INVOLVEMENT
a state if energy (arousal) that a person experiences in regard to a consumption-related activity

Involvement is often thought of as a

• continuum of personal relevance
• continuum of a willingness to expend effort

This continuum is anchored by

• HIGH involvement
• LOW involvement

HIGH INVOLVEMENT

• high levels of energy are aroused within the consumer

• this energy is directed toward some particular consumer activity

A person under conditions of high involvement is likely to be thinking more or feeling more strongly.

LOW INVOLVEMENT

• lower levels of energy are aroused within the consumer

• the consumer will invest less energy into their thoughts or feelings

ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL

    Central Route<============>Peripheral Route

     "thoughtful"<============> "mindless"

• proposes that people are neither universally "thoughtful" in evaluating a persuasive message nor universally "mindless"

• central and peripheral routes represent positions on a continuous dimension ranging from high to low elaboration likelihood

CENTRAL ROUTE

When the person has the motivation and ability to engage in issue-relevant thinking:

• elaboration likelihood is said to be high

• person is likely to scrutinize and elaborate upon the message, draw inferences

• person will tend to engage in effortful thinking about the issue

Outcome:
this is expected to result in an attitude change that is more enduring, more temporally stable, more accessible in memory

PERIPHERAL ROUTE

As various factors in the situation reduce a person's motivation or ability to think about an issue:

• the elaboration likelihood is said to be low

• person will tend to avoid effortful thinking about the issue

• person will conserve cognitive resources or expend them on some other irrelevant task

• person will tend to engage in a superficial analysis of the issue, drawing a "reasonable" attitude based on non-issue-relevant cues

Outcome:
this is expected to result in an attitude change that is less enduring, less temporally stable, less accessible in memory

When a message is on an issue of HIGH involvement or prior knowledge:

• the message content will become a more important determinant of persuasion

• it will be more difficult to find any effects of source credibility

• more thinking will occur in response to a source of high credibility than of low credibility

• thinking will be guided primarily by the quality of the arguments presented in the communication

• highly credible speakers will be more persuasive than speakers of low credibility primarily for appeals with strong arguments

• the credibility effect should be attenuated or reversed for appeals with weak arguments or no arguments

When a message is on an issue of LOW involvement or prior knowledge:

• more thinking will occur in response to a source of low credibility than of high credibility

• this thinking will be guided primarily by the person's preexisting attitude on the issue

• highly credible speakers will be more persuasive than speakers of low credibility primarily for counterattitudinal appeals

• this credibility effect should be attenuated or reversed for pro attitudinal appeals

• use a high credibility source to change attitude

• use a low or high credibility source to reinforce existing attitude

One sided messages reinforce existing points of view.

Two sided messages (both points of view) are more effective than one-sided messages in terms of changing a strongly held attitude.

Which is better?

High involvement situation:

• emphasize the message content

• guide thinking by using high quality, strong arguments

• stimulate thinking with a source of high credibility

note: use two sided message to stimulate thinking if supportive of your view

Low involvement situation:

• stimulate thinking with a source of low credibility (i.e., don't stimulate with high credibility)

• emphasize the recipient's preexisting attitude on the issue using a source of low credibility

• use a source of high credibility to counter a preexisting attitude

note: peripheral cues might be more important