THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSUASION KNOWLEDGE

Perspective Taking

• An ability to take the other's perspective is critical to social communication competencies. - And thus to persuasion.

• Perspective-taking skills begin to emerge by age 5.

• They are incomplete for some years afterwards.

Credibility

• "the quality, capability, or power to elicit belief"

• Reverence for the age size and power of authority figures

Birth to age 3

Survival depends of getting what they need from caregivers. Human beings are biologically predisposed to respond to each other.

• Babies respond to the pattern of the human face
• Great imitators

• Adults are responsive to the large eyes, large forehead, small chin pattern of the infant face.
• Adults are responsive to cries

Tend to think in terms of "communication" rather than "persuasion"

4 - 5 Year olds understand that:

• - the mind is distinct from "the world"

• - emotions and fantasies are wholly internal events.

• - beliefs and desires are different from behavior

• - beliefs and desires together cause behavior

• - people can hold beliefs which differ from their own

• - beliefs can be false.

• "NO"

• May not have a clear sense of which types of persuasion "work" (i.e. try everything)

  • "I'll be your friend"
  • "I won't be your friend"
  • "I'll tell."
  • "I won't tell."

Ages 6 - 7

They realize that what goes on inside each person's mind (psychological processes) affects people's beliefs.

This enables them to begin learning about/doing strategic presentation of information to influence people's beliefs and behavior.

Children learn to manipulate information more "skillfully."

They learn to produce different effects on another's behavior by

• giving information
• concealing some information
• by misinforming
• by being strategically ambiguous

The use of higher levels of perspective-taking takes a large jump between 6-9.

From six to ten, children develop more complex methods for judging credibility

• Consider knowledgability, status and social position.

• Children can now judge an authority figure to be an incompetent communicator.

Use of tactics to resist complying with parents' or peers' requests increase in variety

Increasingly complex (contingent) thinking about the causes and effects of their own and others' persuasion attempts

• e.g., What works for Mom doesn't work with Dad.

Six to 12

Practice - Practice - Practice!!

Interactions with parents and peers provide the venues for learning about and practicing persuasion behaviors.

Parents who use power in compliance episodes create children who are relatively less skilled at social influence

Parents who offer hints or explanations about persuasion tactics, provide a training ground from which their children can apply newly learned persuasion tactics.

Kids and Mass Media Persuasion

Why do advertisers care about kids as consumers?

• 4 - 12 year olds spend $6.2 billion a year.

• 12 - 19 year olds spend $55 billion a year.

• Total impact of teens is $250 billion a year.

• Kids are also the customers of the future.
  • Brand recognition and preference can begin as early as 2 years of age.

What do we know about kids and advertising?

Viewing Behavior:

• 2 - 11 year olds see approximately 40,000 commercials per year.

• Younger children don't discriminate between programming and commercials.

• They don't "break away" from ads when they come on.

• By 9 - 10 years of age, kids can clearly articulate principles of advertising and express opinions about "fairness." They can draw on experience with misleading ads

Effects of ads on Attitudes and Behavior:

• Preferences for snack foods (sugar, fat)

• "Requests" for products - parent/child conflict

• Imitation of actions - programs and commercials

• Materialism

• Gender stereotyping

Knowledge & Credibility:

• Knowledge about advertising increases with age.

• Mistrust and skepticism increase with age.

ELEMENTS OF ADVERTISING

Language - Disclaimers

• Part of this nutritious breakfast

• Sold separately

• Assembly required

• Batteries not included

Product Claims

• Special effects can mislead about what the product can do.

• Unrealistic benefits - status, popularity, growth...

• Use of minimization words (e.g., "just" or "only")

Premiums, Sweepstakes, Promotions, Kids Clubs

Spokesperson - animated characters, program personalities, celebrities

OTHER SPECIAL CASES

900/976 Teleprograms

• children's conception of time
• "automatic" tone dialing
• appropriate language
• self-contained programming
• accidental access to "adult" programming