CMST 526: SOCIAL INFLUENCE, PERSUASION, AND COMPLIANCE-GAINING
Resisting Persuasion
Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut
McGuire’s (1961) Inoculation theory reveals that resistance to future challenges to attitudes and beliefs has defenses against potential threats. In this motivational strategy, arguments must be strong enough to support current views but weak enough not to make the receiver dismiss the counterargument. (“Inoculation Theory,” 2022)
“A way of gaining creditable persuasion by presenting positive and negative messages with information about the claims.
“When you’re trying the hardest to get your message across by focusing only on the strengths of your own arguments when you’re most passionate and enthusiastic about your own position, you are not as persuasive as when you give some air time to the other side.” (Malcom, 2014)
But you can’t just give negative feedback, and you also have to support your positive message.
I was racking my brain for an example, and this is what came to mind. “Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don’t” (The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV), 2008). In this classic commercial, the want of a crunchy nut becomes an inoculation for a candy bar.
Central Truisms
“That’s just the way it is. Somethings will never change.” (Bruce Hornsby, 2012)
My take is that Central Truisms is a form of brainwashing. It’s like your narcissistic mother-in-law repeatedly puts you down, and eventually, you believe it. Bruce Hornsby’s song highlights cultural variances that seem unchangeable.
“Said, hey little boy you can’t go where the others go
‘Cause you don’t look like they do
Said, hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules?”
This one stanza brings to point decades of struggle. Society has made so many advances, but the underlying meaning is still poignant, and we have a long way to go to absolve this attitude.
References:
Bruce Hornsby. (2012, October 15). Bruce Hornsby & The Range—The Way It Is (Official Video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOeKidp-iWo
Inoculation theory. (2022). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inoculation_theory&oldid=1070745216
Malcom, J. (2014, July). One-Sided vs. Two-Sided Arguments |. http://jackmalcolm.com/2014/07/one-sided-vs-two-sided-arguments/
McGuire, W. J. (1961). Resistance to persuasion conferred by active and passive prior refutation of the same and alternative counterarguments. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(2), 326–332. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0048344
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV). (2008, April 14). Peter Paul Almond Joy & Mounds—”Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut… School Edition” (1980). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVKUap1HgU