T/F: Fear arousing messages are generally ineffective.
False.
T/F: Speakers who talk fast are viewed as less credible than those who talk with occasional hesitation.
False.
T/F: In research to date, messages that acknowledge opposing arguments are always more effective than messages which are one sided.
False.
T/F: In a debate, it is usually advantageous to be the last to present your side of the issue.
False.
T/F: Political advertising has little effect on voters in the general presidential election.
True.
T/F: In actual fact, television commercials for toothpaste and aspirin have little effect on the buying habits of the general public.
False.
T/F: People’s attitudes change considerably during adulthood.
False.
T/F: One way to strengthen existing attitudes is to challenge them.
True.
T/F: Associating a message with the good feelings one has while eating or drinking makes it more convincing.
True.
Describe the central route to persuasion.
AUDIENCE:
• Analytical and motivated
PROCESSING:
• High effort
• Elaborate
• Agree or counter-agree
PERSUASION
• Cogent arguments evoke enduring agreement
Describe the peripheral route to persuasion.
AUDIENCE:
• Not analytical or involved
PROCESSING:
• Low effort
• Use peripheral cues
• Rule of thumb heuristics
PERSUASION:
• Cues trigger liking and acceptance but often only temporary
How does supermarket marketing work?
- Merchandise at eye level sells best
- Merchandise at the end of a supermarket aisle or near the checkouts sells better
- Bundle pricing (2 for $1 vs. 50 cents for 1) increases the sense of value
- Every few months they change the layout of items on the store shelves
What is credibility?
- perceived expertise
* perceived trustworthiness
How does classical conditioning persuade people?
- One repetition is not enough
- Conditioned responses are resistant to change
- Associations between higher order and conditioned stimuli must fit properly
- Celebrities must match the product
- Discrimination occurs when the CS is paired with the UCS and another is not
What are the six persuasion principles?
- Authority
- Liking
- Social proof
- Reciprocity
- Consistency
- Scarcity
How does authority persuade?
• People defer to credible experts.
How does liking persuade?
• People respond more affirmatively to those they like.
→ Familiarity → Celebrity → Attractiveness → Shared Beliefs → Shared Group Membership
How does social proof persuade?
• People allow the example of others to validate how to think, feel, and act.
→ put others in a good mood and thus more likely to say yes
How does reciprocity persuade?
• People feel obliged to repay in kind what they have received.
→ door in the face
→ foot in the mouth
→ “and that’s not all”
How does consistency persuade?
• People tend to honour their public commitments.
→ foot-in-the-door
→ lowball procedure
How does scarcity persuade?
• People prize what’s scarce.
→ playing hard to get
→ deadline technique
How and when do people join cults?
- People first join groups that reflect society’s “default values”.
- People in transitional periods are most vulnerable.
How do cults indoctrinate?
• Attitudes follow behaviour
→ Compliance breeds acceptance
→ The foot-in-the-door phenomenon
- Persuasive elements
- Group effects
What are the qualities of cult leaders?
- Create a social reality
- Create a granfalloon (“proud and meaningless association of human beings”)
- Generate commitment through dissonance reduction (foot in the door techniques)
- Establish credibility and attractiveness
- Send members out to proselytize the unredeemed
- Distract members from thinking undesirable thoughts
- Fixate members vision on a phantom
