Persuasive Messages The Process of Influence

by Benoit, William; Benoit, Pamela

• ISBN13: 9781405158213
• ISBN10: 1405158212
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-14
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Designed to help students become more successful persuaders, Persuasive Messages offers practical advice on refining purpose, understanding audience, and designing a persuasive message. This textbook combines theory and practice, adopting a cognitive approach to understanding the persuasion process. A guide to successful persuasion, using student-friendly examples to provide a much-needed balance between theory and application Offers a new approach using the Cognitive Response Model, which places a special emphasis on audiences, and how they react to, or process, persuasive messages Covers a broad range of issues including: the relationship between attitudes and behaviour; the nature of ethics in persuasion; dealing with hostile and multiple audiences; and theories of persuasion, including consistency, social judgment, and reasoned action Teaches readers to be critical consumers of persuasive messages by discussing persuasion in advertising and in politics Lecturer resources available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/benoit

Author Biography

William L. Benoit is Professor of Communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia and editor of the journal Communication Studies. He and his co-author Pamela J. Benoit were jointly awarded the Daniel Rohrer Award for research in argumentation by the American Forensic Association.

Pamela J. Benoit is Vice Provost for Advanced Studies, Dean of the Graduate School, and Professor of Communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has been awarded the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching as well as several other recognitions for contributions to research, teaching, and service.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. vii
List of Tables	p. viii
List of Boxes	p. ix
Preface	p. xii
Attitudes and Persuasion	p. 1
The Importance of Persuasion	p. 3
The Cognitive Approach to Persuasion	p. 20
The Source of Persuasive Messages: Credibility	p. 32
Ethical Concerns	p. 43
Preparing Persuasive Communication	p. 57
Purpose and Audience	p. 59
Organization: Structuring the Message	p. 75
Substance: Support for Your Ideas	p. 92
Symbols and Style	p. 113
Hostile, Apathetic, Motivated, and Multiple or Mixed Audiences	p. 131
Theories of Persuasion	p. 161
Consistency Theories of Attitude Change	p. 163
Social Judgment/Involvement Theory	p. 178
Theory of Reasoned Action	p. 192
Critical Consumers of Persuasive Messages	p. 205
Persuasion in Advertising	p. 207
Persuasion in Political Campaigns	p. 235
References	p. 252
Index	p. 264
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.