Healthy Influence Blog

Persuasion Dual Process theory holds that people take one of two routes to change, Central or Peripheral.  Central Route involves High WATT processors elaborating over Arguments that produces persistent, resistant, and predictive change while the Peripheral Route involves Low WATT processors who react to Cues that produces change that is comparatively less persistent, resistant, and predictive.

I think there’s an even simpler way to think about the two Routes.

The Peripheral Route is controlled by cognitive Associations while the Central Route is controlled by cognitive Elaborations.  Thus, all persuasion plays essentially, fundamentally, and basically operate as either Ding-Dongs (Associations) or Webs (Elaborations).

While I hesitate to reuse the term, “Ding-Dong,” for a new usage, it seems sensible and not overly confusing.  Classical Conditioning with Pavlov’s dog is the standard referent for “Ding-Dong,” and, as I’m claiming here, all Peripheral Route Cue processing is only a dressed up version of the Ding-Dong.  A Persuasion Cue merely triggers an easy, automatic, effortless, obvious, and simple Association with some other desirable thought, feeling, or action, and Boom!, you’ve got change.

With the other process, by contrast, persuasion targets actively build Webs of Elaborations (issue relevent thoughts in that “long conversation” in your head) when confronted with Arguments.  While various Ding-Dong Associations may also occur, High WATT processors easily move past those simple connections and spin deliberate, effortful, and controlled Webs of new thoughts that are inter-linked from the Argument to New Thoughts (Elaborations) to the Topic.

Now, our basic concept of WATTage still operates as a mental dimmer switch that moves us between High and Low WATT settings.  WATTage is how we move between the two processing modes of Association or Elaboration, the Ding-Dong or the Web.

You should also see that both Objective and Biased processing on the Central Route still work with Webs of Elaboration.  Objective processing builds new Webs while Biased processing stitches new Elaborations to fit with old Webs.

Thus, whenever you try a persuasion play, ask yourself whether you want your target to Associate or to Elaborate, then get busy with it.  If you want them to Associate, then everything you say or do is aimed at that simple goal and you do NOTHING that interferes with it.  When Associating, Associate!  If you want them to Elaborate, then everything you say or do is aimed at that more complex goal and you do NOTHING that interferes with it.  When Elaborating, Elaborate!