Every day of our lives we are surrounded by hundreds of marketing and advertising placements on television, ads, and even each other (e.g.,clothing brands) that are calling out for our money through persuasion. Buy me because when you do, you will gain A, B, and C. (You will LOOK great, you will FEEL great and you'll get to have MORE or BETTER sex, tends to be the general message in my opinion).
However, are we always persuaded by just pretty lights, photoshopped models and flashy commercials? Sometimes yes but sometimes no. One theory proposed by Petty and Cacioppo's (1986) called the "model of persuasion" divides our route to persuasion into two different routes. The first route is the central route to persuasion. In the central route of persuasion, a person is influence by the strength and quality of the arguments presented to persuade.
For example, I remember during the first huge wave of the Occupy Wall Street movement I constantly kept up with news reports and internet debate over the movements positions on certain issues. Simply 'hearing' about what the movement was really all about through a random news source was not enough for me. I wanted to hear both sides of the story, investigate claims made by the occupiers through different sources and ultimately come to my own conclusions as to what the movement was really advocating for.
I could have relied on some reliable American journalism like Fox News but I actually wanted to use more than just 1/4 of my brain to process all of this information.
However, we don't always engage in thorough, logical and critical analysis of an argument. Sometimes we focus on information or cues of an argument or message that are not a part of the strength and quality of the argument such as the articulation or reputation of a speaker giving the message. When we take this route it is called the peripheral route.
I am most often a victim of taking this route when it comes to school elections. I usually never know much more than, "He's a Pike" or "He's a douchebag" or "She's a [insert liberal arts major]". Unlike my thorough research of political candidate such as presidential candidates, I base my decision on the SU Student Body president on not much more than, "Oh so and so told me to vote for him" or "I like this fraternity more than the other one".
Lastly, when a person is engaging a message and taking one of the two aforementioned routes of persuasion, recipients of the message are also affected by their ability (time, effort) and motivation (personal involvement) to take a route. The more motivated and able a person is to analyze a message, the more likely that person will use the central route versus a peripheral route. Thus, because I do not feel like the SU Student Body President elections really change the climate of the campus in general, I do not feel like I have the motivation or ability to care about who I vote for. Therefore, I base my decision on meaningless things such as Greek affiliation or who looks less douchey.
n = 562
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Communication and persuasion: Central and peripheral routes to attitude change. New York: Springer-Verlag.
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