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Annotated Bibliography: Elaboration Likelihood Model

Chelsea Tanner

Missouri State University

ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL 2

Ching Ching, C. (2011). Enhancing Self-Referencing to Health Messages. Journal of Consumer

Affairs, 45(1), 147-164. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6606.2010.01196.x

Purpose and Scope of Article

The purpose of this article is to figure out the best way to find information to dram

interest from a target audience. In this study health campaigners are trying to draw interest from

their target audience and properly persuade them to understand the information the campaigners

are trying to convey.

Summary of Literature Review

The author cites Keller and Block(1996) for their study of conscious cognitive activities.

Their study examines the importance of attracting your audience. The article explores the

importance of relating a message to one’s personal experiences and its’ elaborative process

(Klein and Loftus 1988; Rogers, Kuiper, and Kirker 1977). The author also refers to Parrot

(1995) whose studies explore linguistic message tactics. The article frequently refers to Self-

referencing as discussed by Burnkrant and Unnava(1995). Lastly, the author uses Petty and

Cacioppo’s ELM theory explaining the two thought routes: peripheral and central.

Summary of Research Method

The researcher performed a qualitative study where 103 university students ages 19-23 in

Taiwan were used. They were each given a survey which asked questions about their concern

for their own health. Then they were assigned to read a health magazine with two hepatitis B ads

following. One ad was written in second or third person while the other was written in first

person. The subjects were then given another survey which asked their thoughts about each ad.

Summary Results


The results showed that the subjects were more affected by the ads written in first person.

This somewhat complies to the ELM theory because the subjects used their peripheral route

when reading ad because they were in a low elaboration situation. They were shown someone’s

story about hepatitis which means they did not have to apply their own idea of someone living

with hepatitis B.

Summary of Article Findings/ Conclusion

The research discovered what it was supposed to. The goal was to discover if self-

referencing health message were more effective while using the ELM theory. The article

correctly analyzed self-referencing while complying with the ELM theory.

Critical Analysis of the Article

This article is relevant to the ELM theory and my research. It shows the accuracy of the

theory when subjects are in a low elaboration situation. When subjects are in low elaboration

situations they are likely to use the peripheral route.

Hockett, K. S., & Hall, T. e. (2007, February). The Effect of Moral and Fear Appeals on Park

Visitors' Beliefs about Feeding Wildlife. Journal Of Interpretation Research, 12(1), 5-27.

Retrieved February 28, 2013, from EBSCOHost (1092-5872).


This study was done to test the effectiveness of two written messages trying to change

campers’ beliefs about feeding deer in a National park. The article uses the ELM theory of

persuasion to stimulate the central route of thought of the campers.



The article pulls information form Hamilton, Dunn, and Well(1993) and Reynolds &

Braithwaite(2001) about campers’ thoughts about wildlife and the dangers that occur do to

human-wildlife interaction. Also, information about fear provoking message studies conducted

by Baron, Logan, Lilly, Inman, &Brennan(1994), and Meijnders, Midden, & Wilke(2001)are

cited. Petty and Cacioppo’s EMT theory is used to a basis of measuring persuasion of the

created messages.


The researcher performed a qualitative study to test the effectiveness of the signs. Two

signs were created warning about feeding the wildlife along with the standard sign. One was a

fear appealing message and the other was morally appealing. The signs were posted in campers’

view for one whole weekend. When leaving, more than 100 campers were asked to fill out a

questionnaire.

Summary of Results

The results found that “For most visitors (68-71%), wildlife viewing was an important

aspect of the current trip, although only a few (9-12%) said it was their primary reason for

visiting. This suggests that the topic of wildlife had high personal relevance, which should

increase the likelihood of central route processing (p.14).” The results also concluded that the

fear appealing message was more effective.

Summary of article findings/conclusion

This research in this article was done to test the effectiveness of fear and moral appeal in

messages while appealing to central thinking at explained in the ELM theory. The researchers

discovered that they were more effective and appealed to the campers’ central thought.

Critical Analysis of Article


This article uses the ELM theory as a basis to appeal to the central route. This research

helped me in discovering more methods that appeal to the central thought process.

Jing, J., & Xiaobo, T. (2012). HOW DO FIGURES OF SPEECH, CUE RELATEDNESS, AND

MESSAGE INVOLVEMENT AFFECT CONSUMER ATTITUDE

PERSISTENCE. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 40(2), 201-

202. doi:10.2224/sbp.2012.40.2.201


This article examines consumer behaviors concerning the role verbal peripheral cues in

figurative advertising headlines and the attitude formation of the consumers.


The researchers cite Wang & Muehling(2010) and their study about how consumers’

attitudes towards an advertisement changes overtime and effect their motivation to process

advertising messaged. They also cite Ang & Lim(2006) fir their suggestions about how

nonverbal cues affect attitude formation. Petty and Cacioppo’s ELM theory is the framework

for this research.


A qualitative study was done involving 158 college students. A fake brand was created

and presented in print advertisement. Data was collect twice with an interval of one week to test

the delayed reactions. The high involvement group was asked to comment on the advertisement

and the low involvement group was asked to check for spelling errors. In the relevance of the

heading and the target brand was manipulated. The attitudes were measure using 7-point scales

for the initial ad. Five 7-point scales were used for the delayed attitudes.


Summary of Results

The results found that the delayed attitudes were overall more positive in the high-

involvement group and the relevant headlines were more effective in both groups than the

irrelevant headlines.

Summary of Article Finding/Conclusion

This research found what it intended to. The results suggested that the use of figures of

speech can enhance the attitude formation, but mostly in the case of the high-involvement

subjects.


This article is relevant to my research. It helps to explain ELM theory when it comes to

advertising and what is successful in this situation and what could be considered ineffective.

Karson, E. J., & Korgaonkar, P. K. (2001). An Experimental Investigation of Internet

Advertising and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Journal of Current Issues &

Research in Advertising (CTC Press), 23(2). Retrieved February 27, 2013, from

EBSCOHost (5595835).


This article focuses on the ELM theory when applied to media and advertising online.

Peripheral cues and argument is tested with the influence of high involvement and low

involvement.



Petty and Cacioppo’s (1986) Elaboration Likelihood model is cited frequently and

provides the basis for the study. Also referenced is Cho’s model and modification related to the

influence on the motivation to process banner ads(p.56).


The researchers performed a qualitative study where 24 university students involved in

the experiment which lasted an average of 17.45 minutes. The subjects viewed a website with a

banner for the focal brand. There were additional pages for the product that could be viewed.

The subjects were told to choose between the two web pages. The high involvement group was

told to analyze the pages carefully because they would be asked to choose between the two and

the low involvement subjects were just told a second page was to be viewed next. After the test

subjects’ attitudes toward the pages’ ads were measured. They were asked their thoughts about

the different ads.

Summary of Results

The results showed that the subjects in the high involvement group were shown to have

significantly more thoughts about the advertisements and spent much more time analyzing the

web pages.

Summary of Article Findings/Conclusion

The results of this study complied with the ELM theory. The subjects with high

involvement used the center route of thinking and analyzed the pages carefully, while the

subjects with low involvement over looked many on the ads and used peripheral cues when

looking at the web pages. This shows that advertisements on web pages are rarely noticed by

users and need have strong peripheral cues to catch users’ attention.


Montoro-Rios, F., Luque-MartÍnez, T., & RodrÍguez-Molina, M. (2008, December). How Green

Should You Be: Can Environmental Associations Enhance Brand Performance? Journal

of Advertising Research, 48(4), 547-563. doi:10.2501/S0021849908080525

Purpose and Scope of the Article

This study conducted an experiment to investigate the connection between the relevance

of information about the environment to the attitudes toward a brand.


The background information the authors used was about environmental information and

its’ connection to products or brands (Kassarjian 1971, Henion 1972, Kinnear and Taylor 1973)

Also, the dual mediation model (Lutz, Mackenzie, and Belch 1983) and the Elaboration

Likelihood model (Petty and Cacioppo 1981) are used as the theoretical bases.


The researchers performed a qualitative study consisting of three groups. Group 1 was

stimulated with information about the brand unrelated to its environmental performance. Group 2

receive the same information as group 1 as well as the environmental information. Group 3 was

given the same information as the second group and an independent certification. The groups

were shown two products; milk and detergent. The milk was the high involvement product and

the detergent was the low. The subjects were then asked about the attitude toward the brand,

toward the advertisement, and their purchase decision.

Summary of Results

The results showed no direct effects of the environmental information on the attitude

toward the brand. In all groups the intent to buy for milk was higher than the intent to buy for

the detergent.

http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/index.php


Summary of article Findings/Conclusion

The article set out to find the relationship between environment information and attitudes

toward certain brand using the ELM theory as a basis. The researchers’ hypothesis that more

environment information about a product would was a positive effect on the buyer, but the

results did not support their hypothesis. The ELM theory did stand up in the study. In all groups

the intent to purchase was higher for the milk, which was the high involvement product.


This article was useful to my research in complying with the ELM theory. This article

placed the high involvement and low involvement on the product rather that placing the subjects

in a high or low involvement situation, which is different from most of the research I’ve done.

This made the research unique and helped me apply the ELM theory in a different way.

Pantos, A. J. Defining the cognitive mechanisms underlying reactions to foreign accented speech

An experimental approach.Review Of Cognitive Linguistics, 10(2), 427-453.

doi:10.1075/rcl.10.2.08pan


This article seeks to analyze the attitudes toward foreign language accents. The article

analyzes the cognitive route and peripheral route as they are used when in the presence of a

person speaking with a foreign accent. The researcher seeks to understand the nature of

reactions to speakers with a foreign accent and to discover whether the negative attitudes are

immediate or at what point they become negative. The article also reveals whether other speaker

traits such as likeability or knowledge can change the attitudes toward a speaker with a foreign

accent.


Summary of Literate Review

The author cites Lippi-Green (1997) and Matsuda (1991) for their research on reactions

of a listener to a foreign accent. These previous studies state that foreign accents generally

receive a negative attitude towards the speaker and are not well received. Turner and Giles

(1981) explain the negative reactions through social identity theory’s notion of social

stereotyping. The author uses Implicit Social Cognition (Greenwald 2002) as framework for

understanding attitudes and how they are formed. Also cited is research by Ryan, Carranza, &

Moffie(1977), Gill(1994), Cargue & Ciles(1998), Cargile(1997), Frumkin(2007), and Mulac,

Hanley, & Prigge(1974). All of these sources were done about the reactions to speakers from

different countries such as: Malaysians, Japanese, Chinese, Mexicans, Lebanese, Germans,

Italians, Norwegians, and Eastern Europeans. Lastly, Petty and Cacioppo’s theory of ELM

theory is used to measure the use of the cognitive route compared to the peripheral route when

reacting to a speaker with a foreign accent.


The researcher performed a qualitative study. The hypothesis of this study stated, “A

divergence in participants' implicit and explicit attitudes toward the speech samples will be found

to exist. Specifically, implicit attitudes, which reflect immediate reactions based on stereotypes

held, will indicate a bias in favor of US accented speech. In contrast, explicit attitudes — which

are subject to cognitive control and thus potentially influenced by social pressures against

stereotyping —will indicate no significant bias in favor of either accent (p.429)” The study used

165 undergraduates and graduate students from a U.S. university. The participants included 114

women and 51 men. They identified themselves as: 131 American, 16 Chinese, 4 Korean, 4

Mexican, 2 El Salvadoran, 2 English, 1 Honduran, 1 Malaysian, 1 Nigerian, 1 Spanish, 1


Ukrainian, and 1 Zimbabwean. The first test administered was the Implicit Association Test

(IAT). The subjects were given headphones and a computer screen and were told to respond to

the stimuli. Through the headphones they would hear the different voice and on the screen

would appear two images. When they heard the voice they were instructed to then choose an

image. A speaker with a U.S. accent and a speaker with a Korean accent were used along with

good and bad attributes. This was to discover if the participants attributed a positive or negative

affluence to the voice. The subjects then were asked to write a self-report survey questionnaire

to measure their reactions to the stimuli. In the second test, the subjects were told they were

listening to a conversation between two doctors; one with a Korean accent and one with a U.S.

accent. The subjects then were asked to fill out a questionnaire as a self-report.

Summary of Results

The IAT results showed a significant pro-U.S. accent bias. The results for the explicit

part of the test, the doctors’ conversation, showed that more participants said they preferred the

Korean speaker. This showed that in the implicit study, which would be considered the

peripheral route; more people identified with or preferred the U.S. accent, which is because the

subjects are more accustomed with a U.S. accent. When it comes to the explicit study, where the

subjects were informed that they were hearing a conversation between two doctors, more

students identified with the Korean accented speaker. According to the ELM theory this is

because the subjects were using the cognitive route and understood they were listening to two

doctors speaking, so they did not negatively react to the Korean accent.


Although the author’s hypothesis were proven correct, the article did not establish a clear

understanding of why or when the negative attitudes towards foreign accents. He proved that


when using peripheral thinking the subjects did negatively respond to the foreign accent and

when using cognitive thinking they were not as quick to negatively respond.


This article is helpful to the ELM theory and my research because it evaluates auditory

judgment more than visual which is different than most research with ELM.

Sher, P. J., & Hies-Sheng, L. (2009, February). CONSUMER SKEPTICISM AND ONLINE

REVIEWS: AN Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 337-343. Retrieved

February 27, 2013, from EBSCOHost.

Purpose and Scope of the Article

This article used the Elaboration Likelihood Model to test consumer and their skepticism

towards online shopping. The researchers are testing the online messages and advertisements

and how they affect costumers’ intentions of purchasing from websites. The researchers will use

the ELM to analyze the customers and the willingness to purchase items from a website.


The research first cites Petty and Cacioppo’s Elaboration Likelihood Model (1986). The

ELM helps them to understand persuasion and attitudes of the online shoppers and the cognitive

and peripheral perspectives of people. They also refer to Skepticism, as explained by Obermiller

& Spangenberg(1998), which explains the likelihood of an online shopping to believe or

disbelieve an advertisement or message. This source applies skepticism to marketing and

consumers. Also cited in the article is the work of Friestad and Wright (1994). Friestad and

Wright’s work “developed a framework for examining the moderating influence of consumer

persuasion knowledge in responses to marketing communications (p.139).” In their research they


compare the “highly skeptical” consumers to the consumers that aren’t as skeptical. Basically,

Friestad and Wright’s analysis of the skepticism of consumers help the authors’ of the article to

understand the differences in skeptical consumers vs. consumers who aren’t as skeptical.

Summary of the Research Method

The researchers in the experiment conducted both a qualitative and quantitative study.

They collective the thoughts of the participants, but also organized them by a number scale A

focus group of 278 undergraduate students participated in the study. A virtual shopping website

was set up and a cell phone was chosen for the product for sale. The participants then read 12

reviews for the cell phone. Six reviews were strong, objective arguments and the other six were

weaker argument reviews. Then the participants were asked two questions: “How likely are you

to choose “A Model” cell phone next time you plan to purchase a cell phone of similar nature?;

“Would you recommend “A Model” cell phone to your friend?” Lastly, the participants rated the

9-item consumer skepticism measures that developed by Obermiller and Spangenberg (1998) on

a scale of 1 (disagree strongly) to 7 (agree strongly) before responding to the demographic

questions (p.140-141). The demographic questions helped determine the skepticism of each

participant.

Summary of Results

The results in this study seemed to contradict the ELM theory when it comes to online

shoppers. The participants were asked were asked about the number of reviews and 94%

answered correctly. The number of participants who correctly received the nature of the number

of the reviews was 83%. These results categorized them as high or low skeptics. The hypothesis

for the study was that skepticism towards online shopping is likely to affect the purchasing of the

product. The results concluded that the qualities and quantity of the online reviews had a


positive impact on the consumers’ likeliness to purchase the product. The ELM theory was

contradicted in this study. The effect of the argument quality did not significantly affect the

subjects. “The result suggested that high skepticism subjects do not take the central route in

formulating purchasing intention (p.141).” The majority of the subjects in this study were

affected by the amount of consistent reviews of the product rather than the content or quality of

the review overall. This section of the results, however, does comply with the ELM theory

because while the “highly” skeptical subjects took the peripheral route, so did the subjects who

were considered to have less skepticism.

Summary of Article Finding/Conclusion

The research in this article discovered what was intended, but also found that the results

did not fully comply with the ELM theory. According to the theory, the participants who were

considered to be more skeptical should be more likely to use the cognitive route when online

shopping. The results, however, showed that the “skeptical” participants also used the peripheral

route during the study and were affected by the quantity of the product reviews rather than the

quality.


This article tests the ELM theory in a more current way and applies the theory to

technology and the likeliness of an online shopper to purchase a product online. It states the

inaccuracy that the ELM theory can have when applied to a situation. This article will be useful

in my research mainly because it showed a flaw in the ELM theory. This will allow me to

explain situations where the ELM theory may not be useful.


Te'eni-Harari,, T., Lampert, S. I., & Lehman-Wilzig, S. (2007, September). Information

Processing of Advertising among Young People: The Elaboration Likelihood Model as

Applied to Youth. Journal of Advertising Research, 47(3), 326-340. Retrieved February

27, 2013, from EBSCOHost (0021-8499)


The main purpose of this article is to test Petty and Cacioppo’s Elaboration Likelihood

Model’s effect on young people. The article sets out to discover the peripheral or central route

work to change young peoples’ attitudes.


The articles framework stems from Petty and Cacioppo’s ELM theory. The authors’

research cites many researchers: Agostinelli and Grube(2002), Chang(2002), Chebat Charlebois,

and Gelinas-Chebat(2001), Chebat, Vercollier, and Gelinas-Chebat(2003), Coulter(2005),

Coulter and Punji(2004), Livingstone and Helsper(2006), Scholten(1996), and Whittler and

Spira(2002). All of these sources cited have conducted studies about advertising and its’ affects

on adults. Also cited, is Day, Stafford & Camacho(1995), and Zaichkowsky(1986). Their works

explain the relationship between concept involvement and cognitive elaboration of

advertisement.


The study conducted was a qualitative study. In the study three groups of young people

were used; ages 4-7, ages 8-11, and ages 12-15. Four advertisements were created, some with

attractive characters and some without. Each child was shown one advertisement. They were

then divided into two groups. One group was promised a gift at the end of the interview (high


elaboration) and the other was not (low elaboration). They were then questioned about their

attitudes toward the product or brand,

Summary of Results

There was no significant difference between the advertisement effectiveness among the

high-evolvement and low-involvement. The attitudes toward the advertisements were mainly

influenced by the message type. None of the groups were highly influenced by the

advertisement’s characters. The intent to by decreased as the subject’ age increased. This shows

that the ELM model doesn’t seem to apply when advertising to young people.

Summary of Article Findings/Conclusion

The researchers successfully tested the ELM theory among young people and advertising.

The article states that young people do not majorly use the central or peripheral route when it

comes to advertising. The high and low elaboration groups came to the same result and neither

caused a significant change in their attitude to the advertisement.


This article is helpful to explain the ELM theory when it applies to young people and

gives a clear example of the flaws in the theory. It also gives better understanding of the central

and peripheral routes.

Trampe, D., Staple, D. A., Siero, F. W., & Mulder, H. (2010, December). Beauty as a tool: The

effect of model attractiveness, product relevance, and elaboration likelihood on

advertising effectiveness. Psychology and Marketing, 27(12), 1101-1121.

doi:10.1002/mar.20375



This article discusses the effectiveness of attractiveness in advertising. The researchers

examine the role of the elaboration likelihood model when it pertains to products and the

relevance of the products. The article focuses on understanding when the attractive models

paired with products is successful and when it is not a favorable advertising technique to pair and

attractive model with a product.


This article uses a large amount of previous research and theories as well. The majority

of their background information came from Richard E. Petty and John Cacioppo(1986) and their

Elaboration Likelihood Model. This theory is used throughout the article and is the main reason

for the experiment. A substantial amount of marketing research is referred to this article.

Research from Kamins(1990) and Kahle & Homer(1985) is often cited. In their research they say

that attractive models and celebrities paired with products will increase positive attitudes towards

products and, therefore, increase sales. The authors of this academic article use Kamins and

Kahle & Homer’s research as a basis for the experiments. Another theory cited, like the

Elaboration Likelihood Model, is the Heuristic/Systematic Model (Chaiken1987). This model

gives explanation to how people send and receive messages. The Elaboration Likelihood and

Heuristic/ Systematic models are very similar and are used simultaneously throughout the article.

There is much more researched cited in the article, but the sources I’ve listed are referenced the

most and attribute the most to the authors’ research in this article


The study used in this experiment was both qualitative and quantitative. They

experiment measured their attitudes using subjective questions, but also used a number system

for the results. The researchers had three groups of participants; those who were placed in high


elaboration likelihood conditions and those who were placed in low elaboration likelihood

conditions. One group of participants was told that they were one of a few people selected to

judge an advertisement, thus placing them in a high elaboration likelihood conditions. This group

was also told to examine the advertisement carefully. The other groups were placed with a large

group with other participants. Some were told to rely on their first impression of the

advertisement and others were given no instructions. The theory behind this comes from Petty &

Cacioppo and the Elaboration Likelihood model. Petty and Caioppo state that personal

responsibility increases cognitive effort. So the participants that weren’t aware of the many

other participants and were told to carefully examine the ad felt more responsibility to judge the

advertisement than the participants that had shared responsibility. This is how the ELM was

tested. Four mock advertisements were created for the participants to judge. The ads included

an attractive model or an average-looking model. The models were paired with either a relevant

product or a less relevant product. The same attractive model was used for both ad, but the image

was digitally altered to make the model look more “average.” The participants viewed all the

advertisements and then answered 5 questions about the ad. The questions were answered on a

scale 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely). After this, the participants’ memory for ELM was tested.

They stated which instructions they had been give; careful examination, first impression, or no

instruction.

Summary of Results

The researchers’ hypothesis was correct. The participants that were placed in the high

elaboration likelihood conditions analyzed the advertisements more thoroughly. When the

participants were asked about their instructions 97% of the participants in the high elaboration

remembered their instructions and 99% of the low elaboration participants remembered their


instructions. For the advertisement portion the results stated that the participants with high

elaboration preferred the attractive model only when it was relevant to the product. Overall, the

attitudes toward the attractive model in the irrelevant ad were not positive for the high

elaboration participants. As predicted the attractive model was preferred for both the relevant and

irrelevant product by the participants with low elaboration conditions.

Summary of article Finding/Conclusion

The research accurately applied the Elaboration Likelihood Model to the experiment as

well as discovering the participants’ attitudes towards attractive models vs. average looking at

products. They showed that better looking models are not always a better choice for advertising

when the consumers use cognitive thinking over peripheral thinking.


This article is important in showing the Elaboration Likelihood Model at work. It clearly

shows that when someone uses cognitive thinking over peripheral thinking the results can be

significantly different. This article will help me in my own research and gave me a clearer

understand of the ELM as a whole.

Yang, S., Hung, W., Sung, K., & Farn, C. (2006, May). Investigating initial trust toward e-tailers

from the elaboration likelihood model perspective. Psychology & Marketing, 23(5), 429-

445. Retrieved February 28, 2013, from EBSCOHost (0742-6046).


This article uses the Elaboration Likelihood Model to examine consumers’ initial trust

with the websites they seek to purchase from.



The authors refer to Kim & Benbasat’s (2003) previous research about the consumer-

website relationship and Hoffman, Novak. They also cite Peralta’s (1999) research that suggests,

“Trust building between businesses and consumers is critical for e-tailer success. (p.430)” Petty

and Cacioppo’s ELM theory is used as framework for the study.


The researchers formed a qualitative study to test subjects’ trust in websites. Several

websites were created; some with third-party seals and others with banner advertisements. The

subjects were to view the different websites and pick with one they would by a web camera

from. The high-involvement subjects were told they could win the camera they chose. After

choosing the camera the subjects were asked to fill out a questionnaire to measure their trust of

the website they chose.

Summary of Results

The results showed that, “display of third-party seals and product information

will positively affect consumers’ trust toward an e-tailer through assurance perception and result

demonstrability, respectively. They also indicate that both the central route and peripheral route

of Web-site trust formation are valid (p. 443)”


The study intended to use ELM to examine shoppers’ trust on different websites. The

study found that, complying with ELM, the study found that the highly-involved subjects change

their attitudes through the central route, while the low-involvement subjects’ attitudes are formed

by the peripheral route.



This article is helpful in evaluating the ELM theory as it pertains to online shopping. It

helped me further understand the ELM theory more and will be useful to my final paper.

Documents

Chelsea tanner_ ab com209