COMM 2760 SPRING 2019 1/10

Persuasion and Social Influence COMM 2760 Spring 2019

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:40-9:55AM, 251 Malott Hall

Teaching Team Professor: Neil A. Lewis, Jr. ([email protected]) Office: 467 Mann Library Building Office Hours: Mondays 3:00-4:30PM & Tuesdays 10:00-10:30AM

Graduate TAs: [Redacted] [##] Mann Library Building Wednesdays 8:50-10:50AM

[Redacted] [##] Mann Library Building Mondays 9:00-11:00AM

Undergraduate TAs: [Redacted] [Redacted]

Required Texts Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and Practice, 5th Edition

Assigned articles will be posted on Canvas (https://canvas.cornell.edu)

Course Description and Goals

This course will provide you with an introduction to the exciting field of and Social Influence, the scientific study of how people are influenced by the real or imagined presence of others. This interdisciplinary course features interactive lectures and readings to help students master and apply principles of influence to a variety of situations. Along the way, your intuitions will be challenged as we consider classic and emerging findings on the ways that we affect – and are affected by – other people.

Summary of course goals and student learning outcomes:

This course will help students to:

1. Gain understanding of basic theories of persuasion and social influence 2. Learn how to apply theories of persuasion and social influence in a variety of real- world settings. COMM 2760 SPRING 2019 2/10

3. Develop abilities to critically process persuasive messages and make informed decisions in everyday life. 4. Increase skills in working in teams. 5. Improve abilities in designing persuasive messages

The following course requirements are intended to facilitate the above goals.

Course Format, Requirements and Assessment

Course format. Class time will be devoted to lectures that provide the foundation for the course’s more applied work. You will get much more out of the class and be able to better understand and actively engage with the lecture material if you complete assigned readings before lecture.

Requirements and Assessments. There are five categories of course assessments:

Written Reflections (10% of course grade)

Coming to lecture prepared to engage with the material benefits your learning and that of your classmates. Thus, 10% of your course grade reflects your effort in coming to lecture prepared to engage. On several unannounced days during the semester, you will be asked to complete a written reflection – a short writing task in which you reflect on a specific prompt about the reading and/or lecture material. These will be graded on a complete/incomplete basis; if you are not in class or do not submit a written reflection during the announced time period, you will receive a zero. Because we understand that students sometimes need to miss lecture for various reasons, you can miss two (and only two) without penalty, no questions asked. No one will submit a written reflection on behalf of another student; doing so will be treated as a serious violation of Cornell’s code of academic integrity.

Research Synthesis for Policy Makers (15% of course grade, due February 7)

When policy makers – for instance, in business or government – want to set policies to influence constituents, they sometimes turn to social science to find out what research suggests about how to effectively change behavior. As scholars who have just learned how: the mere presence of others, conformity, social norms, compliance, and obedience influence people, your task in this assignment is to write a 5-page (excluding title page and references) APA-style paper synthesizing this research to make recommendations to policy makers trying to change a behavior of your choice. The paper should summarize the key lessons from the topics outlined above and make policy recommendations, making it clear why – given the evidence you learned about - those recommendations should lead to intended changes in behavior. I will provide a few samples of such syntheses on Canvas.

Preliminary Exam (15% of course grade, in class on February 21)

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The preliminary exam will cover all lectures and readings from the first day of class through cognitive consistency theories of attitudes. The exam will consist of 50 multiple choice questions.

Op-Ed (10% of course grade, due March 28)

One way to influence public opinion on a large scale is to write op-eds for newspapers. For this assignment your task is to write an op-ed of approximately 600 words to persuade the public to shift their attitudes about a social, political, educational, or cultural issue of your choice. For this assignment, please draw on the research we have covered since the preliminary exam (Attitude-Behavior Link, Attitude Change, Dual Process Models, Emotion and Persuasion). Assignment details will be available on Canvas.

Concise Persuasive Message (5% of course grade, due April 23)

As we will discuss, not all audiences are motivated or able to read your lengthy prose (e.g., a research paper or even an op-ed). Some are busy and thus you have limited time and space to persuade them. If you are in that situation, as you likely will be some day, you will need to generate a concise message to persuade your audience. That is your final writing assignment: to write a 280-character (including spaces!) message that can use any of the lessons you’ve learned throughout the course to persuade a broad audience to change a behavior you believe is important. Beneath the message, write a paragraph explaining which principles you used to construct your message and why you chose to use those principles.

Group Projects (20% of course grade)

Throughout the semester, you will work collaboratively (in groups of 5 or 6) on a project that applies theories of persuasion and social influence to help change behavior in a way that can benefit our society. Specifically, you can draw on any three theories covered in the course to design an original persuasive message to help achieve one of the following outcomes: (1) decreasing the use of cell phones while driving, (2) decreasing the overconsumption of alcohol, (3) increasing physical activity, or (4) increasing political participation. Sometime soon, you will be asked to report your three most-preferred topics in rank order, which will help the teaching team compose groups with shared interests. Your group will be responsible for (i) meeting regularly, (ii) submitting progress reports, (iii) collaborating to create a theoretically-informed message strategy, (iv) writing an original 15-page APA-style research paper, and (v) presenting your project to the entire class in an 8-minute PowerPoint-style presentation (details to follow).

Final Exam (25% of course grade, During Exam Period: May 14, 7:00PM)

The final exam will cover all presented in the course (i.e., it will be comprehensive). The format will again be a 50-question multiple choice test. COMM 2760 SPRING 2019 4/10

Final Grade Assignments

Over 99% A+ 87-89% B+ 77-79% C+ 67-69% D+ 93-99% A 83-86% B 73-76% C 63-66% D 90-92% A- 80-82% B- 70-72% C- 60-62% D- Below 60 F Optional Extra Credit

You may earn up to 2% worth of extra credit by participating in approved research studies through the Communication/Information Science Participant Pool (https://cornell-comm.sona-systems.com/) (1 SONA credit = 0.5% extra credit)

Academic integrity

Each student in this course is expected to abide by the Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity at all times. Any work submitted by a student in this course must be that student’s own work. All outside assistance should be reported, and the work of others should be properly cited. Although there may be cultural differences in standards and definitions regarding academic integrity, in this class we apply the Cornell University standards.

Misrepresenting another's work as your own means submitting or presenting somebody else's words or ideas without proper attribution. Proper attribution includes quotation marks and page numbers for any words taken directly from any piece of another author's work, and/or a citation when you have paraphrased or summarized somebody else's work. Sources need not be published to be cited; any document that you use as a source – even if you are the author - must be cited or attributed in this way.

In accordance with the Department of Communication’s Academic Integrity Policy, any student in this class suspected of plagiarism or cheating on tests or assignments will have a primary hearing. If found guilty, the student will receive a failing grade on the assignment in question and a reduction in the overall course grade, and the results of the hearing will be reported to the CALS Academic Integrity Board.

Late Policy

We consider deadlines to be the last opportunity to submit work, not the first. Work not submitted by the stated deadline will receive an initial 10% deduction. An additional 5% deduction will be assessed for every full calendar day that it is late thereafter.

Grade Appeals Policy

Sometimes students receive a grade they deem unfair. If this happens, we request that you take at least 24 hours to review the original assignment description and what you submitted. If you still feel your grade is unfair after that, we invite you to explain your reasoning to one of the Graduate Teaching Assistants. It is possible that a simple grading error was made COMM 2760 SPRING 2019 5/10 that can easily be fixed. After that discussion, if you continue to believe that the grade was unfair, you may submit a formal request for a re-grade.

A formal request for a re-grade requires: (1) A 1-page explanation detailing why you feel your work should be re-graded and (2) Your original ungraded work. Professor Lewis will personally conduct all re-grade requests, and his grade – higher or lower - will be the final grade for the assignment. Requests for re-grades must be submitted within one week after the assignment has been returned.

Accommodations

If you have circumstances that require alternate testing accommodations or other classroom modifications, please let Professor Lewis know as soon as possible, preferably by the end of the second week of class (so that we can submit requests for alternate testing rooms). Exam dates and other major assessments should be listed in all of your course syllabi. Please plan ahead and let Professor Lewis know at least two weeks before an exam if you require alternative arrangements (e.g., if this will be your third exam within 24 hours) and we will do our best to accommodate.

Laptop/Technology Policy

Recent research suggests that the use of laptops in the classroom can negatively affect learning for both students using laptops and others around them1. If you choose to use a laptop or similar technology in this class to take notes, please turn off the internet access and limit your usage to word processors and other note-taking software.

Counseling Resources

It is quite common for students to experience stressful events at some point during their academic career. Students sometimes experience depression, anxiety, family stress, the loss of loved ones, financial strain, and other stressors. It is perfectly normal for students to seek the service of mental health professionals to provide them with support and skills to cope with these experiences. Below we have provided the contact information for some of the mental health services available to Cornell University students so that you will know where you can go if you or a friend would like to take advantage of these resources.

Cornell Health: 110 Ho Plaza, Ithaca, NY 14853-3101, Phone: (607) 255-5155

If you require a short-term accommodation, please let Professor Lewis (and your academic advisor) know as soon as possible.

1 Ravizza, S. M., Uitvlugt, M. G., & Fenn, K. M. (2017). Logged in and zoned out: How laptop internet use relates to classroom learning. Psychological Science, 28, 171-180. COMM 2760 SPRING 2019 6/10

Course Schedule

Jan 22 Welcome, Overview, & Refresher on Social Science Research Methods Today we will do a broad overview of the course and have a brief refresher on common methods used in social science research and their implications for what we can and cannot conclude from the studies you will read.

Jan 24 Mere Presence & Conformity Today we will cover foundational research on how the mere presence of other people influences our behavior. We will also discuss studies on how social pressures to conform influence our behavior.

Reading: Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and Practice, Chapter 1.

Markus, H. (1978). The Effect of Mere Presence on Social Facilitation: An Unobtrusive Test. Journal of Experimental , 14, 389- 397.

Jan 29 Social Norms Part of the reason other people influence us is due to norms about how we actually or ought to behave in certain situations. Today we will begin discussing research on those normative processes.

Reading: Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and Practice, Chapter 4.

Jan 31 Social Norms, continued Last time I hopefully persuaded you that social norms exist and matter for behavior. A lingering question though, is where those norms come from – who gets to set norms, and how can they be changed? That is today’s topic.

Reading: Tankard, M., & Paluck, E. L. (2017). The effect of a supreme court decision regarding gay marriage on social norms and personal attitudes. Psychological Science, 28(9), 1334-1344.

Feb 5 Compliance & Obedience In addition to normative…suggestions…another way that people influence us is by making direct requests or outright ordering us to do things. Today we will talk about research on those topics, and its implications for some rather important social outcomes.

Reading: Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and Practice, Chapter 6. COMM 2760 SPRING 2019 7/10

Feb 7 Guest Lecture: PhD Candidate Samuel Hardman Taylor: Interventions in the Virtual World

Assignment Due: Research Synthesis

Feb 12 Attitude Theory I – Origins and Functions Today we will begin our new unit on attitudes – we will talk about what attitudes are and why we care about them.

Reading: Ajzen, I. (2001). Nature and operation of attitudes. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 27-58

Feb 14 Attitude Theory I, continued We will continue our discussion of attitude theory but spend some time diving into different measures of attitudes (particularly explicit vs. implicit measures) and what they can/cannot tell us about attitudes.

Short “Homework”: Please go to Project Implicit (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/) and complete any implicit association test before coming to class. It will be useful for our discussion.

Feb 19 Attitude Theory II – Cognitive Consistency Today we will cover the various theories about what happens when we realize that our attitudes are inconsistent with each other or are inconsistent with our behaviors.

Reading: Harmon-Jones, E., Harmon-Jones, C., & Levy, N. (2015). An Action-Based Model of Cognitive-Dissonance Processes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(3), 184-189.

Feb 21 Preliminary Exam – In Class

Feb 26 NO CLASS, FEBRUARY BREAK

Feb 28 The Attitude-Behavior Link One of the reasons behavioral scientists care about attitudes is that knowing people’s attitudes should ostensibly tell us something about how they will behave. The next two lectures will cover studies about the conditions under which attitudes do or do not predict behavior.

Reading: LaPiere, R. T. (1934). Attitudes vs. action. Social Forces, 13, 230-237.

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Mar 5 The Attitude-Behavior Link, continued

Reading: Glasman, L. R., & Albarracin, D. (2006). Forming attitudes that predict future behavior: a meta-analysis of the attitude-behavior relation. Psychological Bulletin, 132(5), 778-822.

Mar 7 Guest Lecture: PhD Candidate Motasem Kalaji

Mar 12 Attitude Change: Source Characteristics If we want to change people’s attitudes, one of the things we have to think about is who delivers the message. Some people are more persuasive than others…today we’ll cover research on what makes a messenger persuasive.

Reading: Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and Practice, Chapter 5.

Dal Cin, S., Stoolmiller, M., & Sargent, J. D. (2013). Exposure to smoking in movies and smoking initiation among Black youth. American Journal of Prevention Medicine, 44, 345-350.

Mar 14 Attitude Change: Audience Characteristics Last time we discussed what makes a messenger persuasive, today we’ll discuss what makes an audience amenable to persuasion.

Reading: Pennycook, G., Cheyne, J. A., Barr, N., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2015). On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit. Judgment and Decision Making, 10(6), 549-563.

Mar 19 Dual Process Models The next two lectures will complicate what we talked about last week. To effectively persuade people to change their attitudes requires not only a persuasive messenger and a receptive audience, but a more nuanced understanding of the important “three-way interaction” between the message, the messenger, and the audience. We’ll spend the next two lectures covering models of these interactions.

Reading: Chaiken, S. (1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 752-766.

Mar 21 Dual Process Models, continued

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Mar 26 Emotion and Persuasion So far, we have discussed persuasion as if it happens through purely “rational” processes void of emotion. Obviously, that’s silly – emotions are an important part of life and also play a role in persuasion. Today we’ll discuss when/how emotions matter for different kinds of persuasion attempts.

Reading: Skurka, C., Niederdeppe, J., Romero-Canyas, R., & Acup, D. (2018). Pathways of influence in emotional appeals: Benefits and tradeoffs of using fear or humor to produce climate change-related intentions and risk perceptions. Journal of Communication, 68, 169-193.

Mar 28 Group Influence We often behave quite differently when we are in groups than when we are alone. Today talk about the ways in which groups influence our behavior and how those processes vary depending on whether we are in the majority or minority of the group.

Assignment Due: Op-Ed

Apr 2-4 NO CLASS, SPRING BREAK

Apr 9 Narrative and Transportation Many of the persuasion techniques we have discussed so far have focused on persuasive rhetoric. It turns out that rhetoric is not always the best approach, and constructing narratives can be more persuasive under certain conditions. We will talk about those conditions today.

Reading: Nabi, R., & Green, M. C. (2015). The role of a narrative’s emotional flow in promoting persuasive outcomes. Media Psychology, 18(2), 137-162.

Apr 11 Media and Aggression One popular narrative over the past few decades is that the media has been making people more aggressive. Today we will examine the evidence for/against that idea.

Reading: Elson, M., & Ferguson, C. J. (2014). Twenty-Five Years of Research on Violence in Digital Games and Aggression: Empirical Evidence, Perspectives, and a Debate Gone Astray. European Psychologist, 19, 33-46.

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Apr 16 Practical Topics #1: Climate Change Communication Now that we have covered the core theoretical perspectives on persuasion and social influence, we will spend the last few lectures applying them to pressing social issues. We will begin this final unit by discussing how to talk about climate change and other risks that, for various reasons, are difficult to process/understand.

Reading: Schuldt, J. P., McComas, K. A., & Burge, C. A. (in press). Intersecting frames in communicating environmental risk and uncertainty. Journal of Risk Research.

Apr 18 Practical Topics #2: Political Communication A lot has been written about modern political discourse. Today we will dive into classic and contemporary research on effects of different political communication techniques.

Reading: Frimer, J. A., & Skitka, L. J. (2018). The Montagu Principle: Incivility Decreases Politicians’ Public Approval, Even With Their Political Base. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 115(5), 845-866.

Apr 23 Practical Topics #3: Romantic Relationships Ok fine, this final lecture is not really about “pressing social issues.” But I suspect you might find the research on persuasion and romance interesting.

Reading: Joel, S., MacDonald, G., & Plaks, J. E. (2013). Romantic Relationships Conceptualized as a Judgment and Decision-Making Domain. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(6), 461-465.

Assignment Due: Concise Persuasive Message (and explanation).

Apr 25-May 7 Group Presentations For the rest of the semester, I will stop talking and listen to your persuasive messages about decreasing the use of cell phones while driving, decreasing the overconsumption of alcohol, increasing physical activity, and increasing political participation.

May 14 Final Exam