Why Buy the 4th Edition of This Book?
Why buy the new edition of this text, the cost-conscious student may reasonably ask. Why not settle for an older, used edition? It’s a fair question that deserves an honest answer. We’ve revised and updated this 4th edition because important developments in persuasion research and practice have taken place since the last edition. In point of fact, the material in every chapter has been updated to reflect current research findings and current practices.
- Addition of new and emerging media for persuasion: How people go about persuading each other is constantly evolving and changing. As consumers grow more savvy about one form of persuasion, persuaders are busily trying out other forms of persuasion. In this edition, we include research findings on new and emerging media as outlets for persuasion.
- Discussion of cynicism with traditional media: Younger consumers are cynical of traditional media. They respond to messages they believe to be genuine and authentic. And that is precisely why marketers are gearing their messages toward unpretentious branding, products that support causes, or goods that have a story to tell. Socially responsible marketing is now in vogue. We discuss many of these recent trends in this edition.
- Exploration of the increasingly visual nature of persuasion: Visual persuasion is becoming more and more prominent. Would it surprise you to learn that 57 percent of Americans have not read a single book in the past year (Jackson, 2008)? Images have become a potent force on the Web, in movies, and on TV. Viral videos can push a brand past the tipping point. A “YouTube moment” can cost a politician an election. In this edition we emphasize the importance of visual persuasion.
- Inclusion of additional theories: This edition includes a discussion on the theory of planned behavior, which is an extension of the theory of reasoned action. There is also a discussion of the unimodel of persuasion, an alternative to dual process models; as well as a discussion of neurolinguistic programming or NLP as its proponents refer to it. We’ve also added new material on the goals-plans-action model (GPA) of compliance gaining, cultivation theory, and the phenomenon known as psychological reactance.
- Discussion of additional strategies: From the standpoint of persuasive practices, this edition includes a discussion of segmentation analysis and micromarketing, an examination of message framing, negative social proof, and additional sequential strategies such as legitimizing paltry contributions, the fear-then-relief, and the happiness-then-disappointment tactics. This edition also provides an expanded treatment of viral marketing, tipping points, and buzz marketing.
- Discussion of additional topics: This edition features the addition of several traditional topics, including a discussion of the types of evidence. There is also an examination of the ways in which social ostracism influences behavior.
Persuasion is as vital as it has ever been. Much of persuasion functions as it did in Ancient Greece, more than 2,000 years ago when Aristotle wrote, The Rhetoric, one of the earliest treatises on persuasion. Yet much is new about persuasion, such as the role of product placement, the Internet, the blogosphere, texting, Twitter, YouTube, and social networking sites. In this 4th edition we keep the reader informed of both classic and modern approaches to persuasion. We do so by discussing the very latest research and by providing current, practical examples of persuasion in the real world.
Preface.
1. Why Study Persuasion?
Aims and Goals.
Persuasion Is Not a Dirty Word.
Persuasion Is Our Friend.
The Pervasiveness of Persuasion: You Can Run But You Can't Hide.
Four Benefits of Studying Persuasion.
Two Criticisms of Persuasion.
Ethical Concerns Regarding the Use of Persuasion.
2. What Constitutes Persuasion?
Pure Versus Borderline Cases of Persuasion.
Limiting Criteria for Defining Persuasion.
A Model of the Scope of Persuasion.
The Context for Persuasion.
A Working Definition of Persuasion.
So What Isn't Persuasion?
Dual Process Models of Persuasion.
3. Attitudes and Consistency.
What is an “Attitude” in 15 Words or Less?
So How Do You Measure the Durn' Things?
The Theory of Reasoned Action.
The Persistence of Attitudes.
Attitudes as Associative Networks: Your Mind is a Web.
Manufacturing Favorable Images and Associations: Jiggling the Web.
Psychological Consistency.
Cognitive Dissonance.
4. Credibility.
Celebrity Selling Power: The Answer Is in the Stars
What is Credibility?
The Factor Analytic Approach to Credibility.
The Factor Analytic Approach and the Real World.
Credibility as a Peripheral Cue.
It’s What’s Up Front That Counts
The Sleeper Effect.
Credibility and Image Management.
Interpersonal Credibility: Impression Management, Facework, and Accounts.
Strategies for Enhancing One's Credibility.
5. Communicator Characteristics and Persuasibility.
Demographic Variables and Persuasion.
Psychological and Communication States and Traits.
Analyzing and Adapting to Audiences.
6. Conformity and Influence in Groups.
Conformity as Persuasion: In With The Crowd.
Deindividuation and Social Loafing: Getting Lost in the Crowd.
How Groups Affect Decision Making: To Risk or Not to Risk.
7. Language and Persuasion.
Symbols, Meaning, and Persuasion: The Power of Babble.
Language Intensity, Vividness, and Offensiveness.
Powerless Language and Persuasion: “Ums” the Word.
8. Nonverbal Influence.
The Direct Effects Model of Immediacy.
Types of Nonverbal Communication.
9. Structuring and Ordering Persuasive Messages.
Implicit and Explicit Conclusions: The Writing's on the Wall.
Quantity Versus Quality of Arguments: The More the Merrier?
Repetition, Mere Exposure, and Social Influence: You Can Say That Again.
Order Effects and Persuasion: First Things First.
Primacy and Recency Effects: The First Shall Be Last and the Last Shall Be First.
Inoculation, Message-Sidedness, and Forewarning: Preventing and Refuting the Persuasive Attempts of Others.
10. Sequential Persuasion.
Pregiving: The Old “I'll Scratch Your Back If You'll Scratch Mine” Approach.
Foot In the Door: The “Give Me an Inch and I'll Take a Mile” Tactic.
The Foot in the Mouth Effect: “How Are You Today?”.
The Door in the Face Tactic: “Ask For the Stars.”
The That’s-Not-All Tactic: Seeking Compliance by Sweetening the Deal
The Lowball Tactic: Changing the Deal.
The Bait and Switch Tactic: “Sorry, We Don’t Have Any More of Those in Your Size, But…”
The Disrupt-Then-Reframe Technique: I’m So Confused.
11. Compliance-Gaining.
Actions Speak the Loudest: A Definition of Compliance Gaining.
In the Beginning: The Roots of Compliance Gaining Research.
Situation: The “It Depends” of Compliance Gaining Behavior.
Who Are You? Individual Characteristics and Compliance Gaining Behavior.
Problems Facing Compliance Research: Trouble in Paradise.
New Directions: The Study of Compliance Gaining Goals.
12. Deception.
What is Deception? Lies and Damn Lies.
Telling Lies: The Enactment of Deception.
Detecting Deception: I Can See Right Through You.
13. Motivational Appeals.
Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Motivation.
Logical and Emotional Appeals: A Fuzzy Distinction.
Fear Appeals: If You Don't Stop Doing That, You'll Go Blind.
Appeals to Pity and Guilt: Woe is Me, Shame On You.
Humorous Appeals: Stop Me If You've Heard This One.
Pride and Patriotism: Turning Red, White, and Blue Into Green.
For Mature Audiences: Sex Appeals.
Warmth Appeals: Straight from the Heart.
Ingratiation: “That's a Lovely Dress You're Wearing, Mrs. Cleaver.”
Mixed Emotions: Other Appeals and Combinations of Appeals.
14. Visual Persuasion.
Visual Persuasion: Too Often Overlooked.
How Images Persuade.
Architecture as a Form of Influence: Building Blocks of Persuasion.
Art as Persuasion: Mona Lisa Made Me Do It.
Cinematic Persuasion: The Movies Made Me Do It.
Advertising and Persuasion: Images in the Media: Views in the News.
Images in Advertising: And Now a Word from Our Sponsors.
15. Esoteric Forms of Persuasion.
Subliminal Persuasion: Hidden Messages or Hokum?
The Early Years: An Urban Myth is Born.
The Middle Years: Looking Hard, Finding Little.
Recent Subliminal Research: Eureka! They Found It.
Not So Fast: Limitations of Subliminal Priming.
So Why Do People Believe?
Music as a Form of Persuasion.
Aroma and Persuasion.
16. The Ethics of Persuasion.
Is Persuasion in General Unethical?
The Motives Color the Means.
Ethics, Culture, and the Issue of Central vs. Peripheral Processing.
Ethical Questions That Can't Be Answered Through the Study of Persuasion.
Our Approach: Characteristics of Ethical Influence.
Ethical Issues Arising from Previous Chapters.