The Role of Haptics in Persuasion
Haptics is the use of touch. It can be expressed in many ways and variations. Haptics is a central part of nonverbal communication, which consists of body language. The effect of a touch can have either a negative or positive response. While some say touch is imperative to sustaining interpersonal relationships, others believe the use of touch is impartial. Subsequently, the art of persuasion attempts to alter people’s attitudes. As reported by the International Encyclopedia of Hospitality Management (2005), “Persuasion is the deliberate effort to change the attitudes of one or more people. Attitudes are evaluations of people, objects or ideas. Attitudes are important to hospitality marketers because marketers assume that consumer attitudes affect consumer behaviors’ (Persuasion, 2010). They conclude that the advertising marketers’ design aim to influence their consumers into buying their products and reaching higher sales (Persuasion, 2010). Thus, a vital component of persuasion, as we will see in the following, is the role of haptics.
According to authors Danielle J Dolin and Melanie Booth-Butterfield (1993)in their article, "Reach Out and Touch Someone: Analysis of Nonverbal Comforting", they report that in today’s society many people live in distress and look for the comfort and support of touch from their closest relationships. Their study extended research on comforting strategies with the use of haptics and showed a positive correlation between the two (Dolin & Booth-Butterfield, 1993). Using Ninety-three students as participants, nonverbal comforting responses to a hypothetical scenario were collected (1993).Serving as the dependant variable, the use of an appropriate scenario where comforting responses could be used, including haptics, was the study(1993). The data reported that a mean of 3.5 units, or comforting responses, were used by each person(1993). Two of Dolin's and Booth-Butterfield's(1993) hypothesis predicted correctly. The study (1993) depicted the following:
"individuals who scored high affective orientation employed more comforting behaviors than those who scored low on the measure. Three categories of comforting behavior were individually correlated with affective orientation. Attentiveness and hugs were both positively correlated with affective orientation, while emotional distancing was negatively correlated. Hypothesis 2 was also confirmed, with the females reporting higher affective orientation scores than males."
"The opportunity to touch products has been shown to have a persuasive influece on customer's attitudes and behavior", state Joann Peck ad Jennifer Wiggins in the Journal of Marketing(2006).
Meanwhile, authors Joan Peck and Jennifer Wiggins in their 2006 article titled, “It Just Feels Good: Customers’ Affective Response to Touch and Its Influence on Persuasion”, touch plays the role of an evaluator, determining whether products have successfully persuaded them into buying the product, by physically examining them.
...s, B. M., and W. Stroebe. (2010) “Setting the stage.” The Psychology of Advertising. East Sussex: Psychology, Print.
Weger Jr., H. and Polcar, L. E., (2002). Attachment Style and Person-Centered Comforting. Western Journal of Communication, 66(1) (Winter 2002), 84-103.
Some clients who have experienced trauma are particularly sensitive to issues related to touch and loss of control. Healing Touch treatments can be done without physical contact and provides the client with a choice about when and how much touch is
Touch is as essential to a healthy and happy life as eating right, getting proper sleep, and exercising. With the world growing more technological, the need for healthy human contact is more important than ever. Massage and body therapies are an age old healing refuge for us in this fast-paced, stressed-out world. The practice of massage therapy is rapidly growing in the United States. It has so much to offer and is becoming more widely accepted by doctors and the general public. Massage is touching another person by such movements as rubbing, kneading, pressing, rolling, slapping, and tapping. This type of therapy provides circulation of the blood and lymph, relaxation of muscles, relief from pain, restoration of metabolic balance, and many other benefits both physical and mental. There is much historical evidence to indicate that massage is one of the earliest remedies for pain relief and for the restoration of a healthy body. It is said to be the most natural and instinctive means of relieving pain and discomfort. Massage has proven to be an effective method for treating many conditions for thousands of years and it will continue to be used for thousands of years to come. Massage therapy is a great treatment for the body and soul.
emotions. Sut Jhally describes ads as "the dream life of our culture" and explains the persuasive
Due to the ever-increasing number of brands, and the way people associate products with their lives, several authors have discussed the controversy of manipulation of advertisements, the way Daniel Harris always thought that consumers are irrational, manufacturers are controlling them in his book “Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic”
Consumer research began focusing on emotional response to advertising during the 1980’s (Goodstein, Edell, at all 1988). Within the debate of deciding if the use of emotion is the most effective way of creating a strong brand in advertising, comes a discussion of high and low involvement. Krugman’s (1965, p. 349-356), Public Opinion Quarterly, is where Krugman observed that much of the content of television advertising was “trivial and sometimes silly” and did not fit the “traditional persuasion models prevalent at the time” (Krugman, 1965, p.349-356). Krugman’s theory was that television viewers were not particularly involved or interested in television advertising but rather that they watched it in a ‘low-involvement’ state of mind. Krugman (1965) assumed that the differences between slow and fast brainwaves would demonstrate the level of interest that the advertisement had on the consumer. Maggie Geuens (2011, p. 418–426) furthers this theory and stated that “Emotional advertising is effective for low involvement and hedonic products, but not for high involvement or utilitarian products” (Geuens, 2011, p.418-426) which clearly demonstrated that from her research emotional advertising will only appeal to consumers with low involvement into the television ads and in relation to the products that they are trying to
The data have shown customers’ interest; the retailers can serve their customers more effective when they know what their customer want. The product will catch customers’ attention because they know where exactly to put it. That lead to more product being sales and more money being generated. According to the video “How store track your shopping behavior”, from the study of men’s habit of shopping, they know how to get men pay attention to their products. They change it up a little bit and get a really interesting result:”85% increase in product touch, 44% increase in sales, and 38% increase in dollar sales”; that is huge increase numbers. That number show how impactful the study effects their business performances. It is the result of understanding their customers’ need and desire. The ultimate goal is to increase product sales. They have to depend on the customer to reach that goal. Making the customer feel comfortable and encourage them to buy more goods is a process toward that
It was during this time when critics, fueled by Cold war era paranoia, claimed that “mind control techniques” were being used to persuade the public into spending. (History: 1950s) In reality, this was because of the use of motivational research. Using psychology, this allowed advertisers to appeal to their consumer’s desires for acceptance, security, sex, and success. By analyzing buying habits and people’s attitudes towards products, advertisers could gauge which ads were more successful based on brand association, color, and packaging. Advertising research has confirmed that ads “emphasizing the aroma, taste, or texture of a food product […] establish their product as the relevant one for the consumer making a choice.” (Marchand xx) By using similar techniques on non-food items, those products become associated with the primal reactions of taste and
Persuasion is the force exerted to influence behavior that includes a reflected change in attitude. Everyday we are bombarded with messagesfrom people who wish to influence our behavior and attitudes. Persuasion canbe used to accomplish good as well as bad, though, in my paper I willrefrain from making value judgements and only report the factual aspects. I will discuss the two basic routes to persuasion, the elements involved, andways to protect current attitudes and behaviors from change. When trying to persuade someone, there are two different methods from which to choose-the central and peripheral routes. The central route persuades by usingdirect arguments and pertinent information. The peripheral route persuadespeople by association with incidental cues
Rosen, L. D., Cheever, N. A., Cummings, C., & Felt, J. (2008). The impact of emotionality and
When I learned that I had to write this research paper, instead of procrastinating, I convinced myself to JUST DO IT. This phrase also happens to be one of the signature phrases of the leading athletic apparel company, Nike. The JUST DO IT campaign has been very successful for Nike, but it is not he sole reason for their success. Nike’s campaign has definitely persuaded me to go out and buy a few Nike products. So what exactly does Nike’s persuasive campaign consist of? This paper will discuss all aspects of Nike’s persuasive campaign. Some of the campaign’s strategies, goals, and techniques will be revealed. Some persuasive theories that can be applied to the Nike advertising campaign will be identified and explained. After discussing these theories, the specific arguments of the campaign will be validated. Overall, the entire campaign will be analyzed and it will be determined whether the campaign is a success or a failure.
It’s amazing how much simple supportive gestures can affect us. Based on findings from this experiment, I learned that words can literally hurt you, in a sense. I also learned that nonverbal communication can be more than just gestures and eye contact. Now, I know that even the tone of voice you use when talking is a form of nonverbal communication.
“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising” (Mark Twain). Advertising, the very business of claiming attention. Through many successes and twice as many failures, advertising has always been a competitive field to be a part of. New techniques are constantly being shouted out or thought of to try and get a head in the game. Propaganda, obnoxiously large print headlines, and lavish pictures are few of outrageous techniques to get the message out there. However the need to bluff, or over exaggerate products and brands is no longer needed, when you can simply emphasize with a simple tool. Sound, the very tool humans use to associate language, can be the tool used to associate advertising endorsements. With the emotional effects sound can create, it has been shown to create emotions to certain adverts and companies. Despite which emotion is trying to be perceived, sound proves to be more useful as an influencer than visuals in marketing. Either used as the main source of an advert, or the backdrop, sound creates an environment or advertising persona. Truly, sound is the key to successful advertising in society. With the rapid decline in print media and up rise of technology, sound is more of an important factor to advertising media masses today. While sound is found more intrusive than visuals, it has also found to have more impact on consumers. Due to its booming qualities, sound can create both positive and negative attitude towards advertisements and brands. However the echoic impact is still stronger than iconic, and shows in fact why sound should be more widely used.
By being a consumer in a world of diverse products and services, it has given us a wide range of choices. A product may be produced by different companies and has the same function, but it is presented to the consumers in different forms. In order to differ from each other, companies use the help of advertising to present its product in a better way than their competitors’. However, advertising the product is becoming more crucial than the product itself. Companies are focusing more on making the brand more popular, rather than actually improving the product that they offer. By turning the advertisement competition into a war between companies, they mislead buyers by hyperbolizing their products positive features, thus hiding the negative ones. Companies forget about the effect they have on the consumers. Consumers should be aware of the manipulative tricks that advertising uses like subliminal messages and brain seduction in order to not be misled into buying something that they do not really require. By knowing how to manipulate the audience and consumers’ brain, companies use tactical methods in order to persuade specific customers to buy specific products or services. Other examples of techniques they use are techniques like puffery which are suggestive claims about a product, using subliminal messages and transferring information indirectly, as well as by targeting a specific group of people, creating a slogan or a mascot and by using sexy models with perfect bodies, advertising tries to manipulate and persuade consumers into buying the product they are offering.