Elaboration Likelihood Model

The Elaboration Likelihood Model deals with the idea of persuasion. Being a communications major, this is one of the theories that held my attention the longest, and inspired some additional research. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), talks about messages of persuasion and how there are two ways to achiveing persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route. Both are concerned with elaboration: how much a person critically analyzes a message or argument. The central route is known for scrutiny and careful thought processes over what the message indicates and the consequences of it, while the peripheral route is known more for cues such as age, sex or credibility, and how they allow people to quickly decided what they think about a message. The ELM itself is a continuum of how much mental effort is put into understanding a message. In addition to what route is used by listeners, the model looks at the amount of motivation present, the ability to process the message, any biases held by the listeners, as well as how strong the message actually is.

An example of the ELM at work happens every week when I come to school. Three out of my four professors are young, and upbeat people. One professor I have, however, is older and lectures very monotonously. Based soley on peripheral cues, I tend to listen to the other three professors more than I do her. As far as the rest of the model is concerned, the theory makes sense because 1) I am more motivated to listen to the younger professors because I see more similarities between myself and them, 2) I am more capable of understanding them because they are more like me, and 3) I have a bias for people who are similar to me, so I would rather listen to them than her. Therefore, I would have more elaboration with messages from the three professors than I would the other one. This definitely helped solidify my understanding of this theory. :)

By the way... I really do like the other professor...she's not that bad! :)