The Elaboration Likelihood Model’s Influence on Persuasive Appeals

The Elaboration Likelihood Model attempts to explain how attitudes are shaped, formed, and how they can be changed.

There is a basic idea is that when you present information to someone, a certain degree of “elaboration” occurs. Meaning that the information is then processed by that person, and they in turn evaluate, remember, and accept (or reject) the information. We consciously and unconsciously consider messages we receive on a daily basis. The model is most effective when considering the message, source, and target characteristics.

There are three different characteristics that can have an affect on a message:

Message characteristics, are other things to consider when information is being delivered, for example how the message is relayed, the tone of voice, is it persuasive, rushed, or researched. Research is important because are it will help validate and support the messenger.

Source characteristics, are characteristics that develop from the environment that the message is in. The venue or physical environment that the speaker is in.

Target characteristics, is what the listeners bring to table, things that influence how we receive a message, our self of esteem, our intelligence.

When taking into all these characteristics into accord, then influencing as many people as possible is much more attainable in mass communication.

This can be applied in many different instances in communication, for example as a graphic designer focusing on social media marketing, “Persuasion goes hand-in-hand with messaging and design and will maximize your influence on user attitudes and, therefore, behaviors. Persuasion is a necessary component of good design, ensuring that users will engage with your product in the way you intended, leading to the outcome you intended.” (Yocco, 2014)

Sources:

Yocco, Victor (2014) Persuasion: Applying the Elaboration Likelihood Model to Design

Petty, Cacopppio Springer Series in Social Psychology
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4612-4964-1_1#page-1

Khan Academy (2016) Persuasion, attitude, change, and the elaboration likelihood model.