PSY 321
Persuasion & Attitudes
Dr. Sanchez
Today’s Plan:
Persuasion
Elaboration Likelihood Model: Last Week
Persuasive Cues
Self-persuasion
Persuasion and Culture
Film on advertising and persuasion
Persuasion
Attempt
Audience
Factors
Processing
Approach
High
motivation
&
ability
________
(focus on
quality
of message)
Lasting
change
_________
(focus on
surface
Features)
Temporary
change
Persuasion
Outcome
Message
Low
motivation
&
ability
Features of the Source of a Message
that can Serve as Persuasive Cues
• Expertise
• _________
• Likeability
– attractiveness
– similarity
– in-group status
• Number of sources
Other Persuasive Cues
• Number of arguments
• Reactions of others
- “social proof”
Other Persuasive Cues
• Number of arguments
• Reactions of others
- “social proof”
• Mood
– classical conditioning
– “how do I feel about it?”  misattribution
– non-conscious mimicry and facial feedback
Classical Conditioning
Neutral stimulus
(Pavlov’s bell)
Presented in
conjunction
with
Positively eval.
stimulus (meat)
Positive feelings
(salivation)
Later...
Previously neutral
stimulus (bell)
Positive feelings
(salivation)
Persuasion Context….
Attitude Object
Presented in
conjunction
with
Well liked object,
setting, person
Positive feelings
Later...
Attitude Object
Positive feelings,
favorable attitude
Balance Principles
Heider’s Balance Theory


balance: occurs when we ______ with people
we like and when we ______ with people we
don’t like
_______ is aversive
Balance Principles
Balanced triad
+
you
your friend
+
+
Dalai Lama
Balance Principles
Heider’s Balance Theory


balance: occurs when we agree with people we like
and when we disagree with people we don’t like
imbalance is aversive
Balanced triad
+
you
Imbalanced triad
your friend
+
+ Dalai Lama
+
your friend
-
you
+
Dalai Lama
Balance Principles
Balanced triad
+
you
Balance restored…
your friend
+
+
Dalai Lama
+
your friend
-
you
-
Dalai Lama
Balance Principles
Balanced triad
+
you
Balance restored…
your friend
+
+
Dalai Lama
-
your
(ex)friend
-
you
+
Dalai Lama
Persuasion By
Communication
What Makes an Effective
Source?
Believable sources must be _________
sources.
The source must have two distinct
characteristics:


_______________
_______________
Who Do You Trust?
What Makes an Effective
Source? (cont.)
How likable is the communicator?
Two factors influence a source’s likability:


The similarity between the source and the
audience.
The physical attractiveness of the source.
Chaiken (1979)
50
40
Percentage
Who Signed
Petition
30
20
10
0
Unattractive
Attractive
Attractiveness of Student Assistant
Is The Source More Important
Than The Message?
It depends…
How personally relevant is the message
for the recipient?
Source
vs.Message:
The Role of
Audience
Involvement
Petty, Cacioppo, & Goldman, 1981
The Sleeper Effect
What Makes an Effective
Message?
How should the argument be presented to
maximize its strength?
Are longer messages better?


If _________, the longer the message, the
more valid it must be.
If _________, message length is a two-edged
sword.
Does presentation order matter?
Table 6.2: Effects of
Presentation Order and Timing
on Persuasion
What Makes an Effective
Message? (cont.)
Should the message use fear appeals or
scare tactics?


How strong is the argument?
Does the message contain reassuring
advice?
Are appeals to positive emotions
effective?

People are “soft touches” when they are in a
good mood.
Why Might Positive
Feelings Activate the
Peripheral Route?
A positive emotional state is cognitively
distracting, impairing ability to think
critically.
When in a good mood, assume all is well
and become lazy processors of
information.
When happy, become motivated not to
spoil the mood by thinking critically about
new information.
Subliminal Messages
Can subliminal messages influence
behavior?
We do perceive subliminal cues.

But the cues will not persuade to take action
unless one is already motivated to do so.
Figure 6.9: Subliminal Influence
Strahan et al., 2002.
Audience Factors
Very few people are consistently easy or
difficult to persuade.
People differ in extent to which become
involved and take the central route.

Need for Cognition: How much does one
enjoy effortful cognitive activities?
Table 6.3: Need for Cognition
Scale: Sample Items
Figure 6.10: Informational and
Image-Oriented Ads: The Role
of Self-Monitoring
From J.M. Snyder and K.G. DeBono (1985)
"Appeals to Image and Claims About Quality:
Understanding the Psychology of Advertising,"
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49,
586-597. Copyright (c) 1985 by the American
Psychological Association. Adapted with
permission.
Audience Factors (cont.)
To what extent does the message meet
the psychological needs of the audience?
Cultural factors play a subtle but important
role.

e.g., individualistic vs. collectivistic messages
Table 6.4: Strategies for
Resisting Persuasion
Jacks and Cameron, 2003.
Audience Factors (cont.)
Has the audience been forewarned?
Advanced knowledge allows time to
develop counterarguments.

Inoculation hypothesis
Being forewarned elicits a motivational
reaction.

Psychological reactance
Effects of forewarning depends on
personal importance of message.
Persuasion by Our Own
Actions*
Role Playing: All the World’s
a Stage
What happens when we engage in
attitude-discrepant behavior?
Why does role-playing lead to enduring
attitude change?
Why can changes in behavior lead to
changes in attitude?
Cognitive Dissonance Theory:
The Classic Version
We are motivated by a desire for
______________________.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Inconsistent
________ arouse psychological tension
that people become motivated to reduce.


Can lead to irrational and sometimes
maladaptive behavior.
Insufficient justification for behavior can lead
to dissonance
Table 6.5: Ways to Reduce
Dissonance
The Dissonance Classic
Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959
Justifying Attitude-Discrepant
Behavior
Subjects experienced cognitive
dissonance because had _____________.
Contributions of Festinger & Carlsmith’s
classic study:


Showed the phenomenon of self-persuasion.
Contradicted the accepted belief that big
rewards produce greater change.
Justifying Effort: Coming to Like
What We Suffer For
We alter our attitudes to justify our
suffering.
Aronson & Mills’ (1959) “embarrassment
test” study
The more we pay for something, the more
we will come to like it.
Justifying Difficult Decisions:
When Good Choices Get Even
Better
Whenever we make difficult decisions, we
feel dissonance.
We rationalize the correctness of our
decision by exaggerating:


The positive features of the chosen alternative
The negative features of the unchosen
alternative.
Figure 6.12: Necessary
Conditions for the Arousal and
Reduction of Dissonance
Alternative Routes to SelfPersuasion
Self-Perception Theory: Self-persuasion
through observation of own behavior.
Impression Management Theory: What
matters is not a motive to be consistent
but rather a motive to appear consistent.
Self-Affirmation Theory: Dissonance
situations create a threat to the self.
Figure 6.13: When SelfAffirmation Fails
Galinsky et al., 2000.
Theories of Self-Persuasion:
Critical Comparisons