Persuasion Process Research Articles

A healthy lifestyle persuasive design model based on behavioral analysis

In real life, people are often affected by personal, environmental and other conditions, and cannot maintain a healthy life well. In order to explore the reasons behind these behaviors, this paper discusses how to help people form a healthy lifestyle from the perspective of persuasive design, this paper starts with the analysis of people's health related behavior theories, and through the three steps of literature review, questionnaire and follow-up survey. Through in-depth analysis, points out that the factors affecting healthy lifestyle are composed of three parts: the factors that influence behavior, motivation for the behavior and environment support, these factors can be divided into controllable factors and uncontrollable factors, the controllable factors can be interfered with and changed through scientific persuasive process. Then, based on the three elements of Fogg Behavioral Model, the persuasive process and the persuasive strategies in the design were deeply studied, the persuasive process and the behavior change process were combined, the correlation between the two was found, and the persuasive strategies should be adopted in the four stages of motivation, preparation, action, and maintenance were proposed. Finally, build a persuasive model of a healthy lifestyle. This model points out the four stages and influencing factors of the formation of a healthy lifestyle, provides design strategies for each stage, and provides targeted guidance and suggestions for designers.

A Cognitive Toolbox for Persuasion. Perceived Diagnosticity and Persuasibility Bias of Persuasive Features

Persuasive features such as argument quality, source expertise, support, affect, consensus, source likability, and source attractiveness are linked to mental rules that vary in their reliability in supporting the persuasive process. We address these features as cognitive tools available to support judgments, investigating their self-other perceived diagnosticity and persuasibility, and using self-other differences as an index of perceived bias. Results show that participants explicitly consider argument quality, source expertise, and support (number of arguments) as diagnostic of the validity of a claim. Such diagnosticity predicted perceived persuasibility, and self-other differences linked non-diagnostic features to bias. We further discuss the relevance of these findings for a more comprehensive understanding of the cognitive toolbox that supports persuasive influences.

An Unholy Alliance? The Influence of Negative Emotions Elicited by Media Reports on the Persuasiveness of Populist Communication

ABSTRACT Emotions play a crucial role in the success of populist actors and movements. The present study investigates whether populist actors can profit from emotions elicited by media content. We assume that populist claims are more persuasive than non-populist claims when experiencing negative emotions toward an issue and that citizens with strong populist attitudes are particularly susceptible to this persuasive process. In a 2 × 2 experiment (N = 475), we tested whether emotionalized (vs. neutral) media reports foster the persuasiveness of populist (vs. non-populist) communication and whether populist attitudes moderate this effect. The results indicate that citizens with medium to strong populist attitudes experience stronger negative emotions in response to emotionalized media content and that negative emotions increase support for promoted policies and the promoting actor. However, persuasive effects were not limited to populist communication.

Gerotranscendence: an explanatory variable for the boomer generation’s perception of senior models in advertising

The effectiveness of brand advertising targeted at seniors relies on their perception of representations of old age. For the boomer generation, being old is characterized by identity tensions in a society where negative stereotypes of old age and ambient youthism still prevail, but also gerotranscendence which leads to a better acceptance of one’s own aging image. Gerotranscendence is tested here as a potential explanatory variable for the perception of senior mannequins and attitude towards the ads. Findings from a large data collection involving varying model representations (age, gender, and the service advertised) and respondents’ profiles (age, gender) reveal that gerotranscendence positively impacts the model’s attractiveness and relevancy and the attitude towards the ad (Aad). Results also show gender differences in the gerotranscendence effects on Aad. This paper opens avenues for research integrating new identity ingredients such as spirituality to improve the knowledge of the persuasive process among the boomer’s generation. It also offers varied practical managerial and societal recommendations.

Pathos in Natural Language Argumentation: Emotional Appeals and Reactions

In this paper, we present a model of pathos, delineate its operationalisation, and demonstrate its utility through an analysis of natural language argumentation. We understand pathos as an interactional persuasive process in which speakers are performing pathos appeals and the audience experiences emotional reactions. We analyse two strategies of such appeals in pre-election debates: pathotic Argument Schemes based on the taxonomy proposed by Walton et al. (Argumentation schemes, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008), and emotion-eliciting language based on psychological lexicons of emotive words (Wierzba in Behav Res Methods 54:2146–2161, 2021). In order to match the appeals with possible reactions, we collect real-time social media reactions to the debates and apply sentiment analysis (Alswaidan and Menai in Knowl Inf Syst 62:2937–2987, 2020) method to observe emotion expressed in language. The results point to the importance of pathos analysis in modern discourse: speakers in political debates refer to emotions in most of their arguments, and the audience in social media reacts to those appeals using emotion-expressing language. Our results show that pathos is a common strategy in natural language argumentation which can be analysed with the support of computational methods.

How do emotions affect giving? Examining the effects of textual and facial emotions in charitable crowdfunding

Drawing on emotional contagion theory and language-mediated association theory, this study develops a research model to examine how textual and facial emotions affect charitable crowdfunding performance. We use computer-aided techniques to extract and measure specific textual and facial emotions in pitches. The proposed model is tested via regression analysis with a sample of 1372 campaigns collected from the largest charitable crowdfunding platform in China—Tencent Gongyi. Moreover, we conducted a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to examine the complementarity of textual and facial emotions, which supplements the regression analysis results. Our findings show that both textual and facial emotions can impact funding outcomes. However, the effects of specific emotions vary: some (e.g., textual sadness and facial anger) are positive, some (e.g., textual anger and facial fear) are negative, and others (e.g., textual fear, textual disgust, and facial sadness) are insignificant. Moreover, facial emotions complement textual emotions in their effects on funding outcomes. This research outlines a framework to offer a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of emotions in charitable crowdfunding. It also contributes to existing research by revealing the vital but complex role of emotions in the persuasive process of prosocial behaviors and by uncovering the different cognitive mechanisms underlying the impacts of textual and facial emotions.

Youth behavioural responses to regulated alcohol advertising content: Results from a mixed-methods study in France

ObjectivesThe World Health Organization advocates measures regulating alcohol advertising content, as illustrated by the French Évin law. However, how people react to such regulation has been under-investigated. The research reported here has two objectives: to analyze how different advertising contents (regulated or not) affect the persuasion process from attention to behavioural responses, and whether young people are protected; to examine how alcohol warnings perform depending on their salience and the advertising content displayed (regulated or not). Materials and methodsThis study surveyed French people aged 15–30 using a mixed-methods design. In-depth interviews were conducted on 26 respondents to understand how non-regulated (NRA) and regulated (RA) alcohol advertising influence the persuasion process. An experiment on 696 people assessed the influence of RA vs. NRA on intentions to buy and drink alcohol, and whether less vs. more salient warnings displayed in the RA or NRA setting have differential effects on behavioural responses. ResultsNRA (vs. RA) had a greater influence on young people's desire to buy and drink alcohol, which we explain by different psychological processes. NRA appeared to trigger a heuristic process that involves affective reactions (e.g. image, symbolism) and product-oriented responses (e.g. quality), whereas RA appeared to trigger a more systematic process that had less influence. The protective effect of content regulations was strong for the youngest participants but fades as age increases, reaching its limits at age 22 years. Salience of the warnings had no influence on desire to buy and drink alcohol, whatever the ad content. ConclusionAdvertising content regulations need to be implemented to protect young people, particularly the youngest. Our results on alcohol health warnings highlighted that text-only labels similar to those adopted in many countries are ineffective at decreasing young people's intentions to buy and drink alcohol.

The role of Youtube channel characteristics in shaping followers’ purchase intentions and behavioural engagement: the serial mediation of satisfaction and channel loyalty

The increasing importance of social media influencers, such as youtubers, in the consumer decision-making process has prompted scholars to study this phenomenon. The literature has demonstrated that not only influencer attributes but also content characteristics impact follower behaviours. However, the activity of influencers continues to be predominantly described as a persuasion process aimed at engaging followers in behaviours desired by brands and influencers. Drawing upon e-service and influencer marketing literature, this study aims to broaden the exploration of the influencer category from an e-service perspective by investigating the role played by the evaluation of youtuber content in determining follower satisfaction and behaviours. The results show that four characteristics of a YouTube channel (information quality, entertainment quality, interactivity, and content originality) determine follower satisfaction. Furthermore, satisfaction and channel loyalty serially mediate the effect of the characteristics on behaviours related to the endorsed brand (purchase intention of sponsored brands) and the influencer channel (purchase intention of influencers’ brands, behavioural engagement). This study provides a new perspective on influencers by portraying them as service providers for both followers, serving as content creators, and for brands, acting as communication partners, rather than merely as persuaders. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Effect of source credibility and consumer ethnocentrism on halal purchase intentions in the UK: an elaboration likelihood model approach

PurposeThis study aims to examine the mediating role of product judgement in the relationship between electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and purchase intention. Additionally, it explores the moderating effects of source credibility and consumer ethnocentrism on the relationship between eWOM and product judgement, with a specific focus on Halal products. We utilise the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to investigate how individuals navigate the processing of information, distinguishing between central and peripheral routes. This exploration aims to enhance our understanding of how the ELM framework influences product judgement and purchase intention in the context of eWOM, with a focus on Halal products.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve these objectives, an online survey was conducted in the United Kingdom. The study employed a moderated-mediation model, analysed using PLS-SEM.FindingsThe findings highlight the significant role of source credibility in the central route of information processing and purchase judgements. This study confirms that Halal product judgement fully mediates the relationship between eWOM and purchase intention. Additionally, it reveals that higher source credibility amplifies the impact of eWOM on consumer judgement. However, no significant moderating effect of consumer ethnocentrism on the relationship between eWOM and product judgement was observed in this context.Originality/valueThis study enhances our understanding of how Halal products are adopted in non-Muslim societies, shedding light on persuasive processes. Additionally, it refines the ELM in the context of cross-cultural consumer behaviour. The findings underscore the importance of prioritising source credibility in communication to shape information evaluation and persuasion.

NILAI-NILAI MODERASI BERAGAMA DALAM PENDEKATAN DAKWAH

Mainstreaming religious moderation is considered very urgent recently, due to the existence of extreme or deviant understandings of religion. So that, it requires a straight and moderate thought or understanding and mindset, and not excessively implementing Islamic values ​​in social, national and state life. Of course, what is undesirable to happen is the emergence of acts of violence or radicalism and destruction in the name of religion. With the triggers above, narrow thinking that is not moderate gives rise to ideas, the idea of ​​creating a government program on mainstreaming religious moderation, as a concrete effort toward off erroneous understandings that tend to be extreme. Religious teachings always carry a mission of peace, harmony, unity and harmonization of diversity as well as upholding the values ​​of justice and guaranteeing the human rights of every citizen. One of the efforts that needs to be made at this time is to convey the values ​​of religious moderation or wasathiyyah through tabligh pulpits, Islamic da'wah, especially since the challenges of da'wah in the contemporary era are very complex, so a soothing, moderate way of preaching is needed in conveying religious messages to people to intertwine ukhuwah Islamiyah, Ukhwuah Wathoniyah and Ukhwuah Basyariyah. Da'wah is part of the process of activity and persuasion which is leads to convey the messages of Islamic teachings, change and development and exemplary work organized into a da'wah system.

Persuasion Strategies in Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 Document: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach

By adopting a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach, this paper explores the strategies of persuasion employed in the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 document. More specifically, the paper attempts to identify the various persuasion strategies used in the document of the 2030 Vision, the way through which these persuasion strategies are linguistically manifested, and the different modes of persuasion used in the document. The primary research questions of this study are: first, what are the different modes of persuasion employed in the Saudi Arabia 2030 Vision? Second, what are the strategies of persuasion used in the document under investigation? Third, how are these strategies linguistically manifested in the document at hand? Findings reveal that there are five strategies that are highly representative as persuasion conduits in the Saudi Arabia 2030 Vision. These include lexical choices, the inclusive ‘we’, religionization, future promises, and compositional summarization. The five strategies accentuate the assumption that the process of persuasion is successfully communicated at the various levels of linguistic analysis: lexically, semantically, pragmatically, and stylistically.

Persuading others in different communication media: appeals to logic, authority and emotion

PurposeScholars of persuasion have long made a distinction between appeals to logic, emotion and authority- logos, ethos and pathos- but ideas developed to account for live face-to-face conversation processes must also be tested in new media. We aimed to test the effectiveness of these three strategies in one-to-one chats through different communication media.Design/methodology/approachWith a 3 × 3 × 2 between-subject factorial design, we tested these three strategies in one-to-one chats (female–female or male–male pairs) through three communication media: face-to-face, Skype video or Skype text. The persuasion scenario was adapted from prior studies in which students were presented with the idea of requiring a comprehensive exam as part of their degree. The participants were all undergraduate students of a major university in USA.FindingsOur results showed trivial differences between female–female and male–male conditions. The logos appeal worked best overall in persuading the participants to change their reported attitudes. Additionally, the explanations provided by the participants for their own opinions were most like the persuasion scripts in the logos condition compared to the other two appeal conditions. Separately, participants indicated some disapproval of the pathos appeal in the text-based chat condition, although this did not seem to make a difference in terms of actual attitude change.Research limitations/implicationsOne major limitation of our study is that our subjects are college students and therefore are not representative of Internet users in general. Future research should test these three types of persuasion strategies on people of diverse backgrounds. For example, while logos seems to be most effective strategy in persuading college students (at least in our study), pathos or ethos may be more effective when one attempts to persuade people of different backgrounds.Practical implicationsAlthough it is enough for a statistical test, our sample size is still relatively small due to constraints on time, personnel and funding. We also recognize that it is challenging both conceptually and empirically to compare the effectiveness of three persuasion strategies separately.Social implicationsOur findings suggest it is helpful to use fact-checking tools to combat disinformation in cases where users may not have sufficient domain knowledge or may not realize the need to identify or examine the given information. Additionally, it may require more effort to negate the impact of the disinformation spread than correcting the information, as some users may not only believe false information but also may start to reason in ways similar to those presented in the disinformation messages.Originality/valuePast studies on online persuasion have limitedly examined whether and how communication media and persuasion strategies interact in one-to-one persuasion sessions. Our experiment makes an attempt to close this gap by examining the persuasion process and outcome in three different communication media and with three different persuasion strategies.

The Effects of Peer Mental Illness Narratives on Reducing Stigma Among U.S. Marginalized College Students

ABSTRACT Mental health stigma remains a significant barrier to accessing mental health care and treatment, particularly among racial, ethnic, gender, and LGBTQIA+ underrepresented groups in the United States. This study aimed to investigate the relative persuasiveness of mental health narratives featuring both marginalized and non-marginalized characters in reducing stigma among college students. We conducted an online between-subjects experiment with a sample size of 292 participants to explore the impacts of message format (narrative vs. non-narrative), narrative point of view (first-person vs. third-person), and character similarity (marginalized vs. non-marginalized voices) on the persuasion process, specifically targeting the reduction of stigma and changes in attitudes toward those seeking mental health services. Findings revealed that the use of narrative messaging had no effect on reducing mental health stigma or treatment attitudes, but narrative campaigns featuring members of underrepresented groups did enhance one’s perceived similarity with mediated characters, which in turn resulted in more support for seeking mental health treatment. These findings have implications for the design of social media-based anti-stigma interventions and narrative persuasion in mental health research.

Exploring the determinants of maternal and infant health knowledge adoption, sharing and purchase in short videos from an empathy theory perspective

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the determinants of maternal and infant health knowledge (M&IHK) adoption and sharing in the short video from an empathy theory perspective. We explore how to transfer users from free health knowledge to health-related product purchase intention, which is vital for platform knowledge management and service.Design/methodology/approachFocusing on the M&IHK, this study proposes four processes of health knowledge adoption and sharing – knowledge quality persuasion process; source credibility persuasion process; affective empathy emotion process; and cognitive empathy emotion process – to build a framework of M&IHK adoption and sharing. Furthermore, based on adoption and sharing, we explore whether they can promote health-related product purchase intentions. A theoretical model is constructed and tested via Smart PLS in 388 samples.FindingsIn a short video context, perceived knowledge quality and perceived source credibility are still two determinants of health knowledge adoption and sharing. On the contrary, perceived affective empathy and perceived cognitive empathy are two new determinants of health knowledge adoption, but not of health knowledge sharing. Adoption of M&IHK is more driven by both rational thinking and emotional thinking than sharing-only driven by emotional thinking. Adoption and sharing both contribute to health-related product purchase intention, but the female’s intention is more related to rational adoption than the male, which is only related to emotional sharing.Originality/valueThis paper is arguably the first study to examine how short videos impact the mechanisms of M&IHK adoption, sharing and health-related products' purchase intention. It’s perhaps the first study to integrate empathy theory into health knowledge management.

Peran Account Executive dalam Proses Perencanaan Iklan di Era Digital: Perspektif dan Tantangan

The advertising industry is experiencing rapid development, with advertisements that were originally only present in conventional media such as television, radio, and print media, now expanding to digital media. Advertising is a dynamic field and always keeps up with the times according to market preferences. Account executives are responsible for the advertising communication system, so in planning advertisements, they must understand the process of persuasion and effective communication. This research uses the literature study method as the main approach to conduct research that aims to investigate the role of Account Executives (AEs) in the advertising planning process in the digital era. The results show that the role of the account executive (AE) in the advertising industry has undergone a profound transformation along with the rapid development of digital technology. The challenges faced by AEs in carrying out their role in the digital era are not small. They must be able to deal with various technological and algorithmic changes that occur rapidly, as well as respond to increasingly fierce competition in the advertising industry.

Examining the Influence of Nostalgic Versus Informative Advertising on Persuasion Process and Brand Attachment

Nostalgia is actually a concept with great interest for researchers in different domains such as marketing. Several studies underlined the potential that nostalgia has for persuasive advertising. Despite theoretical relevance, little is known about the real impact of nostalgic advertising style on brand attachment. This research investigates the impact of the ad capacity to evoke nostalgia on persuasion process and brand attachment in the food industry. To test the relationship between variables, an experiment including two different advertisement style was conducted on 360 individuals in Tunisia. We used structural equation modelling to test the conceptual model. The results indicated that nostalgic ad has some more favorable responses of consumers than the informative ad. Also, it appears that past orientation has a positive impact on nostalgia proneness that can explain the positive reaction of the individuals to the nostalgic ad and brand attachment. This research provides empirical insight into the brand attachment literature and can be considered as a source of information for managers who wish to target consumers through nostalgic persuasive communication. Limitations and future research directions are stipulated.

Digital destination storytelling: Narrative persuasion effects induced by story satisfaction in a VR context

With the advancement of digital technology, digital storytelling is becoming more and more widely used. However, academics have not delved deeply enough into digital storytelling in the realm of VR tourist study. The objective of this study is to investigate the narrative persuasion process of technology-provided presence and story satisfaction in the context of digital destination storytelling. Combining the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model, the study aims to examine the influence of these two variables on flow experience, emotional healing, restorative experience, and behavioral intention during the viewing of stories. By exploring these relationships, the research seeks to enhance our understanding of how technology and storytelling satisfaction contribute to the overall narrative persuasive effect. A comparative experimental data from 193 people proved that using VR to view destination story can significantly affect viewers' behavioral intentions and better help viewers build emotional distress problems compared to traditional viewing mode. In addition, viewers' flow state, emotional healing, restorative experience, and behavioral intention are all significantly impacted by how satisfied they are with a digital story, and flow state plays an important mediating role. The results of this study offer new perspectives on VR tourism and creative methods of marketing for the tourism industry.

Moderación por el género de los efectos del encuadre visual de mensajes COVID-19 sobre emociones negativas

Un reciente meta-análisis reveló que mensajes persuasivos enmarcados en ganancias inducen emociones positivas en la audiencia mientras que mensajes encuadrados en pérdidas inducen emociones negativas; más aún, la experiencia de emociones positivas potencia la influencia de los encuadramientos de ganancia mientras que las emociones negativas aumentan los efectos de los enmarques de pérdida. Esto sugiere que los efectos de los encuadres de ganancia versus pérdida en la adherencia del público al mensaje son mediados por emociones. Como se sabe que las mujeres experimentan más emociones negativas que los hombres, en el presente estudio exploratorio nosotros evaluamos sesgos de género en las emociones negativas inducidas por imágenes que acompañaban a textos con recomendaciones nutricionales para prevenir la severidad de los síntomas de COVID-19. Los textos estuvieron encuadrados en no-pérdidas. Usando fotos de un ataúd versus una familia, encontramos una robusta interacción imagen x género entre trabajadores de un hospital en Lima, Perú: mientras que el ataúd tendía a aumentar las emociones negativas de las mujeres, aquellas de los hombres presentaban una tendencia opuesta. Así, concluimos que la intervención de emociones en un mismo proceso de persuasión puede terminar en adherencias diferentes de hombres y mujeres al mensaje y esto debe estudiarse. Los investigadores que ignoren la variable género en el encuadramiento visual de mensajes pueden arribar a conclusiones distorsionadas.

Modalities as Persuasion Carriers in Political Discourse

This paper explores the persuasive weight of modalities as presidential meaning carriers in Egyptian political discourse. More specifically, it probes the extent to which modalities, which are linguistically manifested in obligation modals and need-statements, go beyond their ordinary semantic function of communicating obligation and commitment towards further persuasive functions that target the successful communication of particular presidential meanings in one of President El-Sisi’s speeches. Two research questions are addressed in this study: first, to what extent are modalities employed as persuasion carriers in El-Sisi’s speeches? Second, what are the presidential meanings carried by modalities in the selected data? The paper theoretically draws on various approaches to the concept of modality and its categorization. The study reveals two main findings: first, modalities in El-Sisi’s speech go beyond their ordinary semantic function towards further pragmatic purposes that target the influence of the addressees’ cognitive background in a way that serves to confirm specific existing beliefs or to change them totally to adopt the persuader’s views. This, in turn, accentuates this paper’s assumption that modalities are persuasion strategies with a speaker-benefit-oriented goal of communicating particular intended meanings. Second, in political speeches, modalities are often accompanied with other lexical and grammatical categories to intensify the persuasion process. The study recommends further discussions of grammatical categories other than modality, such as pronouns, to show their significance as persuasion strategies in political and critical discourse studies.

Persuasion: Theoretic Conceptual Valences

The modern age has subordinated the whole society, imposing a model in which the individual should deliver not only content, but also form. The process of persuasion is applied daily, in everyday institutional and social contexts, etc., with the aim of convincing the other to believe, think and/or act in a certain way, to accept the “form”. The content disseminated in the public space often includes a persuasive valence, that is why is important to know the conceptual and functional aspects of persuasion, in order to be able to elaborate broad and complex analyses of media or advertising discourse. Persuasion is a complex process, through which an individual tries to influence/convince another individual or a group to adopt a certain opinion, behavior or action. The purpose of persuasion is to convince a person or a group of people, in order to change certain perceptions, attitudes, preferences, behaviors regarding a certain product, service, current, person, etc., according to their interests or desires or/and the goals of the sender, that is, the one trying to persuade. In the specialized literature, persuasion is defined as "the art of influencing positively", being used in various spheres such as: advertising, public relations, communication, marketing, politics, etc., applied both in a private setting, in an institutional one or even in the public one.