What extent does the route of persuasion influence an ...



Australian science and Mathematics SchoolWhat extent does the route of persuasion influence an audience’s heart rate?Melanie BennettJuly 2014IntroductionSmoking contains chemicals that can negatively affect a person’s body. Advertisements are using a variety of techniques to persuade the public’s attitude’ on smoking to encourage people to quit or not start. There are two routes of persuasion used in advertisement; central and peripheral (Spencer & Hartstone, 2007). Central route persuades by making the audience think carefully about the message. Peripheral route persuades by using cues associated with pleasure, beauty and emotional response. A group of year 12 students participated in an experiment to observe how the route of persuasion of an advertisement would influence a participant’s emotional response. This investigation was based on studies such as ‘Central and peripheral routes to persuasion: An individual Difference Perspective’ by the American Psychological Association. The aim of the investigation was to explore which route of persuasion in anti-smoking advertisements would evoke a stronger emotional response. Participants were divided into two groups and were exposed to anti-smoking advertisements using a central or peripheral route of persuasion. Group 1 were exposed to a central route of persuasion and group 2 were exposed to a peripheral route of persuasion. Participants were instructed to measure their heart rate after exposure to test the effectiveness of the advertisements at evoking emotional responses.The independent variable was the route of persuasion used in the advertisement; central or peripheral route. The dependent variable was the heart rate of participants after exposure measured in beats per minute. A number of possible extraneous variables were kept constant such as the method participants used to measure their heart rate, the age of participants and the type of advertisement used.Hypothesis:People who view the advertisement with a central route of persuasion will have a higher heart rate than those viewing the advertisement with a peripheral route of persuasion.ResultsGraph 1: A column graph representing the mean heart rate of 2 groups exposed to either anti-smoking advertisements with a central or peripheral route of persuasionDiscussionInterpretationGraph 1 represents the mean heart rate of groups exposed to advertisements with different routes of persuasion. Group 1 had a mean heart rate of 60 BPM. Group 2 had a mean heart rate of 72 BPM. The trend shows the mean heart rate of those exposed to the peripheral route of persuasion was higher than those exposed to the central route of persuasion.From the trend in graph 1, the hypothesis ‘People who view the advertisement with a central route of persuasion will have a higher heart rate than those viewing the advertisement with a peripheral route of persuasion’, was not supported. The difference in the mean heart rate between participants exposed to advertisements with a peripheral route of persuasion compared to central routes of persuasion suggest the peripheral routes of persuasion have a greater impact on heart rate.The standard deviation of the group exposed to a central route of persuasion was 10. It is unlikely that a different sample size would produce notable differences in results because the low standard deviation suggests there were no significant outliers in the results. EvaluationThe mean difference of heart rate in groups exposed to peripheral and central routes of persuasion was 12; this does not appear significant. The small difference suggests there may be a lack in the effectiveness of both advertisements sources, messages, channels of communication or the validity and reliability of results.Validity and ReliabilityThe experimental design tested the heart rate of participants exposed to advertisements with either peripheral or central routes of persuasion. The standard deviation suggested there were no significant outliers in the results. The experimental design kept all participants in the same environment which may have improved the reliability. However, the results can’t prove reliable unless repeated experiments produce similar results; a second, similar group of participants should be tested to support the reliability of results.To ensure the validity of the experiment, the data collected was objective quantative. The data was collected by the participants to prevent misinterpretation of results by the interpreter or other participants. However, many participants had difficulty measuring their heart rates and hadn’t measured heart rates before. This may have caused participants to measure their heart rates inaccurately. This inaccuracy could have substantially affected the results because results are not accurately based on their true heart rates. If the experiment was to be repeated, the heart rates should be tested someone who has experience measuring heart rates. Sample Size and RepresentativenessThe experiment was focused on the influence of routes of persuasion in anti-smoking advertisements on heart rate. The sample size of 35 students was not varied or large enough to represent a population besides year 12 ASMS students. The results could not represent people of a different age because heart rate slows down as a person ages (Stern, Behar & Gottlieb, 2003).Year 12 psychology students at the ASMS were used as the sample size. It is likely that the sample size could represent a population of senior students because ASMS students have a variety in culture and the experiment used random allocation; these are important aspects to consider when representing a population of senior students.StrengthsThe main strength of the experimental design was the prevention of variance in heart rate affecting the results. Differences in weather, stress and age can affect participant’s hearth rate. Extraneous variables that may influence heart rate such as noise and temperature were kept constant to ensure changes in heart rate were only influenced by the route of persuasion.The experimental design also prevented the placebo effect from influencing results. This occurs when a participant’s response is influenced by their expectations of how they are supposed to respond (Spencer & Hartstone, 2007). To ensure responses were only influenced by the independent variable, participants were randomly allocated into groups with no knowledge of it were a control group and no knowledge of the investigations purpose.WeaknessesFirstly, there was a lack of consistency in the amount of time participants were viewing the advertisements. Time exposure may affect the emotional response obtained. An improvement would be to use a video advertisement instead of a picture to ensure participants viewing time is consistent.Secondly, the design used an objective form of measurement; heart rate to decrease the risk of misinterpretation by the interpreter. However, heart rate may not be a valid way of measuring emotional responses because heart rates vary between people. An improvement would be to measure the heart rate before and after viewing the advertisement to calculate the change in heart rate to measure the emotional response.Lastly, the experimental design may not apply to the real world but using a qualitative investigation design may effectively explore more in depth into how anti-smoking advertisements in every day life may have affected participants.EthicsThe participant’s well being was the main consideration before conducting the investigation. Participants had the right to their privacy, therefore, no personal details were disclosed and each participant was allocated a random number to ensure data from participants were anonymous. Participant’s confidentiality was disclosed effectively due to the participants being spread out and their numbers being hidden from one another. All participants voluntarily signed a consent form stating that they wanted to take part; a small concern is that participants felt obliged to participate because the experiment was a part of an assignment. Participants had a right to withdraw from the experiment and this was also expressed prior to the investigation. Informed consent procedures are a large part of ethical considerations; however, procedures were not discussed in detail prior to the procedures due to knowledge of the investigation possibly influences the results. However, after the experiment took place, participants were debriefed; by being informed of the purpose and given support as a result of any distress experienced during participation.Conclusion The aim of the investigation was to explore which route of persuasion in anti-smoking advertisements would evoke stronger emotional responses. The emotional response was measured as the heart rate of participants after expose to an advertisement. It was hypothesised that ‘People who view the advertisement with a central route of persuasion will have a higher heart rate than those viewing the advertisement with a peripheral route of persuasion’. The trend in the results did not support to hypothesis. Although the results produced were likely to be reliable, the results may not be applicable in the real world and heart rate may not be a valid value to measure emotional responses. Additional testing with an improved method may gain insight into which route of persuasion is more effective at evoking emotional responses in anti-smoking adverts.BibliographyPetty, RE & John, CT 1988 ‘Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion: An individual Difference Perspective’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol, 46 no. 1, pp. 69-81, viewed 10 July 2014, <, P & Hartstone, M 2007, ‘Psychology Stage 2’, John Wiley & Sons Australia, Queensland, pp. 12 – 61Stern, S, Behar, S & Gottlieb, S 2003, ‘Aging and Diseases of the heart’, American Heart Association, viewed 10 July 2014, < Count: 1505 ................
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