Persuasive Communication's Influence

1270 Words6 Pages
PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION’S INFLUENCE Persuasive Communication’s Influence on Cognitively and Affectively Based Attitudes Caroline M. Smith University of Houston – Downtown 1 PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION’S INFLUENCE 2 Abstract Attitudes are important as they guide one’s decisions and behaviors. When a person’s opinion about something is based primarily on the beliefs or facts they have, then it is called a cognitively based attitude. An affective based attitude is when one forms an opinion of something based on emotions and values, rather than objective beliefs. While attitudes can result from a number of things, persuasion is a primary source. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) is a well-established model in psychology that is concerned with attitude change in terms of the effects of persuasive communication and the strength of attitude that results from the process. (Cook, J.C. et.al., 2004, p.315). Please consider the following visual aid: The Elaboration Likelihood Model (Sacha, L. & Mehdi, M., 2010). Persuasive communication is the process of guiding people toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and emotional means. (Kapeleris, J., 2011) The most successful methods to which successfully change an audience’s attitude is persuasive communication by focusing on behavioral attitudes of individuals. PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION’S INFLUENCE 3 By examining three different advertisements, this paper will explore how persuasive communications influence on cognitively and affectively based attitudes. appreciate how the attitudes have been affected. The ELM helps PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION’S INFLUENCE 4 The first advertisement I chose for this assignment is for TurboTax. The header exclaims, “TurboTax guides you like a GPS to your maximum refund.” One may notice the man at the
Open Document