My Home Page
Links on Attitudes, Persuasion and Influence
A note about accessibility:
Apologies for any difficulties you may have using this page
with screenreaders, but since I'm an ignoramus about HTML I've been
forced to use
webpage writing software, which I know produces lots of extraneous
code. Hopefully
this will be removed over time, as I teach myself how to code properly...
Contents
General
attitudes and influence sites
Measuring
attitudes
Elaboration
Likelihood Model
Cognitive
Dissonance Theory and Self-Perception Theory
Theory
of Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behaviour
Group
and Intergroup Processes in Perusasion
Subliminal
Influence
Persuasion
in Practice: Advertising and Marketing
Persuasion
in Practice: Cults and Extreme Groups
Persuasion
in Practice: Propaganda
Persuasion
in Practice: The Legal System
Specific
Researchers
General
Social Psychology Sites Featuring Attitudes
General
Attitudes and Influence Sites
An excellent site! Includes a few rather funny multiple choice
questions to test what you've learnt.
This site is maintained by Kelton Rhoads, an academic at the University
of Southern California
(LA) who also runs an influence consulting firm. Everything on this
site is highly recommended,
so why not work your way through it?
This site features extracts relating to persuasion from a book entitled
Social Psychology:
Shaping Identity, Thought and Conduct, written by Chad Gordon
and Michael Kerl of
Trinity University. Each extract is accompanied by links to sites on
the same topic.
Brief overviews of the major theories of persuasion, taken from the
theory workbook
developed for the course Issues in Communication Study run by Derek
Lane of the
University of Kentucky.
Measuring Attitudes
This is a web page on the Implicit Association Test, which measures
implicit (unconscious)
attitudes such as attitudes to other groups in society. It includes
demonstrations of the
method, so you can measure your own implicit attitudes. The site is
produced by a number
of social psychologists, including Anthony Greenwald, one of those who
devised the test.
Elaboration Likelihood
Model
An interesting article by Chang-Hoan Cho, a doctoral student in
advertising at The
University of Texas at Austin, presenting a version of the ELM modified
to deal with
the processing of advertising on the internet, and an experimental
study he conducted
that provides support for the model. This is challenging reading, and
has some statistical
content, though understanding this isn't necessary to understand the
findings. Well worth
reading if you're interested in the psychology of the net.
This website, by Daniel E. Martin of Howard University, describes a
study using the ELM
and Cialdini's principles of influence (liking, social proof, authority
and reciprocation) to
investigate influence techniques used to convert people to Scientology.
While you're here,
you might want to check out some of the other essays in 'Writer's
Block', a section of the
Skeptics.com site devoted to readers' articles and essays, as they
frequently touch upon
psychological issues.
Cognitive Dissonance
Theory and Self-Perception Theory
A useful overview of cognitive dissonance theory, including (despite
the title) an overview
of Bem's critique of cognitive dissonance, self-perception theory.
Chapter 16 from A First
Look at Communication Theory (3rd ed., 1997) by Em
Griffin. The relevant chapter from
The
Instructors' Manual for the most recent (5th) edition of the text
contains some useful
suggestions for related classroom discussions and activities.
This press release from ASH (Action on Smoking and Health, an
antismoking organisation)
describes how cognitive dissonance, as well as other social
psychological factors, tend to
account for the self-destructive behaviours of smokers.
Some interesting links relating to cognitive dissonance theory put
together by Bob Craig
of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Theory of
Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behaviour
The ultimate site about the TPB - information on the model and the
variables making
up it, a huge bibliography of research on the model and using it, how
to design a TPB
questionnaire and a TPB-based intervention, and even a TPB FAQ (sorry
for all the
acronymns!). Devised by one of the co-creators of TPB, Icek Aizen
(Ajzen).
Group and
Intergroup Processes in Persuasion
This is a summary of a chapter entitled 'Conformity and Influence' from
Don Forsyth's
(1990) book Group Dynamics.
This web page analyses the 1998 mass suicide of members of the Heaven's
Gate cult.
This page is part of the Group Dynamics home page put together by Don
Forsyth of
Virginia Commonwealth University
Subliminal Influence
From this webpage are links to three 1992 articles debunking subliminal
influence:
'Subliminal Perception: Facts and Fallacies', by Timothy Moore of York
University
(Canada); 'Subliminal Tapes: How to Get the Message Across', by Brady
Phelps
and Mary Exum of Utah
State University; and 'The Cargo-Cult Science of
Subliminal Persuasion', by Anthony Pratkanis of the University of
California (Santa
Cruz).
Again from the Skeptical Inquirer,
an overview of the trial of the band Judas Priest,
accused of provoking a listener's suicide through a subliminal message
supposedly
hidden on one of their LPs, put together by expert witness for the
defence Timothy Moore.
An interesting piece on the use of subliminal messages by Christian
evangelists (by a
Christian group, with a postscript by Moore and Pratkanis updating
their 1992 articles
(see above).
Persuasion in
Practice: Advertising and Marketing
More from Psychology at Miami University of Ohio's excellent
'PsyberSite'.
This page focuses on social psychological factors underlying the impact
of
advertising, analysing a number of advertisements.
This journal focuses on the application of psychological theories and
techniques to social
and more profit-oriented marketing. Unsurprisingly, theories of
persuasion, social influence
and attitude change feature strongly!
Persuasion in
Practice: Cults and Extreme Groups
Still more from the Miami University site. This site focuses on social
psychological
factors explaining the process of commitment to extreme groups such as
cults.
A site covering obedience and conformity, as well as other
psychological
processes involved in cult membership.
Persuasion in
Practice: Propaganda
This site analyses how persuasion strategies were used in World War II
posters
devised by the US Government to encourage people to support the war.
Produced by the US National Archives and Records Administration.
This web page was developed by the University of Washington's Institute
for
Propaganda Analysis, and is all about common techniques of propaganda,
and
its logical fallacies. Examples of wartime and other propaganda are
given,
including videoclips.
Persuasion
in Practice: The Legal System
This is the website of the Jury Research Services Division of the
National Legal Research
Group, which offers consultancy services to lawyers using jury trials.
Includes recent
articles and selected issues of the organisation's newsletter, Jury
Research Update. This
newsletter provides lots of tips for lawyers on maximising the
effectiveness of witnesses,
and so on. Use your critical thinking skills when reading this. May
take a long time to
load because of the size of some of the images used.
Specific Researchers
This site contains lots of information about everything to do with
Philip
Zimbardo, whom you may recall as the host of Discovering Psychology
.
The site contains lots of information about the research he's
conducted,
including the Stanford Prison Experiment, and his work on persuasion,
cognitive dissonance, and shyness. A bit of trivia: inspired the DJ duo,
Piliavin and Zimbardo.
The website of the influential researcher into persuasion, and
co-deviser
of the theories of reasoned action and planned behaviour.
General Social
Psychology Sites Featuring Attitudes
This site is made up of links to sites suggested by members of a 2000
social
psychology unit at Wesleyan University. An interesting range of sites
is listed -
why not explore?
A self-quiz for the social psychology chapter of a textbook by Russ
Dewey entitled Introduction to Psychology.
This Miami University of Ohio site looks at a large number of (mostly
US)
news stories and reinterprets them using principles from social
psychology.
This Miami University of Ohio site focuses on an analysis of social
psychological
principles in humour, including such topics as persuasion,
foot-in-the-door effects,
dissonance, altruism, and reactance. Examples from different daily
comic strips
(e.g., Dilbert, Garfield) are analysed to identify the
principles at work in the strip.
Page owner: Lucy
Zinkiewicz
Last modified: 27 June 2004