Page 41 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

34 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

continuum, people engage in a great deal of thoughtful scrutiny of the
information presented (high elaboration). As will be detailed momentarily,
the degree of elaboration an individual engages in has important conse-
quences for how particular source, message, or recipient variables affect
persuasion.
Next, we provide a broad overview of the model. The emphasis and
objective is to introduce the reader to the core constructs and implications
of the model as opposed to the finer details. More detailed discussions of
the ELM and its postulates have been summarized more comprehensively
elsewhere (Petty & Briñol, 2012; Petty & Cacioppo, 1986; Petty &
Wegener, 1999). In addition, the present chapter places added emphasis
on explaining how the model can be used parsimoniously to understand
the effects that a variety of source, message, and recipient factors will have
on persuasion.

Central Versus Peripheral Routes to Persuasion

ELM posits that persuasion can take place through one of two routes.
First, persuasion can occur through a central route. The central route is
marked by a careful scrutiny of message-relevant arguments to determine
one’s response to the message. Second, persuasion can occur though the
peripheral route. Persuasion that occurs through the peripheral route is
marked by a greater reliance on simple heuristics or rules of thumb for
determining one’s attitude. The extent to which people use the central
versus the peripheral route is determined by the amount of message elabo-
ration an audience engages in. When situational and individual factors
result in the audience’s elaboration level being high, attitude change is
more likely to occur through the central route. In contrast, when the re-
cipient’s elaboration level is low, attitude change is more likely to occur
through the peripheral route. The ELM is an early example of what be-
came an explosion of dual-process and dual-system theories that distin-
guished thoughtful from non-thoughtful persuasion (see Chaiken &
Trope, 1999; Sherman, Gawronski & Trope, 2014). We focus on this par-
ticular theoretical framework because it has guided the most research on
attitude change and persuasion.
What determines the degree of elaboration people engage in, and
whether persuasion is primarily a result of central versus peripheral route
processing? The degree of elaboration engaged in is affected by an indi-
vidual’s motivation and ability to process the information presented.
Specifically, an individual is likely to elaborate on information when moti-
vated to do so because it is personally relevant (Maheswaran & Chaiken,