In this document you will find a good and complete summary of the course Persuasive Communication. It includes notes from all the weeks, made from slides and from the 5 chapters required to read for the course.
PERSUASION “is a successful intentional effort at influencing another´s mental state through
communication in a circumstance in which the persuade has some measure of freedom”
(O`Keefe)
- influencing another´s mental state important concept: attitude “ a person’s general
evaluation of an object”
Different viewpoints of persuasion being acceptable:
➔ Persuasion research has to be aimed otherwise it is unethical
➔ Persuasion research must not violate social norms
➔ Persuaders have freedom of speech (no violence or hate)
➔ Persuadees are free and can choose to ignore the persuasive communication
Factor involved in persuasion:
- Source factors (who is doing the talking- expertise, sympathy, attractiveness)
- Message factors ( what is said and how- evidence, framing (emphasis on positive or
negative results), style, argumentation)
- Audience factors ( who is listening- cognitive abilities, motivation, gender)
Persuasion doesn’t have a recipe because certain types of evidence/ framing may work only for
certain types of experts/ topics, or because experimental studies only look at one or two
stimulus regarding one product in one participant group ( not a wide study)
Three types of documents:
● informative ( newspaper, textbook)
● instructive ( manuals, help info)
● persuasive ( marketing, campaigns)
GOVERNMENT INSTRUMENTS TO INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR:
, (The choice of instruments depends on the nature of the situation and on the properties of the
available instruments)
➢ financial instruments (e.g. tax benefits when buying a hybrid car)
➢ private law instruments
➢ direct regulation- via legislation
➢ social regulation (e.g. via public information)
The urgency of a situation influences the choice of measurements. When the risks in very
urgent situations are so high immediate and effective action is needed so direct regulation or the
enforcement burden is used.
In less urgent situations the government can choose between several instruments following
these three dimensions:
- measurability of the behavior government can monitor whether people comply with
the rules ( the easier the people do so the lower the enforcement burden and vice versa)
- structure of the target group concerns the size and heterogeneity of the group who is
supposed to change behavior ( the easier the group is to identify the lighter enforcement
burden and vice versa)
- cost for the target group concerns the costs of the behavior change ( the higher the
costs spent by the target group the less they will be inclined to adopt the desired
behavior and vice versa)
When should communication be considered a way to influence behaviour?
- when data (e.g. health education) targets behaviour change, trying to stimulate the
target group to engage in the desired behaviour.
- When communication in the messages is perceived by many people - the scope of the
campaigns and the differences in quality between the campaigns
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