Page 200 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

7. MASS MEDIA ATTITUDE CHANGE 189

central and peripheral route processes can lead to attitudes similar in their
valence (how favorable or unfavorable they are), there are important con-
sequences of the manner of attitude change such that more thoughtful
attitude changes tend to be more consequential than less thoughtful ones.
If the goal of a mass media influence attempt is to produce long-lasting
changes in attitudes with behavioral consequences, the central route to per-
suasion appears to be the preferred persuasion strategy. If the goal is imme-
diate formation of a new attitude, even if it is relatively ephemeral (e.g., atti-
tudes toward the charity sponsoring a telethon), the peripheral route may
prove acceptable. Influence via the central route requires that the recipient
of the new information have the motivation and ability to process it. As
noted previously, one of the most important determinants of motivation to
think about a message is the perceived personal relevance of that message.
Most of the media messages people receive are probably not perceived as
directly relevant, and they have few immediate personal consequences.
Thus, many of these messages will be ignored or processed primarily for
peripheral cues. An important goal of any persuasion strategy aimed at
enduring change will be to increase people’s motivation to think about the
messages by increasing the perceived personal relevance of the communi-
cations or employing other techniques to enhance processing (e.g., ending
arguments with questions rather than statements; using multiple sources).
In conclusion, we note that research on mass media persuasion has come
a long way from the early optimistic (and scary) notion that the mere pre-
sentation of information was sufficient to produce persuasion and the sub-
sequent pessimistic view that media influence attempts were typically inef-
fective. We now know that media influence, like other forms of influence, is
a complex, though explicable, process. We know that the extent and nature
of a person’s cognitive responses to external information may be more
important than the information itself. We know that attitudes can be
changed in different ways, such as central versus peripheral routes, and
that some attitude changes are more accessible, stable, resistant, and predic-
tive of behavior than others. We also know that even apparently simple
variables such as how likable a source is or what mood a person is in can
produce persuasion by very different processes in different situations.

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