How The Elaboration Likelihood Model Helps Craft Persuasive Appeals
According to this article by Simply Psychology, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), attempts to explain how people process stimuli differently. This model suggests that there are two routes to persuasion: peripheral and central, which are separated by the elaboration, been either low or high respectively. In the central route, motivation and ability is high; their attitudes and efforts are strong. In the peripheral route, it’s the opposite. In more lamens terms to differentiate between them, the central route uses deep thinking and understanding, logic and quality of what’s being said to carefully weight through the pros and cons to make a decision, while the peripheral route, tends to be influenced from outside factors or by cues that don’t have to do anything to do with the message like how someone may look or how confidently they’re speaking.
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When it comes to me, if also seen myself as the central route, however I’m human, I make mistakes just like everyone, and upon re-examining myself and looking back, I notice that more often than not I take the peripheral route. However, over the years I’ve learn, educated myself, and changed my ways into using and thinking the central route way, I’m not always perfect, and I still have tendencies from time to time of the peripheral route, but I try my best to think logically, quality, weight the pros and cons, instead of being influenced by outside factors like pay attention to someone because they’re attractive or because they’re speaking very confidently.
Now as for how this model and theory would help me craft persuasive appeals, it really depends on the kind of persuasive appeal and the audience that is aimed for. For example, if I’m creating a persuasive appeal to get a group of people to like to buy a certain product, I will try to influence them using the central part of route. I won’t use the peripheral part of the route mainly because one, they would probably see right through me as they’re thinking from a logical point of view weighing the pros and cons and for them they really want to see the value that it being presented to them in the product I’m offering. If I were to use the peripheral route, it would be towards an audience that’s not thinking rationally, quality and logical. In this scenario I would be taking advantage of them because I would be trying to sell a product that’s really beneficial, and I would do everything I can to get them to buy it, without having them see or thinking logically about how the product isn’t what it seems to be; I’m just selling them something for the sake it for their money. For this I would try to play into their motions in various ways to get them to not thinking in the central route, by talking in a certain tone or manner or presenting myself with a certain charm or favorable way and gets to forget logically, and rationally.
