Attitudes and Persuasion

Chapter 7

Persuasion and Attitude Change

1. A Two-Process Approach to PersuasionElaboration-Likelihood ModelHeuristic-Systematic Model

Heuristic/Peripheral - the person primarily attends to superficial aspects of the messageSystematic/Central - the person thinks carefully and deliberately about the content of the message

Elaboration-Likelihood Model

Messageunimportant,uninteresting

Heuristicprocessing

Nonverbalcues

important

Argumentstrength

unimportant

Messageimportant,interesting

Systematicprocessing

Nonverbalcues

unimportant

Argumentstrength

important

Peripheral Route

Central Route

Petty, Cacioppo & Goldman, 1981

Factors Influencing Information Processing

We tend to use systematic processing when:– we are strongly motivated

accuracy motivation impression motivation defensive motivation

– we have a high ability to do so

We tend to use heuristic processing when:– we are unmotivated– we lack the ability to systematically process info

Persuasion and Attitude Change

2. The Who, What, and Whom of Persuasiona. source characteristics

sleeper effect - occurs when messages from unreliable sources initially exert little influence but later cause individuals’ attitudes to shift

b. message characteristicsc. receiver characteristics

Source and Message Characteristics

Important Nonverbal Cues– Attractiveness– Credibility

expertise trustworthiness Speaking style

Important Message Characteristics– High quality message– Vivid information

Identifiable victim effect

– if audience is skeptical- use two-sided message

Receiver Characteristics

Need for Cognition Mood Age

Is Resistance Futile? Audience Effects

– reactance- adopting opposite attitudes– forewarning- prior knowledge of persuasion

increase arguments for and counterarguments against

– selective avoidance- avoid contradictory info. channel surf, tune out certain info.

– biased assimilation- perceive information that disconfirms our views as unreliable

– attitude polarization- interpret mixed evidence in ways that strengthen existing views

Summary: ELM

Analytical

&

Motivated

High effortElaborate

AgreeCounter-

argue

Strong arguments

cause enduring agreement

Notanalytical

orinvolved

Low effort:Use

peripheralcues,

heuristics

Cuestriggerliking

&acceptance

PersuasiveAppeal

Response

Audience Processing Persuasion

CentralRoute

PeripheralRoute

Behavioral Approach to Attitude Change

1. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1957)states that inconsistencies between a person’s thoughts, sentiments, and actions create an aversive emotional state (dissonance) that leads to efforts to restore consistency

Dissonance can occur in a number of ways– Selecting between two reasonably attractive alternatives– Justifying effort– Engaging in counterattitudinal behavior

2. Experiencing and Reducing Dissonancea. Decisions and Dissonance

Brehm’s Consumer Products Study

Asked participants to rate a bunch of consumer products.

Offered participants a choice between two items

Experimental group – offered the two items participants had rated closest in attractiveness (High Dissonance).

Control group – offered two items not close in attractiveness (Low Dissonance).

After 20 minutes, asked participants to rate products again.

Predictions?

0.38

0.11

-0.41

0

0.79

0.11

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Ch

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in

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Change inLiking Chosen

Item

Change inLiking

NonChosen Item

Net Change

Experimental Group

Control Group

Aronson and Mills (1959)

Recruited women to participate in discussion about sex (remember it is the ’50s.

3 conditions: mild initiation, severe initiation, control.

In initiation conditions, participants told they had to pass a test to be in discussion group.

Mild initiation – read a list of mild words and romantic passage from novel to experimenter.

Severe initiation – read a list of explicit words and pornographic passage to experimenter.

All people were told they passed but the discussion had already started. They were allowed to listen in on headphones to VERY boring conversation.

Who do you think liked the discussion more? Why?

Predicting Attitudes From Behavior

b. Effort Justification - tendency to reduce dissonance by finding reasons for why you have devoted time, effort, or money for something that turned out to be disappointingAronson and Mills (1959) ‘initiation experiment’Cooper (1980) study on effort justification in psychotherapy

Gerard and Mathewson (Replication)

Told participants they were signing up for a group that would discuss morals on campus.

Initiation participants told they would have to pass some tests to see how inhibited they were. Tests included receiving mild or severe electric shocks (3X).

Noninitiation participants went through same tests but didn’t believe they were joining group.

Participants were told they had either passed the test or had to wait a few days for the results.

Everyone then listened to the VERY boring conversation

Here is what happened…

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26.1

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10.0

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25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

Mild Shock Severe Shock

En

joy

me

nt

of

Co

nv

ers

ati

on

Passed Initiation

Waiting for Results

Noninitiation

Cooper (1980)

Hypothesized that the “suffering” involved in psychotherapy is what makes people believe in its effectiveness.

Recruited women who felt they had assertiveness problems. Told they would receive $2 for participating.

Upon arrival, receptionist either:

Reminded them their participation was completely voluntary, or

Did not remind them of their free choice.

One group experienced behavioral therapy (identified problem situations and practiced being assertive).

Other group exercised on treadmill (told exercise helped assertiveness).

When they were finished, receptionist only paid them a dollar.

Who do you think was more assertive in asking for other dollar?

3.23.4

1.92.1

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Exercise Behavior Therapy

As

se

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en

es

s

High Choice

Low Choice

Predicting Attitudes From Behavior

c. Induced Compliance and Attitude Changeinduced (forced) compliance - subtly compelling individuals to behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their beliefs, attitudes, or values, which typically leads to dissonance and often to a change in their original attitudes or values in order to reduce their dissonance

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) experiment on forced compliance

$20Told next persontasks were funand interesting

$1

BoringTasks

Told next persontasks were funand interesting

Asked how much they

enjoyed experiment

Induced Compliance Study

Predicting Attitudes From Behavior

3. When Does Inconsistency Produce Dissonance?

a. free choice

b. insufficient justification

c. negative consequences

d. foreseeable consequences

Linder, Cooper, and Jones

Had participants write counterattitudinal essays.

2X2 Design

Condition 1 high vs. low choice

Condition 2 high vs. low monetary incentive

Experiment 1 essay topic – allowing communists on campus

Experiment 2 essay topic – curfews on campus

2.96

1.661.64

2.34

3.64

2.682.72

3.46

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

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Free Choice No Choice

Att

itu

de

s T

ow

ard

s T

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Communists ($.50)Communists ($2.50)Curfew ($.50)Curfew ($2.50)

Cooper and Worchel

Used Festinger and Carlsmith procedure.

In response to lie about how fun the experiment was, person being lied to said either:

This experiment will probably be boring like all the others.

Or

I’m glad this one will be fun. I’m looking forward to it.

Which participants will show most attitude change?

9

21

8

12

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5

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Unconvinced Convinced

Am

ou

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of

Att

itu

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Low Incentive

High Incentive

Reducing Cognitive Dissonance

Ways to reduce dissonance– Direct methods

change attitude to be consistent with behavior– “diets don’t really work anyway”

acquire supporting information– “many overweight people live long healthy lives”

trivialize the behaviors in question– “looking thin is not all that important”

– Indirect methods restore positive self-evaluations

– “I like the way I look, regardless of my weight” distractions

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