ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL

Introduction
Some people are gullible. They will accept anything at face value and they will trust
others at the drop of a hat. Some people are argumentative. They have an opinion and
they will have others take notice of it and believe it come hell or high water. Some people
are stubborn. These people will have nothing to do with something they don’t believe or
agree with. They form their own opinions based on facts that they know to be true and
aren’t easily swayed otherwise. And some people are unconvincing. They may have
something great to say, something really meaningful and useful. But they are unable to
convey their message in a way that is credible to others. Then there are the people in the
middle. Those with the happy balance of trust and skepticism. They may be ready to hear
a message and take it in as their own, but if it is a worthless message or one ill conceived,
then they cast it aside in search of new and meaningful information.
The fact that these different types of people exist is the foundation for the existence of
the concept of persuasion. Without the green and gullible there would be no one to be
persuaded. Without the argumentative and trustworthy ones there would be no one to
persuade. But the very existence of certain types of people with certain personalities does
not account for the existence of persuasion. There must be something in the message
itself that lends itself to adoption. There must be something that people want to hear and
believe and pass on as a viable concept. What is it about a message that makes people
believe it and allow it to change their attitude about a subject?
In 1980, Richard E. Petty and John T. Cacioppo created the Elaboration Likelihood
Model of Persuasion to explain, in detail, how a persuasive message worked to change
the attitude of the receiver. They proposed that a message was transmitted and received
through one of two routes of persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route.
The central route holds that a person is more likely to be persuaded if he is able to
elaborate on a message extensively. That is, if he is motivated to think about the message,
is able to think about it, and if the message is a strong one, he will be persuaded in
accordance with the message.
The peripheral route states that if a person is unable to elaborate on a message
extensively, then she may still be persuaded by factors that have nothing do with the
actual content of the message itself. That is that she would be drawn to the message by
factors that she is already familiar with and has positive attitudes about and would
associate those attitudes with the message. She would then be persuaded toward the
message, albeit weakly and temporarily.

CENTRAL ROUTE

Persuasive communication
For a message to be effective it must be persuasive. It attempts to steer one’s thinking in a
direction that will likely benefit the communicator and/or the receiver. Determining
whether the message is indeed persuasive is what this model is all about. If it is a neutral
message, it has failed to be persuasive and the receiver can take it or leave it for what it is
worth (a waste of the receiver’s time). So, assuming that the message is in some way, at
least a little bit persuasive, the receiver becomes involved in the next step. For our
purposes, a persuasive message should be considered to be an advertisement.
Motivation to process
In order for the receiver to have motivation to process the message it must have some
relevance to her. It should pertain to something that she already knows about. At least
some familiarity with the subject matter of a message will encourage the receiver to
process it. People have a lot to do in a day. They don’t have a chance or the desire to
think about every little thing that pops up. This is known as low involvement. When a
person has little or no tie to a product or message, they have little involvement with it and
thus little or no desire to hear much about it.
On the other hand is high involvement. An expert in woodcarving will want to know
more about techniques and processes that he can use to refine his craft. A person
suffering from asthma will want to know about new breakthroughs in the treatments that
will help her breath a little easier. In shopping for a car, a consumer will want to find out
about all the features of several different models in order to make an informed and
confident decision before spending such a sum of money. When a person has a high
degree of personal experience with information conveyed in the persuasive
communication, he or she is more likely to pay attention and get deeper into the message.

Ability to process
Now the receiver has been motivated to process but does he have the ability to do so?
There may be a multitude of distractions: the kids screaming for dinner, the neighbor is at
the door for another cup of sugar, the receiver is thirsty and wants a drink. Other
advertisements and outlets of information are also distractions. Competition among
persuasive messages is fierce and the receiver’s time is precious. He may simply not have
the opportunity to process the message at that particular time.
The information being conveyed may be too complex to comprehend. An asthma
sufferer will surely want to know about the new product but if the ad contains a lot of
technical and medical jargon, the patient is likely to be turned off because she simply
cannot understand the diction. She will not elaborate on the message.
If the receiver can understand the message and there are no distractions, he or she can
then go to the next stage in the model.

Nature of arguments in the message

What is the message trying to say? If it is a strong message—that is, if it is a well-
constructed and convincing message—the receiver is more likely to receive it favorably.
Persuasion may occur even if the message content is in contrast to the receiver’s initial
attitude. If it is in keeping with the receiver’s previous opinions, there is likely to be
lasting, positive persuasion. The receiver will have been pulled even more in the direction
that he or she was already leaning, thus reinforcing that particular attitude for the future.
At this point it is likely that behavior can be predicted as a result of persuasion (i.e., the
consumer will purchase the asthma medication because she was persuaded based on the
strength and relevance of the message). Successful persuasion has occurred!
If the receiver has become involved with the message this far into the central path but
the message does not contain a cogent argument or if it contains false information there is
likely to be a boomerang effect. This means that the receiver will reject the message and
form negative thoughts and feelings about the message. This is especially true when the
receiver is an expert or has a lot of previous knowledge about the subject of the message.
She may disagree with the ideas expressed in a well-formed argument and simply reject
the message. Or she may see the inadequacies of the message and dismiss it as unreliable
information, failing to be persuaded.
PERIPHERAL ROUTE

If a message fails to be channeled through the central route, it may find a path to the
receiver via the peripheral route. This happens when the receiver is not motivated to think
about the message, if he is unable to process it, or if the argument is weak. A message
using the peripheral route attempts to persuade by focusing on issues or themes that are
not directly related to the subject matter of the message. That is, the message will attempt
to grab attention by making the receiver think about something that she is already
familiar with and has positive thoughts about, such as sex, money, or a celebrity. An
example is the use of well-known sports figure to sell car batteries. There is no
distinguishable tie between the sports figure’s reputation as, say, a basketball player and a
battery, but a consumer may be persuaded to buy the battery simply because he is a fan of
this particular basketball player. In this example the sports figure is a peripheral cue.
Robert Cialdini has identified six types of peripheral cues: reciprocation, consistency,
social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.

1. Reciprocation is the idea that the receiver is somehow obligated to agree with
the message because of some past experience or information.
2. Consistency means relying on thoughts held in the past. (“I felt like this before
and I feel like this now”)
3. Social proof is akin to peer pressure. The actions and words of others are likely
to influence a receiver of a new message.
4. Liking simply means that the speaker is likeable. They may be physically
attractive, charismatic, or charming.
5. Authority is the sense that the speaker has some power over the receiver, be it an
expertise in the subject matter or possibly an overbearing attitude.
6. Scarcity is the idea that the message will only be around for a short time and that
the receiver should snatch it up before it disappears.

Each of these peripheral cues has little or nothing to do with the actual content of the
message. So if the message fails to take the central route at any step in the process (i.e., if
the receiver is not motivated, does not have the ability, or if the argument is weak) then
the next question is whether there is a peripheral cue present in the message. If there is no
cue present, the original attitude will be retained. The attempt at persuasion will fail. If
there is a cue, it may produce a positive, but temporary attitude change.
Although the attitude change may be temporary, it could be enough to encourage
action. The consumer would then have some more experience with the object of the
message. Then, later, when the message is repeated, it may have a better chance of
surviving through the central route and change attitudes permanently.
For example: a student needs a new backpack. A Jansport ad happens to come on TV
with kids looking cool and having fun with their new packs. The ad touts a few benefits
but for the most part the ad is full of appealing visuals. The student is then peripherally
motivated to buy a Jansport backpack. The student discovers that the pack is quite a nice
and useful one and comes to respect the brand in general. The next time the ad comes on
TV the student will have had some practical experience with the brand and will be more
motivated to listen to the message and reinforce the positive opinions of Jansport
backpacks. Even the very repetition of the message will serve to reinforce the opinions of
the student.

CONCLUSION

Tips for the would be persuader

These two routes to persuasion seem to exist as separate entities but Petty and Cacioppo
note that they should be considered as poles on a “cognitive processing continuum that
shows the degree of mental effort a person exerts when evaluating a message.” There are
innumerable factors that may account for the elaboration—or lack thereof—of a message.
As such, the steps in the two routes may overlap as they combine with the environmental
factors that the receiver deals with.
However, the two routes are distinct enough that they give a general direction for the
communicator to follow in attempting to pass on his message. The central route is the
stronger of the two routes. If a message is to persuade using this route, it should be well
grounded in facts and attributes of the subject itself. These elements are more trustworthy
in the eyes of the receiver and will be the basis for a convincing argument. As such, a
message channeled through this route will result in lasting persuasion. There is a danger
in attempting to employ the central route. If the subject’s attributes are meaningful but
the argument is weak, a boomerang effect will occur, resulting in negative opinions of the
subject and message. A boomerang effect will likely occur if the subject’s attributes are
weak, even if the argument is strong. In such a case, the communicator should use the
peripheral route to persuade the receiver.
When peripheral cues are present, a positive attitude change can occur. This change is
likely to be ephemeral, however. For it to become a more lasting change the message
should be repeated over a period of time. If there is no peripheral cue, the receiver’s
initial attitude (probably a negative one) will be reinforced or altered in the negative
direction. The communicator’s choice of routes is one to be made carefully, given the
message content and the environment in which the message will be received.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion is a relatively new theory, having
been developed within the last 20 years. Its theories have stood the test of time thus far,
though well challenged. In an ever-changing climate, the Petty and Cacioppo’s model
may see further updating or replacement in the near future. Nevertheless, successful
persuasion will continue to rely on those special people with those special personality
traits.

REFERENCES

Cialdini, Robert B. (1993). Influence. New York:Harper Collins College Publishers.

Eagly and Chaiken, "McGuire's Information Processing Paradigm," in Eagly and Chaiken, The Psychology
of Attitudes, 1993, pp. 259-279.

Petty and Cacioppo, "Epilog: A General Framework for Understanding Attitude Change Processes," in
Attitudes and Persuasion: Classic and Contemporary Approaches, 1981.

Petty and Cacioppo, "Central and Peripheral Routes of Persuasion: Application to Advertising," in Percy
and Woodside (eds.), Advertising and Consumer Psychology, 1983, pp. 3-23.

Petty, Cacioppo, and Schumann, "Central and Peripheral Routes to Advertising Effectiveness: The
Moderating Role of Involvement," Journal of Consumer Research, 10 (Sept. 1983), pp. 135-146.