Tobacco and Impression Management
Social Psychology 315
Homework: Spin Doctoring
Which paths(s) to persuasion is/are present in the global warming case? In the case of Global Warming, Peripheral route to persuasion is being used because high profile people and organizations are unlikely to be denied because of their reputation. There are more chance that people will be persuaded by famous icons like Al Gore. The Mayer Book explains that "Liking: People respond more affirmatively to those they like" (Myers, 2010, p. 237). This means, people are likely to listen and obey those that they like. Therefore, famous people, that are more popular and liked by others can be used to manipulate people 's minds and persuade them easily. In the case of Global Warming, both central and peripheral routes can be used as a means of persuasion. An example of central route persuasion would be that a group of environmentalists are listening to the Scientist giving a lecture about how pollution produced by factories and cars are triggering global warming. The environmentalists are becoming persuaded by this lecture and are planning on giving a speech at a local public library about what they heard at this conference. Afterwards, they plan their lecture on Global Warming being triggered by pollution produced by vehicle and factories and emphasize that everyone should try to limit driving, should ride bike instead of driving or carpool as much as possible in order to keep Global Warming from escalating. The audience at the library don 't seem to be persuaded by the topic, instead, they think about how professional the environmentalist looks and he sounds very educated, and they come to be persuaded by his speech. Their attitude can be temporary and be subject to change at any time. This would be example of a peripheral route.
How does the tobacco industry example fit into our understanding of impression management? "We see making a good impression as a way to gain social and material rewards, to
Homework: Spin Doctoring
Which paths(s) to persuasion is/are present in the global warming case? In the case of Global Warming, Peripheral route to persuasion is being used because high profile people and organizations are unlikely to be denied because of their reputation. There are more chance that people will be persuaded by famous icons like Al Gore. The Mayer Book explains that "Liking: People respond more affirmatively to those they like" (Myers, 2010, p. 237). This means, people are likely to listen and obey those that they like. Therefore, famous people, that are more popular and liked by others can be used to manipulate people 's minds and persuade them easily. In the case of Global Warming, both central and peripheral routes can be used as a means of persuasion. An example of central route persuasion would be that a group of environmentalists are listening to the Scientist giving a lecture about how pollution produced by factories and cars are triggering global warming. The environmentalists are becoming persuaded by this lecture and are planning on giving a speech at a local public library about what they heard at this conference. Afterwards, they plan their lecture on Global Warming being triggered by pollution produced by vehicle and factories and emphasize that everyone should try to limit driving, should ride bike instead of driving or carpool as much as possible in order to keep Global Warming from escalating. The audience at the library don 't seem to be persuaded by the topic, instead, they think about how professional the environmentalist looks and he sounds very educated, and they come to be persuaded by his speech. Their attitude can be temporary and be subject to change at any time. This would be example of a peripheral route.
How does the tobacco industry example fit into our understanding of impression management? "We see making a good impression as a way to gain social and material rewards, to
Cited: Myers, D. G. (2010). Social Psychology. (10th ed., p. 141, 237). New York: McGraw-Hill.