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Learning Objectives

By the end of the chapter you should be able to:

• Describe the characteristics of communicators that make them more persuasive

• Describe what characteristics of a message make it more persuasive

• Describe how culture, age, and self-esteem affect persuasion

• Differentiate the central route from the peripheral route to persuasion within the elaboration likeli- hood model

• Describe the persuasion techniques involving initial small requests

Persuasion 7

Chapter Outline

7.1 Who—Characteristics of the Persuader • Credibility: Expertise and Trustworthiness • Attractiveness and Likeability

7.2 What—Characteristics of the Message • Emotion • Framing • One-Sided and Two-Sided Messages

7.3 To Whom—Characteristics of the Audience • Culture • Age • Self-Esteem • Elaboration Likelihood Model

7.4 How—Persuasion Techniques • Foot-in-the-Door Technique • Lowball Technique • Legitimization-of-Paltry-Favors • Reciprocity • Door-in-the-Face Technique • That’s-not-all Technique • Scarcity • Pique Technique • Disrupt-Then-Reframe Technique

Chapter Summary

• Describe the use of reciprocity as a persuasion technique

• Explain techniques that begin with a large request

• Explain persuasion techniques that use scarcity

• Describe techniques that involve changing attention

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.1 Who—Characteristics of the Persuader

Every day, other people try to persuade us. Advertisements on television, the Internet, or the radio attempt to persuade us to buy a product. Family members, friends, and employers ask us to do them a favor. Some of these messages we quickly dismiss, but others convince us to buy the extra absorbent paper towels, or bake cupcakes for that fundraiser.

Imagine watching an infomercial for an exercise machine. The product is described by an attractive and trim fitness expert to a mildly skeptical person in front of an enthusiastic studio audience. The machine is demonstrated, the positive benefits and ease of use of the machine are touted, and viewers are offered the product at a low, low price. By the end of the infomercial the skeptic is convinced of the machine’s miraculous powers and you find yourself picking up the phone to order one for yourself. What makes such communications persuasive? Social psychology can help us find the answers to these questions by applying the scientific method to different aspects of persuasion—the persuader, the message, and the audience—as well as investigating specific persuasion techniques. Knowing more about persua- sion may allow us to better resist being persuaded in the future.

Persuasive communication can be divided into four parts: the communicator, the message, the audience, and the technique (see Figure 7.1). First we will deal with what characteristics of persuaders make people more likely to be persuaded. Next, we will think about characteristics of the message that lead people to change. Then, we will explore what characteristics of the audience can lead them to be persuaded. Finally, we will cover a variety of persuasion techniques advertisers, charities, friends, or relatives might use to persuade.

7.1 Who—Characteristics of the Persuader

Persuasive messages come from a source. The source may be someone you respect or someone you dislike—someone who knows a lot about a topic or someone who knows little. This someone could be a friend or a stranger. Depending on the char- acteristics of the persuader, people may be easily persuaded or skeptical of the claims of a message. Characteristics that have received a great deal of attention from researchers are credibility, attractiveness, and likeability.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.1 Who—Characteristics of the Persuader

Figure 7.1: The who, what, to whom, and how of persuasion

The four variables that affect persuasion are the person doing the persuading, the message being transmitted, the audience receiving the message, and the techniques used by the persuader.

Credibility: Expertise and Trustworthiness As you watch an infomercial, a central communicator is likely to offer arguments for the product. Whether or not you listen to this person likely depends on how credible you view that person to be. Credibility has two aspects: expertise and trustworthiness (Hov- land, Janis, & Kelley, 1953). A communicator with expertise is one who appears to have knowledge and is able to communicate it. A trustworthy communicator is one we believe is giving us accurate information.

The Persuader Important characteristics: • Credibility • Attractiveness and likeability

The Message Important characteristics: • Fear and guilt • Framing • One-sided and two-sided messages • Narratives and rational appeals

The Techniques Foot-in-the-door, low ball, legitimization-of- paltry-favors, reciprocity, door-in-the-face, that’s-not-all, scarcity, pique, disrupt-then- reframe

The Audience Important characteristics: • Culture • Age • Self-esteem • Elaboration Likelihood Model

Variables that affect the impact of

persuasion

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.1 Who—Characteristics of the Persuader

Messages from expert sources are persuasive when the message includes coherent and high quality arguments from within that expert’s field of knowledge (DeBono & Har- nish, 1988; Petty, Cacioppo, & Gold- man, 1981). Messages that come from an expert source but are of low quality are less persuasive than mes- sages coming from someone who is less of an expert, but who has strong arguments (Bohner, Ruder, & Erb, 2002; Tormala, Brinol, & Petty, 2006). However, an excess of confidence can sometimes limit the effectiveness of the persuasion. For example, in court an expert with a moderate level of confidence appears to be most persuasive, perhaps because a very high level of confidence is viewed as arrogant or unrealistic (Cramer, DeCoster, Harris, Fletcher, & Brodsky, 2011). Expert opinion is gener- ally only persuasive within that expert’s domain of expertise. For example, you might believe what fitness experts say about exercise, but not what they say about cake decorat- ing. An exception to this would be involving children, due to their place in society. For example, using children to demonstrate the safety features in a new vehicle may resonate with an adult’s perceived role as protector and nurturer (Pratkanis & Gliner, 2004).

At times, we may receive a message and not have the time or energy to think carefully through the argu- ments. In those instances the trustworthiness of the communicator can serve as a cue regarding whether we should trust the message. If we perceive that the commu- nicator is providing us with accurate information, we may not feel it necessary to carefully examine the mes-

sage itself. When we perceive the communicator to be less trustworthy, we may care- fully examine the message to determine if we can trust it. A message can, in this instance, still be persuasive if it contains strong arguments. A nonexpert who cites a study by the American Heart Association showing that the exercise equipment improves heart health in 90% of users has a strong argument, despite lack of expertise. An expert who points out that the stainless steel frame of the equipment will match any decor has a weak argument. Strong messages from non-expert sources can be persuasive because people carefully examine the arguments (Priester & Petty, 2003). Such careful examination creates stronger and more long-lasting attitude change.

Expand Your Knowledge: Propaganda

Governments, political parties, organizations, and indi- viduals have all used persuasive communications in an effort to sway the public. The website Propaganda Critic http://www.propagandacritic.com from the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, offers a look at pro- paganda, including a page on why investigating propa- ganda matters and analysis of a number of propaganda techniques.

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Lawyers often retain expert witnesses to help strengthen their client’s case in favor of the jury.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.1 Who—Characteristics of the Persuader

Attractiveness and Likeability The attractiveness of the communicator is another factor in the persuasiveness of the message. In general, physically attractive communicators are more persuasive than less attractive communicators (Chaiken, 1979; Debevec, Madden, & Kernan, 1986; DeBono & Telesca, 1990). Physically attractive communicators may be more persuasive because they are viewed as more trustworthy than less attractive communicators—research has shown that we stereotype physically attractive people as having other positive qualities such as intelligence and honesty (Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 1991; Langlois, et al., 2000). We also tend to like physically attractive people more and want to interact with them (Reingen & Kernan, 1993). Even when a product is unrelated to attractiveness, we find attractive communicators more persuasive than less attractive communicators (Prax- marer, 2011).

Individuals we like are also more persuasive to us. You might buy Girl Scout cookies from the neighbor who you know and like, but you are likely to buy fewer cookies from the Girl Scout across town. For this reason, advertisers have found tricky ways to make it appear that an appeal is coming from someone we know and like. An envelope that appears to be addressed by hand and have a note inside is more likely to be opened and read than one that is clearly mass produced. In one study of this idea, a number of car owners in Dallas were sent an ad for car wax that appeared to have been ripped from a magazine, with a handwritten sticky note attached; if the recipient was named Mary, for example, the note would read “Mary—Try this. It works!—J,” with “J” being the supposed sender. The ad contained a mail-in card for a free sample of the car wax. The ad was sent in an unmarked white envelope, hand-addressed, with a first-class stamp. Another set of car owners were mailed the same ad, but in a typed envelope sent through metered mail, and the ad inside was simply printed on a sheet of paper with no note attached. When the message in the ad was strong and it appeared to come from someone they knew, almost double the number of car owners requested a free sample than if the message appeared to be mass produced (Howard & Kerin, 2004). A note from someone we might know is more persuasive than a message from a faceless company.

Should the communicators make their desires to persuade explicit? To maintain credibility and avoid reactance, advertisers generally avoid stating that they are trying to persuade; however, in some contexts such information can be helpful. You would likely attribute selfish motives to the fitness expert who is trying to sell exercise equipment he designed. But your doctor presumably has your best interests in mind, so his or her obviously per- suasive message about exercise may be received well (Campbell & Kirmani, 2000; Eagly, Wood, & Chaiken, 1978). Researchers have found that physically attractive communica- tors do well if they make their desire to persuade explicit. Unattractive communicators

Test Yourself

• What are the two aspects of credibility?

Expertise and trustworthiness are the two aspects of credibility.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.2 What—Characteristics of the Message

7.2 What—Characteristics of the Message

When making persuasive appeals, communicators must carefully consider the message they want to portray and how they want to share that message. A per-suader might try to scare you so you will adopt a healthy behavior. Should the message be terrifying, or just a little frightening to motivate you? Communicators must also consider whether sharing the other side’s arguments is helpful. If a phone company knows that a rival phone has a feature that its own product does not have, should it make a mention of it in the advertising? As we discover in this section, how a message is con- structed makes all the difference in how persuasive it will be.

Emotion Within a persuasive appeal, a communicator might attempt to elicit an emotion. Emotions contain both physiological and cognitive elements. For example, when you are frightened your blood pressure and your heart rate increase. The same bodily state may be inter- preted differently depending on the context. You might feel fear if you are in a dark alley and a stranger approaches. In the context of a thrilling video game, that same racing heart could be interpreted as excitement (Schachter & Singer, 1962). Advertisers may capitalize on this fact to help sell their products. A beer commercial with a lot of beautiful, scantily clad women may excite the men watching it—excitement that could transfer to the brand of beer the company is selling. When a camera follows a car down a curvy road through a majestic mountain landscape, we may feel a bit of awe at the beauty of the scenery, and we may transfer this sense of amazement to the car.

Test Yourself

• Who is more persuasive, an attractive communicator or an unattractive communicator?

An attractive communicator is usually more persuasive.

• What types of communicators should make you aware of their intent to persuade you?

Attractive persuaders and people we like are persuasive when we know they are trying to persuade us, as well as those who we know have our best interests at heart (doctor).

are not very successful in this instance (Messner, Reinhard, & Sporer, 2008). For the less attractive, keeping persuasive intent hidden is a better strategy. Similarly, disliked sources should conceal persuasive intent, while liked sources are more persuasive when they are open about persuasive intent (Reinhard, Messner, & Sporer, 2006).

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.2 What—Characteristics of the Message

One way persuaders may use emotion to con- vince us to do something is to draw on the “appropriate” emotions from our culture and social context. We learn from those around us what emotions are appropriate to feel (Averill, 1980). For example, convinced by your peers or the media that your home should be clean and smell like flowers, you buy a scented candle and spend more time cleaning to avoid feeling embar- rassed. Or, having learned from an advertiser that a new car will make you happy, you purchase a new vehicle.

Persuaders elicit specific emotions, such as fear, to motivate people to act. If a health educator were trying to convince smokers to quit smoking, would scaring them about the potential consequences of continuing to smoke be effective? Researchers have long been interested in how persuasive mes- sages that induce fear, what might be known as scare tactics, influence persuasion (Hovland et al., 1953, is an early example). The relationship was hypothesized to follow the pattern of an inverted

U, with little persuasion at low levels of fear, the greatest persuasion at moderate levels of fear, and low persuasion at high levels of fear (see Figure 7.2). At low fear levels persuasion would be low because there is not enough motivation to change. At a moderate rate of fear, persuasion should be highest; here people would be motivated to make a change but not so scared that they become paralyzed. At high levels of fear, according to this hypothesis, persuasion once again becomes less likely, as people become too frightened to process the information and respond to it. At this level, individuals may become defensive and ignore the content of the message. At a low level of fear, an antismoking message may not moti- vate smokers to change; the consequences may not seem dire enough to make the effort of quitting worth it. At a high level of fear, smokers may dismiss a message or become defen- sive about their habit. When a message induces a moderate level of fear smokers may be able to process the message rather than becoming defensive and be motivated to change.

Yet this hypothesis is problematic because the supporting research is inconclusive (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Janis & Leventhal, 1968). Some degree of fear is motivating, so messages that make it clear that the target is susceptible to the consequences of a threat are most effective (Maloney, Lapinski, & Witte, 2011). However, the most important predictor of behavior when confronted with scare tactics seems to not be the level of fear aroused, but the belief of individuals in their ability to engage in actions that will allow them to avoid the feared consequence (Ruiter, Abraham, & Kok, 2001). Smokers might be exposed to a message that evokes a great deal or just a little fear about lung cancer, but if they do not believe they can quit, thereby avoiding cancer, the level of fear in the appeal does not seem to matter much (Hoeken & Geurts, 2005; Timmers & van der Wijst, 2007; Witte, 1998).

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A graphic warning label such as this might scare people into rethinking their smo