<Persuasion and Attitude change> Psychology 20102139 Jung sook young

Subject: The persuasion effect of the Public Service Advertisement

Hello, everyone. I'm very happy to give a presentation today. My name is Jung sook young, and I'm a sophomore majoring in Psychology. Today, I introduce about the persuasion effect of the Public Service Advertisement. We can always watch the public service advertisement around us. There are many kinds of advertisement, so people are exposed to and influenced by them. Then, What is the public service advertisement? The public service advertisement is also named by PSA. A PSA is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media. Whereas the objective of a standard advertisement is to market a product, a PSA is intended to change the public interest, by raising awareness of an issue, affecting public attitudes, and potentially stimulating action. There are traffic safety, conservation of nature, environmental problem, fire prevention, and so on. Therefore, a PSA pursues Humanism- in other words, a PSA brings out a question and solves the problem for respect for the individual. Now, I explain that the characteristics of the PSA which is differ from the commercial advertisement. First, the autonomy of the choice of a topic. Applying for a topic is open to all areas, but the publicness is emphasized in that the final choice is done by the pure civil organization. Second, the extensiveness of the volunteer. All process is done by the voluntary participation and service, from applying for a topic, planning, processing and producing. Third, the neutrality of the contents. The contents have to be nonpolitical, undenominational, and noncommercial. These characteristics is applied to all over the world, and most countries try to keep the faith. Next, I'll show you the six examples of periodical PSA. These are about the environmental pollution. First PSA is created in 1982. This shows us natural environment and provides information like a poetry. There are scenes in the ads, which correspond with the information. The

contents in this ads are that the nature will be the place to return people, and environmental prevention is to love my country. Second PSA is created in 1988. This time, Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, so the character Hodori appear in advertisement. Hodori give people warning of the throwing out garbage and emitting fumes. In the last scene of the ads, the slogan says that "We have to protect the environment for me and my descendant." Third PSA is created in 1991. The main background is also natural environment. The ads liken the nature to music. The ads say the message is that if we make nature dirty carelessly, the nature wouldn't sing anymore. Then, the short slogan is mentioned in the ads. Fourth PSA is created in 1995. It shows the beautiful nature and refer to short slogan, "The nature is our life." Then, the ads is over. Fifth PSA is created in 2005. The children's song came from the ads. Then, it says about taking a shopping basket, separating battery and bring back the garbage from staying place. One family and children practice these promises. After that, the nature say thank us. Sixth PSA is created in 2009. This is about carbon dioxide emissions. A giant iceberg is collapsing and it may be threaten our life. Therefore, this ads mention to people about closing the refrigerator door right away, unplugging, riding a bike instead of driving and turning off the tap. If we fulfill our obligation, we'll be green revolutionaries. This time, these are compared with each other periodically. I divide the PSA into 1980's, 1990's and 2000's. First of all, 1980's PSA express it's information in natural environment. Furthermore, the slogan's contents correspond with PSA's scenes, and are specific and long. It emphasizes that the environmental preservation is for nation, I and descendant. On top of that, 1990's PSA also shows the natural environment, and tends to present just the beauties of the nature. However, the slogan of these are fundamental and short in contrast with 1980's PSA. For this reason, these ads are constructed around the slogan. Therefore, people realize what do they wish to deliver. Lastly, There are family and children in 2000's PSA. These factors arouse warmth and fresh. This PSA refers concretely to matters which everyone should practice. Also, 2009's PSA alert people to the danger of the carbon dioxide emissions. The iceberg is broken in pieces, so people may think that we have to protect the environment. In addition, if someone try to preserve the nature, the nature praise and encourage that person. I think this will act as a positive reinforcer.

Which psychological theories explain the persuasion effect? First, effects of reinforcement. As stated above, when people are trying hard to conserve the environment, if someone give compensation or praise to them, they'll do harder than before and maintain their attitude. Therefore, people's attitude is reinforced through a PSA. Second, mere exposure effect. People tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them. Robert Zajonc demonstrated that simply exposing subjects to a familiar stimulus led them to rate it more positively than other, similar stimuli which had not been presented. The most obvious application of the mere exposure effect is found in advertising. Also, a PSA is often exposed to people and put thought into their mind. As a result, they act like a PSA's contents and change their thought the way provider have wanted. Third, the central route in elaboration likelihood model. Central route processes that require a great deal of thought, and therefore are likely to predominate under conditions that promote high elaboration. Central route processes involve careful scrutiny of a persuasive communication to determine the merits of the arguments. Under these conditions, a person's unique cognitive responses to the message determine the persuasive outcome. In the PSA, the message play an important role, so informers offer easy to understand message for them. Therefore, people can accept informers' thought and logic, and change their attitude. The PSA is a social instrument for the public interests. The PSA's aim is to lead the citizens to voluntary participation. However, the persuasion form of the PSA changes according to the time, and people can understand and adopt better than before. Therefore, the PSA is the most effective way to solve the social problem through the persuasion effect. Thank you for listening my presentation.