All You Need to Know About the Elaboration Likelihood Model

Understanding the Elaboration Likelihood Model

The elaboration likelihood model, as mentioned, is a framework for crafting persuasive communications.

Before we go into how the model works, let us first define what elaboration means in this model. Elaboration is the amount of effort somebody has to use to evaluate, remember, and accept or reject a message they are receiving.

According to the elaboration likelihood model, when a person encounters information, “elaboration” takes place. They put in the effort to understand it and process and evaluate whether the information is persuasive enough to cause them to change their attitude, and consequently, their behavior. In this model, the source of information is the persuader and the recipient is the audience.

Elaboration can be of two types – low and high – impacting how the audience processes the information. In the elaboration likelihood model, there are two different kinds of processing, central route processing and peripheral route processing.

Central Route Processing

Central route processing involves a high level of elaboration. It is motivated processing an individual undertakes when they consider the message being received as important.

Central route processing is logic-driven, and focuses on data and facts of the communication. The recipient considers the message carefully, evaluating the argument critically by looking at its pros and cons.

Hence, in central route analysis, the individual engages with the message deeply, analyzing it thoroughly using a high level of cognition.

People are less likely to lose their focus and get distracted from the message being presented when using central route processing.

Overall, central route processing with its high motivation, deep analysis, and more focused processing leads to more long-lasting attitude change.

Central route processing typically takes place when the message is of high importance to the individual. However, other factors also affect it, such as an individual’s personal ability to process the message at a deep level, the time they have, and other variable factors of day-to-day life such as someone’s mental capacity on a given day.

Peripheral Route Processing

In peripheral route processing, there is a low level of elaboration, and the recipient uses cues other than the information being presented to make an evaluation. This could include rules of thumbs, observable details such as how something looks, the rapport established by the persuader, etc. These cues often don’t have much to do with the argument being made itself. Peripheral route processing is, thus, a context-driven way of processing which isn’t as deep as its logic-driven counterpart.

This route of processing has a low level of motivation and the recipient uses a low level of ability to process the message. They don’t scrutinize the information, leading to quick decisions about the message, and sometimes jumping to conclusions.

People may lose focus and get distracted from the message more often when using peripheral route processing.

Given the nature of peripheral route processing, it creates temporary attitude changes.

This route of processing is used when the message is not personally important to the recipient or when they don’t have the mental energy or resources to process the message at a deeper level.

Peripheral route processing saves up mental space on less important decisions and gives people a way of engaging with information even when they are low on mental energy.

Examples of Central and Peripheral Route Processing

Let us now look at examples of central and peripheral route processing.

Some common examples of central route processing are picking a university to attend, picking a career, picking an election candidate, etc. In learning, central route processing can be used to determine the merits of different frameworks and approaches, develop a personal philosophy and style for one’s profession, etc.

On the other hand, peripheral route processing may be used when shopping, watching advertisements, interacting with other people in low-motivation contexts, etc.

Assumptions of the Elaboration Likelihood Model

The elaboration likelihood model works on certain assumptions.

• People are motivated to hold correct attitudes – The model assumes that individuals are motivated to hold correct attitudes as far as their knowledge and experience allows it. To determine which attitudes are correct, they use certain standards of evaluation.
• The level of elaboration and processing route vary according to individual and situational factors – The model acknowledges that different types of processing and elaboration happen given the situation. Factors like personal relevance, time to make the decision, personal ability to critically evaluate a topic, identification with ideas, etc. impact elaboration and processing.
• Lower motivation leads to focus on external factors – When an individual has low motivation for processing the message, they focus more on external factors of the situation, such as visual appeal, to make a decision. i.e., lower motivation leads to peripheral route processing.
• Lower ability of processing leads to focus on external factors – Peripheral route processing also takes place when an individual does not have the cognitive ability to deeply analyze a message. This could be due to lacking expertise, different intelligences, etc.
• Attitude changes from central route processing are more impactful – Lastly, attitude changes from central route processing are more long-lasting, resistant to change or counter-persuasion, and affect behavior to a greater degree.

Criticisms of the Elaboration Likelihood Model

While the elaboration likelihood model gives us a much-needed framework for the variability in how people process information, it also has some elements that could be improved upon.

• Lack of an elaborate framework, making the model difficult to test – The model doesn’t have an elaborate framework. It’s unstructured format makes it difficult to test.
• Lack of clarity on how variables impact processing routes – It is also difficult to test how variables impact the processing route in this model due to the aforementioned lack of structure in the model.

Conclusion

The elaboration likelihood model is an effective model for designing persuasive communications. It equips people with the tools to make decisions about how best to present information to their audiences based on audience characteristics, situational and contextual factors, etc. It can make communication easier and more effective in different circumstances, granting greater flexibility and accessibility. However, the model will benefit from a more structured theoretical framework so testing its application is easier, leading to better implementation.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does the elaboration likelihood model theory identify?

The elaboration likelihood model identifies what kind of messaging is more likely to persuade a certain audience at a given time.

What are the two major components of the elaboration likelihood model?

The two major components of the elaboration likelihood model are the level of elaboration that takes place when evaluating a message and the processing route taken based on the level of elaboration. Elaboration can be high or low, and processing can be central route or peripheral route, respectively.

What is an example of elaboration likelihood model?

An example of elaboration likelihood model is that we might carefully consider different universities when picking the right one (high elaboration and central route processing), but may buy groceries based on packaging (low elaboration and peripheral route processing).