The Power and Pathways of Persuasion: Understanding How We Influence and Resist
Persuasion surrounds us. It’s in every ad, political speech, and even casual conversation. But how does it actually work? And how can you protect yourself from manipulation while staying open to growth?
In a world where ideas, products, and ideologies compete for our attention, persuasion remains one of the most potent tools of human interaction. Whether it’s a political campaign rally, an advertising blitz, or a heartfelt conversation, the art of persuasion shapes our decisions, beliefs, and actions. But how does persuasion work? What elements make a message compelling, and how can we resist…
Example of liking: This sales person's personality makes the residents want to buy his cleaning product. Because Kenny Brooks makes jokes with his products and relates it to news events, Brooks puts the customers in a good mood that they view him more kindly and more likely to purchase his product.
How Media Persuades Us: ELM and the Peripheral Route
Attitude is an important factor media takes into account when crafting persuasive media messages. This is primarily because your attitude has the capacity to influence your behavior and decisions, and consequently, whether you'll actually end up spending your money and buy the thing. This is the underlying idea used in the ELM, or the Elaboration Likelihood Model.
The Peripheral Route
This is the route people take when they don't have a) time and b) cognitive effort to consider the actual positive and negative aspects of a persuasive message. Instead, they are led by what we call peripheral cues that allow them to make simple decisions. Some of these peripheral cues are:
Authority ("Piolo Pascual uses Clear shampoo, so you should too")
Popularity ("You'll finally get noticed by your crush if you use this product")
Happiness ("You'll be satisfied after eating this")
To show how peripheral cues are used, let's use McDo's Twister Fries commercial:
Let's first look at the peripheral cues used:
"Look at those curls. Beautiful. Epic."
Add that to the glorious shots of delicate, golden potato curls, and the statement is quite obvious - buy our fries because they're Damn Good. It doesn't make any substantial claim about the ingredients, like where the potatoes are grown, what kind of oil is used. It's a simple appeal to our hunger, and it persuades us by promising satisfaction.
"It's finally back; so get it, before it's gone." #minsanlangto
Once I asked a friend what was it with Twister fries that she was just itching for them the whole day. "Um, duh, they're Twister fries," she told me, slightly offended, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I still don't fully get it, but this commercial does try to explain the hype - and in my case, it does manage to successfully persuade me, or at the very least, pique my interest. The image is a choir of sweating, aggressively reverent men clad in red and gold singing a with a purposeful sense of greatness and awe - and so should you.
Although the Peripheral route is more effortless and less time-consuming, its effects are rather short-lived as compared to attitude change that occurs in the Central route. People who were persuaded by these kinds of messages are also more likely to be swayed by other influences counter to it.
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References:
Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E. (1984). THE ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL OF PERSUASION. Advances In Consumer Research, 11(1), 673-675. Retrieved October 10, 2014 from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=82bb87a3-b727-49dc-a6f7-94e8ac5a2cae%40sessionmgr4002&vid=4&hid=4108
