Persuasion

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Persuasion

• Persuasion is a form of influence that
  predisposes, but does not impose. It alters
  others judgments, and not just their behavior.
  It affects their sense of what is true or false,
  probable or improbable, their evaluations of
  people, events, ideas, proposals their private
  and public commitments to take this or that
  action, perhaps even their basic values and
  ideologies.
• Herbert Simon

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Supraliminal Stimuli
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Supraliminal Stimuli

• Subliminal Stimuli
• Read your social psychology textbook on Friday
  night rather than going out.

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Supraliminal Stimuli
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Steps in Persuasion Yale Attitude Approach

• Communication Stimuli
• Source characteristics, Message style, Amount of
  content, position extremity
• Receivers Dispositions
• General persuasibility, Attitude to
  communication stimuli
• Receivers Internal Responses
• Attention, Comprehension, Acceptance, Retention
• Observable Responses
• Changes in Opinion, Affect, Action

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Information Processing as a Commodity Model
(Brock)

• Which of the following communications would you
  prefer?
• 1a. information that is common knowledge, or
• b. a juicy bit of gossip that no one else
  knows.
• 2a. a story a friend begs you to listen to, or
• b. a story you have to beg your friend to
  reveal.
• 3a. an official account of a government scandal,
  or
• b. an account the government has tried to
  sensor.
• 4a. a story that reveals its ending from the very
  start, or
• b. a story that builds suspense by delaying the
  conclusion

According to Brocks model, factors that make
information valuable and increase
demand Scarcity, Effort, Restriction, Delay
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Cognitive Response Theory

• Theory holds that people actively compare
  persuasive messages to what they already know.
• Distraction Is all heckling bad?
• Should you personalize the message?
• What about message repetition?
• How can I keep those Ive convinced from changing
  their minds?

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The Lazy Information Processor Approach

• Heuristic decision rules (quick, easy responses
  to messages) allow receivers to bypass message
  content.
• Let me have a favor from you because I need a
  favor.
• The case of a turkey and a polecat.
• Another example Expensive Good
• Conditions for Mindless Processing
• Low motivation, Low comprehension, or Heuristic
  cues highly salient

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Weapons of Influence(Cialdini, 1984)

• Scarcity
• Reciprocity (the old give and take...and take)
• Commitment and Consistency
• Social Proof
• Liking and Authority. These are lecture topics
  unto
• themselves well take them up later.

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Social Proof (Phillips)
Observed-Usual Monthly Suicide Rates
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Social Proof

• Deciding what the acceptable and appropriate
  behavior is by imitating the behavior of other
  people.
• e.g. canned laughter, imitation (Chartland)

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Social Proof (Phillips)
Commercial Airline Fatalities
Story
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Social Proof (Phillips)
Accidents
Story