Public Communication and Personal Influence

1. Public Communication and Personal Influence Chapter 14

2. What is Civic Engagement? • Participating in social concerns. • Misconceptions • Social concerns are no longer relevant. • Participation does not involve “ordinary citizens.” • Only focuses on issues of national or international importance. • Only involves radical actions

3. Public Discourse and Relating to Audiences • Analyzing audiences’ relationships • Relationship with speaker • Prior relationship or no prior relationship • Audience view of speaker credibility • If no prior connection, or negative connection, speaker must build credibility carefully • Relationship with the issue, position • Audience agreement or opposition changes speaker’s process of persuasion

4. Public Discourse and Relating to Audiences • Analyzing audiences’ relationships (cont.) • Attitudes are learned predispositions • Beliefs are what people hold to be true or false. • Values are deeply held judgments of significance, often basis for attitudes, beliefs. • Speakers must consider all three in constructing message.

5. Public Discourse and Relating to Audiences • Speeches to convince impact audience thinking. • Claim of policy • Claim of value • Claim of conjecture • Attitudes, values and beliefs influence speaker’s methods.

6. Public Discourse and Relating to Audiences • Speeches to actuate impact audience behavior. • Reinforcing existing behavior • Altering existing behavior • Ceasing existing behavior • Avoiding future behavior

7. Public Discourse and Relating to Audiences • Artistic Proofs • Ethos involves use speaker credibility • Pathos involves use of emotions • Logos involves use of logic or reasoning • Inductive reasoning • Deductive reasoning • Syllogisms • Enthymeme

8. Public Discourse and Relating to Audiences • Social Judgment Theory explains response to a range of positions • Latitude of acceptance • Anchor position • Latitude of rejection • Latitude of non-commitment

9. Public Discourse and Relating to Audiences • Social Judgment Theory (cont.) • Assimilation effect–audience sees position as closer to anchor point when it falls into latitude of acceptance • Contrast effect–audience sees position as further from anchor point when it falls into latitude of rejection • Speaker must be explicit in conveying goals and consider audience perceptions in constructing argument

10. Sequential Persuasion • Foot in the Door–making a small request followed by a larger one. • Self-perception • Cognitive dissonance • Works for prosocial reasons, when different people make requests, when material incentives are not used.

11. Sequential Persuasion • Door in the Face involves making too large a request, following with second, smaller one. • Perceptual contest effect • Reciprocal concessions • Self-presentation • Works best for prosocial, when same person makes both requests, when delay between requests is brief.

12. Sequential Persuasion • Pregiving technique–when given or offered something, people are more likely to comply. • Norm of reciprocity • Increased liking • Most successful when same person makes both requests, relatively brief delay between favor and request, when offer is not seen as bribe or with ulterior motive.

13. Emotional Appeals • Fear and Parallel Process Model • Perceived threat must be seen as real and person as susceptible to work. • Perceived efficacy–The solution must be perceived to work and to be accomplished.

14. Emotional Appeals • Guilt • In advertisement, appeals are made of guilt and path to atonement. • Explicit appeals raise feelings of guilt but not likelihood of compliance. • Guilt is more likely used in close personal relationships.

15. Emotional Appeals • Lost emotions • Anger is positively related to change. • Disgust is negatively correlated when associated with a position. • Happiness and humor are associated, but with mixed findings of usefulness. • Hope has received little attention.

16. Compliance Gaining • Focuses on person doing the persuading. • Relational influence goals. • Gaining assistance • Giving advice • Sharing activities • Changing orientations • Obtaining permission • Enforcing rights and obligations

17. Compliance Gaining • Secondary goals of compliance gaining • Identity goals • Interaction goals • Resource goals • Arousal goals

18. Compliance Gaining • Original typology of strategies • Rewarding activities • Punishing activities • Expertise activities • Activation of interpersonal commitments • Activation of personal commitments

19. Compliance Gaining • Contextual influences • Dominance • Reward power • Coercive power • Expert power • Legitimate power • Referent power

20. Compliance Gaining • Contextual influences (cont.) • Intimacy • Resistance • Relational consequences • Rights • Apprehension