ABSTRACT
Persuasive appeals are not confined to creating associations suited to the target audience. This chapter covers cognitive approaches to persuasion. Marketing texts have highlighted learning theory in the form of hierarchy of effects models and the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. Another approach discussed in this chapter is the persuasive communication process, as proposed by psychologists, which takes account of the receiver of the information, the source of the information and the content and presentation of the message. Finally, the chapter considers the contribution of consistency theory to persuasive communication. The approach to persuasive appeals through the persuasive communication process is the one that holds up best to criticism and that we believe has most to offer. While the other approaches have something to teach us about persuasive communications, they have fundamental flaws which need to be considered. We discuss them in detail so that the reader can make up his or her mind as to what can be salvaged and what criticism is worth noting.
