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.?

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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 without much
thinking
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Persuasion Elements
Who Says? The Communicator
Credibility
 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
 Knowledgeable

 Speak confidently

 Perceived trustworthiness
 Eye contact

 Arguing against own self-interest

 Speak quickly

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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

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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!” ?

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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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