Response To Persuasion: A Critical Analysis

The message and the context of the message is another factor that influences persuasion. Individuals whom are educated and observant tend to respond to arguments which are rational and well-presented (Cacioppo et al., 1983, 1996). However, if the audience is unbothered then they may choose to respond to an argument because they like the communicator (Chaiken, 1980; Petty et al., 1981) which is an example of peripheral route persuasion. Intellectual individuals are more likely to appeal to a reasoned argument and often take the central route to persuasion compared to individuals who are less educated, so they take the peripheral route (Cacioppo et al., 1983). Those who have no prior knowledge of the message, will not focus on critically evaluating

This explanation can be used to explain why shopping centres spend millions of dollars to create a positive atmosphere in order to make people happy which will finically benefit them. Arousing fear can also influence the message, this is due to it prompting negative emotions in the individual to inhibit them from doing certain actions for example smoking packets advertise negative message in order to stop individuals from indulging in an unhealthy habit. Research support for the positive effects of the influence of negative message in combating smoking derive from White, Webster and Wake (2008). They conducted a school survey twice with a 6-month gap in between, 72% saw negative messages in the first survey and 6 months later the number exceeded to 88%, thus showing that the number of published negative messages has increased. They concluded that negative messages led individuals to think about possible health risks and some even were led to having negative opinions on the