Theories of
Persuasion and
Attitude Change
First, A Definition: What is a
Theory?

The term “Theory” encompasses 5 Elements
– It provides an understanding concerning why
receivers are influenced in a certain set of
contexts
– It identifies a set of relevant variables critical in
persuasion and labels those that are irrelevant
– It explains many empirical findings in a
parsimonious set of propositions
– It allows us to make predictions concerning how
one set of variables will influence a set of
outcomes (belief, attitude, behavior changes)
– It offers guidelines to tell us the contexts in which it
will most likely be used
Cognitive Consistency Theories:
“Balance Theories”
Balance Theory
 Cognitive Dissonance
 Psychological Reactance Theory

Premises of Balance Theories
People seek consistency in their views;
in their attitudes and beliefs
 The common link:

– Inconsistency causes stress
– Inconsistency can be fixed through
attitude/belief change
Balance Theory (Heider, 1946)
Three cognitive elements can be
balanced or imbalanced
 The least important element is usually
changed
 We prefer balance

Balance Theory: Balance
+
Your Friend
Jerry Springer
+
You
+
Everything is
balanced, so
there’s no stress.
Balance Theory: Imbalance
+
Your Friend
Jerry Springer
-
You
+
Now there’s a
problem, since
you want to
know how
your friend
can’t like
Springer.
Balanced and Imbalanced
Cognitive Structures
P
P
P
P
+
+
O + X
+
O - X
+
O - X
O + X
P
P
P
P
+
O + X
O - X
+
+
O - X
+
O + X
P = Person; O = Other; X = Topic, Issue, Attitude Object
Trick for recall: Odd # of minus signs = Imbalance
Balance Theory:
Sources of Imbalance
Source-Proposition
 Attitude Component
 Behavior-Attitude

Source - Proposition
Source: A person or group
 Proposition: Message from the person
or group
 Discrepancy: Message differs from what
we believe the source would say
 Ex: If George W. says “This country
sucks”

Attitude Component
Inconsistencies between any two
attitudes
 Ex: Love your pet cow, but love
hamburgers too

Behavior - Attitude
Your actions are inconsistent with your
attitudes
 Ex: You support animal rights but wear
fur coats

Cognitive Dissonance
(Festinger, 1957)

Cognition: perception of an object or idea
 Two sets of cognitions can be mutually:
– Consonant: Pancakes are low in fat, therefore
healthy to eat; I love to eat pancakes
– Dissonant: Waffles are high in fat, therefore
unhealthy to eat; I love to eat waffles
– Irrelevant: Waffles and Pancakes are healthier to
eat than chocolate; I love to take naps
Festinger initially suggests 3 ways
to reduce dissonance:

Change one element
– Stop eating waffles.

Add consonant opinions
– Since behavior change is most difficult, we might
read other articles that suggest salt, not fat should be
the prominent health concern; therefore we change
the belief that fat-filled waffles are bad for us

Change the importance of cognitions
– Yes, waffles may have a lot of fat in them, but
honestly, it is just a waffle; it tastes great, it makes
me happy, and it is the only food I like eating in the
morning, that doesn’t give me difficulty breathing
while cooking it – benefits of continuing outweigh
(invalidate) costs
Dealing with Dissonance without
behavior change (Today)







Derogate the source
Rationalize
Seek social support
“Misperceive” the sources position
Compartmentalize: ignore or forget
discrepancies
Convince the source of his/her error
Modify Attitudes
Cognitive Dissonance (cont’d)

Which solution will be chosen? That which
offers the least resistance; the easiest one
– Meaning? Behavior change is least likely to occur
compared to all other options

Dissonance is always occurring, however, it
varies greatly in magnitude
– Some dissonance is therefore more likely to cause
a change

Dissonance and Decision Making
– The greater the post-decisional dissonance, the
greater the need to justify that we made the
correct choice (ask me about my wedding budget)
• This can result in selective exposure to only supportive
information – though this is not always empirically
supported
Cognitive Dissonance (cont’d)

Disconfirming an Important Belief
– Heaven’s Gate predicted that they would be taken
onboard a UFO that trailed the Hale-Bopp
comet… most of them died (pudding, vodka and
drugs).
– Suppose you were a cult member, but you missed
the bus. The next day, NASA said that there was
no UFO in the tail of the comet.
– According to cognitive dissonance, you would do
what?
• http://www.rickross.com/reference/heavensgate/gate38.h
tml
• Story of group and flood Festinger infiltrated
Psychological Reactance Theory
(Brehm & Brehm, 1981)
•
Deals with situations in which people
“react” to rules, laws or other restrictions
place upon them
• Smokers fighting for their right to smoke in
public places/buildings; this behavior
increases as restrictions expand
•
Similar to “reverse psychology” but
generally this connection is overused
and loose
Psychological Reactance
6 Contextual Propositions

Censorship – recordings censored or banned
are more desirable, making the bands more
popular, increasing sales
– Song of the South on VHS

Limited Editions – consumers are willing to
pay more for the privilege of owning one of
the few items in the series; limited edition
means freedom to purchase is decreased
Psychological Reactance
Contextual Propositions (cont’d)
The Scarcity Rule – more in chapter 10, but
same idea. If you don’t buy it today, you may
not get to (book says Cabbage Patch dolls - I
would say tickle-me Elmo too)
 Reactions to “orders” – orders threaten
individuals freedom, may result in directly,
intentionally disobeying the order (Honking in
NYC)

Psychological Reactance
Contextual Propositions (cont’d)
Political Reactions – any restrictions over
previously unrestricted behavior can result in
protests and rallies to deregulate the behavior
again
 Romantic Involvements – “Romeo and Juliet
Effect”; the more parents interfere with a highschool-aged couple, the more “in love” the
couple becomes over time

Psychological Reactance: Use in
Persuasion?

Especially limited editions/scarcity
principle in marketing/advertising
– LOTR, XMEN
– Infomercials: Billy Mays
Message Learning Approach

WWII - Hovland realized that no
significant research examined how
people are influenced by (or resist)
messages
– Again, concern over the Nazi propaganda
machine
– Recall: What is propaganda? Why would
they fear it?
4 Stages of Message Learning

Attention
– People must first notice the message
– Commercial techniques for breaking through the
clutter (orienting response [super bowl car],
violating reality, breaking frame, etc.)

Comprehension
– People have to understand the message in order
to be persuaded
– Language and organization of messages is
therefore important
4 Stage of Message Learning
(cont’d)

Yielding
– Message must raise questions in the receiver’s
mind
– Message should provide incentives to change
mind—or imply punishments for a failure to
change
– Use of evidence (beliefs) with statistics,
testimonials, etc. will change attitudes

Retention
– Receiver must remember the message
– Receiver should elaborate on arguments
– Easy to remember information (such as slogans)
are most effective
Independent Variables
Affecting Persuasion
Message
 Source
 Recipient
 Channel

*We will cover each one in detail
Message Characteristics
Language Used –arousing? Easy to
follow? Or is it Ben Stein?
 Sidedness (1 vs. 2-sided messages)

– Found in “comparison advertisements”
– Pick a product
Message Characteristics (cont’d)

Number of Repetitions (and arguments)
– Repetition increases consumer learning
– Helps establish new brands in the market
– A group of commercials will not wear out as
quickly as a single one
– Commercials wear out faster among those who
are heavy TV viewers
– Commercials with a single gag/punchline wear out
more than those relying on narration
– Commercials for infrequently purchased items
have a longer shelf life…. Why?
– Greater the time span between airings, the longer
the single commercial can run… unlike Mambo #5
Message Characteristics (cont’d)

Temporal Ordering
– Primacy vs. Recency
– Primacy effect when:
•
•
•
•
Topic is interesting to the receiver
Materials are familiar
Issues are relatively unimportant
Decision regards a person’s character
– Recency effect when:
•
•
•
•
Topic is of low interest to recevier
Materials are unfamiliar
Issues are relatively important
Decision regards a general issue, not a person’s
character
Message Characteristics (cont’d)

Temporal Ordering (cont’d)
– Contrast Effect when:
• The comparison with the previous message
favors the latter
– Fatigue Effect when:
• Receiver gets tired of similar sequential
messages
– How does this play into news casts?
Interviews?
What you want to understand
about Temporal Order Effects

When two messages are presented in a
sequence without a break separating the two,
there is more learning from the first one
– Info learned first lasts longest
– Fatigue
– Interference from the first message inhibits
learning from the second

Recency is only the best option when the
vote/decision is made immediately
following the message presentation
 Look to page 70 in Bettinghaus & Cody
(1994)
Source Characteristics

Source Characteristics can impact:
– Incentives for receiver’s attendance
– Yielding of the receiver to the message

Incentives: Those source characteristics that
give receiver’s the motivation to attend
– Expertise
– Trustworthiness

Together these two concepts form Credibility
– How can this be demonstrated by the source?
Source Characteristics (cont’d)

Yielding: Those source characteristics
that encourage the receiver to accept
the message
– Similarity
– Power (authority)/Opinion Leader
– Attractiveness or Celebrity
• These are popular strategies because they
impact attention phase of message learning too
Receiver Effects
Goal: to make the persuasive appeal
appropriate for the audience
 2 types:

– Demographics – Age, Gender, etc.
– “Psychographics” – Self-esteem, IQ,
authoritarianism, need for cognition
• Often called “Individual Differences”
• Most interesting to study
Channel Effects

Interpersonal Influence vs. Mass Media
– Mass media can reach large audiences
– But for behavior change, we largely need
interpersonal reinforcement

Major emphasis is on Attention (will receivers
see it?)
 Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel, 1994)
– Different channels have varied levels of sensory
information (FTF, TV, Books, email)
– Based on these differences in channels, receivers
react differently to messages; Accordingly:
• Complex material is best presented in print – gets the
receiver to focus on the message
• Audio/Audio-Visual material draws the attention to the
source of the message – receivers do not focus on the
details of the message
Time for a synopsis…

Message Learning Process has 4 Stages:
–
–
–
–

Attention
Comprehension
Yielding
Retention
Persuasive messages can be impacted by
other variables within:
– Source, Message, Receiver, and Channel
Recall implications of Media Richness
Theory as it relates to persuasion…

MRT suggests that channels can have
different levels of richness
 Certain channels convey more sensory
information than others
 The more senses impacted, the greater the
amount of information that can be presented
 However, the more “rich” channels will
provide alternatives for the receiver to attend
– This will impair detailed learning of the message
content
– How do persuasion researchers explain this
phenomenon?
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
(ELM; Petty & Cacioppo, 1986)
This model attempts to explain how
receivers engage in “issue-relevant”
thinking, specifically through delineation
between central and peripheral routes
(dual-processing strategies)
 The ELM has many problems—but it is
important to know; since some still
cherish it (especially Petty & Cacioppo)

The ELM (cont’d)

According to this approach, there are 2 routes
for information processing:
– Central (Analytic) Route
– Peripheral (Everything Else) Route

Basically, the Central Route will be used if the
person is sufficiently motivated to attend to
the message
 There are 7 primary propositions of the ELM
7 Propositions of the ELM

People are motivated to hold correct attitudes
 Individual and Situational factors affect
people’s motivation to elaborate (expend
cognitive energy to ensure the correct attitude
is held)
 Attitude Change can come from: a) the
arguments, b) the peripheral cues, or c) the
amount and type of elaboration
7 Propositions of the ELM (cont’d)

A number of factors affect either:
– Motivation (involvement, need for
cognition, multiple speakers/multiple
messages)
– Ability to scrutinize message arguments
(distraction and prior knowledge)

Biased processing attempts to support
existing attitudes (like selective
attention)
7 Propositions of the ELM (cont’d)
Peripheral cues become more important
as the motivation or ability to process
arguments is decreased
 Attitude change from central route will
last longer, will resist more
counterpersuasion and will be a greater
predictor of behavior

Heuristic-Systematic Model
(HSM; Chaiken et al., 1989)

A second dual-processing model relates
largely to the ELM, but rather divides
message learning into:
– Heuristics – mental shortcuts or
stereotypes
– Systematic reasoning – similar to central
route processing
HSM

The HSM has two main principles:
– Least Effort Principle
– Sufficiency Principle

These principles indicate how people
are likely to process new information,
and how resulting attitudes may affect
perceptions regarding the information
NEXT TIME…
Attribution Theory and
Theories of Belief Change