Hoorcolleges Economic and Consumer Psychology
Week 1: Mental effort and ease (H1 t/m 5)
1. A tale of two systems
Learning goals
→ After this lecture you can (name and) explain:
● Dual processing models
● Pupillometry
● Ego depletion
● Associative networks and priming
● Mere exposure
● Ease of processing
→ System 1 always runs up front
● Fast (first)
● Intuitive
● Easy questions
● Generates those automatic impressions, if system 2 will be activated, you can control
it
→ System 2 monitors system 1
● Slow (second)
● Effortful
● Lazy
● Hard questions
Dual processing models
→ Elaboration Likelihood Model - ELM (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981)
● Two routes of information to attitude change
○ Peripheral route (System 1)
○ Central route (System 2)
→ Which route? → Depends on ‘Elaboration Likelihood’
○ High likelihood: central route
○ Low likelihood: peripheral route
→ Peripheral cues
→ Secondary features of the information or the context (thus, all the things around
the central meaning of something)
→ Examples
○ Source credibility
1
, ○ Number of arguments
○ Format/design of the advert
○ Length of message
○ etc.
Premises of the ELM
1. People want to have correct attitudes, so that also means that people want to get the
best possible result. If they can, they will be deeply motivated by the process.
2. The degree and form in which people pay attention to persuasive information depends
on their motivation and ability (i.e., the elaboration likelihood). If you are occupied at
the moment, you will fail to process the information anyway.
3. When elaboration likelihood decreases (because you are not sufficiently motivated or
occupied), peripheral cues become more important; when elaboration likelihood
increases, peripheral cues become less important.
4. Attitude change via the central route is more stable, stronger and more predictive of
behavior than attitude change via peripheral cues. So advertisements are usually
motivated to influence via the central route.
This one is about an energy company and it
wants to sell subscriptions. You see here Maurice
de Hond (a Dutch opinion pollster and
entrepreneur). He said that we have to switch, so
that the Dutch people can save 1 billion euros. If
you want to process it by the central route:
● Are you motivated? You might be more
motivated in this case if you are looking
for a new energy company or if you need
to budget.
● Are you also able to process the message?
So if you see this when you are reading the newspaper and you have all the time in the
world: then yes, you are able. But if you are sitting in the train and you just noticed
this advertisement in a newspaper of someone in front of you, you don’t have a lot of
time and it is maybe too far away for you. And in that case you are more likely to
process it via the peripheral route.
● And motivated and able to process it? → you are likely to elaborate etoraly: you
study the advertisement very well (small letters, figures), you ask yourself
questions about this advertisement etc.
● Both the cognitive responses (positive or negative) change your attitudes positively or
negatively.
2
, ● If you are not motivated and able to
process it via the central route, you are
likely to process it via the peripheral
cues.
● For example: you see the color orange.
You are a fan of the Dutch soccer team.
You might be easily convinced,
regardless of the content. Or because
you see Maurice de Hond and you think
he is a reliable source, so you are also
convinced.
Nature of Cognitive Responses: Quality of Arguments: How do cognitive responses
emerge?
In case of a high elaboration likelihood (central route)
● Strong arguments lead to positive thoughts on the opinion expressed in the message
● Weak arguments lead to negative thoughts on the opinion expressed in the message.
Because you react against the message.
Factors that promote the Central Route
● First of all, you can increase their motivation.
○ Increasing the involvement with the topic (outcomes are important, for
example saving money)
○ Increase their accountability or responsibility (for example let people publicly
explain their attitude, they feel much more accountable or responsible and they
process more what you are explaining them deeply)
○ Some people like to think more deeply on more things, so their more likely to
process your information deeper
● Increasing their ability: which factors are important?
○ If they know a little bit of what you are going to talk about
○ If you repeat the message moreover, people are also more able to process your
message
○ Distraction and time pressure are not favorable for processing information
3
, Examples of Peripheral Cues in Advertising
● Repetition (logo)
○ Mere exposure (after break)
● Arguments (Many vs. few)
● Product origin (for instance wine from France)
● Product ‘characteristics’ (‘New’, ‘improved recipe’)
● Context (e.g. well-designed advert → positive affect)
● Source (attractive, famous, reliable, expert)
So…
● Do you have strong arguments?
○ Repeat a few times (not too often!)
○ Make sure the text is comprehensible
○ Non-distracting context
● Do you only have weak arguments?
○ Offer the message only once
○ Provide enough distraction
○ Good peripheral cues
Artikel 2: Cheung, C. M. Y., Sia, C. L., & Kuan, K. K. (2012). Is this review believable?
A study of factors affecting the credibility of online consumer reviews from an ELM
perspective.
This is the article from Cheung et al. (2012) from this week. On the internet you have all
those online reviews on the internet of products. But there are so many that people are not
able to see all of those reviews. So what happens if that people not only focus on all the
context of all the messages but scan through them searching for peripheral cues. These cues
were studied in this article.
Peripheral cues in this article
● Source credibility (low vs high rating)
● Review consistency (low vs high; if the reviews are agreeing with each other)
● Review sidedness (one-sided (only positive or negative) vs. two-sided)
Central cues of this article
● Argument quality (weak vs. strong)
WHat they found is that when the arguments in the message are strong, there is a large effect
on persuasion, so people are convinced by the review. There is also an effect for those
peripheral cues, a bit smaller. Indeed, if the source appears to be credible, the review is
consistent and the review is two-sided, people think that the review is more credible.
4
Week 1: Mental effort and ease (H1 t/m 5)
1. A tale of two systems
Learning goals
→ After this lecture you can (name and) explain:
● Dual processing models
● Pupillometry
● Ego depletion
● Associative networks and priming
● Mere exposure
● Ease of processing
→ System 1 always runs up front
● Fast (first)
● Intuitive
● Easy questions
● Generates those automatic impressions, if system 2 will be activated, you can control
it
→ System 2 monitors system 1
● Slow (second)
● Effortful
● Lazy
● Hard questions
Dual processing models
→ Elaboration Likelihood Model - ELM (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981)
● Two routes of information to attitude change
○ Peripheral route (System 1)
○ Central route (System 2)
→ Which route? → Depends on ‘Elaboration Likelihood’
○ High likelihood: central route
○ Low likelihood: peripheral route
→ Peripheral cues
→ Secondary features of the information or the context (thus, all the things around
the central meaning of something)
→ Examples
○ Source credibility
1
, ○ Number of arguments
○ Format/design of the advert
○ Length of message
○ etc.
Premises of the ELM
1. People want to have correct attitudes, so that also means that people want to get the
best possible result. If they can, they will be deeply motivated by the process.
2. The degree and form in which people pay attention to persuasive information depends
on their motivation and ability (i.e., the elaboration likelihood). If you are occupied at
the moment, you will fail to process the information anyway.
3. When elaboration likelihood decreases (because you are not sufficiently motivated or
occupied), peripheral cues become more important; when elaboration likelihood
increases, peripheral cues become less important.
4. Attitude change via the central route is more stable, stronger and more predictive of
behavior than attitude change via peripheral cues. So advertisements are usually
motivated to influence via the central route.
This one is about an energy company and it
wants to sell subscriptions. You see here Maurice
de Hond (a Dutch opinion pollster and
entrepreneur). He said that we have to switch, so
that the Dutch people can save 1 billion euros. If
you want to process it by the central route:
● Are you motivated? You might be more
motivated in this case if you are looking
for a new energy company or if you need
to budget.
● Are you also able to process the message?
So if you see this when you are reading the newspaper and you have all the time in the
world: then yes, you are able. But if you are sitting in the train and you just noticed
this advertisement in a newspaper of someone in front of you, you don’t have a lot of
time and it is maybe too far away for you. And in that case you are more likely to
process it via the peripheral route.
● And motivated and able to process it? → you are likely to elaborate etoraly: you
study the advertisement very well (small letters, figures), you ask yourself
questions about this advertisement etc.
● Both the cognitive responses (positive or negative) change your attitudes positively or
negatively.
2
, ● If you are not motivated and able to
process it via the central route, you are
likely to process it via the peripheral
cues.
● For example: you see the color orange.
You are a fan of the Dutch soccer team.
You might be easily convinced,
regardless of the content. Or because
you see Maurice de Hond and you think
he is a reliable source, so you are also
convinced.
Nature of Cognitive Responses: Quality of Arguments: How do cognitive responses
emerge?
In case of a high elaboration likelihood (central route)
● Strong arguments lead to positive thoughts on the opinion expressed in the message
● Weak arguments lead to negative thoughts on the opinion expressed in the message.
Because you react against the message.
Factors that promote the Central Route
● First of all, you can increase their motivation.
○ Increasing the involvement with the topic (outcomes are important, for
example saving money)
○ Increase their accountability or responsibility (for example let people publicly
explain their attitude, they feel much more accountable or responsible and they
process more what you are explaining them deeply)
○ Some people like to think more deeply on more things, so their more likely to
process your information deeper
● Increasing their ability: which factors are important?
○ If they know a little bit of what you are going to talk about
○ If you repeat the message moreover, people are also more able to process your
message
○ Distraction and time pressure are not favorable for processing information
3
, Examples of Peripheral Cues in Advertising
● Repetition (logo)
○ Mere exposure (after break)
● Arguments (Many vs. few)
● Product origin (for instance wine from France)
● Product ‘characteristics’ (‘New’, ‘improved recipe’)
● Context (e.g. well-designed advert → positive affect)
● Source (attractive, famous, reliable, expert)
So…
● Do you have strong arguments?
○ Repeat a few times (not too often!)
○ Make sure the text is comprehensible
○ Non-distracting context
● Do you only have weak arguments?
○ Offer the message only once
○ Provide enough distraction
○ Good peripheral cues
Artikel 2: Cheung, C. M. Y., Sia, C. L., & Kuan, K. K. (2012). Is this review believable?
A study of factors affecting the credibility of online consumer reviews from an ELM
perspective.
This is the article from Cheung et al. (2012) from this week. On the internet you have all
those online reviews on the internet of products. But there are so many that people are not
able to see all of those reviews. So what happens if that people not only focus on all the
context of all the messages but scan through them searching for peripheral cues. These cues
were studied in this article.
Peripheral cues in this article
● Source credibility (low vs high rating)
● Review consistency (low vs high; if the reviews are agreeing with each other)
● Review sidedness (one-sided (only positive or negative) vs. two-sided)
Central cues of this article
● Argument quality (weak vs. strong)
WHat they found is that when the arguments in the message are strong, there is a large effect
on persuasion, so people are convinced by the review. There is also an effect for those
peripheral cues, a bit smaller. Indeed, if the source appears to be credible, the review is
consistent and the review is two-sided, people think that the review is more credible.
4
