Persuasion

20-3

Objectives

• Describe the factors involved in the communication process

• Explain the different types of persuasion processes

Bell Ringer

• Read Exploring Psychology p. 590• Use a technique called familiarity

Persuasion

• Persuasion– The direct attempt to influence attitudes

• The persuader’s main hope is by changing the other person’s attitude, they will also change their behavior.

The Communication Process

• 4 parts of the communication process– The source• How a person sees the source or who is giving them the

information is a critical factor in his/her acceptance of the information• Boomerang effect- a change in attitude or behavior

opposite of the one desired by the persuader

The Communication Process

• The message• Two ways to deliver a message– Central route for persuasion • Presents information in form of strong arguments and

fact• Focused on logic

– Peripheral route • Relies on emotional appeals• Emphasizes personal traits and positive feelings

The Channel

• This is the where, when, and how a message is presented

• In general, personal contact is the most affective approach

• Some evidence that television and film are more effective than printed material

The Audience

• All the people whose attitudes the communicator is trying to change– Foot in the door technique- make a small request

they are sure to say yes to and then ask for a more demanding request.

– Door in the face technique-Make a large request you know they will say no to and then hit them with the smaller request

Models of Persuasion

• Heuristic model– Heuristic is a rule of thumb or a shortcut that may

lead to but does not guarantee a solution– If a person is not interested in the issue- they are

likely to result to a heuristic processing, a very low or casual form of analyzing evidence

– If they are interested in the issue- use systematic processing or the central processing route

Sleeper Effect

• Changes in attitude are not always permanent• Sleeper effect- the delayed impact on attitude

change of a persuasive communication.• Explanations:– Tendency to remember the message but forget

the source– As the message sinks in, attitudes change more

Inoculation Effect

• How to resist persuasion– People can be educated to resist change – It motivates individuals to defend their beliefs

more strongly– People need to practice defending their beliefs

and that makes them less likely to change– The most vulnerable attitudes are those which

you have never had to defend

Brainwashing

• The extreme form of attitude change– Uses peer pressure, physical suffering, threats,

rewards, guilt, and intensive indoctrination.

• Most extensive studies have been done on Westerners captured by the Chinese in the Korean War.

Brainwashing

• Step 1: strip away all identity• Step 2: subject person to extreme social

pressure and physical stress• Step 3: Isolate the person from social support• Step 4: Reward cooperation • Prisoner comes to believe his own confession• Difficult to say where persuasion ends and

brainwashing begins

Brainwashing

• Cult- a group of people who organize around a strong authority figure