College 1 september 7, 11:00 chapter 1 & 2 Perloff
What is persuasion?
A sender’s attempt to change a receiver’s beliefs, attitudes and behavior.
Persuasive = overtuigend
Persuasion: a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to
change their attitude or behavior regarding an issue through the transmission of a
message, in an atmosphere of free choice.
VB: Would you like to go to the movies? i don’t know. Well there is this movie you need to see…
→ persuasion. Mensen overtuigen dat je leuk bent of op een bepaalde manier kleden zodat
mensen op een manier over je denken. Ook de krant, is er een intentie op te persuaderen?
There is a difference between commanding/coercing and persuading. There has to be a choice
(hence free will) for persuasion to occur
Persuasive communication is
- broader than marketing communication → used with friends, in class, ect.
- foundation of most marketing communication.
Marketing communication is
Persuasive communication, but also:
- attention/ awareness ( memory effects)
- consumer choice behavior (biases)
- branding
- targeting strategie → hoe te vinden, welk publiek etc.
- media influence (online vs offline)
MPC classes: subjects
- Which elements determine a commercial’s effectiveness
- Can we influence people outside of their awareness?
- When you need evidence and arguments in persuasion?
- How do people persuade themselves?
- Is there such a thing as a charismatic leader?
- What do we have in common with Pavlov’s dog?
,Persuasion: application areas
There are different areas where you can apply persuasion, for example:
● corporate sphere
○ marketing communication, but also
■ sales
■ motivating/leadership
■ online campaigns/influences
● Public sphere
○ health communication
○ politics, societal debates
● Individual sphere
○ relations
○ education/ family life
Persuasive communication: scientific approach
Why do we need persuasive communication?
● People often don't understand their own beliefs, attitudes and behavior motives
○ waarom ging je naar het college, wat was het moment dat je dacht ja ik wil gaan.
○ let alone those of others
● We need objective evidence to understand why people change their behavior
● How do we get this evidence?
Question: are good-looking people seen as more or less intelligent as less good-looking people?
Answer: Halo-effect → good looking people attract good characteristics. Better jobs, more
positive responses, reliable, more persuasive ect.
,Perloff quiz questions ch1
1. Which of the following is a basic component of persuasion?
a. logic
b. emotion
c. free choice
d. threat
2. The text discussed persuasion as coercion. The discussion concluded that:
a. coercion and persuasion differ sharply
b. it is frequently difficult to differentiate persuasion from coercion
c. coercive appeals are more emotional than persuasive messages
d. coercion is immoral; persuasion is always moral
3. According to the definition of persuasion, which of these would NOT be regarded as a
persuasive message?
a. television Violence
b. political commercial
c. sales appeal via telephone
d. folk song intended to change attitude towards police
4. Plato criticized these early Greek scholars of persuasion. Their name has become
synonymous with glib, simplistic appeals. They are the:
a. Gyros
b. Aristotleans
c. Athenian rockers
d. Sophists
5. Let’s say that Jennifer loves to hike in the woods and has pro-environmental attitudes.
After clicking on the Green Party’s website, she feels even more positively toward
environmental causes. The website has exerted which type of persuasion effect:
a. attitude shaping
b. attitude changing
c. attitude reinforcing
d. attitude brainwashing
6. The social scientific approach to persuasion is characterized by:
a. proposing philosophical approaches to persuasion ethics
b. testing hypotheses through empirical methods
c. studying persuasive messages, not people
d. focusing on animals to understand human behavior.
, College 2 Attitude and balance september, 9 9:00 Chapter 3
Perloff
Definition of attitudes:
“a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive and
synamix influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is
related” - Allport (1935)
“The predisposition of the individual to evaluate a particular object in a favorable or unfavorable
manner” - Katz 1960
“A tendency to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given
object” - Fishbein & Ajzen 1975/Ajzen 1988
“A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of
favor or disfavor” - Eagly & Chaiken 1993
Key characteristics of attitudes
● Tendency: longer than emotions, shorter than personality traits
● learned: through experience or other
● evaluative: has a valence (positive or negative) and intensity (weak or strong)
● directed at object: person, issue, group, etc
Attitude functions
● Attitudes are (psychologically) useful
● Katz (1960):
○ ego-defensive:
■ Attitudes help maintain a positive self-image
■ In vs outgroup: negative attitudes toward other groups confirms own
superiority
■ VB: negative attitudes toward immigrants
○ value-expressive:
■ People want to express their identity
■ Attitudes help to express central values, obtain social approval
■ VB: liking classical music to show refinement, class
○ instrumental function:
■ Attitudes and associated behavior (approach; avoid) will help obtaining
positive outcome: everyone likes a clean room, so then you will might like
cleaning
■ usually result from learning processes (rewards and punishments);
children develop positive attitudes based on associated positive
outcomes
○ knowledge function:
■ attitudes organize our thinking; make the world
understandable/predictable
What is persuasion?
A sender’s attempt to change a receiver’s beliefs, attitudes and behavior.
Persuasive = overtuigend
Persuasion: a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to
change their attitude or behavior regarding an issue through the transmission of a
message, in an atmosphere of free choice.
VB: Would you like to go to the movies? i don’t know. Well there is this movie you need to see…
→ persuasion. Mensen overtuigen dat je leuk bent of op een bepaalde manier kleden zodat
mensen op een manier over je denken. Ook de krant, is er een intentie op te persuaderen?
There is a difference between commanding/coercing and persuading. There has to be a choice
(hence free will) for persuasion to occur
Persuasive communication is
- broader than marketing communication → used with friends, in class, ect.
- foundation of most marketing communication.
Marketing communication is
Persuasive communication, but also:
- attention/ awareness ( memory effects)
- consumer choice behavior (biases)
- branding
- targeting strategie → hoe te vinden, welk publiek etc.
- media influence (online vs offline)
MPC classes: subjects
- Which elements determine a commercial’s effectiveness
- Can we influence people outside of their awareness?
- When you need evidence and arguments in persuasion?
- How do people persuade themselves?
- Is there such a thing as a charismatic leader?
- What do we have in common with Pavlov’s dog?
,Persuasion: application areas
There are different areas where you can apply persuasion, for example:
● corporate sphere
○ marketing communication, but also
■ sales
■ motivating/leadership
■ online campaigns/influences
● Public sphere
○ health communication
○ politics, societal debates
● Individual sphere
○ relations
○ education/ family life
Persuasive communication: scientific approach
Why do we need persuasive communication?
● People often don't understand their own beliefs, attitudes and behavior motives
○ waarom ging je naar het college, wat was het moment dat je dacht ja ik wil gaan.
○ let alone those of others
● We need objective evidence to understand why people change their behavior
● How do we get this evidence?
Question: are good-looking people seen as more or less intelligent as less good-looking people?
Answer: Halo-effect → good looking people attract good characteristics. Better jobs, more
positive responses, reliable, more persuasive ect.
,Perloff quiz questions ch1
1. Which of the following is a basic component of persuasion?
a. logic
b. emotion
c. free choice
d. threat
2. The text discussed persuasion as coercion. The discussion concluded that:
a. coercion and persuasion differ sharply
b. it is frequently difficult to differentiate persuasion from coercion
c. coercive appeals are more emotional than persuasive messages
d. coercion is immoral; persuasion is always moral
3. According to the definition of persuasion, which of these would NOT be regarded as a
persuasive message?
a. television Violence
b. political commercial
c. sales appeal via telephone
d. folk song intended to change attitude towards police
4. Plato criticized these early Greek scholars of persuasion. Their name has become
synonymous with glib, simplistic appeals. They are the:
a. Gyros
b. Aristotleans
c. Athenian rockers
d. Sophists
5. Let’s say that Jennifer loves to hike in the woods and has pro-environmental attitudes.
After clicking on the Green Party’s website, she feels even more positively toward
environmental causes. The website has exerted which type of persuasion effect:
a. attitude shaping
b. attitude changing
c. attitude reinforcing
d. attitude brainwashing
6. The social scientific approach to persuasion is characterized by:
a. proposing philosophical approaches to persuasion ethics
b. testing hypotheses through empirical methods
c. studying persuasive messages, not people
d. focusing on animals to understand human behavior.
, College 2 Attitude and balance september, 9 9:00 Chapter 3
Perloff
Definition of attitudes:
“a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive and
synamix influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is
related” - Allport (1935)
“The predisposition of the individual to evaluate a particular object in a favorable or unfavorable
manner” - Katz 1960
“A tendency to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given
object” - Fishbein & Ajzen 1975/Ajzen 1988
“A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of
favor or disfavor” - Eagly & Chaiken 1993
Key characteristics of attitudes
● Tendency: longer than emotions, shorter than personality traits
● learned: through experience or other
● evaluative: has a valence (positive or negative) and intensity (weak or strong)
● directed at object: person, issue, group, etc
Attitude functions
● Attitudes are (psychologically) useful
● Katz (1960):
○ ego-defensive:
■ Attitudes help maintain a positive self-image
■ In vs outgroup: negative attitudes toward other groups confirms own
superiority
■ VB: negative attitudes toward immigrants
○ value-expressive:
■ People want to express their identity
■ Attitudes help to express central values, obtain social approval
■ VB: liking classical music to show refinement, class
○ instrumental function:
■ Attitudes and associated behavior (approach; avoid) will help obtaining
positive outcome: everyone likes a clean room, so then you will might like
cleaning
■ usually result from learning processes (rewards and punishments);
children develop positive attitudes based on associated positive
outcomes
○ knowledge function:
■ attitudes organize our thinking; make the world
understandable/predictable
