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Communication and Persuasion

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Understanding the Consumer

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Abstract

We noted in the previous chapter that the longest research tradition in the study of attitude change has been to regard it as a form of information processing that is being subjected to persuasive communication. For consumer behaviour the most obvious kind of persuasive communication comes in the form of advertising, whose primary aim is to persuade people to form or increase positive attitudes or intentions towards a particular product.

I know that half of my advertising is effective. I just don’t know which half (American businessman).

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Further Reading

  • Bryant, J. and D. Zilhnan (eds), Perspectires in Media Effects (Hillsdale., NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986). A thorough and authoritative compilation of social scientific research into the effects of the media (especially television) on audience behaviour.

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  • Cialdini, R. B., Influence: How and Why People Agree to Things (New York: William Morrow, 1984). An interesting and accessible account of influence techniques and the psychology involved.

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  • Davis, H. and A. Silk (eds), Behavioral and Management Sciences in Marketing (New York: Ronald Press, 1978). A useful overview of how a variety of disciplines contribute to marketing. Includes some key contributions.

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  • Patzer, G., The Physical Attractiveness Phenomena (New York: Plenum Press, 1985). A thorough exploration of physical attractiveness and communication by one of the leading researchers of the issue.

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  • Pratkanis, A. R. and E. Aronson, Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion (New York: W. H. Freeman, 1992). A study of the methods of persuasion used in an American election year to market politicians.

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  • Sternthal, B. and C. S. Craig, Consumer Behavior: An Information Processing Perspective (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982). A general overview of persuasive communication from an information processing perspective.

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Authors
  1. David A. Statt
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© 1997 David A. Statt

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Statt, D.A. (1997). Communication and Persuasion. In: Understanding the Consumer. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25438-5_14

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