Chapter 8: “Who Says It”: Source Factors in Persuasion Chapter 9: Fundamentals of the Message Chapter 10: Emotional Message Appeals: Fear and Guilt Perloff, R. M. (2014). The dynamics of persuasion: communication and attitudes in the twenty-first century. Routledge.

1. PART IV: “WHO SAYS
WHAT TO WHOM &
WHY”Chapter 8: “Who Says It”: Source Factors in Persuasion
Chapter 9: Fundamentals of the Message
Chapter 10: Emotional Message Appeals: Fear and Guilt
Perloff, R. M. (2014). The dynamics of persuasion: communication and attitudes in the twenty-first century. Routledge.

3. Charisma
A certain quality of the individual personality by virtue of
which he or she is set apart from ordinary men and women,
treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at
least exceptional powers or qualities
Interacts with audience factors
 Authority
 Source of Power
 Credibility
 Communicator Role
 Culture and Political Context
Is constrained by historical factors
 Social Attractiveness

5. Perspectives on Charisma
 Charismatic leaders are the “superstars” of leadership
 By discovering how charismatics communicate, we can
increase our effectiveness as leaders
 Three (Four) main approaches
1. The sociological approach
2. The Behavioral Approach
3. The Attribution Approach
4. The Communication Approach

6. The Sociological Approach
 Max Weber – A leader retains charismatic status as long as
he or she is seen as charismatic
 A charismatic leader must periodically demonstrate his or her
exceptional gifts to maintain power over followers
 Five key components:
1. Extraordinary almost magical talents
2. Unstable or crisis situation
3. Radical vision for providing a solution to the crisis
4. Group of followers attracted to the extraordinary leader because they
believe they are linked through the leader to powers that exceed usual
limits
5. Validation of extraordinary talents and powers through repeated success

7. The Behavioral Approach
Robert House & Bernard Bass – set of three major
propositions or conclusions about charismatic leaders:
1. Leader Behaviors – strong power needs; high self confidence;
competence; role models; high expectations; effective
argumentation; create transcendent goals
2. Leader/Follower Relations – serve as targets for followers hopes,
frustrations, and fears; create a sense of excitement and adventure;
build their appeal to followers on widely shared beliefs, values and
goals
3. Elements of the charismatic situation – most likely to appear when
groups are under stress; generate intense feelings of love or hate

8. The Attribution Approach
 Jay Conger & Rabindra Kanungo
 Charisma is defined in terms of the perceptions of
followers
 Five behaviors that encourage followers to attribute
charismatic characteristics to leaders are:
1. Possess a vision that is unique, yet attainable
2. Act in an unconventional, counternormative manner
3. Demonstrate personal commitment and risk taking
4. Demonstrate confidence and expertise
5. Demonstrate personal power

9. The Communication Approach
 Charismatic leaders excel in four core functions of
communication:
1. Charismatics as Relationship Builders
2. Charismatics as Impression Managers
1. Framing – Message Structure
2. Scripting – Message Content
3. Staging – Framing/Language
4. Performing – Emotional Appeals
3. Charismatics as Visionaries
4. Charismatics as Influence Agents

11. Message Structure
One-sided Message
Presents one perspective on the issue
Two-sided Message
Offers arguments on behalf of both the persuader’s
position and the opposition
O’Keefe and Allen (1998, 1999) – Meta analysis
Two-sided messages influence attitudes more than one-
sided messages, provided that the message refutes
opposition arguments
Messages clearly or explicitly articulating their overall
conclusion are more persuasive than those that omit one

12. Refutation and Conclusion Drawing
Refutational Messages
Two-sided messages – gain their persuasive advantage by:
a. Enhancing the Credibility of the speaker
– He or she is perceived as honest enough to discuss both sides
of the coin)
b. Providing cogent reasons why opposing arguments are wrong
Conclusion Drawing
Minimizes confusion and helps message comprehension
Sidedness Research
Reassures human nature – communicators can change
attitudes when they are fair, mention both sides, and offer
cogent arguments in support of their position

13. Message Content: Evidence
Factual statements originating from a source other than
the speaker, objects crated by the speaker, and opinions or
persons other than the speaker that are offered in support
of the speaker’s claims
Evidence is persuasive when:
Attributed to a highly source
Plausible and novel
Audience must:
Recognize that evidence has been offered
Perceive the evidence as legitimate

14. Message Content: Narrative
Any cohesive and coherent story with an identifiable
beginning, middle, and end that provides information
about the scene, characters, and conflict; raises
unanswered questions or unresolved conflict; and provides
resolution
Symbolic representation of events that employs elements that
typically are not used in persuasive messages
 Communications that harness stories in the service of
persuasion
 Borderline Persuasion
 The Communicator typically does not intend to change

15. Framing
Frame – the overarching way an idea is communicated or
phrased; the slant, focal point, or frame of reference
Work by accessing a particular perspective of an issue
Can activate mental frameworks
Framing
To select some aspects of a perceived reality and make
them more salient in a communicating text in such a way
as to promote a particular problem definition, causal
interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment
recommendation

16. Language
 Communication Accommodation Theory
 Speech-rate depends on:
a. Similarity between the speech rate and of the communicator and the audience
b. Communicator’s perceptions of how quickly audience members speak
c. Audience perception's of how quickly the communicator is talking
d. Stereotypes of speech rate of both the communicator and the audience
e. Topic of the message
 Speed of Speech is not directly related to Persuasion
 Speech rate may be persuasive depending on context
 When the goal is to capture attention
 When the goal as to be perceived as competent
 When audience members are low in involvement
 When speed is relevant to the message topic

17. Powerful v. Powerless Speech
 Powerless Speech - Constellation of characters that may suggest to a
message receiver that the communicator is less than powerful or is not
so confident
 Hesitation forms
 Hedges
 Tag Questions
 Disclaimers
 Powerful Speech
 Can convey credibility and influence attitudes
 Language Intensity
 Metaphors, strong and vivid language and emotionally charged words
 Political rhetoric, social activism, hate speech, and eloquent public address

18. Emotional Appeals: Fear
Fear – internal emotional reaction composed of psychological
and physiological dimensions that may be aroused when a
serious and personally relevant threat is perceived
 Fear Appeal – A persuasive communication that tries to scare
people into changing their attitudes by conjuring up negative
consequences that will occur if they do not comply with the
message recommendations
 Illusion of Invulnerability or Unrealistic Optimism
 People don’t want to admit that life’s misfortunes can befall them
 People maintain stereotypes of typical victims, which they don’t fit
 People decide to offload the costs of the pleasure of risky choices

19. Emotional Appeals: Guilt
Like fear, is a negative emotional response
However, involves “ought” and “should” dimensions
 Guilt is generated when an individual notes with remorse that
s/he failed to do what s/he ought to or should do
Usually employed in interpersonal conversations,
particularly when relationships are close
Promote helping behavior, enhance maturity; build
character
Can backfire when message recipients perceive that the
speaker is applying inappropriate interpersonal pressure

20. Extended Parallel Process Model
Kim Witte’s EPPM (1998) – emphasizes on two parallel processes,
or two different mechanisms, by which fear or guilt appeals can
influence attitudes
Fear - Danger control and fear control
 Threat
 Severity information
 Susceptibility information
 Efficacy Information
 Response efficacy
 Self-efficacy information
Basil (2008) – Guilt – Empathy and Efficacy Information