Petty and Cacioppo (1986) explained in their dual-process model of persuasion that there are two routes that individuals can take when processing a message. They described that the central route to persuasion is taken by an individual who thinks very carefully about the information presented and is influenced by the strength or quality of an argument. In addition, they described that the peripheral route to persuasion is taken by an individual who thinks little about the information presented and is influenced by other simple cues.
After reading the chapter on what influences which route we use to process information, I began to notice when and where I have used each one. The first example that came to mind of central route was when my parents started looking for houses before we moved back to The Woodlands. In research examining advertising effectiveness, it was found that individuals with high involvement used the central route to persuasion and were influenced the most about the strength of the argument presented (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983). Obviously, because my parents were looking to purchase a house they were highly involved and were very interested in the quality of information about the areas and houses that they were about to buy into. Before moving from and back to The Woodlands we took what people said about the different areas without much thought or argument; however, while preparing to move back into The Woodlands it took a lot more research and quality information about different areas to convince us where exactly we should live. The second example actually resembles the advertising effectiveness research previously discussed (Petty et al., 1983). They manipulated the strength of argument by providing participants with either strong arguments for a disposable razor which included scientific information or weak arguments which included beauty information. I recently went with one of my good friends to Wal-mart, and among other things she really needed to buy a new razor. While helping her to chose which razor she should buy I found myself taking the peripheral route by paying more attention to the colors (for some reason I really wanted her to buy a purple one) and attractiveness of the packaging. Fortunately, she tuned me out and payed more attention to cost and quality of the razors.
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Communication and persuasion: Central and peripheral routes to attitude change. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T., Schumann, D. (1983). Central and peripheral effectiveness: The moderating role of involvement. The Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 136-146
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I, unfortunately, tend to rely upon peripheral cues when choosing razors, even when I am selecting one for myself! Like you did, I tend to focus on things like colors. Reading your blog made me remember when I selected my current razor. If you ask me about it, I still will tell you that it's pink and has glitter in it. And that's a good indication of the quality of the razor... Because I relied upon peripheral cues, I paid for those superficial qualities and didn't get much quality. Good thing your friend tuned you out!
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