Persuasion Theories Research Paper

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I find this theory particularly really interesting as persuaders would very much want to know how to make an attitude change last longer, have a greater influence on behavior, and be more resistant to change. We need to understand both of these processes of persuasion because both of them occur in receivers.

The ELM has been applied in many scientific studies. One that I particularly found interesting was its application to increase recall of conservation messages and elaboration by zoo visitors. In this study, researchers analyzed the effectiveness of face to face communication used in zoos, known as animal talks, and the degree to which messaging is more effective when based on the ELM vs a control group with no framework. The research discovered that by applying the ELM framework, the zoo experienced an increase in visitor satisfaction and an increase in cognitive processing in visitors. Another study talks about the implications of the ELM for the interviewer decision processes. The study conducted by two members of the University of Missouri suggests that ELM is a useful framework for investigating when variables that are unrelated to job performance will influence an interviewer’s decision process. The article suggests that ELM underscores the importance of explicitly considering an interviewer’s motivation and ability when evaluating an applicant. According to the article, the ELM is important to consider in the selection interview because interviewers do not always have the ability to process applicant’s qualifications.

Despite its usefulness as a framework for conceptualizing attitude formation and change, the ELM theory faces limitations. In a study titled “Limitations and Extensions in Marketing,” researchers suggest that communication effectiveness could be greatly improved if the model could predict which cues (central or peripheral) would be processed in which way under particular sets of circumstances. For instance, ELM describes the process that results from a motivational states, but it cannot predict the motivational state. Another critique stated that if there are any differences between the strengths of peripherally and centrally processed attitudes. ELM argues that peripheral results in less forceful attitudes are predictive of behavior. Nevertheless, Zajonc argues that attitudes based on directly affective responses may be more durable and more forceful than attitudes that result from thoughtful consideration.

The next topic I will talk about is the Social Judgement theory. This theory is the perception and evaluation of an idea by comparing it with current attitudes. In other words, the theory kicks in when a message is heard and the receiver of the message immediately forms an opinion on the matter. Social judgement is how we perceive people how we form impressions about them and how ewe think about social things. The theory seeks to specify the conditions under which this change takes place and predicts the direction of the attitude change. As part of the theory, three classification for responses to messages were developed—these are known as “altitude zones”. The first zone is the latitude of acceptance. This zone represents messages that people believe in or find them true. The next zone is the latitude of rejection. Here individuals see messages as unreasonable. The third zone is the latitude of non-commitment. In this zone individuals have no opinion on the matter. Understanding the placement of this information into zones can help one (persuader) determine the other’s person involvement, which will show how important the issue is to them.

One article that reflects the importance of the SJT is based on the theory’s applications to medical judgement. Medical judgements characteristically involve decision making under uncertainty with inevitable error and an abundance of fallible cues. SJT research has found wide variation among decision makers in their judgements and in the weighting of clinical information. The theory shows that its applications in medicine have been strategy-capturing studies. SJT studies have demonstrated that physicians often don’t make decisions in the way they think they do. There is a great deal of variation in the use of information and the strategies often differ from what is recommended by experts or found in textbooks. The article concluded that SJT theory has provide insights into physicians’ decisions and gives the medical research community important tools for studying judgements in actual practice. Another scientific use of the SJT theory was applied to the education decision making. The purpose of this study was to use the SJT as tool to improve the ability of educational administrators to identify ore accurately students “at risk” of becoming later dropouts. The study discovered that SJT offers the opportunity for decision makers to understand more clearly the nature of their intuitions, inferences and biases and the role they play in their judgements.

One critique to the SJT is that while the theory states that an attitude change exists in response to a communication by individuals’ position towards a message, the article “Contrast and Effects and Attitude Change” states that while numerous studies have reported correlations between judgments and attitude change, it is not clear whether shifts in judgments of the position of the message are casually prior to shifts in attitudes or simply coincide with those shifts.

Lastly, I want to talk about the mere exposure theory by Zajonc. This theory states that the more exposure we have to a stimulus, the more we will tend to like it. Familiarity leads to liking more than contempt. “Things” tend to grow on us and we acquire tastes for things over time and repeated exposure. This stimulus can be people, commercial products, places, etc. We can get to like most things, given time; sometimes we can even like unpleasant things. When referred to the area of mass communication, this means that people choose certain types of media content and avoid other types.

One critique for the mere exposure effect states that while most studies have found a monotonic relationship between repetition and evaluation, other studies have found moderation effect where here is an inverted U shaped relationship between exposure and effect, and few others have found repeated exposure leads to a decrease in affect. The article “The Mere Exposure Effect: Is it A Mere Case of Misattributions” argues that Zajonc does not really offer a theory that explains the mere exposure theory, rather the article states that Zajonc argues that a separate affective response system is responsible for the effect; thus, refuting all theories that affect s based on cognition. Zajonc argues that any learning, and therefore the uncertainty

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