Chapter 3: Mass Communication, Propaganda, and Persuasion

Question 1

What is:

emotional contagion

Media Contagion

Answer 1

The phenomenon of having one person’s emotions and related behaviors directly trigger similar emotions and behaviors in other people (e.g. news coverage of Chicago poisioning’s and suicide pacts).

Question 2

What effect does education have on persuasion?

Effectiveness of Media Appeals

Answer 2

The more educated the person, the greater the skepticism, and further, people who are skeptical believe their skepticism makes them immune to persuasion. This might lead us to conclude that the mere fact of knowing that a communicator is biased serves to protect us from being influenced by the message. However, this is not true. Simply because we think we are immune to persuasion does not necessarily mean we are immune.

Question 3

What role does frequency play in persuasion?

Effectiveness of Media Appeals

Answer 3

Unless there is something inherently noxious about a stimulus, the more we are exposed to it, the more we will like it (e.g. we like backwards pictures of ourselves while our friends prefer nonmirrored images).

Question 4

What is the difference between propaganda and education?

Education or Propaganda?

Answer 4

Propaganda is defined as “the systematic propagation of a given doctrine,” while education is defined as “the act of imparting knowledge or skill.”

Question 5

What is the:

central route to persuasion

Two Major Routes to Persuasion

Answer 5

This route involves weighing arguments and considering relevant facts and figures, thinking about issues in a systematic fashion and coming to a decision. People will think carefully about the content of the communication, and the quality of the arguments and evidence provided.

Question 6

What is the:

peripheral route to persuasion

Two Major Routes to Persuasion

Answer 6

In this route, a person responds to simple, often irrelevant or superficial cues that suggest the rightness, wrongness, or attractiveness of an argument without giving it much thought. When elaboration is low, people may rely on heuristics and the attractiveness of the source is going to be the most important aspect.

Question 7

What are the three key factors that influence the effectiveness of a communication or persuasive attempt?

Two Major Routes to Persuasion

Answer 7

The three classes of variables are: (1) the source of the communication (who says it), (2) the nature of the communication (how he or she says it), and (3) characteristics of the audience (to whom he or she says it). Put most simply: Who says what to whom?

Question 8

What role does credibility play in persuasion?

The Source of the Communication

Answer 8

Credible people are generally both expert and trustworthy, and thus tend to be more persuasive. It makes sense to allow yourself to be influenced by communicators who are trustworthy and who know what they are talking about. Credibility can also be determined by being in a position of authority, or when a critic agrees with the contrary view. However, seemingly random peripheral attributes (e.g. the skin colour of an engineer) can also affect a person’s credibility.

Question 9

What role does trustworthiness play in persuasion?

The Source of the Communication

Answer 9

Often, when a message conflicts with people’s expectations, listeners will perceive the communicator as being more sincere, and be more persuaded by his statement (e.g. a dentist telling you that it’s okay to eat candy). The trustworthiness of a person can also be increased if the audience is absolutely certain the person is not trying to influence them (e.g. if you overhear advice rather than be told the advice directly).

Question 10

What role does attractiveness play in persuasion?

The Source of the Communication

Answer 10

Attractive communicators are more persuasive, and we also tend to associate the attractiveness of the communicator with the desirability of the message. When we like the source, we behave as though we were trying to please them. Accordingly, the more that communicator wants to change our opinions, the more we change them—but only about trivial issues.

Question 11

Is there a difference between logical and emotional appeals?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 11

There are no fool-proof, mutually exclusive definitions of emotional and rational. Related to this lack of distinction is the problem of the effect of various levels of a specific emotion on opinion change.

Question 12

What role does fear play in persuasion?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 12

All other things being equal, the more frightened a person is by a communication, the more likely he or she is to take positive preventive action. Additionally, people with high self-esteem are more likely to be moved by high degrees of fear arousal. A high-fear communication overwhelms low self-esteem people. For these people, fear-arousing messages containing specific instructions about how, when, and where to take action are much more effective than recommendations not including such instructions. However, the impact of fear-inducing appeals is context-specific.

Question 13

What role does fear play in influencing people’s attitudes, actual behaviours, and intentions?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 13

High-fear appeals are more effective than low-fear appeals in producing favorable attitudes. Fear is also a necessary component for action—specific instructions alone are not enough. High-fear communication also produces a much greater intention to do or to stop a behaviour.

Question 14

Why are fear tactics sometimes not persuasive?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 14

Our brains evolved to be frightened—and riled to action—by certain kinds of threats (e.g. snakes) but not others (e.g. swine flu). We are also programmed to respond to human threats (e.g. terrorism) that are intentional and thus arouse in us a sense of moral indignation. Thus, fear-inducing appeals are more effective if they resonate with our hardwired fear of being attacked (e.g. “thousands of people may die from swine flu this year” vs. “swine flu may kill thousands of people this year”). As well, if we are continually exposed to vague warnings that prove to be false alarms, most of us will eventually drift into a state of denial and become bored and complacent and will eventually stop listening.

Question 15

What is the difference between consensual statistical evidence and a vivid personal example?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 15

Personal examples, because of their vividness, assume far more importance than their logical statistical status would imply. Indeed, such occurrences are frequently decisive. In addition, the more vivid the examples are, the greater their persuasive power. This is undoubtedly one reason that testimonials (e.g. “I lost 40 pounds on Jenny Craig!”) are so effective, even when they are accompanied by statistical disclaimers (e.g. “Results not typical”).

Question 16

What is the difference between one-sided and two-sided arguments in persuasion?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 16

There is no simple relation between one-sided arguments and the effectiveness of the communication. It depends to some extent upon how well informed the audience is: The more well informed the members of the audience are, the less likely they are to be persuaded by a one-sided argument and the more likely they are to be persuaded by an argument that brings out the important opposing arguments and then proceeds to refute them. On the other hand, if the counterargument is ignored, the less-informed members of the audience are persuaded; if the counterargument is presented, they may get confused. As well, if a member of the audience is already predisposed to believe the communicator’s argument, a one-sided presentation has a greater impact. If, however, a member of the audience is leaning in the opposite direction, then a two-sided refutational argument is more persuasive.

Question 17

What role does the order of presentation play in persuasion?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 17

From our knowledge of the phenomena of learning, it would appear that, all other things being equal, the first argument will be more effective; this is called the primacy effect. But from our knowledge of the phenomena of retention, on the other hand, it would appear that, all other things being equal, the last argument will be more effective; this is called the recency effect. The crucial factor is time: (1) Inhibition (interference) is greatest if very little time elapses between the two communications—the first argument will prevail. (2) Retention is greatest, and recency effects will therefore prevail, when the audience must make up its mind immediately after hearing the second communication.

Question 18

What is the most effective level of discrepancy between the opinion of the audience and the recommendation of the communicator?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 18

The relationship has been described as curvilinear, meaning that, as a small discrepancy increased somewhat, so did the degree of opinion change; but as the discrepancy continued to increase, opinion change began to slacken; and finally, as the discrepancy became large, the amount of opinion change became very small. Thus, if an opinion is outside of one’s latitude of acceptance, the individual will not be much influenced by it. The greatest opinion changes occurr when there is a moderate discrepancy between the actual message and the opinions of individual members of the groups.

Question 19

What are the four ways someone will guard against disomfort when faced with a great discrepancy in opinion?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 19

1. They can change their opinion.
2. They can induce the communicator to change his or her opinion.
3. They can seek support for their original opinion by finding other people who share their views, in spite of what the communicator says.
4. They can derogate the communicator—convince themselves the communicator is stupid or immoral—and thereby invalidate that person’s opinion.

Question 20

How does a communicator’s credibility affect persuasion?

The Nature of the Communication

Answer 20

If a communicator’s credibility are high, the greater the discrepancy between the communicator’s opinions and the audience’s opinions, the greater the influence exerted on the opinions of the audience. However, if the communicator’s credibility is not very high, they might be subject to derogation, the more discrepant their position is from those of the audience. In this case, he or she will produce maximum opinion change with moderate discrepancy.

Question 21

What effect does an individual’s self-esteem have on his or her persuasibility?

Characteristics of the Audience

Answer 21

Individuals who feel inadequate are more easily influenced by a persuasive communication than individuals who think highly of themselves. Consequently, if people with low self-esteem have their ideas are challenged, they may be willing to give them up. People want to be right, so someone with low self-esteem is more willing to accept that he is wrong.

Question 22

How does prior experience of the audience effect persuasion?

Characteristics of the Audience

Answer 22

An audience can be made receptive to a communication if it has been well fed and is relaxed and happy. People who have recently received self-esteem affirming feedback are also more receptive to persuasive arguments. One way of decreasing an audience’s persuasibility is by forewarning them that an attempt is going to be made to persuade them. This is especially true if the content of the message differs from their own beliefs. This phenomenon occurs because people like to protect their sense of freedom, and being persuaded challenges that. Thus, the more you tell someone not to or try to prevent them from doing something, the more likely they will do that thing to reassert their freedom.

Question 23

What is the:

inoculation effect

Characteristics of the Audience

Answer 23

A method of inducing resistance to persuasion; i.e. if people receive prior exposure to a brief communication that they are then able to refute, they tend to be “immunized” against a subsequent full-blown presentation of the same argument (like how a small amount of an attenuated virus in shots immunizes people against a full-blown attack by that virus). In producing resistance, inoculation is most effective when the belief under attack is a cultural truism (e.g. “If people are willing to work hard, they can succeed”). The person who is easiest to brainwash is the person whose beliefs are based on slogans that have never been seriously challenged.

Question 24

Define:

opinion

Opinions Versus Attitudes

Answer 24

What a person believes to be factually true. They can be changed by good, clear evidence to the contrary.

Question 25

Define:

attitude

Opinions Versus Attitudes

Answer 25

An opinion that includes an evaluative and an emotional component. They are extremely difficult to change.

Question 26

What impact doesTV have on regular viewers?

Effects of TV Watching

Answer 26

American TV tends to underrepresent certain groups and overportray crime. Thus, researchers have found that heavy viewers (1) expressed more racially prejudiced attitudes; (2) overestimated the number of people employed as physicians, lawyers, and athletes; (3) perceived women as having more limited abilities and interests than men; (4) held exaggerated views about the prevalence of violence. However, it must be remembered that this TV research is correlational.