PART II: CHANGING ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR
CHAPTER 5: PROCESSING PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATIONS
Chapter objectives
This chapter introduces cognitive processing of persuasive messages. It explains the role that
process plays in persuasive communication effects. The chapter introduces the Cognitive
Response Approach, the Heuristic-Systematic Model, and the Elaboration Likelihood Model of
Persuasion. The chapter explains how people mentally process persuasive messages, the role
that central and peripheral processes play in persuasion, complexities in studying cognitive
processes, and practical applications.
Terms and issues to know
Central route to persuasion
Cognitive processing of messages
Cognitive Response Approach to Persuasion
Distraction
Dual process approach
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
Forewarning
Heuristic
Multiple functions of variables in ELM
Peripheral route to persuasion
Yale Attitude Change Approach
Chapter outline
I. Historical Foundations
A. Yale attitude change approach
2. Who says what to whom, with what effect?
3. Interested in why messages changed attitudes
5. To be persuaded, individuals had to attend to, comprehend, learn, accept, and retain
the message
7. It assumes that people are sponge like creatures who passively take in information
they receive
B. Cognitive response approach
1. Asserts that peoples own mental reactions to a message play a critical role in the
persuasion process (more important than the message itself)
2. Cognitive responses include thoughts that are favorable to the position advocated in
4. People play an active role in the persuasion process
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5. 1950s /1960s theorized persuasion as a passive process of learning and
reinforcement
7. Forewarning
a. Occurs when a persuader warns people that they will soon be exposed to a
persuasive communication
b. Individuals generate a large number of counter arguments, strengthening their
8. Distraction
a. People are distracted from paying attention to a communication with which they
disagree
b. Communicators intentionally distract receivers from paying attention to a
message – use humor, music, and sex to take people attention away from the
II. Elaboration Likelihood Model
A. Process-based models developed
1. Heuristic-Systematic Model
2. Elaboration Likelihood Model
a. Emphasize that you cannot understand communication effects without
B. Main Principles of Elaboration Likelihood Model
1. Elaboration
a. The extent to which the individual thinks about or mentally modifies arguments
2. Likelihood – refers to the probability that elaboration can be either likely or unlikely
3. The model tells us when people should be particularly likely to elaborate
4. Two distinct ways people process communication through routes (processing
routes)
a. Central – characterized by considerable cognitive elaboration
2. Ponder communicators idea
3. Relate information to own knowledge and values
b. Peripheral – examine message quickly or focus on simple cues to help decide
whether to accept the position advocated in message
2. Glib speaking style
4. People rely on simple decision making rules/ heuristics
5. Motivation to Process
a. Involvement – individuals are high in involvement when they perceive that an
issue is personally relevant or bears directly on their own lives. They are low in
involvement when they believe that an issue has little or no impact on their lives
b. Other motivational factors:
i. Deliver message to audience – expanding cognitive effort of processing
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6. Ability
a. Ability to process the message
b. Knowledge
III. Peripheral Processing in Real Life
A. The Oprah Book Club Effect
2. Credibility has its affects
B. The Electoral Road Show
2. Process politics peripherally
a. Candidate appearance
b. Endorsements
c. Names
IV. Central Processing
A. When issues touch on core values or ego-involved schema, individuals can be extremely
V. Complications and Criticisms
A. The ability of a particular variable to do different things or serve diverse functions
1. Attractiveness serves as a cue for peripheral processing
2. ELM argues that a particular variable can serve in one of three capacities
a. Persuasive argument
b. Peripheral cue
c. Factor that influences thinking about the person or issue
VI. Criticisms and Reconciliation
A. Lack of clarity
B. The model is so all exclusive that it is difficult to prove the model incorrect
VII. Inoculation Theory
A. Techniques have been developed to strengthen resistance to persuasion
B. Inoculation theory evolved from a biological analogy drawing a comparison between the
VIII. Conclusions
A. The ELM and heuristic-systematic model, building on the Yale attitude change and
cognitive response approaches, offer insights about how people process messages in
many situations
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B. Motivation and ability determine processing strategy
C. Processing route, in turn, determines the type of message appeal that is maximally
Discussion points/ projects/ exercises
1. What are the limitations of the Elaboration Likelihood Model?
3. Describe the main aspects of the Yale Attitude Change Approach and Cognitive
Response Approach to Persuasion.