Persuasive Communication Summary
Week 1: Introduction
There are 3 key models of communication
LASSWELL MODEL (1948)
Harold Laswell believed that the effectiveness of information is best understood by asking the
following question: “Who say what, in which channel to whom with what effect?”
This means to understand the effectiveness of information we must look at:
- The person issuing the message (who)
- The content of the information being communicated (says what)
- The medium used to transmit it (in which channel)
- The characteristics of the intended recipient (to whom)
- And the extent to which their opinions are influenced as a results (with what effect)
YALE (HOVLAND) MODEL OF PERSUASION (1950)
The Four-Step Process of Persuasion (created by Carl Hovland)
1) Attention: without attention to the message, you cannot be persuaded for the simple reason
that the information is not taken in
2) Understanding: the message must be presented in such a way that you can understand it, it
must not be too difficult for you
3) Acceptance: develop a more positive attitude towards the message
4) Retention: if your accepted attitude or belief remains positive over time, then at a later moment
you see the message again your positive attitude will influence your behavior
MCGUIRE COMMUNICATION- PERSUASION MATRIX
Made by William McGuire, build upon the Yale Model and expands the number of steps that the
persuasive message should go through to achieve permanent behavior change
Input factors – what can you influence in a message?
Source – Who is this message attributed to?
Can be based on demographic characteristics or celebrity expert status
Reliability, attractiveness and authority are used to evaluate the persuasive appeal
Content – What is the structure of the message?
Structural factors include: length, repetition, number of arguments, argument quality etc
Nature of the message include: humor, fear, music, negative/positive frame, heuristics etc
Recipient – What persuasive effects does the message have on its target audience?
Impact of the message depends on demographic characteristics, intelligence, personality,
cognitive factors, lifestyle, norms/values, emotions/mood
Channel – Which mediums are used to inspire which effects?
Different platforms have different media modalities (e.g., audio, visual, voice over etc)
Output factors – What is the effect on persuasion?
Exposure to the message: opportunity to see the ad
Attention for the message: consciously aware of an ad you see
Attitude towards ad: you either like it or don’t like it
Interest in the content: maybe you like the ad but not interest in the content of brand
, Understanding the advertisement
Generating own thoughts
Memory storage: everything you member about the ad (like or not)
Memory retrieval: when you see the brand
Behavioral intention: thinking about it (test ride etc)
Behavior evaluation: after using it you don’t like it or you do like it
Permanent behavior change
ALTERNATIVE CAUSAL ORDERS
Alternative-Routes variants – Skipping steps or taking short-cuts: the matrix should be used a
general tool, not a set of mandatory steps
Low involved people might go from “like the ad” via “like the brand” to “buy the brand”
Self-Persuasion – Entering same step multiple times (loop): people might need several
exposures and repeated thinking about the content, before they decide to buy it
Highly involved people or products could lead to this
Behavior before attitude – Follow steps in reverse order: sometimes, voluntary behavioral
change comes first, and individuals use mental tricks (cognitive dissonance & self-perception) to
adjust their beliefs to support what they were already doing
RELEVANCE OF THE MATRIX
o Matrix makes you aware of the cumulative effects of input factors and how input factors interact
o Matrix makes you aware that behavioral change is a process there are many steps between
exposure and permanent behavior change the input factors might affect each output factor
differently (positive, negative, or not)
o Matrix enables you to systematically overview the scientific knowledge on the effects of each
input factor on output factors
o Matrix helps you to see the weak spots of some input factors
FALLACIES AND PRINCIPLES
1) Attenuated-effects fallacy: successful influencing each output step is dependent on the success
at the previous steps
Suppose at each step you successfully influence 50% of the people who reach this step
At step 1, exposure 50% of target group will be exposed
At step 2, 50% of the exposed will pay attention: 0.5 X 0.5 = 25%
At step 10 (behavior), you level of success is: 0.5 X 0.5 0.5 X 0.5 ….. = 0.1%
Conclusion: expect small effects of advertisements on influencing behavior
2) Distant-measure fallacy: to measure the impact of persuasion, you must choose a measure that
reflects your goal match your campaign objectives and evaluation
E.g., a large percentage of the audience could like your ad, however, doesn’t mean that the
people who liked your campaign will also buy your product
3) Neglected-mediatory fallacy: an input element may increase your success at one output step,
but decrease it at another step
It is the combined successive effects on all factors that count
Thus, take all output steps into account
4) Compensatory principle: this is the reverse of the neglected mediator fallacy if an input
element has a negative effect on a certain output step, this can be compensated by more
positive effect on another step.
