PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION
Notes by Asiah Capponi
WEEK 1
INTRODUCTION TO PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION
(Micro Lecture)
How many previously seen advertisements can you recall?
How many can you recognize?
1940s HAROLD LASSWELL: Who says what in which channel to whom, with what effect?
It is important to look at the characteristics of:
1. Who
2. What
3. Which channel
4. To whom
5. What effect
1950s CARL HOWLAND: Yale model of persuasion
Edwards Kellogg Strong
THE AIDA MODEL
,Addition of S= Satisfaction → important factor to have the customer come back again
Shortcomings:
● Persuasion does not necessarily follow a subsequent order
● The model assumes that people devote a certain time and attention to the information
presented to them
● Recipient seen as passive
1989 WILLIAM MCGUIRE: Communication-Persuasion Matrix
(Lecture 1)
Output factors= effects → list of 13 results
Input factors= source (sender of the mess, like a company or an organization, also could be a
person like a celebrity), content (everything you see and hear in an adv), recipient (person
watching, or listening the adv), channel (online or offline)
Alternative causal orders
, ● Some people might skip some of the 13 effects steps
Ex: someone goes directly from appreciating an ad (step 3) to liking the brand in the ad (step 6)
to buying the brand (step 10).
● Entering the same steps multiple times (loops): some people might need more time to
develop a certain behaviour. Could be because the exposure stops or for other reasons.
● Follow the steps in reverse order: first you follow the advice of someone and buy a brand
and later on develop an attitude towards it.
RELEVANCE OF THE MATRIX
● Makes you aware of the effects of input factors
● Makes you aware that behavioral change is a process
● Enables you to systematically overview the scientific knowledge on the effects of each
input factors
● Helps you in seeing the weak spots of some input factors
(Lecture 2)
Fallacies and Principles of the McGuire Matrix
ATTENUATED-EFFECTS FALLACY → people drop out at every step
Successful influencing each output step is dependent on the success at the previous steps.
You need the influence on step 3 to work if you want the person to continue being influenced in
step 4 and so on. If someone is not interested anymore after a certain step the effects list will
break for that person and not continue on. It is likely that the number of people that start on step
1 don’t all arrive at the last step, but only a much smaller amount.
You can’t really do anything to reverse it, it’s more about having realistic expectations.
DISTANT-MEASURE FALLACY → don’t measure steps that are far away from each other
If your goal is to sell, do not evaluate based upon exposure.
If your goal is to sell, don’t measure only the success of the campaign, if people have been
exposed to it or not, but measure also the sales that can be attributed to the campaign
exposure.
There are many steps so if you want to measure a step you can’t assume a step further away
will have the same measure (ex. If you measure attitude you can’t assume that when you
measure behavioral intentions the effect will be the same)
NEGLECTED-MEDIATOR FALLACY
An input element may increase your success at one output step, but decrease it at another step.
Take negative effects into account because they decrease the total effect of the campaign. So,
in conclusion, take all steps into consideration.
COMPENSATORY PRINCIPLE
The reverse of the neglected mediator fallacy.
Notes by Asiah Capponi
WEEK 1
INTRODUCTION TO PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION
(Micro Lecture)
How many previously seen advertisements can you recall?
How many can you recognize?
1940s HAROLD LASSWELL: Who says what in which channel to whom, with what effect?
It is important to look at the characteristics of:
1. Who
2. What
3. Which channel
4. To whom
5. What effect
1950s CARL HOWLAND: Yale model of persuasion
Edwards Kellogg Strong
THE AIDA MODEL
,Addition of S= Satisfaction → important factor to have the customer come back again
Shortcomings:
● Persuasion does not necessarily follow a subsequent order
● The model assumes that people devote a certain time and attention to the information
presented to them
● Recipient seen as passive
1989 WILLIAM MCGUIRE: Communication-Persuasion Matrix
(Lecture 1)
Output factors= effects → list of 13 results
Input factors= source (sender of the mess, like a company or an organization, also could be a
person like a celebrity), content (everything you see and hear in an adv), recipient (person
watching, or listening the adv), channel (online or offline)
Alternative causal orders
, ● Some people might skip some of the 13 effects steps
Ex: someone goes directly from appreciating an ad (step 3) to liking the brand in the ad (step 6)
to buying the brand (step 10).
● Entering the same steps multiple times (loops): some people might need more time to
develop a certain behaviour. Could be because the exposure stops or for other reasons.
● Follow the steps in reverse order: first you follow the advice of someone and buy a brand
and later on develop an attitude towards it.
RELEVANCE OF THE MATRIX
● Makes you aware of the effects of input factors
● Makes you aware that behavioral change is a process
● Enables you to systematically overview the scientific knowledge on the effects of each
input factors
● Helps you in seeing the weak spots of some input factors
(Lecture 2)
Fallacies and Principles of the McGuire Matrix
ATTENUATED-EFFECTS FALLACY → people drop out at every step
Successful influencing each output step is dependent on the success at the previous steps.
You need the influence on step 3 to work if you want the person to continue being influenced in
step 4 and so on. If someone is not interested anymore after a certain step the effects list will
break for that person and not continue on. It is likely that the number of people that start on step
1 don’t all arrive at the last step, but only a much smaller amount.
You can’t really do anything to reverse it, it’s more about having realistic expectations.
DISTANT-MEASURE FALLACY → don’t measure steps that are far away from each other
If your goal is to sell, do not evaluate based upon exposure.
If your goal is to sell, don’t measure only the success of the campaign, if people have been
exposed to it or not, but measure also the sales that can be attributed to the campaign
exposure.
There are many steps so if you want to measure a step you can’t assume a step further away
will have the same measure (ex. If you measure attitude you can’t assume that when you
measure behavioral intentions the effect will be the same)
NEGLECTED-MEDIATOR FALLACY
An input element may increase your success at one output step, but decrease it at another step.
Take negative effects into account because they decrease the total effect of the campaign. So,
in conclusion, take all steps into consideration.
COMPENSATORY PRINCIPLE
The reverse of the neglected mediator fallacy.
