Elaboration Likelyhood

Elaboration Likelihood 2

Introduction

Recently the nation was bombarded with political ad campaigns of all shapes and sizes. There were the ads for and against succession, the ads that attempted to show Gray Davis as someone who could actually run the state of California, and the ads that didn’t really seem to have any purpose at all. It is obvious that each of these campaigns was focused on a specific target audience. What may not have been so obvious was that each of the ad campaigns was also based upon the involvement or interest of the voters (Perloff, 1993). This involvement or interest is a component of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. This theory helps advertising consultants decide what elections are important to voters and what elections have no relevance to anyone but lawmakers (Perloff, 1993). Important elections, such as the gubernatorial race will have strong arguments and depth while not so significant elections, such as the clean water initiative will rely on cues that are undemanding in terms of the amount of brain power used (Perloff, 1993).

The application of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to political campaigns is just one of the many practical uses of this theory. But before it is possible to examine other possible applications of the ELM, one must understand the basic ideas and factors that make it work. After a clear understanding of the ELM is devolved it will be shown in relation to the specific communication perspective that it fits into, and then used to evaluate a real life situation. Subsequent to the evaluation of the practical application the ELM will be scrutinized and summed up, but first the basics.

Description of Theory

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The elaboration likelihood theory was created by two social scientists, Richard Petty and John Cacioppo, who sought to create a model of persuasion that was more inclusive in terms of the range and depth in which the theory covered (Perloff, 1993). Petty and Cacioppo’s theory is a culmination of their research in the area of “cognitive responses to persuasion” and theories of attitude change (Perloff, 1993, p. 118). The ELM is a theory of persuasion with a central premise that seeks to explain how deeply an individual will elaborate the arguments of a persuasive message by examining the ind...

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...ovements. First of all, Perloff (1993, p. 132) makes the point that there should be more consideration of “situational and personality factors that might interact to influence the processing strategy.” Perloff (1993, p. 132) also would like to know “how do people simultaneously process central and peripheral information?”

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References

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Littlejohn, S. W. (2001). Theories of Human Communication. Albuquerque, NM:

Wadsworth.

Perloff, R. M. (1993). The Dynamics of Persuasion. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum

Assoc.

Sereno, K. (2002, Fall). Comm 200: Communication as a Social Science. Lecture Notes.

Stephenson, M. T., Benoit, W. L., Tschida, D. A. (2001). Testing the Mediating Role of

Cognitive Responses in the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Communication

Studies, 52 (4), 324-338.