Understanding the Elaboration Likelihood Model in Persuasion

Elaboration Likelihood Model

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) describes different possibilities of thinking and assumes that there are various ways of processing messages. The effects of the message depend on how it is processed, which varies for each individual and is characterized by the effort someone puts into processing.

Central Route: This route involves effortful cognitive activity through processing. It requires thinking about the message and is a mindful process. Individuals actively generate favorable or unfavorable thoughts in response to persuasive communication, examining information with their relevant experiences and knowledge. This route is only possible if the person has both the motivation and the ability to engage. The attitude change through the central route is well integrated into a person’s cognitive structure, easily accessible from memory, held with high confidence, resistant to change, and persistent over time. The outcome can be a central positive change or a central negative change.

Peripheral Route: When motivation or ability to thoroughly process the information is low, individuals take the peripheral route, which involves heuristic thinking. In this case, only simple cues influence attitudes, leading to simple inferences (e.g., “He is an expert; he must be right”). This route depends on factors such as credibility, expertise, and attractiveness of the source. Additionally, the responses of other people serve as validity cues (e.g., “If so many agree, it must be right”). The attitude change through the peripheral route can be more powerful in the short term but is not very enduring; it can be easily changed, and feelings about the source can shift.

In situations where we cannot decide about something, we unconsciously take one of the routes to process information. This decision is also dependent on the speaker's characteristics, such as likability and attractiveness. When exposed to messages, we determine how elaborately we process the information or how overwhelmed we are by the peripheral route. Most of the time, we process information heuristically. Semantic processing is an exception, often because we are lazy. We only begin to think systematically when we notice that something is not working as we wanted.

Identification of the Source: Trump

Personal Relevance

Balance Theory: This theory posits that if I like someone and that person supports a politician, I am also inclined to like that politician to maintain balance. These are heuristic processes.