Seeing+the+Elaboration+Likelihood+Model+in+Action

=Conclusion of Our Studies=

====Through our studies using our articles we have been able to see how the Elaboration Likelihood Model theory is being applied to studies conducted today. Each of our articles used the two routes of persuasion to see weather when consumers are being persuaded, if they think deep into the issue or they make decisions without much thinking. Researchers found that by applying a popular demand like environmental friendly products, or celebrity endorsed products that consumers chose the central route and was persuaded with very little thinking. But when people chose the peripheral route, they were either skeptic, or held very strong biased about the product when making their choice. Through these studies, we were able to see how people are persuaded into making decisions, using the ELM theory.====

=Analysis of Our Studies=

====Richard Petty and John Cacioppo says that in order to determine people’s Elaboration Likelihood, they must be able to be motivated, and also have the ability to elaborate. We found this to be true through a study conducted to see what the effects of advertising were on young children under 8. They split the test into three categories between advertisements involvement, information processing of advertisements, and advertisement efficacy in children and tested over 300 kids. They found that because children under 8 were not able to motivate or have the ability to elaborate, they were not able to choose either the central route or the peripheral route in the ELM theory and thus cannot be really persuaded by advertisements. This article helped us see that unless the person can motivate or be able to elaborate, they will not be able to choose a route of persuasion.==== ====Another article we studied, helped us understand how the two persuasion routes in the Elaboration Likelihood Model are compared and used in society today. They used the central route and the peripheral route. The article did this by trying to find out why computer users who own a Microsoft Windows operating system would not switch to any other operation systems. They tested the theory by trying to figure out which persuasion route is used by other operating systems for Windows computer users. They found that the other operating system companies use the central route and try to convince Windows users to compare which is better. Because the central route involves a type of process known as message elaboration, where the person has to carefully think about the argument presented, they do not provide specific comparisons. Because the user does not understand or try to understand the new system, they end up staying with Windows. In this article the ELM theory is applied to help us understand how the two routes are used in different situations.====

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In the third article, researchers try to see if adding environmental information to marketing products persuaded the consumers in buying the product. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model theory, researchers try to see if by adding the environmental information, did consumers choose the central route or if they choose the peripheral route and looked into detail before purchasing the product. They found that when marketers add not only environmental information but also anything popular to the product, consumers tend to lean towards the central route. They are persuaded by the fact that something popular is added on to the product, like environmental process. Instead of weighing their options and looking deep into the product, they automatically persuaded into paying more attention to the product because it adds a unique feature. This article showed us that not always do consumers choose the peripheral route and think hard before purchasing the product. Also, when they choose the central route, consumers pay more attention to advertisements and commercials for the products.=====

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In the fourth article, we learned about the best ways persuade a certain demographic to become aware about issues of HIV/AIDS. In this case the researchers looked into African American youths through Public Service Announcements. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model, they tested both high involvement messages and low involvement messages, using celebrities, and also used high and low involvement messages using non-celebrity PSA commercials to see how the African America youth would respond. Similar to the previous study, researchers found that the message content wasn’t a factor but the celebrity status was the factor that persuaded change in African American youth. They found that when they put a celebrity in the PSA commercials, people chose the central route and without much thinking, wanted to get more information about HIV/AIDS issues. This study showed us that applying popular celebrities to the PSA message would automatically persuade people persuaded into looking into the issue, no matter what the message is.=====

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Finally, we looked at an article that looked at how individuals are broken into either the central route or peripheral route. They collected a total of 278 undergraduate college students and asked them their opinions on what they felt about online reviews about certain products. They found that those with low skepticism usually fell towards the peripheral route, because they usually accepted or rejected the online review without much thinking. Instead of trying to figure out what the reviews said, they only looked at the amount of reviews that were given and decided the more reviews the higher popularity on the product. On the other hand, we were able to see that high skeptic individuals had to take a longer amount of time to judge the product and took the central route. Those that had high skepticism chose to consider a couple of factors like the credibility of the source, and the argument quality. Through this article, we have seen that the ELM theory is important in order to be able to categorize certain ways of thinking when being persuaded.=====  

