Chapter 2 Exercises: The Psychology of Persuasion

Individual Exercises

Exercise 2.1 — Cialdini Principle Identification (†) Find five examples of persuasive communication from your own media environment over the next 48 hours — one for each of five different Cialdini principles (you choose which five). For each example, identify: the principle being used, how it is implemented, and whether you think the implementation crosses from legitimate persuasion into manipulation. Write 100–150 words per example.

Exercise 2.2 — System 1 vs. System 2 Journal For one day, keep a brief log of moments when you made a judgment or formed an impression quickly (System 1) that you later revised upon reflection (System 2). Record: what the initial impression was, what triggered it, and what the revised judgment was after reflection. At the end of the day, write 200 words about what this exercise revealed about your own cognitive patterns.

Exercise 2.3 — Peripheral Route Analysis Select a political advertisement (from any country, any era) and analyze it according to the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Identify: (a) the peripheral cues it employs (attractiveness, authority markers, emotional tone, social proof signals), (b) the central route arguments it makes, if any, and (c) which route the ad primarily targets and why. Write 300–400 words.

Exercise 2.4 — The Daisy Ad Extension The Daisy Ad is analyzed in this chapter. Find a contemporary political advertisement that uses a similar emotional escalation technique — fear without explicit factual claim. Apply the same five-part anatomical framework: source, message content, emotional register, implicit audience, strategic omission. Identify whether the technique crosses the line from legitimate emotional appeal into manipulation, and justify your position.

Exercise 2.5 — Motivated Reasoning Audit (†) Identify one political or social issue on which you hold a strong opinion. Then find three pieces of evidence that challenge your position — specifically, evidence that would be inconvenient for you if it were true. Write 200 words about your emotional and cognitive response to this evidence. Were you inclined to dismiss it? Reinterpret it? Find alternative explanations? This is not a test — it is practice in noticing motivated reasoning in yourself.

Exercise 2.6 — Inoculation Campaign Vulnerability Audit Complete the Chapter 2 component of the Inoculation Campaign: a 400-word vulnerability audit that applies dual-process theory, at least two Cialdini principles, and the concept of identity-protective cognition to your target community.

Group Exercises

Exercise 2.7 — Peripheral Cue Experiment Your instructor will present two versions of the same argument — one from a highly credible-seeming source (professional credentials, authoritative tone, polished format), one from a low-credibility-seeming source (no credentials listed, informal tone, simple format). The argument and evidence in both versions are identical. Rate the persuasiveness of each version. After the reveal, discuss: how much did source presentation affect your evaluation? What does this tell you about peripheral route processing in your own reasoning?

Exercise 2.8 — Fear Appeal Design and Critique In groups, design a fear-based persuasion campaign for a cause you genuinely support (public health, environmental protection, road safety, etc.). Then swap with another group and critique their campaign: Is the fear appeal proportionate to the actual risk? Is the recommended response well-supported by evidence? Is the emotional intensity calibrated to inform or to overwhelm? Present findings to the class.

Writing Prompts

Short Response (300–400 words): The chapter argues that understanding psychology does not make you immune to propaganda. What does it protect you from, then? What specific cognitive habits would a person need to develop to make psychological knowledge genuinely protective?

Essay (700–900 words): Motivated reasoning — the tendency to evaluate evidence in terms of whether it supports prior beliefs and identity commitments — poses a fundamental challenge to the ideal of a rational, informed citizenry. Drawing on the psychological frameworks in this chapter, argue for or against the following claim: "The psychological evidence about motivated reasoning is more consistent with Bernays's pessimism about democratic deliberation than with Dewey's optimism." (See Chapter 6 for the Lippmann-Dewey debate.)