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The cognitive approach to persuasion
While the communication approach focuses on the who, whom, and
what of persuasion, more recent cognitive approaches focus on
the role that thinking and information processing play in persuasion.
At their core, cognitive approaches ask a simple question: "Does
it matter how you think about a persuasive message?" Odds
are, it does. Imagine, for example, that you are in the market
for a new shampoo and a new car. Will you approach information
about the two products in the same way? Probably not. After all,
shampoo is cheap and you don't have to live with the consequences
for very long. As a result, you probably will pay relatively little
attention to information about any given shampoo. Learning that
it is "new and improved" or that the national association
of hairdressers endorses the shampoo maybe sufficient to convince
you to give it a try.
In contrast, car purchases are expensive and you typically have
to live with the result for years. So when it comes to thinking
about cars, you will probably scrutinize the ads and information
about the cars you are considering in detail. How do the warranties
compare? What kind of mileage do they get? How do they do in crash
tests? What's the record on reliability?
 Rich
Petty and John Cacioppo capture these different approaches in
their elaboration likelihood model (ELM)
of persuasion <REF>(Petty &
Cacioppo, 1986). According to the ELM, there are two cognitive
routes to persuasion. The central route is taken when the topic
is of high interest or importance and when there is plenty of
time to analyze things. When we process things by the central
route, we pay attention to the details. Things such as the quality
of the argument and the soundness of the logic matter. We will
be more persuaded when the details hold together than when they
fall apart. In contrast, the peripheral route is taken when the
topic is of little relevance and there is little time. When we
process things by the peripheral route we don't pay attention
to details. Instead, we are persuaded by superficial cues. Perhaps
we recognize the celebrity endorser, or feel good as the attractive
model seductively reminds us of the products' name.
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