Understanding The Attitudes Of Others

Motivated reasoning refers to a cognitive bias in which one’s preferences, wishes, and desires affects one’s judgement (Kunda, 1990). There are several of factors that contribute to motivated reasoning. Kruglanski (1990) referred to the desire to reach a particular judgment conclusion as a need for specific closure, and Kunda (1990) referred to it as a directional goal. Motivation directs people to a particular goal, which favors their beliefs. Research in motivated reasoning suggests that people are likely to arrive at conclusions they prefer, as long as they maintain an “illusion of objectivity” (Kunda, 1990). People would use motivated reasoning to construct and confirm their self-serving preferred judgment rather than considering ideas that oppose their belief.

Today, one can see the tactic of persuasion being used as a standard avenue to influence a person’s attitude or beliefs by presenting them with different messages that encourage things like using certain brand name products, vote a certain way, or where to take a vacation just to name a few. There are four types of people that include gullible people, skeptical people, firm believers, and people who are leaders who trust others as well as make others follow their ideas. Persuasion is a widespread topic of social psychology and may be done in different ways. There are two types of cognitive processes by which to persuade someone, which are the central route or the peripheral route. For this assignment I used mostly the central route approach as well as using a little of the peripheral route approach. To reinforce the peripheral route approach the use of pathos was also used during the video to play on the emotions of the watcher. This PowerPoint is effective at using the central route of persuasion, peripheral

“As we explore persuasion, we can divide the persuasive communication into three parts: the communicator, the message, and the audience. First, we will deal with what characteristics of persuaders make people more likely to be persuaded. Next, we will think about characteristics of the message that lead people to change. Finally, we will explore what characteristics of the audience can lead them to be persuaded.” (Feenstra, 2011, p. 88) For your assignment this week, provide an in-depth analysis of the three parts of persuasion. Please reference the bullet points below to complete your assignment.

There are a plethora of controversial topics in the world today. Each issue has multiple sides that are trying to influence people's thoughts and gain their support. “Oil to Die For” and “Climate Change Debate: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” are trying to do just that. Persuasion is an art, an art that is even more powerful influence with today's electronically based society. However, some sources are far more persuasive than others.

Persuasion is the key to getting the results you want, not only for politicians or lawyers, but for every one of us. In a job interview, you will have to persuade your interviewers why they should hire you over the other candidates. In a classroom presentation you will have to convince your classmates and teacher that what you're saying is worth listening to and that you deserve a good grade on the assignment.

What influences your opinions and decisions in life? Is it a fact base analysis of a topic, providing you with statistical evidence to back its claims, or is it an emotional based claim that tugs at your heartstrings and connects with your past? Both forms of argument are fighting for your acceptance of its arguments, but do so in conflicting ways. On one end of the spectrum, a Dodge commercial exploits your emotional connection to your country and leverages that to sway your opinion of their new car. And on the other end, a writer uses facts and data to convince you that the legalization of marijuana is the right thing to do.

Persuasion is accomplished easier when you have established trust, credibility, and respect from the audience you are trying to persuade. Backing those factors with confidence are my primary principals anytime I need to be persuasive. One of the most important factors that influence your persuasive message is credibility, and your ability to persuade will

Persuasion: involves one or more persons who are engaged in the activity of creating, reinforcing, modifying, or extinguishing, beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivation, and or behaviors within the constraints of a given communication context -- an activity or process, persuasion is a tow way street

The Elaboration Likelihood Model has been hailed by some as “unquestionably the most influential recent theoretical development in persuasion research” (O’Keefe, 2002). Even if this is the case, it is by no means a perfect theory. One of the most commonly cited criticisms of the elaboration likelihood model is the vacuous nature of the “argument strength” component. Although this criticism is useful for pointing out an area of the model that can be fine-tuned, any perceived shortcomings due to the argument strength concept can be mitigated through a creative application of other areas of the model.

In my everyday life I use persuasion to effect change in a person’s beliefs, attitudes, intentions and behaviors. I use persuasion to influence others around me either if it is in a work setting, a social interaction or giving a public speech. The ability to convey information, feelings or reason is a very useful tool in the pursuit of my own personal gain. While attending a Surf Riders meeting, a non-profit organization to clean our beaches, I gave a persuasive speech on why it was important to join and participate our party. I spoke at a Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) class to help people understand the severity of the crime.

about goods or services according to Rai (Rai, Urmali et. at. 2006 p.8). Information should not

Chapter 1 of "Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive" discuss how people are being persuaded, whether they realize it or not. People tend to make their decisions based off of others actions. Especially, if they are uncertain about a course of action. For instance, having people who attended a program give their testimony to people who are unsure about joining the program. The chapter also discussed social psychology, the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feeling, and behavior are influenced. When asking a person if he/she is affected by someone else, they, of course, are going to say no. However, studies have shown differently.

There is little evidence that persuasion can be effective because subjects do not integrate the information into their own belief system. The experiment was designed to test the relative importance of attribution versus persuasive manipulations by comparing persuasion treatment with an attribution treatment. The persuasion techniques were designed to be maximally effective by using a credible source delivering a repeated message stating the benefits of change. The attribution techniques were designed to be maximally

Neimeyer, Rebecca Macnair, April E. Metzler, and Karen Courchaine (1991) are researcher at University of Florida and they came to the conclusion that individuals with high levels of prior bias, when forewarning is enhanced and creates a resistance to persuasion, whereas it has the opposite effect on individuals with more balanced cognitions (Neimeyer, Macnair, Metzler, & Courchaine, 1991). This differentiation forms an inconsistency for researchers, since ‘‘nearly every independent variable has increased persuasion in some situations, had no effect in others, and decreased persuasion in still other contexts’’ (Neimeyer, Macnair, Metzler, & Courchaine, 1991). To account for these inconsistencies, researchers use ‘‘The Elaboration Likelihood Model or ELM to addressed the impact of forewarning (forewarned, unwarned) and argument quality (strong, weak) on subjects to get an honest response (Neimeyer, Macnair, Metzler, & Courchaine, 1991). And according to ELM, the results of forewarning would vary as a direct effect from cognitive responses (Neimeyer, Macnair, Metzler, & Courchaine, 1991). Although, it is not only forewarning that could cause to resistance to persuasion but person could be motivated by the warning to be more considerate in their own positions as participants, while generating points of view in supporting their own stands and opposing alternative

Social psychologists have not only studied the effects of persuasion, but also the elements that contribute to attitude change. Carl Hovland (1953) developed the Hovland-Yale model of persuasion, in which he used a research team from Yale University. They found that there are a considerable number of factors that can influence how likely attitude changes are to occur, however they also noticed that some are more important than others [McGuire et al 1996]. One of the key factors they found that determines whether persuasion occurs is the communicator. Social psychologists have found that persuasion can be influenced depending about who is presenting the argument, which can impact on how an audience receives it. The credibility of the communicator plays a large role in influencing persuasion, in which