Current Theories of Persuasion and Resistance (CWM050)
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Current theories of persuasion and resistance
Lecture
Lecture 1
What is persuasion?
“A symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to change their
attitudes or behavior regarding an issue through the transmission of a message in an
atmosphere of free choice.”
What is resistance?
- Resistance can be defined as a reaction involving opposition to an idea or
unwillingness to comply with a given directive/request that is perceived as harmful,
problematic, unbelievable or negative emotion inducing.
- Resistance can be described as a reaction to change and the ability to resist or refuse
an attempt of persuasion.
o Affective, cognitive, behavioural
Relation between persuasion and resistance
- Approach avoidance model
- Alpha & Omega strategies: focused on reducing resistance, persuasive: things that we
use to try the convince others.
Resistance motives (different faces/perspectives)
- Reactance: threat to freedom
o Psychological reactance: motivational state
When people perceive that freedoms are being threatened,
psychological reactance can result.
Importance and magnitude of threatened freedom predicts reactance
o Restoration of freedom:
,
Direct restoration: opposite behavior
Indirect restoration: liking threatened choice, source derogation,
denying the threat, exercising a related freedom.
o Measurement of reactance:
Important to meausure threat: idea of feeling threated, but it can also
happen without being threatened. Was there really a reactance? If you
want to make this sure, then you need to ask if people feel threatened.
o Forcefull language (Pennebaker & Sanders, 1975).
o Psychological reactance as a personality trait
Quick, Scott, and Ledbetter (2011,p. 663) describe trait reactant
individuals as “...likely to experience state reactance due to their
strong need for independence and autonomy, confrontational
and rebellious behavior, and a tendency to resist authority in
general”
Often found to moderate the effects of persuasive messages on
experience freedom threat.
- Skepticism: (distrust and scrutiny)
o Persuasion knowledge: “Personal knowledge about the tactics used in
persuasion attempts. This knowledge helps identify how, when, and why
marketers try to influence them.” (Friestad & Wright, 1994, p. 1)
, o People use and develop persuasion knowledge because they are
motivated to hold valid attitudes (= accuracy motivation).
To develop these attitudes, you have to judge information, using
your knowledge.
o What happens when persuasion knowledge is activated?
Change of meaning: conceptual persuasion knowledge or affective
persuasion knowledge
Relationship with reactance? Someone tries to influence you and this
has an effect on your one reactance.
o Development of persuasion knowledge: experience with persuasion attempts &
cognitive skills theory of mind.
o Persuasion knowledge:
You can only use the knowledge that you have
The activation of persuasion knowledge can become automatic
To use the knowledge you need to cognitive capacity
Types of knowledge interact.
People use persuasion knowledge to: cope with persuasion and to have
control over the outcome (can be positive or negative).
Greater persuasion knowledge does not mean more resistance!
- Inertia
o Habbits are difficult to change
o Fear of losing something valuable
o Perceived loss bigger than perceived gain
o Satisfied with the status quo
o Not knowing how to change: intention-behavior gap.
- Self- threat
- Entitlement: the feeling that you deserve more and have more rights than others.
o Personality trait
o Context-specific: (entitlement beliefs).
Organisational Norms and values in
structure a society
Norms based on On holidays (“I
achievements deserve it”).
o Active entitlement
Internal locus of Materialistic
control Focus on own well-
Self-confidence being
Self-affirmation “I deserve the best,
Self-interest no matter what”
High status
o Passive entitlement
Others owe you Low education
Low self-esteem Female
External locus of “Others should take
control care of me, it is not
Low status (family)
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