Term Definitions From Chapter 8, Persuasion Theories

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Sleeper Effect

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a statistically significant increase in opinion change for a group exposed to a low-credibility source; referred to as absolute sleeper effect by Cook and Flay (1978)

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affective component

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a manifestation of an attitude; liking or feeling about an object

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attitudes

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predispositions to respond positively or negatively toward things

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audience segmentation

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the dividing of the audience into homogeneous groups that share certain attitudes, behaviors, and levels of knowledge and that use the same communication channels

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behavioral component

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a manifestation of an attitude; actions toward an object

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beliefs

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statements that people assume to be true

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central routes

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in the elaboration likelihood model (Petty and Cacoppo, 1986) the method involved when the reciever actively processes the information and is persuaded by the rationality of the arguments

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cognitive components

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a manifestation of an attitude; beliefs about an object

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cognitive response model

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a model which states that attitude change is mediated by thoughts occurring in the recipient's mind

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convergent style of research

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from McGuire (1996), a style of research in which researchers "bring a variety of theories convergently to bear on the relation of interest."

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dynamism

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a factor of source credibility based on aggressive-meek and active-passive scales.

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ego-defensive function

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the purpose served by attitudes that are held because people are protecting their egos from their own unacceptable impulses or from knowledge of threatening forces without.

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elaboration

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from Petty and Caciopo (1986), "the extent to which a person carefully thinks about issue-relevant information

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fear appeal

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a tactic used in mass communication that threatens or arouses some fear in the audience

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functional approach

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from Katz (1960) the idea that a persuasive message should be tailored to correspond to the motivational base for which an attitude is held

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gain frame

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a fear appeal that presents the threat in terms of gained opportunities or decreased negative consequences

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heuristic processing

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in the heuristic-systematic model, a way of processing persuasive messages that uses inferential rules or schemes to form judgments or make decisions

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inoculation theory

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a theory dealing with making attitudes resistant to change, usually by giving audience members small doses of opposing decisions

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instrumental, adjustive, or utilitarian function

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the purpose served by attitudes that are held because people are striving to maximize the rewards in their external environments and minimize the penalties

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interattitudinal structure

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the clustering together of attitudes in groups or sets

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intra-attitudinal structure

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the way components [see affective, behavioral & congitive components] of an attitude relate to one another

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irrational model

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in human behavior, the model that suggests that human beings are nonthinking creatures whose beliefs are easily influenced by people around them and who even can have their perception of reality influenced by their own desires

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knowledge function

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the purpose served by attitudes that are held because they satisfy a desire for knowledge or provide structure and meaning in what would otherwise be a chaotic world

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learning theory

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reinforcement theory; the theory that attitudes are learned and that they are changed through the same processes that occur when learning takes place

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loss frame

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a fear appeal that presents the threat in terms of lost opportunities or increased negative consequences

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objectivity

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a factor of source credibility based on open-minded--closed-minded and objective-subjective scales

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peripheral route

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in the elaboration likelihood model. the method involved when the receiver does not expend the cognitive energy to evaluate the arguments and process the info in the message and is guided more by peripheral cues

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persuasion

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from Olson and Zanna (1993) "attitude change resulting from exposure to info from others"

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professionalism or competence

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a factor of source credibility based on experienced-inexperienced and has professional manner scales

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protection motivation theory

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from Rogers (1975) a theory that suggests that attitude change is a function of the amount of protection motivation aroused by the cognitive appraisal that the audience member goes through

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rational model

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in human behavior, the model that suggests that human beings are intelligent and critical thinkers who can make wise decisions when given ample information

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systematic processing

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in the heuristic-systematic model, a way of processing persuasive messages that reflects careful, analytic, and effortful examination of the message

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trustworthiness

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a factor of source credibility based on right-wrong, honest-dishonest scales

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value-expressive function

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the purpose served by attitudes that are held because they allow a person to give positive expression to central values and to the kind of person one feels he or she is