Elaboration Likelihood Model
The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) is a psychological theory developed by Richard E. Petty and John Cacioppo in the 1980s, which explores how individuals make decisions and the processes that influence their attitudes. Central to ELM is the concept that attitudes guide decision-making behaviors, shaped by various factors, including the level of involvement in the topic at hand. The model identifies two primary routes to attitude formation: the central route, which involves high involvement and careful processing of arguments, and the peripheral route, characterized by low involvement where individuals rely on superficial cues rather than the strength of the arguments presented.
Motivation and ability play crucial roles in determining how deeply a person engages with a message. High elaboration occurs when individuals are both motivated and capable of critical thought, leading to stronger persuasion through thorough evaluation of the information. Conversely, when involvement is low, individuals are less likely to scrutinize the message and may instead be influenced by extraneous factors, such as the context or presentation of the information. ELM is particularly valuable in communications and media research, helping to understand the effectiveness of persuasive messages in shaping attitudes toward products, ideas, or behaviors. Overall, ELM provides insights into the complexities of persuasion and attitude change in various contexts.
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Elaboration Likelihood Model
Developed by psychologists Richard E. Petty and John Cacioppo in the 1980s, the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) examines how and why people make decisions. The theory seeks to identify the factors that persuade individuals to take a course of action or engage in a specific behavior.
At the core of ELM is the idea that attitudes matter because they guide our decision-making behaviors. Attitudes are a person’s inclinations or perspectives toward something, and they arise from a number of variables. Persuasion, according to Petty and Cacioppo, is a core variable of attitudinal dispositions. ELM examines the extent to which high or low involvement influences the ways in which individuals process the arguments in messages. Arguments are assessed as weak or strong to measure their persuasive impact. A strong argument elaborates on the merits of the product or advocated viewpoint, while a weak argument distracts from the merits or does not build a strong case.
Overview
ELM is considered a dual-process model because it presents two routes to attitude formation and change: high involvement or central mode and low involvement or peripheral mode. The level of involvement determines the extent of the elaboration process.
Other elements in the decision-making process are motivation and ability. These account for variances in the persuasive impact. For example, ELM looks at the persuasive impact produced by complex messages with well-developed information and reasons, in contrast to messages that present simple dichotomies—good versus bad, negative versus positive—when providing information about a specific object, situation, or behavior. Motivation determines how receptive an individual is to the message. Ability refers to the individual’s inclination to think and analyze the message and considers possible influences and limitations, such as social cues, environmental noise or time constraints. The most important element in this process is involvement; that is, how likely an individual might be to consider the contents of the message and its arguments, and their capability to do so.
The final element in the process is elaboration. Elaboration pertains to the extent to which an individual will think about the message. It involves seeking clarification or additional information, and analytical behaviors such as evaluation, recall, inference, and judgment. Elaboration is high when individuals are motivated and able to think extensively about the message. Central processing routes and persuasive impact tend to occur in cases of high elaboration.
Persuasion can also take place when there is low elaboration. While in cases of central route considerations individuals are led by their assessment of the strength of the message, in low elaboration cases an individual may simply choose to follow a situational decision. That is, individuals with low involvement are unlikely to examine the arguments of the message carefully. Rather, they may guide their decisions on peripheral cues—information that is not central to the argument’s merits—such as background noise and other distracting elements, or a general decision-making rule. ELM is useful for in communications and psychological research. In cases of media research, for example, it may be used to examine factors that explain how and why messages and self-motivation work to create an attitude formation, or the effectiveness of advertising arguments on individual attitudes towards a specific product.
Bibliography
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