Social Cognition - How do we think about the social world



Attitude Change and Persuasion

How is persuasion different from propaganda?

Propaganda is the spread of ideas, information or rumors for the purpose of helping or hurting an institution, a cause, or a person (Brown, 1967)

The term propaganda first used in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV in an attempted to increase church membership by strengthening or “propagating” beliefs

The Nazis had a department of propaganda

Propaganda Techniques

• Use of stereotypes

• Substitution of names

• Pinpointing an enemy

• Appeals to higher authority

• Selection of facts

• Downright lying

• Repetition

• Assertion

The Impact?

Powerful persuasive forces are at work on us everyday.

Some are positive and others very negative.

TV and the media bombard us with persuasive messages constantly

Prakansis and Aronson state “The age of propaganda: The everyday use and abuse of persuasion” the average American sees 100’s of ads per day and millions in your lifetime

Questions

• When are attempts to persuade people effective?

• What determines whether they are effective?

• How can we resist negative persuasive attempts?

The Message-Learning approach or Communication Model of Attitude Change

Carl Hovland and colleagues worked for the army during WWII developing and testing messages aimed at persuading Americans to save tin, etc.

The main researchers from “Why We Fight” studies return to Yale to study persuasion

Carl Hovland, Irving Janis, Harold Kelly (1953) “Communication and Persuasion”

Conducted more than 50 experiments from 1946 to 1961

The Yale Model suggested that 4 major factors in the communication process influence persuasion.

• Source variables (Who?)

• Message variables (What?)

• Channel variables (How?)

• Audience variables (To Whom?)

Characteristics of Source

• Credibility (Expertise and Trustworthiness)

• Attractiveness or Liked source

• Similarity

• Charisma

• Appearance

• Status and Power

Message Variables -Some messages are more persuasive depending on the situation

• Emotional or affective appeals vs. rational or cognitive appeals

• Fear appeals

• Primacy vs. recency

• Message repetition

• One vs. Two-sided messages

• Drawing conclusions

Fear Appeals - Persuasive messages designed to change attitudes by producing apprehension and anxiety if they are not followed

When are they most effective?

• Message must arouse enough fear

• Consequences are likely

• a specific, precise recommendation

• the recommended action is perceived as effective for reducing the threat

• the recipient or audience believes that they can perform the recommended action

Yale or Message Learning Approach

Provided a good deal of information into When and How persuasion occurs

Not a good model for understanding why people change their attitude

Passive view of the recipient of the message

Led to the Cognitive response models

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of Persuasion (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981)

Persuasion depends on the degree to which people elaborate or cognitively process the contents of a persuasive message

A theory of persuasion that argues that both effortful and non-effortful processes can produce attitude change

Two Routes to Persuasion (Central Route and Peripheral Route)

The Central Route to persuasion is taken when persuasion results from thinking about the issue or arguments

Focus on:

• Quality of the Arguments

• Nature of the message

Result:

• More accessible attitudes

• Stronger attitudes

• More resistance to counter persuasion

• More enduring attitudes

• More predictive of behavior

The Peripheral Route to persuasion results when we rely on superficial cues or non-issues in persuasion

Focus on:

• Quantity or # of Arguments

• Non-issues: attractiveness, presence of an expert, heuristics

Result:

• Less accessible attitudes

• Weaker attitudes

• Less resistance to counter persuasion

• Less enduring attitudes

• Less predictive of behavior

How can we induce someone to follow the central route?

• Is the person MOTIVATED to process the information?

• Does the person possess the ABILITY to process the information?

Factors that may influence Motivation

• Personal Relevance

• Energy level

• Open vs. Close mindedness

• Time

• Need for Cognition

Factors that may influence Ability to process the information

• Intelligence

• Knowledge

• Repetition

• Distractions

Petty and Cacioppo (1984)

The Issue: Comprehensive Graduation Exam

Independent Variables:

• Quality of the Arguments (Strong vs. Weak)

• Personal Relevance or Involvement ( (Low vs. High)

• Number of Arguments (3 vs. 9)

Dependent Variable:Post-communication Attitude

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