Influence & Social Judgement Theory Tara Wilkinson-McClean. PhD Candidate
Media + Communications Lecturer
Influence • Immediacy
• Personal Involvement
• Nonverbal Messages
Social Judgement Theory - Key Words• Social Judgement Involvement
• Latitude of Acceptance
• Latitude of Rejection
• Latitude of Non-commitment
• Ego Involvement
• Contrast
• Assimilation
• Boomerang Effect
• Reference Groups
• Pluralistic Ignorance
Social Judgement Involvement“We weigh every new idea by comparing it with our present point of
view”
Latitude of Attitude
Acceptance
Rejection
NonCommit
ment
Ego Involvement
Importance or centrality of an issue in a person’s life
Two Step Mental Process
Judging the
Message2 Step Mental Process
Discrepancy &
Attitude Change
Occurs Below Consciousness
Contrast vs. Assimilation
Contrast Assimilation
Latitude of AcceptanceIf we judge a message to be within our latitude of acceptance. We will
adjust our attitude somewhat to accommodate the new input. The persuasive effect will be positive but partial. We won’t travel the whole
distance, but there will be some measurable movement toward the speaker’s perceived position.
Latitude of RejectionIf we judge a message to be within our latitude of rejection. We will adjust our attitude away from what the speaker is advocating. Since people who are highly ego-involved in a topic have a broad range of rejection, most messages aimed to persuade them are in danger of
actually driving them further away.
Boomerang EffectAttitude change in the opposite direction of what the message
advocates; listeners driven away from rather than drawn to an idea.
Reference GroupsThe only way to stimulate large-scale change is through a series of small, successive movements. Persuasion is a gradual process. It’s
also a social process.
Pluralistic IgnoranceThe mistaken idea that everyone else is doing or thinking something
that they aren’t
Critique• Practical Utility
• Prediction of Future
• Explanation of Data
• Quantitative Research
• Testable Hypothesis