Understanding Adoption and Persuasion in Communication Campaigns - Prof. Ronald Tamborini, Study notes of Communication

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Diffusion of Innovations (Chapter 7) Diffusion - The Process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system (Rogers, 1962) - Innovation: “an idea, practice, or object perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption” Everett Rogers 4 main elements: - Innovation - Communication - Social System - Time Rate of Diffusion - Innovation spreads through society in a predictable pattern - S shaped curve o Starts Slowly o Then experiences rapid growth rate o Then slows down and stabilizes - Change agents – big role in take-off Successful Innovation - Relative Advantage - Compatibility - Complexity - Trialability - Observability Steps in the Diffusion and Adoption Process - Knowledge o People become aware of new idea - Persuasion o Individual weighs advantages - Decision o Final decision of adoption or rejection - Implementation o Put the innovation into use - Confirmation o Seek validation and evaluates consequences Diffusion Process - Learn o Symbolic modeling is most common source of influence - Adopt o Incentives to adopt new innovations:  Many benefits of innovation  Self-efficacy (effectiveness)  Status symbol  Individual values and perception of self - Interact with others to confirm your own decision The Adopter Categories Saturation Take off Theory says innovation spreads through individuals in a social system on the basis of the degree of innovation - Innovators - Early Adopters - Early majority - Late majority - Laggards Diffusion of Innovation Origins - Based upon theories of Gabriel Tarde o Introduced opinion leadership Conceptual Roots: - Imitation is essential to diffusion - Rooted from Social Learning Theory, and Symbolic Modeling Important Diffusion Studies Current and Future Diffusion Research Persuasion (Chapter 10) Persuasion is the process by which attitudes are changed Attitude Construction - The General predisposition to evaluate other things favorably or unfavorably - The mediator between persuasive information and behavioral change Carl Hovland - Identified moderating variables Hyman and Sheatsley - Found persuasive messages had to overcome psychological barriers Paul Lazarsfeld - Media primarily reinforce existing attitudes rather than change them Theories and Models for Persuasion - Cognitive Dissonance Theory o When attitude and action become inconsistent  Resulting anxiety that must be resolved  Attitude change occurs to resolve anxiety - McGuire’s Communication/Persuasion Matrix Model o Attitude change occurs in steps  Model outlines inputs and outputs  Influence decreases for each step o Shortcomings:  Lack of detail on process of yielding  Assumes variables are sequential o Research shows variables have opposite effects on reception versus yielding o Two key issues  Low correlations for learning and persuasion  Processes responsible for yielding - Cognitive Response Theory o Learning a new message is not enough to make us yield to it o Attitude change (or yielding) depends on what we think about the message – our cognitive response o Impact depends on 4) Mood states that affect media usage 5) Interactivity of the medium The Importance of Involvement - Krugman 1960’s said media are either: o High involvement  Print media o Low involvement  Broadcast media - High Involvement is better for learning and persuasion - TV ads seem best for brand recognition The Importance of moods - Moods cause different reactions to ads o Can affect involvement and recall - Consistency Theory o Commercials with a different tone or mood from the media context are less effective. Media Context Studies - 4 Types of studies 1) Cognitive response studies a. Cognitive response to ads are affected by user knowledge i. Knowledge leads to more attention ii. Print ads better than audio 2) Observational studies a. Direct observation of consumers viewing ads 3) Studies of Psychophysiological Measures a. Brain activity during ad exposure and recall seem positively related 4) Priming Studies a. Content can prime people to attend to different things Frequency and Repetition - Two different models of advertising response: o Threshold Effects  Several exposures needed for ad to have any effect  Greatest effect achieved after several exposures  After a number of exposures impact begins to decline o Diminishing Returns  Response to ad begins with the first viewing  Initial exposures are highly effective  Eventually, subsequent exposure becomes less effective - Heavy repetition helps long-term memory - …but, “advertising wear-out” can occur o Prolonged exposure causes resent Recent Research - Interactive media effects on marketing: o Allows for: 1) Word of mouth communication 2) Creation of consumer profiling 3) Ability to track online behavior The Long Tail - 20% of the profits come from 80% of the products o They are the failures o On a graph of popularity it is “the long tail” - Companies now exploit the long tail by recommending obscure products based on Interactive marketing on Facebook and Amazon Propaganda Working Definition: - “Planned use of communication to affect the minds and emotions of a given group for a specific purpose, whether military, economic, or political” - Strong negative and political connections, through used with advertising on occasion - Sometimes distinguishing as o A message with flawed epistemology o It is wither false, misleading, or inappropriate Why think about Propaganda? Committee on Public Information (CPI) - First large scale government use of propaganda (1917) - Commissioned by Woodrow Wilson Institute for Propaganda Analysis - Created in 1937 to educate American public on political propaganda. - Best known for its seven propaganda devices Common propaganda techniques - Word Games o Name-calling  Giving an idea or person a bad label, and therefore rejecting and condemning it without examining the evidence o Glittering generalities  Associating something with a “virtue word” and creating acceptance and approval without examination of the evidence o Euphemisms  Attempts to pacify the audience in order to make an unpleasant reality more palatable - False Connections o Transfer  A device that takes the sanction and authority of something respected and associates it with something else to make the latter accepted  Also works in reverse o Testimonial  Getting support from a respected authority and transferring it to your product  Also works in reverse - Special Appeals o Plain Folks  A speaker, idea, or product is good because they are “of the people” o Card Stacking  The selection and use of facts or falsehoods in order to give just one side of an issue o Bandwagon  A claim that “Everyone is doing it” (or at least all of us) and so should you” o Fear  Warning members of an audience that disaster will result if they do not follow a particular course of action Mass-Mediated Political Communication (Chapter 18) Functions of Mass Media in Democracy 1) Surveying contemporary events important to welfare of citizens 2) Identifying key sociopolitical issues 3) Providing platforms for advocacy 4) Transmitting content across factions of political discourse 5) Scrutiny of government officials 6) Providing incentives and information to become active and informed participants 7) Principled resistance to sources trying to subvert media autonomy 8) Respectful consideration of potentially concerned and effective citizens Media Content - Two Types o Political advertising  Presents particular candidate images  Provide information about key issues  Provide more information about campaign issues than candidate image o News stories Research on Political News - Frames o Metaphors that media professionals use to structure understanding of news stories - News flaws o Personalization  Tendency for news stories to concentrate on individuals o Fragmentation  Delivering news in brief capsule summaries o Dramatization  Selecting news based on entertainment rather than importance o Normalization  Showing how problems can be solved within existing system Micro-Level Studies - Four major areas: 1) Formation and change of opinion a. Political media messages produce much stronger effects than previously thought 2) Effects of cognitive processes a. Four types of research i. Agenda-setting research ii. Priming research iii. Knowledge gain iv. Framing 3) Voter perceptions of the political system a. Evidence suggests that: i. Voters persuade more by perceptions of general welfare than personal situation ii. Media often causes voters to blame individuals for social problems