Persuasion

The way people change their attitudes, beliefs, and behavior is often influenced by their experiences and their interactions with others. The mechanism through which people adopt and change their attitudes and behaviors based on contextual factors is called social influence. Robert Cialdini defines social influence as a change in one's attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors, which may be due to real or imagined external pressure(s). Typically people are exposed to a number of influence attempts daily, sometimes without being consciously aware of it. On any given day, a person may be prompted to apply for a credit card, buy a product advertised on television or radio, and change his or her opinion about a politician by reading a news article online. Persuasion is one component of social influence. Specifically, persuasion is the process by which an individual is influenced to adopt or change a particular attitude or belief. People can be persuaded through a number of different avenues (other people, advertisements, books, TV, Internet, etc.).

This entry focuses on the influence of persuasive messages on peoples’ attitudes and beliefs by reviewing the prevailing theoretical models of persuasion. These dual process models indicate that when forming or changing an attitude, people either think deeply about the content of a persuasive message or make decisions based on surface characteristics associated with the message, such as the attractiveness of the individual trying to persuade them. This entry also reviews general factors that may affect message processing, and the six principles of influence.