Introduction The meaning of persuasion can be defined as the process of which a person’s attitudes or behaviour are, influenced by communications from other people. One’s attitudes and behaviour are also affected by other factors (example, verbal threats, physical coercion, one’s physiological states). Not all communication is intended to be persuasive; other purposes include informing or entertaining. Central and peripheral route according from Petty and Cacioppo (1986a, 1986b) states that there are two “routes” to persuasion. The central route consists of thoughtful consideration of the arguments (ideas, content) of the message.
The peripheral route to persuasion occurs when the listener decides whether to agree with the message based on other cues besides the strength of the arguments or ideas in the message. For example, a listener may decide to agree with a message because the source appears to be an expert, or is attractive. The peripheral route also occurs when a listener is persuaded because he or she notices that a message has many arguments -- but lacks the ability or motivation to think about them individually. This route occurs when the auditor is unable or unwilling to engage in much thought on the message. Receivers engaged in peripheral processing are more passive than those doing central processing. Petty and Cacioppo explain that “Attitude changes that result mostly from processing issue-relevant arguments (central route) will show greater temporal persistence, greater prediction of behavior, and greater resistance to counter persuasion than attitude changes that result mostly from peripheral cues” (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986a, p. 21).
The sample of this experiment is the research proposal focuses on the smoking habits of TCSH students of the S.A.M program who underwent the SACE persuasion research program. Persuasion is defined as the action or fact of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something. There are several routes in persuasion such as, peripheral and central routes.
By using experimental design, objective quantitative data is collected and chosen. A few procedures are carried out to obtain the data. First, students are randomly assigned into groups of 12 to watch slides, their heart rate is then measured and recorded after the slides. They are asked to complete a few questionnaires, and the results are recorded. The scores of students’ attitude towards tobacco is used. We predict that, since tobacco is harmful to human health, students’ attitude towards tobacco should be negative. Persuasion in smoking habits should worsen students’ attitudes towards tobacco. Our hypothesis is, students who are persuaded through central routes by watching the slides will exhibits a higher heart rate by comparing to the students who are persuaded through peripheral routes. Based on the graphs and means, results will be calculated.
Results
| | | Group A | Group B | | | | (Central Route ) | (Peripheral Route) | Mean Score | 71 | 64 | (Heart Rate) | | | | | | |
Title: Graph of Heart Rate against Routes of Persuasion
Based on the graph above, group A refers to those who watched a clip hence being exposed to non-verbal cues when forming an impression towards the harms of smoking. From the graph, it is observed that participants of Group A had a ROP (routes of persuasion) mean score of 71. Participants from group B have a ROP mean score of 64. There is a difference of 6 between scores from group A and B varies from central and peripheral route. Lastly, it can be said that scores recorded from central route has a significant score than scores recorded from peripheral route.
Data interpretation
Based on the results obtained, it was observed that participants exposed to central route have a longer effect compared to peripheral route. Central route has a permanent effect towards the perception of smoking whereas peripheral route has a temporary
