PSYC 499
Psychology of
Influence

This page contains class updates, policies, & calendar. To access web-based reading assignments, please use the URL given in class.

Purpose:
This course is designed to teach you about influence. We'll explore this ancient subject from a scientific perspective, and examine several forms of this discipline, including persuasion, compliance, propaganda, and mind control--and how to resist these same influences.

Lecture Style:
This course taught in two sections, basic and advanced. The basic portion of this course is modeled after a professional seminar, and is designed to get you up to speed as quickly as possible on the topic of influence. After we have completed basic training, the course will convert to a more traditional academic-style lecture course with more advanced topics.

Reading:
We will be using two texts in this course:
1) Bettinghaus, E.P. & Cody, M. J. (1994). Persuasive Communication. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace. Fifth edition. ISBN# 0030553520
2) Perloff, R. M. (1993). The Dynamics of Persuasion. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN# 0805804900 or 0805813772

In addition to the campus bookstore, these books are also available from:
www.amazon.com
www.ecampus.com (search for them using the ISBN#).

It's important to keep up with the reading. If you wait until the week before the test to read the assigned material, you won't learn or retain the material as well and you'll likely do poorly on exams. Readings in addition to the texts will be found at my website, but you will need to obtain the URL for those readings in class. For this reason, you'll want to be at least minimally "internet-savvy" to complete this course. Be sure to locate an internet-capable computer with a web browser for completing certain assignments. A thorough understanding of the readings will be necessary in order to obtain top grades on the exams and in your papers.

Attendance:
Attendance is important in this class, and attendance will be taken. What happens if you get sick, or an unavoidable emergency occurs? For this reason, you're given one unpenalized absence, for which no reasons or excuses are required or requested. Even if you miss a single class for a good reason, please don't ask me to excuse it, because no excuse is necessary. Each additional unexcused absence, however, will erode your grade by a third of a letter (a B, for example, becomes a B- on the second unexcused absence and a C+ on the third, and so on). So it goes without saying that you should save your no-penalty absence for when you need it. If you must miss a class, please contact a fellow student for notes. Class notes are not available from the instructor.

Poster Presentations:
Starting February 8, students will begin giving presentations. What are presentations, you ask? There are two types, presentation and backup, and you'll do one of each during the semester.

To give a poster presentation, you'll first read and thoroughly digest a well-known journal article (some are chapters in books) written about the influence process. You'll find these journal articles in the library. These articles are often dense, so you'll want to read your assigned article several times until you feel you thoroughly understand its content. Then, you'll be asked to simplify that article for the rest of the class. You'll summarize the various sections of the article into a few paragraphs, and present the articles' conclusions with the help of visual aids, such as graphs and charts (use the ecample I gave you on January 25 as a guide). You'll put your summaries and visual aids onto a posterboard and display your poster during class. (Two of your colleagues will be doing the same thing at the same time; there will be three of you presenting simultaneously). The class will break into three groups, and rotate around the room (approximately 10 people in each group), listening to your short, 10-minute oral presentation of the article you've read. Following your presentation, there will be a chance for your audience to ask you some questions. Since the class will be rotating the room in three groups, you'll give your presentation three times in succession to three small groups. Groups will rotate and listen to all three presentations in turn. In addition to the poster itself, you will be required to hand out a single-sheet hardcopy of your presentation to the class (similar to the example you received during the demonstration of a poster presentation on Jan. 25) so the class can keep a copy of your presentation in their notes. This handout should also simplify the article and include graphs and charts that make the article easy to understand. (Remember that people learn best from visual representations!) Some test questions will come directly from the presentations. Finally, you need to hand in a photocopy of the complete journal article itself. The photocopy of the journal article must be complete, from the abstract to the final bibliographic pages. A poster presentation is not considered complete and gradeable unless it includes: 1) the presentation; 2) the poster; 3) enough class handouts so each class member can have a copy; 4) one copy of the original journal article (complete with references) handed to the professor. The poster presentation will be worth 15% of your grade.

A backup presentation is similar to the above except: you do not need to make the actual poster, and it's likely that you will not need to give the oral presentation. The purpose of the backup presentation, besides giving you more exposure to the influence literature, is to assure that if the main presenter fails to show up, your backup presentation is ready to take its place. Of course, if you need to deliver your backup presentation, you'll do so using only the class handout that you've prepared. A backup presentation is not considered complete unless it includes: 1) enough class handouts so each class member can have a copy; 2) one copy of the original journal article handed to the professor. The backup presentation is worth 5% of your grade, unless you actually have to present it orally, in which case you will get extra credit for doing so.

You are encouraged to work weeks ahead of schedule (the farther ahead, the better; get your articles now and just put photocopies of them on a shelf until you need them). You should have articles in hand weeks before you present, just in case you have difficulty finding a specific article. This shouldn't be a problem, since all assignments are listed here now. You'll want to start your journal hunting at Leavey, since Doheny is under construction. It's likely you'll need to request that your journal articles be retrieved from storage, so plan ahead! That takes a couple of days. Journals can't be checked out, but articles in books can. So, if you've been assigned a book article, start your search even eariler because someone may have checked out the book. You'll want to issue a recall notice if the book you need is checked out. And a recall notice takes 2 weeks before it goes into effect, so again, plan ahead! Also, I've heard reports that Global Express will sometimes take several weeks to produce an article so (do I need to say it again?) plan ahead! The earlier you plan ahead, the less running around you'll have to do to find your article. Start your search today.

There are lots of ways to hunt for journal articles. Here's one easy way. Go to Homer (you can access Homer by going to the USC home page at www.usc.edu, then go to the research, libraries, & computing link, then under electronic resources choose library catalogs, databases, & journals, then choose the link to Homer on that page). In Homer, type in the journal's title and then search by periodical title. After you've found the journal's title and its call number, you can either request it at Leavey, or you can request the journal online by following the online instructions (see, for example, the "Obtain Doheny Journals from Off Site Location" form). Again, plan at least a week ahead of time.

If the article isn't easy to find, don't give up. Your second step is asking a reference librarian for help (drop by or call 213 740-6938 or 213 740-4350). Reference librarians are available in the lower level of Leavey, during most days. I think they're there 10-8 Mo-Th, 10-5 Fr, 1-6 Su, but check to be sure.

Your third step is to search for your journal article online. Many journal articles are now available through PsychInfo, a huge database of journal articles that you can search at Leavey. A reference librarian will be glad to show you how to obtain journal articles via PsychInfo. (Some Libraries also feature PsychLit, another database.)

Your fourth step is to request the journal article from Global Express, USC's interlibrary loan service. Chances are very, very slim that Global Express won't be able to find your journal article for you. Global Express takes a couple of days, so again, plan ahead.

Your fifth step is to visit a nearby library (such as UCLA or other UC schools) to obtain a copy of the journal article. If you choose this option, by all means call ahead and be certain the book or journal you need is available. You can start a search at UCLA by going to http://www.library.ucla.edu/ and searching MELVYL (or ORION, if you're actually on the campus). However, MELVYL won't tell you if a book is checked out or not. You'll want to call 310 825-1938 or 310 825 5756 (option 4) and ask before you go to UCLA to hunt down a book.

If you have completed all 5 steps, and have been unsuccessful in tracking down your assigned article, you can request that I assign you a different journal article. But if you request an alternate journal article, I'll double-check your detective work to see if I can obtain the original article that you couldn't, by going through these same 5 steps. If I find it and you didn't, I'll consider your search to have been incomplete. Incomplete searches count against your grade! Finding specific journal articles is one of the most important skills you can develop in preparing for further study in psychology. It isn't always easy, but it's rewarding to finally find that elusive article or book chapter.

Homework:
I may occasionally assign homework, but it will be homework such as watching a particular movie or surfing the web. You'll need to complete the assigned video-watching and web-surfing before the class lecture that refers to them, so that we can talk about them in class.

Quizzes:
Quizzes, if they occur, will be announced beforehand. They will contribute to the "Exam" portion of your grade. [Actually, they won't occur. I've now dropped this requirement.]

Exams:
There will be two multiple choice exams which will count for 60% of your grade. The exams will concentrate on your knowledge of the principles of influence and your ability to apply them; some recall knowledge will be tested also. You should know the material assigned as reading, the material presented in lectures, and the material given in the student presentations, to do well on the tests. The standardized test questions that come with the textbooks will be used in the construction of tests.

Paper:
A single project-paper will be due, which is designed to provide students with first-hand, direct experiences relevant to influence principles. It is worth 20% of your grade. You should submit a minimum one-page outline of the paper on April 25, before it is due on Final Exam day, May 9, 4:30 pm. If you don't, you'll lower your paper by one full grade. This caution is exercised to 1) encourage proactive, organized thinking about the paper; and 2) to prevent you from engaging in some activity that might be dangerous, illegal, immoral, or not intellectually productive. Questionable projects will be personally discussed with you, and modifications negotiated. Please see below, "Writing for PSY 499," for guidance regarding the writing of these papers.

There are three paper topic categories; you may choose the one that you find the most appealing and relevant.

The topic of this paper is on being a target of social influence. The objective of this project is to experience how influence professionals attempt to persuade you in influence situations. You will undertake a number of "field observations" that are designed to provide a minimum amount of exposure to experience significant influence. (Refer to class discussions for recommended "field observation" options.) As a rough guideline, you should spend from 3 to 5 hours with a variety of influence professionals in order to experience the tactics they use. You need to experience sufficient influence so you have enough material to write a good paper. If, for example, you happen to encounter several influence agents who say something like, "There's the item. Look it over and tell me if you want it," you'll have little to write about. I want you to place yourselves in a sufficient number of safe but educational influence situations so you can compare techniques across influence attempts and practitioners.

Be sure to:

1) Describe the physical and psychological background of the influence setting.

2) Compare and contrast influence techniques that you have observed, and synthesize your observations into a coherent and logical explication.

3) Integrate theory with your observation. Use appropriate citations (show me that you know the appropriate references for the tactics you are observing). What tactics did the influence agents use? Which did they overlook? What seemed to work well? What did not? What would you do the same, or differently, if you were in their position?

This 12-15 page "applied" paper should include: 1) A brief, summarizing narrative of the events (two pages maximum); 2) The social and physical nature of the influence setting; 3) An analysis of the influence tactics used on you or tactics you observed being used on others (this is the main portion of the paper). Concentrate on linking your observations to influence principles we discussed in class and that you encountered in your own reading, and be able to associate appropriate theories, names and articles with important tactics. 4) A two-page bibliography (with a minimum of 15 citations), where you reference the studies from which you distilled the principles. Use APA style for the citations. Don't just cite our textbooks and lectures, but actually refer to the seminal articles on the topics (they're in the bibliographies of our texts, in our poster presentations, and I'll reference particular articles in class. To get exact bibliographic references, you may need to use PsychLit or PsychInfo at the library.) There's an example of a good paper for you to review here.

The topic of this paper is on being an agent of social influence. The objective of this project is to practice influence tactics. You might persuade people to:

exercise regularly & lose weight
donate blood
donate to a charity
hire you for a job
drive less, bike to work
donate to the homeless
recycle / pick up litter
donate time and money to a children's hospital or retirement home
repair a friendship
influence legislation
get people to slow down on your street
...or something similar to the above that has some social benefit (no, romantic conquests do not count!). You can be creative, but run the idea by me before doing something that's not on this list.

As a rough guideline, you should spend several hours with your targets of influence. You'll need sufficient contact so you have enough material to write a good paper.

Be sure to include the following:

1) Tell me what your objective is and why; have a rationale for it, set it up, give some context. Make the introduction interesting.

2) The majority of your paper should be concerned with your plan of approach. This will include theory integration, the choice of the best tactics for the situation, and a skillful use of citations (show me that you know the appropriate references for the tactics you are using). Be certain to integrate your approach, not simply list a variety of influence tactics.

3) What was it like to implement your plan? Did you feel successful or unsuccessful during the implementation? How did your target react? Did you see any results? What did you learn while practicing to be an agent of influence? What would you do the same, or do differently, next time?

Challenging tasks (ie, you don't know the person you're trying to influence, you're attempting to influence more than one person, the issue is one on which your target is resistant, etc.), will of course be noticed and rewarded appropriately.

This 12-15 page "applied" paper should include: 1) A brief, summarizing narrative of the events (no more than two pages); 2) The social and physical nature of the influence setting; 3) An analysis of the influence tactics you're planning to use (this is the main portion of the paper). Concentrate on linking your plans to influence principles we discussed in class and that you encountered in your own reading, and be able to associate appropriate theories, names and articles with important tactics. 4) A two-page bibliography (with a minimum of 15 citations), where you reference the studies from which you distilled the principles. Use APA style for the citations. Don't just cite our textbooks and lectures, but actually refer to the seminal articles on the topics (they're in the bibliographies of our texts, in our poster presentations, and I'll reference particular articles in class. To get exact bibliographic references, you may need to use PsychLit or PsychInfo at the library.)

This longer paper (20-25 pp.) is designed for students who may have identified a particular area in which they would like to do future research. This paper will be a literature review on a particular influence topic of interest to you. (A literature review is a thorough and thoughtful review of the most recent work in a particular area, and requires that you find the most recent research on a particular topic.) If you write a theoretical paper, you'll be expected to do a good share of original library research, tracking down relevant and new articles, and integrating your findings into a "modern look" at a particular topic or series of findings. The "framing" section of the Influence at Work website started from just such a literature review. (Please remember that I cut out most of the in-text references because of the lay audience for whom I was writing, so it's not an exact model. Also, it's much longer than any review you'd want to attempt for this class!) For this review paper, you'll want to have approximately 25 references, many of them from articles and books that weren't referenced to in class (that is, research that you tracked down on your own).

Papers will be curved to a mean of 80.

Grades:
Throughout the semester you'll be able to periodically review the spreadsheets that document your progress in the class. Please notice that I can't give you an exact determination of your final grade during the duration of the semester, since many points are not collected until the final weeks of the semester. It may be that some final-week adjustments are necessary, so you'll only be "sure" of obtaining a certain grade if you're well above a cut-off point. Cut-off points are the usual, and are firm: the bottom A = 90 percent; the bottom B = 80 percent; the bottom C = 70 percent; the bottom D = 60 percent.

Week 1 (Jan 11)

Class Introduction & Policies

Week 2 (Jan 18)

History of Influence.
Definitions of Terms.
Reading: Perloff, Ch. 1; BC, Ch.1.

Week 3 (Jan 25)

Methodological & Statistical Review.
Mindful & Mindless Behavior.
Ethics of Influence.
Reading: Perloff, Ch 2.

Week 4 (Feb 1)

No Class--Web Assignment. Please read the following pages. Some of the following information is by way of review, some of it is new:

• Everyday Influence (Social influence governs our lives!)
• Modern Persuasion (Persuasion in Our Time)
• Definitions (What are we talking about here, anyway?)
• Ethical Influence (A look at the ethics surrounding social influence)
• Ethical Influence II (Singer's Continuum)
• Persuasive Disciplines (Through what means can persuasion be studied?)
• The Social Psychological Approach (What's different about S.P.)
• Bad Information (A look at misinformation about persuasion)
• What About NLP? (An alternate perspective on persuasion)
• Structure of Social Influence (A guide to the discipline)
• Mindfulness & Mindlessness (A basic division)
• Mindlessness / Peripheral Processing

Please note that presentations assignments will start appearing on this page over the next few days. If your name is listed after the word "present," it's your turn to prepare an oral presentation. If your name is listed after the word "backup," it's your turn to present a written presentation (as explained in class). Check to see if your name is listed below, as names will be added over the next several days. Questions? Conflicts? Please email me with problems at least 7 days ahead of your scheduled presentation, earlier if possible.

Ethics Continued
Attitudes: What they are, how they're formed and changed.
Strongly Held Attitudes.
Reading: Perloff, Ch 3, p. 50-57, Ch. 4, p. 78-95. BC, Ch. 2, p. 33-38.

Week 5 (Feb 8)

Principles of Influence:
Reciprocity & Scarcity
No Reading Assignment

Presentations:

• How is reciprocity engaged? Regan, R. T. (1971). Effects of a favor on liking and compliance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7, 627-639. [Backup: Jessica R. DONE]
• What are 'reciprocal concessions'? Cialdini, R. B., Vincent, J. E., Lewis, S. K., Catalan, J., Wheeler, D., & Darby, B. L. (1975). Reciprocal concessions procedure for inducing compliance: The door-in-the-face technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 206-215. [Present: Ali S. DONE]
• How can students employ reciprocity to get their teachers to be more helpful? Harari, Mohr, & Hosey. (1980). Faculty helpfulness to students: A comparison of compliance techniques. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 6, 373-377. [Present: Angela M. DONE]
• Are people more motivated by what they stand to gain or stand to lose? Gonzales, Aronson & Costanzo (1988). Increasing the effectiveness of energy auditors: A field experiment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 18, 1046-66. [Present: Angelica T. DONE]
• Can interfering parents cause teenagers to fall more deeply in love? Driscoll, Davies, & Lipetz. (1972). Parental interference and romantic love: The Romeo and Juliet effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 24, 1-10. [Backup: Joel V.]
• How does scarcity make cookies taste better? Worchel, S., Lee, J., & Adewole, A. (1975). Effects of supply and demand on ratings of object value. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 32, 906-14. [Backup: Kamran S.]
  

Week 6 (Feb 15)

Principles of Influence:
Reciprocity & Scarcity.
The Communicator.
Reading: Perloff, Chapter 6. B&C, Chapter 9.

Presentations:

• What are the effects of media experts on national persuasion? Jorden, D. L. (1993). Newspaper effects on policy preferences. Public Opinion Quarterly, 57, 191-204. [Present: Anni K. DONE]
• What is the nature of trustworthiness in creating credibility? McGuiness, E., & Ward, C. D. (1980). Better liked than right: Trustworthiness and expertise as factors in credibility. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 6, 467-472. [Backup: Karen T.]
• What is the "stealing thunder" tactic all about? Williams, K. D., Bourgeois, M., & Croyle, R. T. (1993). The effects of stealing thunder in criminal and civil trials. Law and Human Behavior, 17, 597-609. [Present: April ?]
• Involvement: how does it affect persuasion? Johnson, B. T., & Eagly, A. H. (1989). The effect of involvement on persuasion: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 290-314. [Backup: Leticia G.]
• How do people typically process information that doesn't fit with what they believe? Munro, G. D., & Ditto, P. H. (1997). Biased assimilation, attitude polarization, and affect reactions to stereotype-relevant scientific information. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 636-653. [Present: Bjorn P.]
• Do attitudes change behaviors, or do behaviors change attitudes? Cooper, J., and Scher, S.J. (1994). When do our actions affect our attitudes? In S. Shavitt & T.C. Brock (Eds.), Persuasion (pp.95-112). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. [Backup: Manny D.]

Week 7 (Feb 22)

Principles of Influence:
Liking & Consensus
Reading: Cialdini & Rhoads (The final version is now here, and you may find it to be a good source of references.)

Presentations:

• Do similarities persuade people to commit suicide? Schmidtke, A. & Hafner, H. (1988). The Werther effect after television films: New evidence for an old hypothesis. Psychological Medicine, 18, 665-676. [Present: Brian U.]
• Do a communicator's looks impact persuasion? Efran, M. G., & Patterson, E. W. J. (1974). Voters vote beautiful: The effects of physical appearance on a national election. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 6, 352-356. [Backup: Margaret M.]
• What's more important, liking the product or liking the seller? Frenzen, J. R., & Davis, H. L. (1990). Purchasing behavior in embedded markets. Journal of Consumer Research, 17, 1-12. [Present: Debbie G.]
• False accusations-under what conditions may they be elicited? Kassin, S. M., & Kiechel, K. L. (1996). The social psychology of false confessions: Compliance, internalization, and confabulation. Psychological Science, 7, 125-128. [Present: Denise D.]
• Do people rely on consensus in their sexual behaviors? Buunk, B. P., & Baker, A. B. (1995). Extradyadic sex: The role of descriptive and injunctive norms. Journal of Sex Research, 32, 313-318. [Backup: Maribel L.]
• Where do people turn when they don't trust their own judgments? Wooter DB & Reed A (1998). Informational influence and the ambiguity of product experience: Order effects on the weighting of evidence. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 7, 79-99. [Backup: Mide M.]

Week 8 (Feb 29)

Authority & Commitment.
"Seminar" Portion of Class Ends.
Reading: More of Cialdini & Rhoads (The final version is now here, and you may find it to be a good source of references.)

NO Presentations. Catch-up day.

Week 9 (March7)

Test 1.
"Advanced" Portion of Class Begins.
Obedience.
Behaviorism & Compliance.
Reading: Perloff, Ch 3 (just p. 57-77).

• Blass, T. (in press). The Milgram paradigm after 35 years: Some things we now know about obedience to authority. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. [Backup: Paul]
• Bond, R. & Smith, P. B. (1996). Culture and conformity: A meta-analysis of studies using Asch's line judgment task. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 111-137. [Present: Dorris]
• Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371-378. [Backup: Ruby]
• Blass, T. (1991). Understanding behavior in the obedience experiment: The role of personality, situations, and their interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 398-413. [Present: Edwin]
• Morris, W. N., & Miller, R. S. (1975). The effects of consensus-breaking and consensus-preempting partners on reduction of conformity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 11, 215-223. [Present: Elizabeth]
• Tesser, A., Campbell, J., & Mickler, S. (1983). The role of social pressure, attention to the stimulus, and self-doubt in conformity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 13, 217-233. [Backup: Sandy]

Week 10 (March 14)

Spring Break, No Class.

Week 11 (March 21)

Commitment Revisited.
Balance Theory & Cognitive Dissonance.
Reading: Perloff, Ch. 10.

Presentations:

• How do people typically process information that doesn't fit with what they believe? Giner-Sorolla, R., & Chaiken, S. (1997). Selective use of heuristic and systematic processing under defense motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 84-97. [Present: Griselda]
• Is consistency more important to some people than to others? Cialdini, Trost & Newsom (1995). Preference for Consistency: The development of a valid measure and the discovery of surprising behavioral implications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 318-328. [Backup: Steven]
• Do commitments to computers count? Kiesler, S., Sproull, L., & Waters, K. (1996). A prisoner's dilemma experiment on cooperation with people and human-like computers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 47-65. [Present: Gwyn]
• What is the lowball tactic? How does it work? Cialdini, R. B., Cacioppo, J. T., Bassett, R., & Miller, J. A. (1978). Low-ball procedure for producing compliance: Commitment then cost. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 463-476. [Present: Jessica]
• What is the bait-and-switch procedure? How does it work?Joule, R. V., Gouilloux, F., & Weber, F. (1989). The lure: A new compliance procedure. Journal of Social Psychology, 129, 741-749. [Backup: Summer]
• Can consistency be engaged by labeling? Cialdini, R. B., Eisenberg, N., Green, B. L., Rhoads, K., & Bator, R. (1998). Undermining the undermining effect of reward on sustained interest. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28, 253-267. [Backup: Susie]
  

Week 12 (March 28)

Salience.
Framing.
Values.
Reading: None.

Presentations:

• Briggs, M. A. & Lassiter, G. D. (1994). More evidence for the robustness of salience effects. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 9, 171-180. [Spare]
• Gilbert, D. T., Malone, P. S., & Krull, D.S. (1990). Unbelieving the unbelievable: Some problems in the rejection of false information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 59, 601-613 [Backup: Yassaman]
• Krosnick, J. A. & Brannon, L. A. (1993). The media and the foundations of presidential support: George Bush and the Persian Gulf conflict. Journal of Social Issues , 49, 167-182. [Present: Karen]
• Levin, I. P. & Gaeth, G. J. (1988). How consumers are affected by the framing of attribute information before and after consuming the product. Journal of Consumer Research, 15, 374-378. [Backup: Ali S.]
• Miller, J. M. & Krosnick, J. A. (1996). The Anatomy of News Media Priming. In S. Iyengar (Ed.), Journalism and the Marketplace of Ideas. In press. [Present: Joel]
• Simonson, I., Carmon, Z., & O'Curry, S. (1994). Experimental evidence on the negative effect of product features and sales promotions on brand choice. Marketing Science, 13, 23-40. [Backup: Angela]
• Simonson, I., Nowlis, S. M., & Simonson, Y. (1993). The effect of irrelevant preference arguments on consumer choice. Journal of Consumer Psychology , 2, 287-306. [Present: Kamran]
• Wegner, D. M., Erber, R., & Zanakos, S. (1993). Ironic Processes in the Mental Control of Mood and Mood-Related Thought. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1093-1104. [Spare]

Week 13 (April 4)

Cognitive Response.
Dual Process Models.
Heuristics.
(Other models, if time permits.)
Reading: Will & Sydney's "Target of Influence" Paper.
Reading: The Framing Memo Excerpt.

Presentations:

• Why is "self-talk" important to persuasion? Greenwald, A. G. (1968). Cognitive learning, cognitive response to persuasion, and attitude change. In A.G. Greenwald, T. C. Brock, & T. M. Ostrom (Eds.), Has the Cognitive Response Model withstood the test of time? Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. See: Chapter 6. [Present: Leticia]
• How does distraction impact persuasion? Petty, R. E., Wells, G. L., & Brock, T. C. (1976). Distraction can enhance or reduce yielding to propaganda. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 874-884 [Backup: Angelica]
• Issue involvement: what happens when the word "you" is used in ad copy? Burnkrant, R. E., & Unnava, H. R. (1989). Self-referencing: A strategy for increasing processing of message content. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 15, 628-638. [Present: Manny]
• How can people be made more susceptible to persuasion? Romero, A. A., Agnew, C. R., & Insko, C. A. (1996). The cognitive mediation hypothesis revisited. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 651-665. [Backup: Anni]
• How can people be made more susceptible to persuasion? Gilbert, D. T. Tafarodi, R. W., & Malone, P. S. (1993). You can't not believe everything you read. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65,221-233. [Present: Margaret]
• Langer, EJ. (1978). "Rethinking the Role of Thought in Social Interaction," New Directions in Attribution Research, Vol. 2, ed, Harvey, Ickes, and Kidd. Potomac, MD: LEA. [Backup: Bjorn]

Week 14 (April 11)

The Audience.
Person Variables.
Gender.
Mood.

Reading: A Little Magic
Reading: Aronson's Explanation
Reading: The Framing Portion of the IAW Website (I-VIII)
Reading: Perloff Chapter 5 (just pp. 118-135): Cognitive Processing Models of Persuasion
Reading: Perloff Chapter 8 (just pp.189-197) Receiver Factors

Presentations:

• Rhodes & Wood (1992). Self-esteem and intelligence affect influencebility: The mediating role of message reception. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 156-171. [Present: Maribel]
• What's the relation between intelligence and persuasability? Eagly AH and Warren R. (1976). Intelligence, comprehension, and opinion change. Journal of Personality, 44, 226-242. [Backup: Brian]
• Are men or women more likely to be persuaded? Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (1981). Sex of researchers and sex-typed communications as determinant of influenceability. Psychological Bulletin, 90, 1-20. [Backup: Debbie]
• Are men or women more likely to be persuaded? Eagly, A. H., & Chrvala, C. (1986). Sex differences in conformity: Status and gender role interpretations. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 10, 203-220. [Present: Mide]
• How does internal focus affect persuasion? Ybarra, O., & Trafimow, D. (1998). How priming the private self or collective self affects the relative weights of attitudes and subjective norms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 362-370. [Backup: Denise]
• What is the effect of mood on persuasion? Schwarz, N., Bless, H., & Bohner, G. (1991). Mood and persuasion: Affective states influence the processing of persuasive communications. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.). Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 24, pp. 161-197). New York: Academic Press. [Present: Paul]

Week 15 (April 18)

Stylistic & Message Variables.
Channel Variables.
Persuasion & Technology: Influence on the Internet
Reading: Perloff Chapter 7 (all but pp160-166), Message Effects
Reading: Perloff Chapter 8 (just pp. 186-189): Channel Variables.

Presentations:

• How does message difficulty interact with the channel? Chaiken, S. & Eagly, A. H. (1983). Communication modality as a determinant of persuasion: The role of communicator salience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 241-256. [Present: Ruby]
• Is vividness persuasive? Taylor, S. E. & Thompson, S. C. (1982). Stalking the elusive "vividness" effect. Psychological Review, 89, 155-181. [Present: Sandy]
• Maibach, E., and Parrott, R.L. (1995). Designing health messages. Thousand Oaks: Sage. See Chapter One: Content & Linguistic Considerations. [Backup: Dorris]
• Gibbons, P., Busch, J., and Bradac, J.J. (1991). Powerful vs. powerless language: Consequences for persuasion, impression formation, and cognitive response. Journal of language and social psychology, 10, 115-133. [Backup: Edwin]
• Kiesler Sara, Sproull Lee, & Waters Keith (1996). A Prisoner's Dilemma Experiment on Cooperation With People and Human-Like Computers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, January 1996 Vol. 70, No. 1, 47-65. [Present: Steven]
• Reid, FJ, Ball LJ, Morley AM & Evans J. (1997). Styles of group discussion in computer-mediated decision making. British J of Social Psychology, 36, 241-262. [Backup: Elizabeth]
  
  

Week 16 (April 25)

Paper Outline Due.
Reading: Perloff Chapter 5 (just pp. 107-118)
Reading: Perloff Ch 7, Fear (just pp. 160-166)
Reading: Perloff Ch 12, Campaigns
Reading to substitute for no lecture: a chapter from Singer, Cults in Our Midst and the 3 cult pages from my website.

Fear Appeals.
Defense.
Inoculation.
Indoctrination.
Propaganda.
Cults.
Brainwashing.

Presentations:

• Do fear appeals work? Robberson, M. R., & Rogers, R. W. (1988). Beyond fear appeals: Negative and positive persuasive appeals to health and self-esteem. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 277-287. [Backup: Griselda]
• What needs to accompany fear in order for fear appeals to be persuasive? Leventhal, H., & Cameron, L. (1994). Persuasion and health attitudes. In S. Shavitt & T. C. Brock (Eds.), Persuasion (pp. 219-249). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. [Present: Summer]
• How can we make people resistant to persuasion? McGuire, W. J. (1964). Inducing resistance to persuasion: Some contemporary approaches. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 1, pp.191-229). San Diego, Academic Press. [Present: Susie]
• How does indoctrination work? Collins, J & Porras, J. Built to Last (Chapter 6, "Cult-like Cultures"). New York: Harper Business. [Backup: Gwen]
• McGuire, W. J. (1964). Inducing resistance to persuasion: Some contemporary approaches. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 191-229). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. [Present: Yassaman]
• Cialdini, R. B., Sagarin, B. J., & Rice, W. E. (in press). Training in ethical influence. In J. M. Darley, D. M. Messick, & T. R. Tyler (Eds.), Social influence and ethics in organizations. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. [Spare]

Week 17

No class

Week 18

Final Exam: Tuesday May 9, 4:30-6:30pm. The final exam covers all the material and readings assigned since the midterm (March 7 onward, including Perloff, website readings, student presentations, class handouts, class lectures) plus the Rhoads & Cialdini article from the first part of the course.)
Paper Due.

Writing a good paper and giving a good poster presentation is a long and exacting process, so start early on these assignments. You need to write a paper, and give a presentation, that would be found acceptable by your peers in a professional world. Your paper will be graded along a number of dimensions, including:

Writing style: interesting to read, good organization, lack of redundancy or 'padding,' strong introduction and close, good comparison & contrast, clear phraseology, consistent prose--i.e., the "voice" doesn't shift about or become alternately formal and casual;

Analysis: good theory integration, good theoretical grasp, observations are well explicated, new material is evident in the paper and ideas are synthesized--i.e., the writers go beyond a mere rehash of the lectures by incorporating material from the student's own reading and thinking;

Proofreading: spelling, grammar;

Citations: proper use of citations, APA style bibliography;

Mechanics: correct length, 12-point Times Roman type or equivalent, double-spaced, APA-like margins and other mechanics.

For a top grade on the paper, remember the following points: 1) You must demonstrate an excellent grasp of influence theory and be able to relate it to your field observations. 2) Your writing voice must be clear and unencumbered. Don't obfuscate. Remember Mark Twain's famous dictum: "Eschew surplusage." 3) Bring something new and interesting into your papers. Teachers don't give top grades to mere rehashes of class lectures. We like to learn something new, too! Incorporate not only what you've read from the texts in this class, but also from additional research you've done in the library and other sources (including, perhaps, your personal experience, if relevant). 4) There's no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting. A single draft falls far short of what's required for a top grade. Hemingway rewrote Old Man and The Sea over 50 times, and he was an excellent writer to begin with! Now, we don't expect 50 rewrites or anything close to that, but the point is that rewriting, rather than the initial draft, results in a quality paper. Handing in an initial draft is not sufficient!

Finally, a note on APA style vs. Good Writing Style: I require APA style as a guide for general layout (margins, titles, citations, graphics, etc.) and the bibliography. For the actual writing style, however, I'd like you to avoid cumbersome third-person writing and stick to the first person (I, we, us, etc.). Write like you learned to write in your English 101 and 102 classes. If you're not an experienced writer, or think you may run into problems with this paper, you'll want to make an appointment at the Writing Center. Helping you write a good paper is their job. Also read Richard Lanham's very short (83 pp.) book, Revising Prose, before you start writing.

Common word misusages in this course:

Can you fill in the blanks below with the words "affect" and "effect" used correctly?

"We recorded the sex of each subject but that variable had no _____ ; it did not ______ the outcome in any way."

Affect = 1) The influence of one thing upon another (v); 2) to pretend or imitate (v); 3) emotion (n);
"I expect this variable to affect the outcome of my study, so I have held it constant."
"Smoking can affect one's health negatively."
"She affected anger to make her case."
"I think that affect, not cognition, causes a person to attempt cognitive balance."

Effect = Accomplishment or results (v). Cause -> effect.
"I hope this manipulation causes large effects."
"The effect of this manipulation was that people increased desired behaviors."
"Since we are studying a large effect size, we can get by with a smaller sample size."
"Sex appears to cause no effect whatsoever."
"Those methods were adopted to effect a particular end."
"The governmental restrictions were designed to effect market stability."

A cue: a signal, a prompt. A signal to act. Has a psychological meaning and usage. A clue: a guide to a solution.

Authority: knowledge + trustworthiness. Not just a position of power. A salesperson's nametag doesn't necessarily make him knowledgable or trustworthy. But you may have to go through him to get the product, thus he is in a position of power.

Copyright © 1997-2003 by Kelton Rhoads, Ph.D.
www.workingpsychology.com
All rights reserved.

persuasion, persuasion, persuasion, persuade, persuade, persuade, persuasive, persuasive, persuasive, comply, comply, comply, compliance, compliance, compliance, marketing, marketing, marketing, advertising, advertising, advertising, sales, sales, sales, selling, selling, selling, how to, how to sell, how to advertise, public relations, public relations, public relations, psychology, social psychology, social psychology, social psychology, influence, influence, influence, social influence, social influence, social influence, psychological persuasion, essential influence, influence at work, influencing, law, law, law, legal, legal, legal, politics, politics, politics, political, consulting, political consulting, political consulting, consultant, rhetoric, rhetoric, rhetorical persuasion, propaganda, propaganda, propaganda, communications, cult, cult, cult, cults, cults, cults, mind control, mind control, mind control, argument, argumentation, debate, adherence, Kelton Rhoads, Kelton Rhoads, Kelton Rhoads, Cialdini, Cialdini, Robert Cialdini.