Psychology and the New Media - Week 3 summary [UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM]

The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) states that there is a central and peripheral route to persuasion. Thoughtless processing refers to using associative processes. Thoughtful processing refers to using systematic and analytical processing. In the middle of this, there is peripheral processing, which makes use of heuristics. Attitude change based on central processing is more stable, enduring and predictive of behaviour. It focuses on the motivation that people have to process. This motivation can be due to personality factors (1), personal preference (2) or recognizing unreliable sources (3). Furthermore, it focuses on whether people have the cognitive capacity to process the message.

One criterion for systematic and analytic processing is the availability of cognitive capacity. This is influenced by the cognitive load of the message. The cognitive capacity is influenced by distraction (1), fatigue (2), need for cognition (3) and prior knowledge (4). Another criterion is motivation. This depends on self-relevance (e.g. preferences).

Chaiken’s heuristic-systematic model (HSM) states that accuracy motivated people may assess message validity through heuristics and systematic processing. Individuals base decisions on heuristics if they can be sufficiently confident in the accuracy of those decisions.

The expectancy-value theory states that an attitude is influenced by our expectations about the characteristics of an attitude object and the value we attach to those characteristics. A change of attitude is the result of a change in the expectation of the value or by making specific beliefs more salient.

The theory of reasoned action regards deliberate decisions and stable attitudes. It states that behavioural intentions predict volitional behaviour. The way messages are framed has an impact on the way it influences people. People are loss aversive, meaning that loss frames are generally more effective. The fit between the message frame and the type of behaviour is important.

The extended elaboration likelihood-model (E-ELM) states that narrative messages foster greater absorption and identification with characters which suppresses counter-arguing. The entertainment overcoming resistance model (EORM) states that different features of media narrative (e.g. identification) can overcome a range of sources of persuasive resistance.

Self-related information can affect persuasion in a positive way when there is low motivation. Self-related information influences the degree of elaboration under medium motivation. Self-related information leads to biased information processing under high motivation. Self-related information can affect persuasion in several ways:

1. Low motivation; positive cue
2. Medium motivation; influence on the degree of elaboration
3. High motivation; biased information processing

These motivations influence the way in which attitudes are influenced.

When there is high involvement, the quality of the message is the strongest influence. When there is low involvement, the endorser is the strongest influence. When there is little motivation, the quality of arguments is important from unreliable sources but not important with reliable sources.

The cue can influence in several ways. Under low motivation, a positive cue, under medium motivation, influence on the degree of elaboration and under high motivation, bias in thorough information processing. The more interactive the medium is, the more involvement there is.

There are several heuristics people use when not motivated to process the message:

1. Social proof (e.g. ratings)
   This refers to how much others like or use a product.
2. Scarcity
   This refers to how much supply there is for a product (i.e. indirect method of social proof).
3. Consistency and commitment
   This refers to the fact that people want to be consistent with earlier commitments.

Humour may enhance attention and source liking although it is not more persuasive. It may be less persuasive if the audience dismisses the persuasion attempt as a joke. It is possible that humorous messages are more persuasive after some time has passed.

The drive model states that fear is a drive state, motivating people to adopt recommendations expected to alleviate the unpleasant state. The parallel processing model states that people who focus on the threat have adaptive responses to fear whereas people who respond with fear have maladaptive responses. The extended parallel processing model (EPMM) states that if the predicted efficacy outweighs perceived threat, danger control and adaptive change will ensue. Otherwise, fear control and maladaptive change may occur.

The cognitive functions model states that message-relevant negative emotions affect the direction and stability of persuasive outcome based on emotion-driven motivated attention (1), motivated processing (2) and message reassurance (3). The emotions-as-frames model states that emotions are frames through which incoming stimuli are interpreted.

Consumers are more confident in their thoughts when responding to tailored messages. There are three types of individual differences:

1. Knowledge
2. Self-esteem
3. Social approval

The programmes on television have an enduring effect on the viewer. How it influences the viewer depends on the type of judgement required (1), the television viewing frequency (2) and characteristics of the viewing experience (3).

First-order cultivation effects are memory-based. The previously stored raw information is retrieved from memory and used to form judgement (e.g. estimating the probability of an event). Television influences accessibility and accessibility influences judgement. The effect is stronger due to a lack of motivation (i.e. there is no source discounting).

Second-order cultivation effects are online. The observed information is used directly to form a judgement and the judgement is stored in the long-term memory (e.g. forming personal attitudes and values). Television influences attitudes while watching. The effects are stronger with more attentive processing.

Cultivation could have different impacts depending on the type of motivation of the viewer. More attention and involvement in television programmes leads to deeper information processing. An accuracy motivation leads to source discounting.

People do not discount the source when making general judgements (e.g. frequency of homicide) as people use television exemplars. However, people do not do this knowingly and would not do this willingly. Source-discounting refers to taking the source into account when making judgements.

Frequent viewing of the same messages should result in attitude shift toward the dominant messages of television narratives. Higher motivation and ability to process information should increase second-order cultivation effects.

The influence of narrative may be stronger due to the degree of transportation. There is less counter-argumentation (1), displayed events feel more like personal events (2) and there is more identification with characters (3) as a result of transportation.

Emotion is related in memory to events evoking that emotion in a way that can be seen as spreading activation in an associative network. This is reflected in facilitation in emotional word naming and affective state-dependent recall. Associations can build through propositional processes (i.e. associations through elaborate thought) or automatic processes (i.e. evaluative conditioning).

Affect can serve as information. There are different inferences based on affect. Affect provides people with several types of information:

1. Valence
   This refers to how someone feels about an attitude object.
2. Strength
   This refers to how strongly someone feels about an attitude object.
3. Emotion-specific signals
   This refers to different effects with different appraisals and behavioural tendencies (e.g. more certainty with anger and disgust).

The influence of affect on decisions is greater in a high arousal state. The interpretation of affect depends on personal and situational factors (i.e. framing). The emotional signal that people get differs in the way the message is framed. The feeling a product elicits needs to be representative and relevant for the product.

The perceived diagnosticity of feelings depends on representativeness; is it possible to attribute the feelings to other causes than the attitude object. It also depends on the relevance. The effect of feelings is stronger for experiential than functional objects.

Advertising targets (i.e. consumers) use their influence knowledge to deal with influence attempts. However, this could be detrimental. In case of suspicion of ulterior motives in an influence attempt, there is resistance to persuasion. Most resistance strategies require some cognitive effort.

There are several differences in resistance between individuals:

1. Need for closure
   This refers to the need for a final answer.
2. Need for cognition and argumentativeness
   This refers to the tendency or pleasure to conduct strenuous thinking.
3. Self-esteem
   This can be a source of more resistance due to the feeling that one’s opinion is as good or better than the source of the persuasion attempt.
4. Self-awareness
   This can make people more aware of potential influence attempts.

Psychological reactance refers to the feeling that one’s freedom of choice might be restricted or infringed upon. The third-person effect refers to the belief that something has an effect on others but not on oneself.

The inoculation theory states that people will have more resistance against a stronger influence attempt after coming up with counter-arguments against a weaker version of persuasion attempt. The effect of inoculation is stronger with messages focused on reactance (i.e. emphasis on limitation of personal freedom) This leads to more perceived threat and thus more counter-argumentation.

Active inoculation may reduce the perceived reliability and persuasiveness of previously unseen fake news articles. The active generation of counter-arguments generates greater affect which is a key component of resistance.

Explicit product placement activates persuasion knowledge. This leads to better recall of the product but a more negative attitude towards the product. Evaluative knowledge can be used for subtle product placement (e.g. in the background) but it is unclear what is linked to the product. Effective product placement makes sure the product is integrated with the story. If product placement enhances realism in videogames, it is evaluated more positively. A stronger identification leads to a decrease in perceived persuasive intent. There is a stronger influence of product placement with more transportation but especially in people who are more sensitive to transportation. The product should not break the narrative and transportation.

People on the internet (e.g. vloggers) talk about brands and products because of the informational value (1), as a method of self-branding (2) and for the social and aesthetic value (3). This type of advertisement may be more effective because people build up a relationship with the personalities.