Persuasion by a Single Route: A View From the Unimodel

Major current notions of persuasion depict it as attainable via 2 qualitatively distinct routes: (a) a central or a systematic route in which opinions and attitudes are based on carefully processed arguments in the persuasive message and (b) a peripheral or heuristic route in which they are based on briefly considered heuristics or cues, exogenous to the message. This article offers a single-route reconceptualization that treats these dual routes to persuasion as involving functionally equivalent types of evidence from which persuasive conclusions may be drawn. Previous findings in the dual-process literature are reconsidered in light of this "unimodel," and novel data are presented consistent with its assumptions. Beyond its parsimony and integrative potential, the unimodel offers conceptual, empirical, and practical advantages in the persuasion domain.     

Language Use and Persuasion: Multiple Roles for Linguistic Styles

Language is the most common medium for persuasion. Stylistic variations in how individuals communicate can influence a number of processes and outcomes in a persuasion setting. This article reviews previous research on a number of commonly studied language styles and their influence on persuasion and provides suggestions for future research. First, we provide a review of some of the commonly studied stylistic features and their relation to persuasion. We then use a common multi‐process model of persuasion (i.e., the elaboration likelihood model; Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 1986, New York: Academic Press) to provide an overview of how linguistic styles can influence persuasion. In the final section, we discuss directions for future research on linguistic styles and persuasion.     

The Role of Comprehension Processes in Communication and Persuasion

The impact of media communications on attitude formation and change clearly depends on how the messages are comprehended. Although the role of comprehension processes in communication and persuasion has a long history in social psychology (cf. Hovland, Janis, & Kelley, 1953 Hovland, C. I., Janis, I., & Kelley, H. H. (1953). Communication and persuasion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. [Google Scholar]; McGuire, 1964 McGuire, W. J. (1964). Inducing resistance to persuasion. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 191–229). New York, NY: Academic Press. [Google Scholar], 1968 McGuire, W. J. (1968). Personality and susceptibility to social influence. In E. F. Borgatta & W. W. Lambert (Eds.), Handbook of personality theory and research (pp. 1130–1187). Chicago, IL: Rand McNally. [Google Scholar], 1972 McGuire, W. J. (1972). Attitude change: An information processing paradigm. In C. G. McClintock (Ed.), Experimental social psychology (pp. 108–141). New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. [Google Scholar]; Wyer, 1974 Wyer, R. S. (1974). Cognitive organization and change: An information-processing approach. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. [Google Scholar]), it has received little attention in media research. In this article, we discuss both theory and research that have implications for how the comprehension of communication at early stages of processing can impact attitudinal responses to media communications, including print and broadcast advertising, narrative television programming, newspaper articles, political messages, and donation appeals.     

Effects of Worldview and Mortality Salience in Persuasion Processes

Individual differences in media effects research have yielded a trove of insights into how media content can have varying effects. One such variable is worldview—a philosophy of life that enables a person to make sense of one's experience—but the notion has largely been unexamined in media effects research. A person's worldview can moderate the way a persuasive message is processed—sometimes in the opposite direction of that intended by communicators. Building on the construct of worldview and terror management theory, two experiments (N = 149 and N = 151) examined the question with worldview as a measured variable and mortality salience as a two-level factor. Worldview had a main effect on global evaluations of ads, as participants who tended toward a relativist worldview had lower evaluations of the ads and lower behavioral intentions, while participants who tended toward a positivist worldview had higher evaluations of the ads and higher behavioral intentions. Also, mortality salience was found to moderate participants' worldview, presumably making their worldview more accessible to exert a greater influence. The importance of worldview as a construct in media effects research, as well as theoretical implications for persuasion and terror management theory, are discussed.     

Style Versus Substance: Multiple Roles of Language Power in Persuasion

This research explores how message style influences persuasion in conjunction with message substance. Using the elaboration likelihood model, the study operationalizes message style as language power and message substance as argument quality , then considers the multiple roles language power can assume in persuasion. The authors investigate whether language power acts as a (a) central argument, (b) peripheral cue, (c) biasing influence on assessment of arguments, or (d) distraction that inhibits argument processing. Additionally, they manipulate exposure time to examine how processing ability influences which persuasive roles language power assumes. The authors find empirical support for the multiple-roles perspective and conclude that the role of message style depends partially on the ability to process message details.     

The Relation of Cognitive and Memorial Processes to Persuasion in a Simulated Jury Trial

Four experiments investigated the dependence of persuasion on cognitive factors. All experiments employed a court case for which 795 subjects acted as jury members, reading summaries of both the prosecution and defense's testimony. The amount of objective information on both sides of the case was varied. Persuasion was a position function of the number of prosecution arguments and the number of defense arguments. This finding was extended by obtaining measures of the subjects'cognitive reactions to the case as well as their opinions and by following both of these measures over time. Both analysis of variance and multiple regression techniques showed that subjects could have derived their opinions from their cognitions about the case. This relationship also held up over time. These results suggest the general form of an information-processing theory of persuasion. One prediction of this theory is for an asymptotic function relating objective information to persuasion. This prediction received empirical support.     

TARGET ARTICLE: Duality Models in Social Psychology: From Dual Processes to Interacting Systems

Dual-system models explain social cognition and behavior as a joint function of 2 interconnected mental faculties, each operating according to different principles. In this article, we use the Reflective-Impulsive Model as an example and first describe 3 major advantages of dual-system models, i.e., their integrative power, their foundation in well-established constructs of cognition and neuroscience; and the ease with which they can explain the interplay of judgments and nonjudgmental processes. We then turn to current debates on the adequate number of systems, as well as on the role of freedom and consciousness. We conclude by stating that dual-system models are versatile tools to integrate existing findings and to stimulate new research in social cognition and beyond.     

From Logos to Pathos in Social Psychology and Academic Argumentation: Reconciling Postmodernism and Positivism in a Sociology of Persuasion

This paper argues that one can empirically test, via positivist methods, the post-modern attack on positivist epistemologies: Postmodern perspectives hold Knowledge and Truth to be intersubjective, consensus-driven social constructions. But traditional scientific approaches to knowledge, exemplified here by the cognitive social psychology of persuasion, seem oblivious to this and continue to detach the study of attitudes, beliefs, and emotions from that of knowledge, facts, and reason. Abandoning these artificial distinctions in both epistemology and method would enable this social psychology, reconstituted as a Sociology of Persuasion, to contribute greatly to illuminating the processes of Truth and Knowledge construction in social interaction. Moreover, this would facilitate academic engagement in civic discourse.     

Multiple Mentoring with Single Mothers

This article describes the use of multiple mentoring as a technique to help single mothers. The mentoring process and the use of multiple mentoring for preentry-level women are reported. Practical considerations are given for counselors using such a model.     

Psychological Health From the Teens to the 80s: Multiple Developmental Trajectories

Data from the long-term Intergenerational Studies are used to explore men’s and women’s psychological health trajectories from early adolescence to late adulthood, as elucidated by Nagin’s (Group-based modeling of development. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005) finite mixture modeling method. Two separate measures of psychological health, one from the California Q-sort (CQS; Block in The Q-sort method in personality assessment and psychiatric research. Thomas, Springfield, IL, 1961) and one from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI; Gough and Bradley in CPI manual, 3rd edn. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA, 1996) are used, with a maximum of six pooled points of data collection. Distinct subtypes of developmental trajectory are uncovered, including patterns of nearly life-long trajectories of stability, as well as trajectories of increasing psychological health. For both measures of psychological health, the most common path (53% for CQS data, and 46% for CPI data) is that of relatively high initial psychological health with a subsequent modest linear increase. Results from the two measures neither perfectly replicate nor completely contradict one another. Both indicate the existence of discrete subgroups of change, including stability of psychological health for some and significant increase for others.     

Fear-Arousing and Empathy-Arousing Appeals to Help: The Pathos of Persuasion

An experiment tested the proposition that the components of a fear appeal which persuade us to protect ourselves are the Same components that persuade us to protect others. The results confirmed this hypothesis for the two components examined: noxiousness of the threatened danger and efficacy of coping response. Films showing noxious scenes of industrial whaling and films showing a pro-environmental action organization successfully saving whales from whalers strengthened intentions to help this endangered animal species. Taken together, available data indicate that fear appeals can persuade us to protect ourselves, other people, and even infrahuman animals. The social psychological paradigm used to investigate attitude change was merged with a paradigm employed to examine prosocial behavior. As predicted, an empathy-arousing appeal facilitated attitude change. Three implications for promoting ecological actions were discussed. First, empathy-arousing appeals can be applied to mass media campaigns. Second, the concept of response-efficacy in persuasive appeals can be extended from direct, individual action to activity requiring the mediation of social organizations. Finally, pro-environmental campaigns can be effective when the potential beneficiaries are not the ones shown, but who symbolize the many others in the same plight.     

A Historical and Theoretical Review of Cognitive Behavioral Therapies: From Structural Self-Knowledge to Functional Processes

This paper critically examines the historical conceptualization of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy approaches (CBT) as a direct clinical counterpart of the cognitive revolution. The main “second wave” cognitive psychotherapies, either standard cognitive therapy (CT) or constructivist, in spite of their differences, share a common conceptualization of psychopathological factors as superordinate structural cognitive content belonging to the self: self-beliefs, self-schemata, personality organizations and so on. On the other hand, rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is an exception given that in REBT self-knowledge is not the core psychopathological tenet, being rather a derivate mechanism. Moreover, in non clinical cognitive science cognition is conceived as a regulatory function that operates retroactively and not in a hierarchically super- ordered fashion centered on the self. A historical review suggests that in both CT and constructivist model the structuralistic model of self-centered cognition may have emerged for both cultural and scientific reasons: self-centered cognitive models may be more readily understandable to clinicians as they allow for a straightforward identification of operationalizable self-beliefs. The emergence of new “third wave” process-centered CBT approaches may represent a comeback to functionalism, where cognition is considered again a regulatory function and not a structure. In addition, REBT’s interest in dysfunctional evaluations not focused on the self presaged this clinical and scientific turning point toward functionalism.     

The Impact of Argumentativeness on Resistance to Persuasion

This investigation examined the impact of argumentativeness on cognitive responses and attitude change. A negative relationship between argumentativeness and attitudes was predicted. In addition, argumentatives were expected to produce greater numbers of counterarguments. This research also tested a mediational model for cognitive responses and examined the role of argumentativeness in moderating the effects of cognitive responses on attitudes. These predictions were tested by exposing respondents to three mass media messages and measuring argumentativeness. A no-message control group was also included. Volunteer undergraduate college students saw one television advertisement and read two print advertisements and were asked to complete a post hoc thought listing task and a series of dependent measures. Results indicate that argumentative individuals tend to be more resistant to persuasion. Furthermore, argumentatives were found to generate greater numbers of counterarguments. Attitude change for the highly argumentative individual was found to be a function of both positive and negative responses. In addition, the results of this investigation were inconsistent with the moderation hypothesis.     

From Boulder to Stockholm in 70 Years: Single Case Experimental Designs in Clinical Research

The Psychological Record - With the objective of increasing the magnitude of treatment effects in behavioral health, there is steadily growing interest in tailoring assessments and interventions to...     

Matching Messages to Motives in Persuasion: A Functional Approach to Promoting Volunteerism1

This study examined a functional strategy for investigating audience responses to motivationally-based persuasive appeals. It was predicted that people exposed to advertisements informing them how they could satisfy personally relevant motivations through volunteering (i.e., functionally matched messages) would judge these ads to be more persuasive, more emotionally positive, and would report being more likely to volunteer than people exposed to advertisements unrelated to their personally relevant motivations (i.e., functionally mismatched messages). These predictions were confirmed in an experiment wherein participants whose attitudes toward volunteerism served a Social Adjustive, Value Expressive, Utilitarian, Knowledge, or Ego Defensive function viewed advertisements promoting volunteerism that either matched or mismatched their personally relevant motivations. Results confirmed predictions as participants responded more favorably to the functionally matched than mismatched messages. The implications of this research for understanding the mechanisms by which functionally matched messages exert persuasive influence and the ramifications of the research for the practice of volunteerism are discussed.     

Man as a Stabiliser of Systems: From Static Snapshots of Judgement Processes to Dynamic Decision Making

The feedback arrow extending from the response to the distal state in the lens model, together with Brunswik's dictum that the organism is a stabiliser of systems, implies a dynamic view of behaviour. This paper describes the main problems in the study of dynamic decision making: feedback delays and the feedback structure of the tasks. It also describes microworlds, a methodology for studying dynamic decision making in the laboratory. The results from experiments with microworlds show that subjects have problems compensating for feedback delays and side effects. These results are discussed in terms of Brunswik's distinction between perception and thinking.     

Using Social Cognition and Persuasion to Promote Energy Conservation: A Quasi-Experiment1

A quasi-experiment was conducted to determine if the effectiveness of the R.C.S. Home Energy Audit Program could be improved by training auditors to use social-psychological principles during the audit procedure. Nine experienced home energy auditors attended two 1-day workshops in which they were trained to: (a) communicate vividly; (b) personalize their recommendations to homeowners; (c) induce commitment; and (d) frame their recommendations in terms of “loss” rather than “gain”. The effectiveness of the trained auditors was compared with a control group of experienced auditors who did not receive specific training. Both telephone interview data and utility company records pointed to the success of the auditor training. In interviews, customers served by the trained auditors reported a greater likelihood of acting on the auditors' recommendations, and a large number of these customers reported applying for utility programs to finance retrofits. Utility records validated these customer claims: A significantly larger number of customers served by trained auditors actually did apply for retrofit finance programs. A longitudinal measure of actual energy consumption showed no difference between experimental and control households. Taken as a whole, these findings demonstrate the potential for using principles uncovered in the social psychological laboratory to design applied interventions.     

Single and Multiple Self Implications for Change Grids: Studies of Consistency

Abstract

This study, derived from the work of Hinkle (1965), explored the short-term test-re-test stability of two forms of Implications for Change grids. In the Single Self implications task, persons considered whether a general self change on one personal construct dimension would influence change on their other dimensions. The Multiple Self implications task followed the same form of questioning. However, in this latter procedure, persons were asked about self change within more specific contexts of activity (e.g., self as friend, self at play). Average consistency levels were calculated for the Single Self and the Multiple Self grids. Predictions were made regarding which subjects would show more or less consistency using measures of self meaningfulness and construct organization at first testing