principles
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
What is Said? The Message Content
Reason vs. Emotion
• Well-educated or analytical people are more
responsive to rational appeals than are less-
educated or less analytical people.
• Thoughtful, involved audiences often travel the
central route; they are more responsive to
reasoned arguments.
• Uninterested audiences more often travel the
peripheral route; they are more affected by how
much they like the communicator.
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
What is Said? The Message Content
Reason vs. Emotion
The Effect of Good Feelings
• Messages associated with good feelings are
more persuasive.
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
What is Said? The Message Content
Reason vs. Emotion
The Effect of Arousing Fear
• A persuasive campaign might read ―Smoking
kills, stopping smoking now is the best
defense.‖
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
What is Said? The Message Content
Discrepancy
• Only a highly credible communicator maintains
effectiveness when arguing an extreme
position.
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
What is Said? The Message Content
Primacy vs. Recency
• Primacy Effect: Other things being equal, information
presented first usually has the most influence.
• Recency Effect: Information presented last sometimes
has the most influence. Recency effects are less
common than primacy effects.
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
How it is Said? The Channel of Communication
• Channel of Communication: The way the
message is delivered—whether face-to-face, or
in some other way.
– Can involve printed word, video, email, or word of
mouth.
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
How it is Said? The Channel of Communication
Personal vs. Media Influence
• Two-Step Flow of Communication: The process by which media
influence often occurs through opinion leaders, who in turn
influence others.
– Those who influence us get their ideas from somewhere?
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
How it is Said? The Channel of Communication
Personal vs. Media Influence
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
To Whom is it Said? The Audience
How Old are They?
• Life cycle explanation
– People tend to become more conservative with age.
• Generational explanation (more support)
– Attitudes do not change; older people hold onto the
attitudes they adopted when they were young. At
that time, people were more likely to adopt
conservative values.
– Attitudes tend to form during adolescence and they
to stabilize with age.
What are the Elements of Persuasion?
To Whom is it Said? The Audience
What are They Thinking?
• Forewarned is forearmed—if you care enough to
counterargue
• Distraction disarms counterarguing: If too busy, then
we can’t formulate arguments against a persuasive
message.
• Uninvolved audiences use peripheral cues
– Need for Cognition: The motivation to think and analyze.
Assessed by agreement with items such as ―The notion of
thinking abstractly is appealing to me‖ and disagreement
with items such as ―I only think as hard as I have to.‖
– People high in need for cognition more persuaded by central
routes, people low in need for cognition more persuaded by
peripheral cues.
The Need for Cognition Scale
• 1. Thinking is not my idea of fun.
1 2 3 4
Strongly disagree strongly agree
• 2. I like tasks that require little thought
once I’ve learned them.
1 2 3 4
Strongly disagree strongly agree
Summary: Elaboration Likelihood Model
Audience Processing Persuasion
Analytical & High effort: Cogent
Central motivated Elaborate, arguments
Route agree, or evoke
counter- enduring
Persuasive
argue agreement
Appeal
Not analytical Low effort: Cues trigger Response
Peripheral or involved Use liking and
Route peripheral acceptance,
cues, rule-of- often only
thumb temporarily
heuristics
Extreme Persuasion: How do Cults Indoctrinate?
• Cult (also called New Religious Movement): A
group typically characterized by (1) distinctive
ritual and beliefs related to its devotion to a god
or a person, (2) isolation from the surrounding
―evil‖ culture, and (3) a charismatic leader. A
sect, by contrast, is a spinoff from a major
religion.
Extreme Persuasion: How do Cults Indoctrinate?
Attitudes Follow Behavior
• People internalize commitments made
voluntarily, publicly, and repeatedly.
• Compliance breeds acceptance
– Behavioral rituals, public recruitment, and fund
raising strengthen identity as members.
– The greater the commitment, the greater the need
to justify it.
• The Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon
– Recruiters begin with invitations to dinner, followed
by getaway weekends.
– Monetary offerings are at first voluntary, then
mandatory.
Extreme Persuasion: How do Cults Indoctrinate?
Persuasive Elements
• The Communicator: Successful cults have charismatic leaders.
– Jim Jones used ―Psychic Readings‖ to establish his
credibility.
• The Message: Vivid, emotional messages meant to shower
lonely followers with love.
• The Audience: Cult members tend to be younger and more
impressionable and/or facing crises in their lives.
Extreme Persuasion: How do Cults Indoctrinate?
Group Effects
• Cults typically separate members from their previous
social support systems.
– Eventually, members engage socially only with other group
members.
– Group creates identity and defines reality.
• Cults frown on or punish disagreement leading to the
illusion of consensus.
• Similar techniques used by ―acceptable‖ groups such
as the military, Catholic monasteries, and fraternities
and sororities.
• Similar elements can emerge in group therapy
sessions.
How can Persuasion be Resisted?
Strengthening Personal Commitment
• Before encountering others’ judgments,
make a public commitment to your
position.
• Challenging beliefs: Attacking a person’s
belief with a weak argument will make
them more committed.
• Developing counterarguments
– Attitude Inoculation: Exposing people to weak
attacks upon their attitudes so that when stronger
attacks come, they will have refutations available.
How can Persuasion be Resisted?
Real-Life Applications: Inoculation Programs
Inoculating Children Against Peer Pressure to
Smoke
• ―She’s not really liberated if she’s hooked on tobacco.‖
• ―I’d be a real chicken if I smoked just to impress you.‖
How can Persuasion be Resisted?
Real-Life Applications: Inoculation Programs
Inoculating Children Against the Influence of
Advertising
• Many European nations restrict advertising that targets
children.
• In America the average child sees 10,000 commercials a year.
• ―In general, my children refuse to eat anything that hasn’t
danced on television.‖
– Erma Bombeck
• It has been shown that children can be inoculated to television
advertising by viewing and analyzing ads with grownups.
The Elements of Persuasion
Changing Attitudes
Information Campaigns
Information Campaigns
What is Propaganda?
• Propaganda is an act of persuasion that systematically
spreads biased information that is designed to support
or oppose a person, product, cause, or organization.
• Emotional appeal is the arousal of emotions to give a
biased meaning or power to an idea.
– Spicy foods and stress cause stomach ulcers. (unbiased
statement)
– Don’t buy your insurance from DealState; that outfit is a
bunch of crooks. (biased argument)
Propaganda
Irrelevant Arguments: Fallacies
• Personal attack is the use of abusive remarks in
place of evidence for a point or argument. Also
known as an ad hominem attack, it attempts to
discredit the point by discrediting the person
making the point.
• Example: Sam, a convicted felon, wants to ban
smoking in restaurants. His opponents attack
his criminal record, not his idea: ―Now the
lawbreakers want to make the laws.‖
Propaganda
Irrelevant Arguments: Fallacies
• A Straw Man fallacy is a weak argument substituted for a
stronger one to make the argument easier to challenge.
• It distorts, misrepresents, or falsifies an opponent’s position.
Attention is shifted away from a strong argument to a weaker
one.
• Example: Governor Goodfeeling opposes drilling for oil in Alaska. But the
U.S. is too dependent on foreign oil supplies, and the economy would
benefit from having an American supply for oil. The Governor wants to keep
us dependent on foreign oil cartels.
The governor’s reasons for opposing drilling are not
mentioned. Instead, the writer changes the tactic to the
U.S. dependence on oil.
Propaganda
Irrelevant Arguments: Fallacies
• Begging the question restates the point of an
argument as the support and conclusion. It is
also known as circular reasoning.
• Example: ―Spinach is an awful tasting food because
it tastes bad.‖ (BQ)
• Example: ―I never eat spinach because it has a bitter
taste, and I don’t like foods that taste bitter.‖ (not BQ)
Propaganda
Irrelevant Arguments
• Name-calling uses negative labels for a product, idea,
or cause. The labels use emotionally loaded words
and use details that cannot be verified.
• Examples:
– Cristina Singer has an air of raunchy diva in her
newest album. Even though her voice delivers a
decent mix of pop, rock and soul, her vampire-in-
leather costume and wicked-witch makeup makes
her act scary to watch.
– People who burn the flag are traitors.
Propaganda
Irrelevant Arguments
• Testimonials are irrelevant personal opinions to
support a product, idea, or cause. Often a
celebrity is used as a spokesperson.
• Example: Famous athlete Jerome High-Jumper
says, ―Drinking milk every day makes me the
athlete I am.‖
Propaganda
Irrelevant Arguments
• Bandwagon uses or suggests the irrelevant
detail that ―everyone is doing it.‖ Therefore, you
should do it too!
• Example: ―I should be able to stay out until 3 A.M. All the
other kids can. I’m the only one who isn’t allowed to stay out
late on prom night.‖
Propaganda
Irrelevant Arguments
• Plain folks uses irrelevant details to build trust
based on commonly shared values. An image
is put forth to which everyday people can more
easily relate.
• Examples:
– A candidate running for office dressed in blue
jeans and a plaid shirt eating a hotdog.
– A woman dressed in casual clothes cooking
in a kitchen where the TV ad is trying to get
you to buy their product.
Propaganda
Inadequate Arguments
• Either-or assumes that only two sides to an
issue exist. Also known as the black-and-white
fallacy, it offers a false dilemma because more
than two options are usually available.
• Example: ―If you don’t give to the toy drive, you don’t care
about children.‖
Propaganda
Inadequate Arguments
• False comparison assumes that two things are
similar when they are not. This is also known as
a false analogy.
• Example: ―Animals deserve the same legal rights as
humans.‖
Propaganda
Inadequate Arguments
• False cause, or Post Hoc ergo Propter Hoc
assumes that because events occurred around
the same time, they have a cause-and-effect
relationship.
• Example: ―I won’t hit a home run unless I wear my special
baseball cap.‖
Propaganda
Inadequate Arguments
• Card stacking omits factual details in order to
misrepresent a product, idea, or cause. It
intentionally gives only part of the truth.
• Example: A commercial mentions that the product is low in
fat, but fails to say that it is loaded with sugar and calories.
Propaganda
Inadequate Arguments
• Transfer creates an association between a
product, idea, or cause with a symbol or image
that has positive or negative values.
• Examples:
– ―God Bless America‖ on a product
– ―Be like Alicia Silverstone and Woody
Harrelson…go vegetarian.‖
Propaganda
Inadequate Arguments
• Glittering generalities offer general positive
statements that cannot be verified. It is the
opposite of name-calling. Words like truth,
freedom, peace, and honor are used to suggest
positive things.
• Example: ―A vote for candidate Anthony Vacarro is a vote
for honesty and integrity!‖