The study of Social Judgement Theory , Elaboration Likelihood Model And How They Are Connected !

                                                         Social Judgement Theory 

February 21st, 2022 

Hello all ! Hello Hello Hello ! I know I know, it's been a while since we last convened but I'm finally back with another interesting Vlog. Today, we'll be discussing two theories known as Social Judgement Theory and Elaboration Likelihood Model both in which I will try my best to illustrate the connection between both approaches of persuasion. Let's dive in Shall we? 

What is persuasion you ask? Well, persuasion is the process and action of being swayed from your original stance to that of another. In other words, you are being nudged to believe something else over what you stand behind. The first theory I'd like to shine light on is the objectivists approach theory known as Social Judgement Theory by Muzafer Sherif . This theory according to the late Muzafer Sherif, this theory is done subconciosly y by intellectually sorting and weighing ideas of our own thoughts against thoughts and ideas brought upon us by others ( Griffen et., al 2019) . Evidently, this is the practice of social judgement- involvement approach aka. social judgement theory. Now let's apply this concept to a real life scenario.                                          

  Inserted here is a video link to learn more about this product : https://youtu.be/OxnMgHFbTPI  

1. Before I get further into this ad, I want to discuss an important part that can deter our perception on a topic . This concept is known as Ego-Involvement and deals with how much we truly care about what's being presented to us . In other words, the level of importance it holds to our lives Griffen et. al, 2019). In terms of the Peloton Ad, an individual who would have High ego involvement would be someone whose lifestyle aligns with the idea of working out, one who is interested in losing weight, planning to stay in shape, or simply eager or interested in beginning their fitness journey. Low-Impacting ego may potentially be those who find they have no relation with exercise, who feel or don't see the need to want to work out, who simply those who detest the company, or just see it as another way for big companies to capitalize off of the public. Ego involvement is crucial because it can be the deciding factor in getting individuals on your side or vice versa. To be clearer, ego involvement can impact the contrasting of a person's attitudinal anchor depending on how central the stances are to us (Griffen et. al, 2019). 

 Image above is the scale depicting Latitude ranges 

There are evidently three areas where you can chose to land in when discussing what you agree with or don't agree with. They are : Latitude of acceptance, latitude of rejection, and latitude of non-commitment . Each position forms a base for where we lie in agreeance or disagreeance on a said topic. People may be more apt to judge certain messages in this case the Peloton Ad in a way that falls within their latitude of rejection in deeper opposition to the other standpoint (Griffen et. al, 2019) In doing this, it may be difficult to sway and individual's mind because they are already solid on their standpoint and believe firmly in it. On the other hand, assimilation occurs when people begin to judge messages that fall within their air of latitude of acceptance where more or less, ideas are more similar. In this Ad for example, those who's ideas or feelings on the Peloton that would assimilate and fall into the latitude of acceptance are those who share a common central interest to the product and what it stands for to them. By doing so, we then find ourselves able to adjust out attitudinal perception based on our perceived position (Griffen et.al, 2019). 

Moving along from Social Judgement Theory, we move onto another concept known as Elaboration Likelihood Theory. This theory also deals with the act of persuasion but aims to project it through the lens of central routed messages and peripheral routed messages. Let's begin shall we !  

 https://youtu.be/OxnMgHFbTPI | Here above is the image of the Peloton Ad and link to the video  

We're going to use it once more to explain the concept of Elaboration Likelihood theory. Before we dive into that , let's explore what ELM is. 

                                               What Is Elaboration Likelihood Theory ?

2. Elaboration Likelihood Theory or ELM for short is another persuasion method that includes two cognitive approaches known as the central route which involves message elaboration where a person intently analyzes an issue-related argument that is evidently contained in a persuasive communication and peripheral route that involves processing a message without any intent or active thinking (Griffen et. al 2019). 

Going back to the Peloton Ad above, I want us to examine a peripheral cue ( Processed message that we generate for ourselves without having to elaborate on our thoughts) and see how this cue can impact their processing of the message . Let's highlight the sweat we see that glistens from the women and man's forehead. Our initial judgement is that Peloton encourages us to break a sweat. This is an example of a specific cue such as rewards and punishment, but more so the rewarding part. The Ad and video are both made in a way to allow us to anticipate and yearn for the rewarding feeling we'll feel after utilizing a Peloton bike which in turn is one thing the Peloton stands for in attempts to persuasion methods. In turn, this cue is tangible in a way that it is usually linked to agreement with the advocate's position (Griffen et., al 2019) which in this case is Peloton.

4.   Cognitive Dissonance :  Now, let's say that I were to purchase this product for myself. The dissonant feeling I would encounter is my unwillingness to actually use the product . Factors such as the magnitude of dissonance can factor into this as well. In my instance, I can relate to degree of importance that focuses on how significant the issue affects the degree of dissonance felt. In this case, the Peloton machine holds no true importance to me. Although I may want to get active from time to time, I feel as though I still wouldn't be as motivated to use the machine even if it were in front of me. While the idea of getting active interests me and buying the product correlate, what I actually do with the product ( my actions) won't align thus creating dissonance.