Persuasive Communication Exam
Week 1
Advertising → (ad-verte, to change) advertising agents seek to influence us (deploy specific
type of information) in the hope of encouraging a specific type of behavior
- We might not recall all the messages we have seen but we often recognize them
(information is internalised?)
- The power to persuade is determined by the characteristics of: source, recipient, content
- From when a message influences attitude to → how the message influences attitude
Models on processing and effects of persuasion:
1) (1898) The AIDA model: Developed by Edward Kellogg Strong → earliest model in
advertising to describe the steps of influence
- Describes the 4 essential steps an advertising message should trigger: (a hierarchy
of effects)
1. Attention
2. Interest
3. Desire
4. Action
- AIDAS model (S- satisfaction; component that ensures customer loyalty)
Criticism on hierarchical models → too rigid and too rational (steps cannot be skipped) + buying
decisions are often made without cognitive effort
- Persuasion does not necessarily follow a sequential order (preference can arise before
there is any interest)
- People devote certain amount of time and attention to the information presented to them
- Recipient of the advertising message is passive
1
,Since 1960, recipients have more seen as active information processors
- Passive receiver concept → Receivers absorb information of communication content
without elaborating on message content
- Active receiver concept → recipient using its own cognitive system when information is
processed
Code of Advertising (COA)
- Brainwashing → Members cutoff from the outside world
- Absence of force - precondition for eventually acceptable influence
Key factors in influence:
- For information to be persuasive it needs to track our attention
- The way we process the information determines the success of influence
2
,McGuire’s communication/persuasion matrix:
- A framework to organize knowledge on communication effects
- Persuasion deals with communication process
- Deals with questions of: who says what, via what medium, to whom and directed at
which kind of behavior
- Five elements:
1) Source (WHO) → who is the perceived communicator; to whom the message is
attributed
- Perceived communicator is part of the message (person who conveys the
message is not necessarily the same as the source where the message
originated ?); e.g spokesperson
- Source of the message is determined by: who says so
- It is a consistent element (not bound by the medium type)
2) Message (WHAT) → communication itself (verbal/non-verbal)
3) Channel (MEDIUM) → through which communication is transmitted
4) Receiver (WHOM) → part of audience; objective variables (age, gender) and
personal factors (e.g involvement with an issue)
- During communication process receiver is exposed to both external and
internal influences
5) Target (WHAT BEHAVIOR) → type of change communication is designed to
establish
Input Factors → concerned with target the communication is aimed at (which causes
immediate/long-term change)
- Components out of which one can consist of communication to change attitudes
and action
Output Factors → manifest the influence on the receiver which varies from exposure to
the message to a stable behavioral change
- Consist of successive information processing behavioral sub steps that the
communication must evoke in the target person for the persuasive impact to occur
- Matrix explains → how we can establish effect in variation of input factors on one or
more output steps; it also prefers some sequence of steps (not hierarchical); steps can be
skipped
- The matrix does not explain effects ?
- The matrix describes relationships between input factors out of which communication is
constructed and output factors that cause persuasion
- Immediate cognitive reactions at the beginning, long-term cognitive reactions at the end
- Output factors can mutually influence on another
3
, - Output factors warn for a great number of interviewing processes that might mediate
found relationships + serves as a checklist to detect and strengthen weak points in
messages
- For persuasive effect to occur individuals need to be exposed to communication
- Exposure does not equal effect, but its a prerequisite for processing message content
McGuire Inoculation theory → how people can arm themselves against information intended
to influence and change their opinion
- Weak arguments may act like a virus, triggering a cognitive reaction that actually
protects, reinforces and helps to maintain existing attitude
- Yields 6 steps of persuasion:
1. Presentation
2. Attention
3. Comprehension
4. Yielding (accepting the argument)
5. Retention
6. Behavior
4
Week 1
Advertising → (ad-verte, to change) advertising agents seek to influence us (deploy specific
type of information) in the hope of encouraging a specific type of behavior
- We might not recall all the messages we have seen but we often recognize them
(information is internalised?)
- The power to persuade is determined by the characteristics of: source, recipient, content
- From when a message influences attitude to → how the message influences attitude
Models on processing and effects of persuasion:
1) (1898) The AIDA model: Developed by Edward Kellogg Strong → earliest model in
advertising to describe the steps of influence
- Describes the 4 essential steps an advertising message should trigger: (a hierarchy
of effects)
1. Attention
2. Interest
3. Desire
4. Action
- AIDAS model (S- satisfaction; component that ensures customer loyalty)
Criticism on hierarchical models → too rigid and too rational (steps cannot be skipped) + buying
decisions are often made without cognitive effort
- Persuasion does not necessarily follow a sequential order (preference can arise before
there is any interest)
- People devote certain amount of time and attention to the information presented to them
- Recipient of the advertising message is passive
1
,Since 1960, recipients have more seen as active information processors
- Passive receiver concept → Receivers absorb information of communication content
without elaborating on message content
- Active receiver concept → recipient using its own cognitive system when information is
processed
Code of Advertising (COA)
- Brainwashing → Members cutoff from the outside world
- Absence of force - precondition for eventually acceptable influence
Key factors in influence:
- For information to be persuasive it needs to track our attention
- The way we process the information determines the success of influence
2
,McGuire’s communication/persuasion matrix:
- A framework to organize knowledge on communication effects
- Persuasion deals with communication process
- Deals with questions of: who says what, via what medium, to whom and directed at
which kind of behavior
- Five elements:
1) Source (WHO) → who is the perceived communicator; to whom the message is
attributed
- Perceived communicator is part of the message (person who conveys the
message is not necessarily the same as the source where the message
originated ?); e.g spokesperson
- Source of the message is determined by: who says so
- It is a consistent element (not bound by the medium type)
2) Message (WHAT) → communication itself (verbal/non-verbal)
3) Channel (MEDIUM) → through which communication is transmitted
4) Receiver (WHOM) → part of audience; objective variables (age, gender) and
personal factors (e.g involvement with an issue)
- During communication process receiver is exposed to both external and
internal influences
5) Target (WHAT BEHAVIOR) → type of change communication is designed to
establish
Input Factors → concerned with target the communication is aimed at (which causes
immediate/long-term change)
- Components out of which one can consist of communication to change attitudes
and action
Output Factors → manifest the influence on the receiver which varies from exposure to
the message to a stable behavioral change
- Consist of successive information processing behavioral sub steps that the
communication must evoke in the target person for the persuasive impact to occur
- Matrix explains → how we can establish effect in variation of input factors on one or
more output steps; it also prefers some sequence of steps (not hierarchical); steps can be
skipped
- The matrix does not explain effects ?
- The matrix describes relationships between input factors out of which communication is
constructed and output factors that cause persuasion
- Immediate cognitive reactions at the beginning, long-term cognitive reactions at the end
- Output factors can mutually influence on another
3
, - Output factors warn for a great number of interviewing processes that might mediate
found relationships + serves as a checklist to detect and strengthen weak points in
messages
- For persuasive effect to occur individuals need to be exposed to communication
- Exposure does not equal effect, but its a prerequisite for processing message content
McGuire Inoculation theory → how people can arm themselves against information intended
to influence and change their opinion
- Weak arguments may act like a virus, triggering a cognitive reaction that actually
protects, reinforces and helps to maintain existing attitude
- Yields 6 steps of persuasion:
1. Presentation
2. Attention
3. Comprehension
4. Yielding (accepting the argument)
5. Retention
6. Behavior
4
