Transcript Lecture 10
Ethics of Persuasion “If you’ve got em’ by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow” General George S. Patton Persuasion text ignores ethics because: • They presume they are simply imparting knowledge and information. • They presume that ethical judgments are matters of personal opinion. • They think it is presumptuous, or even unethical, to teach ethics. The motives color the means Central Processing based on: 1. Thought, reflection, deliberation. 2. Scrutiny of message content. 3. High level of receiver involvement. Peripheral Processing based on: 1. Mental shortcuts (credibility, images, appearance) 2. Emotional processing 3. Low level of receiver involvement. Ethical Q regarding source credibility • Is it unethical for a celebrity endorser to promote a product/service he/she does not actually use or lacks expertise? • Does the use of authority become an abuse of authority if receivers place too much faith/reliance in a particular source? Ethical Q regarding the use of deception • Is deception ever justified ? • Is honesty always the best policy? Ethical Q relating to receivers • What ethical guidelines should be followed when attempting to persuade highly vulnerable audiences? • - children • - elderly • - poor, inner-city residents Ethics and emotional appeals • Some people view emotional appeals which tug at receivers’ heartstrings, are unjustified precisely because they appeal to emotion rather than to reason. • Persuasion, they say, should aim higher, at the mind, not the heart, and certainly not below the belt. Ethical questions related to the use of fear appeals • Is the use of fear appeals ever ethically justifiable and, if so, under what conditions or circumstances? • Is the use of threats ever ethically justifiable and, if so, under what conditions or circumstances? Ethical Responsibility • Persuaders’ ethical responsibility stems from a status/position they have earned or have been granted. • Responsibility includes the elements of fulfilling duties and obligations , being accountable to others by agreed upon standards. • Most importantly it involves thoughtful and deliberate judgement. Ethical Responsibility • In persuasive situations, persuaders have an ethical obligation to double-check their evidence and reasoning before it is presented to others. • The same things applies to appointed government officials. Ethical Responsibility • You need to carefully analyze claims, soundly assesses probable consequences and weigh relevant values. • If communication behavior seems to stem more from accident or unintentional slip of tongue/ ignorance, we are less harsh in our ethical assessment. Ethical Responsibility- questions • Does sincerity of intent releases a persuader from ethical responsibility concerning means and effects? • To what degree is it ethical for persuaders to alter their ideas and proposals to adapt to the needs , capacities, desires and expectations of an audience? Approaches to ethics Ends versus means • Whether the means or method of influence is justified by the desirability of the outcome. Approaches to ethics Situational ethics/relativism • There a re no moral absolutes, no ethical maxims. • There are always exceptions to every rule. • Depends on the situations, the parties involved, nature of the issue and other related factors Approaches to ethics Free market ethics • Based on the metaphor of free market. • Should be little or no prior restraint on persuasive messages. • Places greater responsibility on receivers to critically evaluative persuasive messages. Ethics and Visual Persuasion • If a picture is worth a thousand words, then is a misleading image equivalent to a thousand misleading words? • What social responsibilities accompany the use of images and other forms of visual persuasion?