PSYC 1250 Lecture 9: Power and Persuasion
Types of Power
Reward Power: Target's perception that the other person controls benefits
Tell a kid you'll give them $5 to clean their room and they do it
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Coercive Power: Target's perception that the other controls punishments
Tell a kid to clean their room or they can't go out
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Referent Power: Target identifying with the other
Blair and her minions
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Expert Power: Target's perceiving the other to be knowledgeable
Doctor tells you to take these pills, you know nothing but she knows a lot,
and so you take the pills
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Legitimate Power: Target's perception of the other's right to influence
The traffic director parking cars in a field, you listen to where he tells you
to go
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Persuasion
The process of consciously trying to change someone's attitudes through the
transmission of ideas
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Are you paying attention? Do you understand what I'm saying? Do you accept
what I am telling you?
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Attitude Change
Source variable
Credibility
Expertise- the amount of knowledge the communicator has
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Trustworthiness - the perceived intention of the communicator to
deceive
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Attractiveness
Physical appearance- people who are considered attractive can
persuade more easily
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Likeability- if I like you, I am more inclined to listen to you
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Similarity
Values
□
Background
□
Appearance □
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Message variable
Reason vs. Emotion
Those who are more educated often need facts to be persuaded,
whereas lower-educated people respond better to emotions
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Good feelings
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Fear Evoking Messages
Research tells us that when you scare someone, it doesn’t always
work
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1-Sided vs. 2-Sided Messages
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Primacy vs. Recency
The first thing vs. the most recent thing you have
heard/saw/whatever
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Medium
TV, Social Media, Apps, Radio, Magazines, etc.
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Face-to-face vs. media
Face-to-face is usually more effective than another medium
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TV, Radio, Ads are the peripheral route
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Face-to-Face, Newspaper, Magazine is the way to take the central route
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Rapid speech
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Speech style
Hesitations
Annoying and not very persuasive, seems as if you don’t know
what you're talking about
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Disclaimers
"I'm no expert but…" is less persuasive and less powerful □
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Qualifiers
Sort of, kind of, I guess… these weaken the message□
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Tag questions
"don’t you think?" As if you don’t believe what you're saying
and you need reassurance
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Target variable
Mood
If you are in a good mood, you are more likely to be persuaded
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Age
Generational years vs. life stage hypothesis
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Different generations established different life-attitudes
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The older you are, the less likely you are to be persuaded
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Audience cognitions
Reactance
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Forewarning
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Selective avoidance
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Biased assimilation
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The Elaboration-Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppa, 1981)
Route Elaboration Processing Attitude Change
Central--> (you are
impressed by the content,
not how it is presented)
High--> Careful/Deep--> Enduring/General
(You are not likely
to change your
opinion back to
what it was
before)
Peripheral--> (you are
impressed by how it is
presented, not by the
content itself)
Low--> Not
Careful/Slow-->
Short-
lived/Context-
Specific (your
opinion can be
easily changed
back to what it
was before)
Peripheral Route
Attitudes take little time to develop and are vulnerable to destruction
Something done quickly without much thought
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The first and second little pigs who put no work into their homes
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Central Route
Attitudes takes longer to build, but is strong and durable
Something that you have taken the time to think about and put together a
good argument
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The last little pig, took his time and his house stood against the wolf
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Lecture 02/28
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
11:07 AM
Document Summary
Reward power: target"s perception that the other person controls benefits. Tell a kid you"ll give them to clean their room and they do it. Coercive power: target"s perception that the other controls punishments. Tell a kid to clean their room or they can"t go out. Expert power: target"s perceiving the other to be knowledgeable. Doctor tells you to take these pills, you know nothing but she knows a lot, and so you take the pills. Legitimate power: target"s perception of the other"s right to influence. The traffic director parking cars in a field, you listen to where he tells you to go. The process of consciously trying to change someone"s attitudes through the transmission of ideas. Expertise- the amount of knowledge the communicator has. Trustworthiness - the perceived intention of the communicator to deceive. Physical appearance- people who are considered attractive can persuade more easily. Likeability- if i like you, i am more inclined to listen to you.