Intro to Communication Science week 1
Persuasion
A kind of speaking or writing that is intended to influence people's actions.
ELM (Elaboration Likelihood Model)
Theory that people can be persuaded by logic, evidence and reasoning
Central vs. Peripheral Route
Motivation: do you want to think?
Central Route
What determines persuasion?
Peripheral Route
Mental shortcut based on cues "rule of thumb"
------ for example:
------ an expert or famous person
------ other people are doing the same (bandwagon)
------ it's pretty (brand coolness)
------ rewards (getting a discount)
Outcome with no or low motivation/ability
------ short-cut to someone's mind
------ weak attitude change
------ less accessible, temporary, easy to change, not predictive of behaviour
Could be the same attitude score as the central route (e.g. highly agree) but different
strength
Continuum of ELM
manipulate "motivation" via personal relevance
,ELM Recap
Critique:
Fake News
News which grabs your attention and may also be persuasive
Attitude
attitude can be seen as positive or negative, strong or weak according to the ELM
------ often measured on a point-scale
------ from strongly disagree to strongly agree
------ but is it that simple
------ every argument./issue is part of a continuum, with extremes on both ends
Social Judgement Theory
Basics:
Latitudes of Acceptance
Latitude of acceptance
Ego Involvement
The importance or centrality of an issue to a person's life, often demonstrated by
membership in a group with a known stand.
Extreme Attitudes
----- Muffy has a very high ego-involvement
----- Mort has moderate ego-involvement
It is important to know the structure of an attitude
----- it determines whether people can be persuaded by certain arguments
ELM pays some attention to initial attitudes and personal relevance, but in SJT they
are essential!
----- people who give a topic much thought are biased, making it difficult to persuade
them
----- SJT: due to high ego-involvement and large latitude of rejection
----- people distort arguments according to their pre-existing attitude
,SJT and Information
assimilation
Optimal Persuasion
Message falls in latitude of acceptance
SJT Recap
Attitude structure is determined by latitudes and personal involvement
Cognitive Dissonance
Theory of Leon Festinger
CDT: cognitive
Critique:
Uses and Gratifications
’40s:
U&G in one sentence
the social and psychological origins of needs, which generate expectations of
the mass media or other sources, which lead to differential patterns of media
exposure, resulting in need gratifications and other consequences, perhaps mostly
unintended ones
----- meaning needs generate the user to use certain types of media resulting in
gratifications
People choose media
1.
institutional process analysis
Scholarship that penetrates behind the scenes of media organizations in an effort to
understand what policies or practices might be lurking there.
Message system analysis
Scholarship that involves careful, systematic study of TV content, usually employing
content analysis as a research method.
People have needs
Motivation for media use:
----- cognitive needs
----- affective needs
----- tension release/ escape
----- integrative needs (connection/fitting in)
, Affective needs: mood management
----- expectations about which media regulates your current mood best
----- people prefer to feel medium arousal and a positive state
----- too little arousal, so they choose exciting media
----- too much arousal/stress, so they choose calming media
----- positive contents creates and maintains a positive state
Criticism of mood management:
----- sometimes we choose media that is not positive
----- expectations of how media gives meaning instead of mere mood enhancement
Rubin's Typology of Needs
A classification schemethat attempts to sort a large number of specific instances into
a more manageable set of categories.
What kind of needs would we gratify?
----- passing time
----- companionship
----- escape
----- enjoyment
----- social interaction
----- relaxation
----- excitement
----- information
Needs differ between individuals because:
----- social origin (e.g. culture, upbringing, family)
----- psychological origin (character traits, sensation seeking, need for cognition)
Expectations of Media
Which media activity will fulfil my needs best?
----- Cognitive needs
----- Affective needs
----- Tension release / escape
----- Integrative needs
Not everyone chooses the same media:
----- different needs or same needs, different expectations
Or chooses the same media for a different reason
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