COMM 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Argumentum Ad Populum, Fallacy, Argument From Authority

• School: University of San Diego
• Department: Communication Studies Courses
• Course: COMM 101
• Professor: Lindholm Charmin

Document Summary

Persuasion: the process of motivating someone, through communication, to change a particular belief, attitude or behavior. The failure of coercion to achieve lasting results is also apparent in less dramatic situations. Persuasion makes a listener want to act or think di erently persuasion is usually incremental. When successful, it succeeds over time in increments. Social judgment theory: when members of an audience hear a persuasive appeal, they compare it to opinions that they already hold. People who care very strongly about a particular point of view will have a very narrow latitude of noncommitment. People who care less strongly will have a wider lattitude of noncommitment. The statement that would best represent the listeners point of view would be the anchor. Social judgement theory suggests that the best chance of changing audience attitudes would come by presenting an argument beaded on a positio that fell somewhere within the listeners lattitude of noncommitment.