Lecture 1
- Persuasive communication - a sender’s attempt to change a receiver's beliefs, attitudes,
and behavior
- Corporate persuasion - sales, negotiations, motivating, leadership, online campaigns,
influencers - all use persuasion
- Public persuasion - societal debate, political opinion - all include persuasion
- Individual persuasion - relationships, education, family life - uses persuasion
- Experiments are good because we can
1. manipulate the independent variable
2. Measure its effects on the dependent variable
- Persuasion - a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to
change their attitudes or behavior through the transmission of a message - in free choice
- Persuasion must have persuasion intention, otherwise it is not persuasion
- News is not persuasive usually because they are not trying to change behavior and
opinions.
Lecture 2
- Dictatorship countries and the army doesn’t usually have free choice - therefore it is not
persuasive communication
- Attitudes - a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity
with some degree of favor or disfavor
- Characteristics of attitudes - attitudes are:
1. Tendency - longer than emotions, shorter than personality traits
2. Learned - through experience or other
3. Evaluative - has a valence (positive/negative) and intensity (weak/strong)
4. Directed at object - person, issue, group, etc.
- Attitude functions:
1. Knowledge function of attitudes - attitudes organize our thinking and make the
world understandable. They help us predict how people will react in a situation
(prejudice)
2. Instrumental function - attitudes will help obtain positive outcomes. Usually
result from learning processes (rewards or punishments)
3. Ego-defensive function - attitudes help maintain a positive self-image. Negative
attitudes toward other groups confirms their own superiority.
4. Value-expressive function - people want to express their identity and attitudes
help to express values and obtain social approval. For example, liking classical
music to show class.
, 5. Social adjustment - people like others with similar beliefs. Expressing attitude
helps in forming or maintaining relationships. People don't like when people
disagree with them
- Attitude = strength of beliefs X evaluations of these beliefs
- Accessible attitude - a strong attitude that can be automatically activated from memory
- An attitude performs an action means it serves a need
Lecture 3
- Balance theory - when we like things but there is something bad about it, we try to
reduce the imbalance with a few ways:
1. Denial - denying the imbalance altogether, denying the problem
2. Bolstering - trying to enhance the value of the positive side more than the
negative. Meaning that you think the good thing trumps the bad.
3. Differentiation - differentiate between two things, splitting up the problem - the
main thing is fine, but we can change only the bad thing and not everything
altogether
4. Integration / transcendence - acknowledging the issue, but deciding to live with
it rather than fix it. It is how it is
- Cognitive dissonance (Leon Festinger) - the uncomfortable feeling we experience when
we hold conflicting beliefs or attitudes, which motivates us to resolve the inconsistency.
- People persuade themselves, they decide to change their mind.
- Cognitive elements - attitudes, beliefs, behavior (they are all related and affect one
another)
- Example of dissonance: smoking is bad for my health but smoking keeps me slim
- Consonant - the excuse / reason why we are dealing with dissonance. (smoking keeps
me slim is consonant)
- Dissonance is an aversive (unpleasant) state, which is why people are motivated to
reduce dissonance
- Resolving dissonance:
1. The importance of dissonant cognitions can be reduced
2. The dissonant cognitions can be changed
3. Consonant cognitions can be added
4. The importance of consonant cognitions can be increased
- Cognitive dissonance - areas of application:
1. Decision making: choice behavior / rationalization -
➔ Dissonance is a post-decision phenomenon
➔ The more similar the alternatives, the more dissonance
➔ Dissonance occurs just right after the choice
, ➔ Dissonance reduction after choice - is the spread of alternatives (hype
yourself up of why you made the right choice)
2. Mass communication - selective exposure -
➔ Selective exposure hypothesis - people seek information that confirms
their attitudes and avoid the information that conflicts their attitudes.
➔ Minimal effects of mass media through selective exposure - A lot of
communication does not have the impact that you expect it to have.
3. Induced compliance
➔ Smaller rewards for hard tasks are better than big rewards. They motivate
more and it convinces you that you did what you did because it’s what
you wanted rather than for the reward.
➔ Also works in marketing - making products expensive and difficult to
obtain on purpose to feel like its more special (like gucci bad, rare and
expensive, but you feel special and are more happier with it)
4. Sunk cost
➔ People overestimate chances of winning - for example after placing a bet.
The idea that money was wrongly invested creates dissonance
➔ Concorde effect - the tendency for investments in an existing system to
increase over time, even if it's no longer the most efficient or effective
option.
5. Hypocrisy induction
➔ People don't want to be hypocrites, even if they are asked to say
something, they will feel guilty or bad to go against it. For example, a
student that gives a lecture about using condoms is more likely to use
condoms themselves.
Lecture 4
- Persuasion changes attitudes, and attitudes change behavior
- If we know why people have certain attitudes, we can more easily influence their
behavior
- Psychological benefits of attitudes:
1. Ego-defensive
2. Value-expressive
3. Instrumental
4. Knowledge function
5. Social adjustment function
- According to some, attitudes do not predict behavior
- It is more correct to ask when do attitudes predict behavior:
- Persuasive communication - a sender’s attempt to change a receiver's beliefs, attitudes,
and behavior
- Corporate persuasion - sales, negotiations, motivating, leadership, online campaigns,
influencers - all use persuasion
- Public persuasion - societal debate, political opinion - all include persuasion
- Individual persuasion - relationships, education, family life - uses persuasion
- Experiments are good because we can
1. manipulate the independent variable
2. Measure its effects on the dependent variable
- Persuasion - a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to
change their attitudes or behavior through the transmission of a message - in free choice
- Persuasion must have persuasion intention, otherwise it is not persuasion
- News is not persuasive usually because they are not trying to change behavior and
opinions.
Lecture 2
- Dictatorship countries and the army doesn’t usually have free choice - therefore it is not
persuasive communication
- Attitudes - a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity
with some degree of favor or disfavor
- Characteristics of attitudes - attitudes are:
1. Tendency - longer than emotions, shorter than personality traits
2. Learned - through experience or other
3. Evaluative - has a valence (positive/negative) and intensity (weak/strong)
4. Directed at object - person, issue, group, etc.
- Attitude functions:
1. Knowledge function of attitudes - attitudes organize our thinking and make the
world understandable. They help us predict how people will react in a situation
(prejudice)
2. Instrumental function - attitudes will help obtain positive outcomes. Usually
result from learning processes (rewards or punishments)
3. Ego-defensive function - attitudes help maintain a positive self-image. Negative
attitudes toward other groups confirms their own superiority.
4. Value-expressive function - people want to express their identity and attitudes
help to express values and obtain social approval. For example, liking classical
music to show class.
, 5. Social adjustment - people like others with similar beliefs. Expressing attitude
helps in forming or maintaining relationships. People don't like when people
disagree with them
- Attitude = strength of beliefs X evaluations of these beliefs
- Accessible attitude - a strong attitude that can be automatically activated from memory
- An attitude performs an action means it serves a need
Lecture 3
- Balance theory - when we like things but there is something bad about it, we try to
reduce the imbalance with a few ways:
1. Denial - denying the imbalance altogether, denying the problem
2. Bolstering - trying to enhance the value of the positive side more than the
negative. Meaning that you think the good thing trumps the bad.
3. Differentiation - differentiate between two things, splitting up the problem - the
main thing is fine, but we can change only the bad thing and not everything
altogether
4. Integration / transcendence - acknowledging the issue, but deciding to live with
it rather than fix it. It is how it is
- Cognitive dissonance (Leon Festinger) - the uncomfortable feeling we experience when
we hold conflicting beliefs or attitudes, which motivates us to resolve the inconsistency.
- People persuade themselves, they decide to change their mind.
- Cognitive elements - attitudes, beliefs, behavior (they are all related and affect one
another)
- Example of dissonance: smoking is bad for my health but smoking keeps me slim
- Consonant - the excuse / reason why we are dealing with dissonance. (smoking keeps
me slim is consonant)
- Dissonance is an aversive (unpleasant) state, which is why people are motivated to
reduce dissonance
- Resolving dissonance:
1. The importance of dissonant cognitions can be reduced
2. The dissonant cognitions can be changed
3. Consonant cognitions can be added
4. The importance of consonant cognitions can be increased
- Cognitive dissonance - areas of application:
1. Decision making: choice behavior / rationalization -
➔ Dissonance is a post-decision phenomenon
➔ The more similar the alternatives, the more dissonance
➔ Dissonance occurs just right after the choice
, ➔ Dissonance reduction after choice - is the spread of alternatives (hype
yourself up of why you made the right choice)
2. Mass communication - selective exposure -
➔ Selective exposure hypothesis - people seek information that confirms
their attitudes and avoid the information that conflicts their attitudes.
➔ Minimal effects of mass media through selective exposure - A lot of
communication does not have the impact that you expect it to have.
3. Induced compliance
➔ Smaller rewards for hard tasks are better than big rewards. They motivate
more and it convinces you that you did what you did because it’s what
you wanted rather than for the reward.
➔ Also works in marketing - making products expensive and difficult to
obtain on purpose to feel like its more special (like gucci bad, rare and
expensive, but you feel special and are more happier with it)
4. Sunk cost
➔ People overestimate chances of winning - for example after placing a bet.
The idea that money was wrongly invested creates dissonance
➔ Concorde effect - the tendency for investments in an existing system to
increase over time, even if it's no longer the most efficient or effective
option.
5. Hypocrisy induction
➔ People don't want to be hypocrites, even if they are asked to say
something, they will feel guilty or bad to go against it. For example, a
student that gives a lecture about using condoms is more likely to use
condoms themselves.
Lecture 4
- Persuasion changes attitudes, and attitudes change behavior
- If we know why people have certain attitudes, we can more easily influence their
behavior
- Psychological benefits of attitudes:
1. Ego-defensive
2. Value-expressive
3. Instrumental
4. Knowledge function
5. Social adjustment function
- According to some, attitudes do not predict behavior
- It is more correct to ask when do attitudes predict behavior:
