The Persuasive Power of the Media - Literature review Example

THE PERSUASIVE POWER OF THE MEDIA The power of the media is generally persuasive and symbolic (Bartels 117). The reason for this is that the media influences to some extent the viewers and the readers’ minds. However, it is imperative to note that the media has no direct influence on the actions of the readers and viewers. Except in the use of coercive and physical force, the media lacks the ability to directly influence the actions of the audiences (Bartels 121). The audience still retains a certain extent of indepdence and autonomy despite the media’s pervasive symbolic power. This means that the power of the media on the users is limited and the persuasive nature of the media is sometimes resisted by the media users. This implies that the control of the mind by the media should be effective particularly when the users of the media lack knowledge about the implications or the nature of the media’s control on them (Bartels 134). For example, when the media users receive reports from the media as true or they perceive opinions from journalists as correct or legitimate. That is the only time when the media would have adequate control of the users’ minds and thus influence and exert its persuasive power (Cialdini 2001). Based on the above considerations, this paper will explore and evaluate theories that seek to explain the persuasive power of the media. The first theory or model that seeks to explain the persuasive power of the media is the persuasion knowledge model (Fristad and Wright 1). This model as perceived as a breakaway from the traditional persuasion model that holds that people or the audience of media information are not knowledgeable of the tactics used by the media to influence them. Formulated and advanced by Peter Wright and Marian Friestad, the persuasion knowledge model is built on the premise that the receptiveness of media information by the media users is greatly affected by the knowledge the media users have about the tactics used by the media to persuade them (Fristad and Wright 13). According to this theory, the persuasive power of the media can only be increased through the use of tactics less known to the audience (Fristad and Wright 21). The logic behind the persuasion knowledge model is that the susceptibility of a person to persuasion depends on the familiarity an individual has over the methods used to persuade him/her as well as the knowledge that an individual posses about the topic or the conversation being discussed in the media (Miller 1994). For example, the more familiar an individual is to the topic being discussed the less the persuasive power of the media is to such a person. Specifically, voters can only be persuaded by the media to vote for a certain presidential candidate when such a candidate introduces or proposes a completely new policy on how to tackle the problems facing the public (Fristad and Wright 31). The media in this case acts as the agent for persuading people to think about the new policy which they are less knowledgeable about. The second model that seeks to explain the persuasive power of the media is the shared values and relationships theory (Nelson and Garst 489). In their book titled Values-Based Political Messages and Persuasion: Relationships among Speaker, Evoked Values and Recipient, Jenifer Garst and Thomas Nelson argued that the persuasive power of the media can only be exerted and felt by the audience when there is a common identity between like-minded audience and the speaker (Nelson and Garst 490). In other words, the persuasive power of the media is only felt by the audience when the audience identify with the values and messages passed across by the media. For example, the media remains more persuasive on issues that relate to relationships and sex because the audience can identify with such topics. Hence, the audience tends to be physically, emotionally and psychologically attached to such topics which enhance the persuasive power of the media over the users. Additionally, the persuasive power of the media is also felt when the audience feels that the media supports their favourite values (Nelson and Garst 500). This means that people that place high value on certain values are more persuaded when the media tries to magnify or exemplify such values or when a conversation relating to such values is undertaken by a communicator or a speaker in the media. In this perspective, in order to be persuasive the media must identify the common identity between the speakers or communicators and the audience and strive to be relevant with topics that touch on the values of the listeners (Nelson and Garst 515). Hence, the shared values and relationships theory seeks to explain the persuasive power of the media by showing that it is only when the media aligns itself with the values held by the audience that its power and influence is felt. The third theory that seeks to explain the persuasive power of the media is the Similarity Attraction Theory (Morris 707). According to this theory, the persuasive power of the media is possible when the media promotes beliefs and attitudes similar to those of the audience. This makes the media widely acceptable in the public eyes and increases the attractiveness of the media in the public sphere. As a result, the persuasive power of the media increases due to the wider acceptability of the media in the public sphere. For instance, the convergence through the non-verbal and verbal convergence communication between the media and the audience enhances the extent to which the media can persuade the audience on a certain issue (Morris 715). A good example is the extent to which the media goes to broadcast or send messages in local languages in order to be similar to the audience. This promotes the beliefs and attitudes of the audience because the audience can identify with the languages used by the media (Morris 728). Hence, similarity-attraction theory is another model that seeks to explain the persuasive power of the media because the more similar the media appears to the audience the more persuasive it becomes in the eyes of the public. On the other hand, the less similar the media appears to the audience, the less attractive and persuasive it appears in the eyes of the public (Miller 175). Evaluation of the models From the three models explained above it is evident that the first model (persuasion knowledge model) gives genuine insight into the media’s influence. The reason for this is that from the psychological point of view, people are more attracted and persuaded by new things than they things they are used to (Turner 441). In this respect, if the media applies the same tactics and persuasion methods all the time, it means that the audience gets used to the tactics and thus such the persuasive nature of such tactics is slowly eroded. However, any new tactics used by the media to persuade the media users attracts the attention of the media users and in so doing the media users are persuaded in the process. For example, a new technique, method or tactics for advertising a certain product in the media is more persuasive that the old tactic (Turner 464). For instance, the demonstration of how a certain detergent product removes stains from the clothes is more persuasive than just the explanation of how the same detergent functions. Thus, the new tactic such as demonstration of the benefit of the detergent rather than providing mere explanation about the benefits of the detergent persuades the audience to want to use the detergent. The persuasion knowledge model provides insight on media influence because people tend to run towards acquiring new knowledge and information rather than dwelling on the information they already know or posses (Miller 1994). In this regard, it can be construed that the influence of the media over the audience is possible only when the media applies new tactics of sending messages and information to the listeners. Even though the second model (shared values and relationships theory) seeks to also explain the persuasive power of the media, it does not always hold (Turner 464). For instance, in the contemporary world, international media channels such as CNN or BBC remain persuasive to a wide segment of the market worldwide not because they exhibit any form of share values or relationships with the listeners globally but because they have adequate and new tactics they use to pass messages and information to the media users (Gallup 2009). In this regard, media users can still be persuaded by the media even if the media does not exhibit any shared values or relationships as long as the media applies new methods and tactics from the ones the media users are used to. Similarly, the similarity attraction theory does not hold all the time because the content of the information passed by the media is dynamic and thus it does not always conform to the beliefs and attitude of the audience (Gallup 2009). This means that the persuasive nature of the media is not always driven by the extent to which the media conforms to the beliefs and attitudes of audience but on the new tactics and methods as well as the dynamism of information passed to the audience. In conclusion, the three models that seek to explain the persuasive power of the media include the persuasive knowledge model, the shared values and relationship model as well as the familiarity attraction theory. However, the model that best provides insight on media influence is the persuasive knowledge model which holds that media users are persuaded more when new tactics and methods are used by the media to pass the required information to the audience because the attention of a person is captured when the person is exposed to new things, tactics and methods. Works Cited Bartels, L. Beyond the Running Tally: Partisan Bias in Political Perceptions. Political Behavior, 24(2), 117-150, 2002. Cialdini, R . Influence: Science and practice (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2001 Fristad, M. and Wright P. The Persuasion Model: How People Cope with Persuasion Attempts. The Journal of Consumer Research, 21(1), 1-31, 1994. Gallup. Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group. Miller, A. Dynamic Indicators of Self-Perceived Conservatism. The Sociological Quarterly, 35(1) 175-182, 1994. Morris, J. Slanted Objectivity? Perceived Media Bias, Cable News Exposure, and Political Attitudes. Social Science Quarterly, 88(3), 707-728, 2007. Nelson, T. and Garst, J. Values-Based Political Messages and Persuasion: Relationships Among Speaker, Recipient and Evoked Values. Political Psychology, 26(4), 489-515, 2005. Turner, J. The Messenger Overwhelming the Message: Ideological Cues and Perceptions of Bias in Television News. Political Behavior, 29(4), 441-464, 2007. Read More