THE DYNAMICS OF PERSUASION This page intentionally left blank THE DYNAMICS OF PERSUASION Communication and Attitudes in the 21st Century Second Edition Richard M. Perloff Cleveland State University LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS 2003 Mahwah, New Jersey London Acquisitions Editor: Linda Bathgate Textbook Marketing Manager: Marisol Kozlovski Editorial Assistant: Karin Bates Cover Design: Marino Belich Textbook Production Manager: Paul Smolenski Full-Service & Composition: UG / GGS Information Services, Inc. Text and Cover Printer: Hamilton Printing Company This book was typeset in 10/12 pt. Palatino, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic. The heads were typeset in News Gothic Bold Condensed. Photographs by William C. Rieter, with assistance provided by: Tanya Brown, Frank Cucciarre, Stephen E. Cox, Dick Kraus, and Michael Robertson. Copyright © 2003 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, retrieval system, or any other means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 Visit www.dynamicsofpersuasion.com for additional text materials. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Perloff, Richard M. The dynamics of persuasion : communication and attitudes in the 21st century / Richard M. Perloff—2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-4087-7 (case alk. paper)—ISBN 0-8058-4088-5 (pbk alk. paper) 1. Persuasion (Psychology) 2. Mass media—Psychological aspects. 3. Attitude change. I. Title BF637.P4 .P39 2002 2002033865 Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21 Brier Contents Part 1 Foundations 1 1 Introduction to Persuasion 3 2 Attitudes: Definition and Structure 36 3 Attitudes: Functions and Consequences 73 4 Attitude Measurement 101 Part 2 Changing Attitudes and Behavior 117 5 Processing Persuasive Communications 119 6 "Who Says It": Source Factors in Persuasion 149 7 Message Factors 176 8 Personality and Persuasion 211 9 Cognitive Dissonance Theory 223 10 Interpersonal Persuasion 246 Part 3 Persuasion in American Society 271 11 Advertising 273 12 Communication Campaigns 302 This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface xiii Part 1 Foundations 1 Introduction to Persuasion 3 Persuasion: Constancies and Changes 4 Foundations of Persuasion 7 Defining Persuasion 8 Persuasion Versus Coercion 12 The Bad Boy of Persuasion 17 Understanding Persuasive Communication Effects 18 Historical Review of Persuasion Scholarship 20 Ancient Greece: "It's All Sophos to Me" 20 The First Scientist of Persuasion 21 A Breezy Tour of Rome and the Centuries that Followed 22 Rhetorical Developments in the United States 23 Origins of the Social Scientific Approach 24 The Contemporary Study of Persuasion 26 Seeing the Big Picture 28 Persuasion and Ethics 29 The Present Approach 32 Conclusions 34 vii viii CONTENTS 2 Attitudes: Definition and Structure 36 The Concept of Attitude 37 Characteristics of Attitudes 39 Values and Beliefs 41 Structure of Attitudes 45 Expectancy-Value Approach 46 Affect, Symbols, and Ideologies 47 Are Attitudes Internally Consistent? 50 Intra-Attitudinal Consistency 51 Balancing Things Out 53 The Psychology of Strong Attitudes 55 Attitudes and Information Processing 57 Social Judgment Theory 58 Attitude Accessibility 67 Conclusions 71 3 Attitudes: Functions and Consequences 73 Functions and Attitudes 73 Overview 73 Attitudes and Persuasion 76 Attitudes and Behavior 81 Historical Background 82 Situational Factors 84 Characteristics of the Person 85 Characteristics of the Attitude 87 Models of Attitude-Behavior Relations 90 Theory of Reasoned Action 90 Theory of Planned Behavior 94 Accessibility Theory 95 Implications for Persuasion 97 Judging Consistency 98 Conclusions 99 4 Attitude Measurement 101 Overview 101 Questionnaire Measures of Attitude 103 Likert Scale 103 Guttman Scale 104 Semantic Differential 106 Pitfalls in Attitude Measurement 106 Asking Good Questions 111 Open-Ended Measures 112 Indirect Methods to Measure Attitudes 113 Conclusions 115 CONTENTS ix Part 2 Changing Attitudes and Behavior 117 5 Processing Persuasive Communications 119 Historical Foundations 121 Elaboration Likelihood Model 128 Main Principles 128 Motivation to Process 130 Ability 135 Peripheral Processing In Real Life 136 Central Processing 139 Complications and Criticisms 142 Criticisms and Reconciliations 144 Conclusions 146 6 "Who Says It": Source Factors in Persuasion 149 Understanding the Communicator 152 Authority 153 Experimental Procedures and Results 153 Explanations 155 Additional Issues 156 Applications 157 Credibility 159 Core Characteristics 160 Role of Context 161 A Theoretical Account 163 Social Attractiveness 168 Likability 168 Similarity 169 Physical Attractiveness 170 Conclusions 174 7 Message Factors 176 Understanding the Message 176 Message Structure 177 One or Two Sides? 177 Conclusion Drawing 178 Continuing Issues 179 Evidence 180 Types of Evidence: The Case of Case Histories 182 Summary 184 Fear Appeals 185 The Psychology of Fear 187 A Theory of Fear Appeals 191