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Revision:Persuasion
From The Student RoomTSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Psychology > Persuasion Conscious planned attempts to change attitudes. Leon Festinger and Cognitive Dissonance. Attitudes can be shaped by behaviors. Dissonance - discord, discomfort, or distress due to things being out of balance or not fitting together. Cognitive Dissonance - we realize (cognition) that we have behaved in way not consistent (dissonant) with other cognitions. What matters most in producing attitude change is perception of responsibility for unfortunate or unpleasant outcomes - whether consistent with cognitions or not. Routes to Attitude ChangeCentral route involves nature and quality of message itself - what is being communicated. Peripheral route - issues beyond content of message. Peripheral route more important when relative weak messages are conveyed. Highly credible source more persuasive than less credible source. Expertise - greater perceived expertise of communicator, greater the persuasion. Trustworthiness enhances communicator's credibility. Coercive PersuasionPersuasion techniques become coercive when they suppress an individual's ability to reason and make choices in their own best interests. (Wade & Tavris, 1998) When person is put under physical or emotional distress. When person's problems defined in simplistic terms, and simple answers are offered repeatedly. Leader offers unconditional love, acceptance, and attention. New identity based on the group is created. Subjected to entrapment. Access to information severely controlled. Compliance - Basic Principles (Cialdini, 1994)Liking/Friendship - In general, we are more willing comply with requests from friends or from people we like than with requests from strangers or people we don't like. Commitment/Consistency - Once we have committed to a position or action, we more willing comply with requests for behaviors that are consistent with that position. Reciprocity - We generally more willing comply with request from someone who previously provided favor or concession than to request from someone who has not. Scarcity - We value & try to secure opportunities, people, or objects that are scarce or decreasing...more likely comply with requests that focus on scarcity of such items. Authority - Usually more willing comply with requests from someone who is legitimate authority or who seems to be one. Compliance - TacticsWhat tricks do you have up your sleeve for getting other people to say yes? Robert Cialdini studied compliance professionals -salespeople, advertisers, lobbyists, fund-raisers, politicians, and con artists among others - to learn techniques that work. Ingratiation - tactics based on friendship or liking:
Other-enhancing tactics
Tactics should not be obvious or overdone - may fail or backfire. Foot-in-the-Door and the Lowball - Tactics based on commitment or consistencyFoot-in-the-Door TechniqueStart with trivial request and when accepted move on to larger request. Research indicates it really works. Probably based on inconsistency - people want to be consistent. Lowball TechniqueOffer very attractive deal, if person accepts, something happens making it "necessary" to change deal - sales manager rejects it. Rational thing to do is walk away. People often agree to changes in deal they accepted - made an initial commitment, which hard to change. Door-in-the-Face and That's-Not-All Approach - Tactics based on ReciprocityReciprocity - we tend to treat people as they have treated us. Door-in-the-FaceOpposite of Foot-in-the-Door. Start with a very large request. After large request refused, much smaller one made - the one the requester wanted. We feel subtle pressure to reciprocate to downsizing by saying yes. The tactic is often successful. That's-not-all TechniqueInitial request is followed, before person can make up mind, by something that sweetens the deal - that little "extra". People often feel compelled to reciprocate. Playing Hard to Get and the Fast-Approaching-Deadline TechniqueIn general, the rarer or harder to obtain something is, the more valuable it is perceived to be. Playing-Hard-to-GetIndividuals try create impression they are very popular or very much in demand. Puts pressure on romantic partners or employers to say yes to requests by person. If you don't agree to request, appears you will lose a valuable partner or employee. Fast-Approaching-Deadline TechniquePresumably it will be impossible to obtain something after a certain deadline. "Final Sale" - "Final Clearance" - "Last Chance" Compliance - Basic Principles
Compliance - Tactics
Dissonance theoryHistorical context: First "cognitive" theory in social psychology was Festinger's (1954) social comparison theory; dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957) then dominated the field for about 15 years. Principles of dissonance theory: two incompatible cognitions --> creates tension --> attempts to reduce dissonance (by changing one, the other, or by integrating both cognitions). In the most typical case, a strongly held belief is dissonant with a single behavior. The most interesting cases are those in which dissonance is reduced by changing one's belief. (This is a process in which the usual attitude --> behavior relationship is reversed.) ExperimentsParadigm of forced compliance (self-persuasion)
The crucial ingredient in these studies is that all conditions created sufficient force to make people comply with these odd requests, but in some conditions people perceived to have "good reasons" to do so (e.g., severe threat, $10 reward), creating little or no dissonance, whereas in other conditions they had no good reasons (creating high dissonance). The people with high dissonance had to reduce it, and because all other paths were blocked, they changed their attitudes/beliefs (about police, the toy, grasshoppers, etc.) in the direction of their behavior. B. Paradigm of overjustification
In the standard dissonance paradigm, people change their cognitions because they feel they don't have enough reason/justification for acting the way they did; in the overjustification paradigm, they change their cognitions because they feel they have too many reasons/justifications for acting the way they do. Conditions for changing one's belief:
Dissonance StoriesStretching before joggingIn March 1990, CBS Morning News reported a startling finding, namely, that stretching before engaging in physical activity can harm athletes. The results of a large study showed that people who always stretch a moderate amount suffer no fewer injuries than those who never stretch; and those who stretch deeply actually suffer more injuries than those who never stretch. CBS also went into Central Park and interviewed joggers, those who stretched and those who didn't, asking what they thought about those data.
Missing a TV showCompare the following two scenarios:
Buying a printer
Eating PizzaLennie is out on a movie date with somebody he likes. His date hates complainers, so Lennie presents himself as a very laid back, carefree, undisturbed person. After the movie he feels hungry, so they pass by a pizza stand and Lennie buys a slice of pizza. After the first bite he notices that the pizza tastes funny. He takes another bite, and now it's pretty obvious: the cheese is rancid.
Franklin's trickBenjamin Franklin once won over a legislator who seemed to dislike him with the following method: He knew that the legislator owned a rare and valuable book. So he sent the legislator a polite note, asking whether he, Franklin, could borrow the book for a few days. The legislator sent the book promptly and ever since showed quite a fondness for Franklin. How would dissonance theory explain the legislator's curious change of heart?
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