EMOTIONS AND PERSUASION

Are thoughts and feelings fundamentally different from one another?

• development

• behavior

• subjective experience

• culture

Emotional Responses have four components:

• physiological responses
  
• subjective experience
  
• cognitive labeling
  
• behavioral indicators

Emotions are motivating, they have a strong connection to action tendencies.
(e.g., approach/avoidance)

Different "levels" of affective response:

• Emotions

• Moods

• Evaluations

Characteristics of emotions:

• Develop, evolve, and dissipate over time
  • startle.....surprise......fear......phobia

• Vary in levels of arousal
  • pleased......happy......joyful.....elated

• Linked to cognitive processes
  • labeling our subjective experience
    
  • labeling our physiological responses
    
  • meanings that we give to events
    

Information can be presented in words or pictures that have affective meanings:

• girl/boyfriend...lover...beloved
  
• opponent...competitor...enemy
  

These affective meanings enhance the "vividness" of the information, which in turn triggers affective responses.

Relationships between affect and cognition are usually curvilinear:

• attention

• cognitive capacity

• memorability

• personal relevance

Types of affective tactics that many persuasive messages use:

Negative Emotional Appeals/Tactics:

• Fear

• Guilt

• Disgust

• Anger

Positive Emotional Appeals/Tactics

• Humor

• Happiness

• Sensuality/Sexuality

Combinations of positive & negative