Page 101 - The Social Animal

Mass Communication, Propaganda, and Persuasion 83

products, and we know they want us to see the commercial. These
factors should make them less trustworthy. But does that make them
less effective?
Not necessarily. Although most of us might not trust the sincer-
ity of the endorsers, that does not mean we don’t buy the products
they endorse. Another crucial factor determining the effectiveness of
communicators is how attractive or likable they are—regardless of
their overall expertise or trustworthiness. Some years ago, Judson
Mills and I did a simple laboratory experiment demonstrating that a
beautiful woman—simply because she was beautiful—could have a
major impact on the opinions of an audience on a topic wholly irrel-
evant to her beauty, and furthermore, that her impact was greatest
35
when she openly expressed a desire to influence the audience. More
recently, Alice Eagly, Shelly Chaiken, and colleagues carried out ex-
periments that not only replicated the finding that more likable com-
municators are more persuasive but went on to show that attractive
sources are expected to support desirable positions. 36
It appears that we associate the attractiveness of the communi-
cator with the desirability of the message. We are influenced by peo-
ple we like. Where our liking for a communicator is involved (rather
than his or her expertise), we behave as though we were trying to
please that source. Accordingly, the more that communicator wants
to change our opinions, the more we change them—but only about
trivial issues. That is, it is true that football players can get us to use
a particular shaving cream and beautiful women can get us to agree
with them on an abstract topic, whether or not we are willing to
admit it. At the same time, it is unlikely that they could influence us
to vote for their presidential candidate or to adopt their position on
the morality of abortion. To summarize this section, we might list
these phenomena:
Our opinions are influenced by individuals who are both expert
and trustworthy.
A communicator’s trustworthiness (and effectiveness) can be
increased if he or she argues a position apparently opposed to
his or her self-interest.
A communicator’s trustworthiness (and effectiveness) can be
increased if he or she does not seem to be trying to influence
our opinion.