Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Attitudes: Evaluations of people, objects, or ideas and are important as…

- - - - Do not result from rational examination of issue
      - Not governed by logic
        
        This can result in conflict between affectively based attitudes and cognitively based attitudes
      - Linked to people's values, so efforts to change them challenge those values
  - - - Initial attitude is weak: Little cognitive or affective bases
      - Initial attitude is ambiguous: Conflicting strong cognitive and affective biases
      - No other salient cue to explain away the behaviour (e.g. monetary incentive
- - - - Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM): Attitude change can occur via the central route or the peripheral route
        
        Central route: People pay attention to the facts of the argument and elaborate on the information that they receive
        
        People must be both motivated (high personal relevance) and capable of paying attention (low distraction and enough expertise to understand argument)
        
        Attitude change lasts longer, resistant to change, and predicts behaviour
        
        Peripheral route: People do not consider the merits of the argument carefully but instead are influenced by irrelevant and superficial cues, such as the credibility of the speaker or the physical features of the speaker.
        
        This happens when people are not motivated (low personal relevance) and less able to pay attention (high distraction and low expertise to understand argument)
        
        Attitude change lasts shorter, not resistant to change, does not predict behaviour
      - Yale Attitude Change Approach: Attitude change as a communicative process involving who (the persuader), what, and whom (the one being persuaded)
        
        Who: Credible vs attractive
        
        What: Blatant persuasive attempts are less persuasive. It should be a two-sided message (balanced and well-though out).
        If it is a debate, whether you go first or second is important and depends on whether there is a delay between the presentations and the final decision. If there is no delay after two sides have presented the case, you should present second (to end last) to take advantage of the recency effect. If there is significant delay, you should present first to take advantage of the primacy effect
        
        Whom: It is easier to persuade people who are distracted, impressionable (young), or low intelligence
        
        This approach does not tell about the underlying processes involved in persuasion. Hence ELM.
    - - Fear-arousing communication: Persuasive message that attempts to change people's attitudes by arousing their fears
        
        It gets people to pay attention to your arguments and instills a direct negative attitude towards the object you are trying to convince them about
        
        Only effective when they are accompanied by specific instructions and they are not too threatening. If they are too threatening and without instruction, people will be too scared and unable to attend to the message. They are less likely to analyse this via the central route. If they are too threatening, people will also engage in denial and avoid the topic entirely. This is not desirable as they would not do what they should to avoid the problem.
      - Emotion as a heuristic: Attitude change through emotional arousal
        
        Heuristic-systematic model of persuasion: Persuasive communications can cause attitude change either through systematically processing the merits of the arguments or using mental shorcuts or heuristics. When people take the peripheral route to persuasion, they often use heuristics
        
        Our emotions act as heuristics to determine our attitudes. When we feel good, we may be more likely to agree with the message compared to when we are in a bad mood. Advertisements that use this method aim to make their audience feel good rather than to present good arguments.
    - - The technique to use depends on the type of attitude we are trying to change: Cognitively based attitudes require rational arguments and affectively based attitudes require emotional appeals
      - Take note of what the people are doing when you are trying to persuade them.
        Nodding head: Depends if you are listening to a strong or weak argument. If you are listening to a strong argument, you are more likely to agree with the message. If you are listening to a weak argument, you are more likely to agree that the message you are listening to is weak and less likely to be persuaded.
        Shaking head: Less likely to agree with the strong argument. But you are more likely to agree with a weak argument compared to nodding your head.
  - - - No evidence that subliminal messages in daily life have regular influence on people's behaviour
      - People can be influenced by subliminal messages under carefully controlled laboratory conditions
- - - - The attitude needs to be strong and the attitude object must be familiar
  - - - Specific attitude: The more specific the attitude toward the behaviour in question, the better the attitude can predict the behaviour (e.g. general attitude toward birth control vs specific attitude toward birth control pills)
      - Subjective norms: People's beliefs about how others they care about will view the behaviour in question
      - Perceived behavioural control: The easier it is to carry out the act, the more likely the person will do it