Social Psychology Essay Sample: Paths to Persuasion, Impression Management, Spin Doctoring and Propaganda

The Paths to Persuasion in the Global Warming Case

The Global warming case extensively employs the peripheral route and the central route paths to persuasion. In particular, the peripheral route to persuasion is seen in this case since the left with the decision of whether to agree with the message passed depending on how the source appears to them. More specifically, in this case, one of the communicators, the hydrocarbon producers, have their credibility lessened against various other communicators such as Greenpeace. This is because their messages on global warming are delivered via channels such as print media, the television, and YouTube, among others. Similarly, Al Gore's movie and book, "An Inconvenient Truth" created a lot of buzz among the public and hence making them talk a lot about the issue of global warming. On the other hand, the central route path of persuasion is exemplified in this case owing to the fact that people are more globally conscious of the different issues that concern our planet today, as compared to several decades ago. It is evident that people take a lot of concerns on matters relating to protecting our planet today. This being the case, global warming, its causes, and different ways to reduce our carbon footprint are of great concern to the public. The people's attitude towards global warming will in most cases remain unchanged owing to the fact that "early-adult experiences are formative partly because they make deep lasting impressions" (Myers, 2008).

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How the Tobacco Industry Fits into Our Understanding of Impression Management

The tobacco industry example is an excellent one since it helps show what impression management really is. In this regard, impression management is the manner in which people influence how other people think about something else, in most cases, themselves. For instance, the tobacco industry was forced to place negative health warnings on their products in 1966. Bearing in mind that these negative health warnings would have an adverse impact of the industry, the industry decided to offset and distract the negative attention by giving scholarships and grants as a way of developing the community. Besides, the industry also started advertising in popular events which helped them engage in a positive way, and hence overshadowing the negative health warnings. Thus, drawing from this conceptual base, it is evident that, through impressive management, most businesses, like the tobacco industry, want to make themselves appear as good as possible, especially to their current and potential investors.

Spin Doctoring and Propaganda (The Weapons of Mass Destruction Case)

In my opinion, spin-doctoring and propaganda are alike. This is exemplified by the fact that, the authentic information offered in propaganda is always mattered or in some cases, no presented to manage the various impressions of a certain case. Thus, concerning the case on weapons of mass destruction, the United States propagated information, propaganda, which insisted that Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, and hence proving the point that they must intervene. However, with time, the propaganda proved to be untrue, and therefore, the focus immediately shifted towards the claim that the Iraqi citizens would need help from the United States, to liberate them from Saddam Hussein's dictatorial rule. Thus, like spin doctoring, propaganda, for instance, the one that revolved around Saddam Hussein's case, means shifting a certain kind of focus off the negative aspects and replacing the aspect with one that has more positive connotations (Lieb, Osten-Sacken, Stoffers-Winterling, Reiss, & Barth, 2016).

References

Lieb, K., Osten-Sacken, J. V., Stoffers-Winterling, J., Reiss, N., & Barth, J. (2016). Conflicts of interest and spin in reviews of psychological therapies: a systematic review. BMJ Open, 6(4), e010606. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010606

Myers, D. G. (2008). Social Psychology. McGraw-Hill College.