Persuasion and Influence

Mental Health: Spaces to breathe in universities.

The problem:

Levels of depression, anxiety and other mental health problems are increasing dramatically within the student population, with some studies citing percentages as high as 73% (Inam, Saqib, & Alam, 2003; Bayram & Bilgel, 2008). We have noticed that there is no ‘quiet’ space on the University of Warwick campus for individuals to go.

After an initial email reply from the counselling services, we confirmed that there is no open space that can be used to recharge and recuperate, which doesn’t have religious connotations. Therefore, our aim was to contact members of the university who would have an influence into getting a space for those students who need a safe and calm place to: breathe, relax and recharge, without any pressures.

What we did:

After discovering the huge problem of mental health among students, we started brainstorming ideas about what would help us if we were having a bad mental health day. This led us to discover relaxation pods and rooms in workplaces and schools. After further research and brainstorming, we thought this idea would be transferable to the university. Therefore, we drafted an email to the Vice Chancellor, Head of Counselling Services and the Welfare and Campaigns Officer of the University of Warwick. This email includes all the details about why the mental health services need to be expanded at the university, and why a Recharge Room could be the answer.

Our email:

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We hope you are well.
We are three final Psychology students looking to promote change. We have previously emailed asking if Warwick University offers a 'Safe Space' or 'Recharge Room' for students to go when they are needing to seek quiet in a comfortable environment. You kindly responded recommending the chaplaincy area and/or the multi-faith prayer rooms at WW and Gibbet Hill. However, there is no recharge room or quiet space that does not have connotations with religion. As part of our case, we have found a large number of other universities, just in the UK, that have taken the initiative to provide a wellbeing space for students. Here are just three website links to Bristol, Manchester and UCL universities that provide this kind of space for their students:

• University of Manchester -http://www.sport.manchester.ac.uk/facilities/wellroom/ - “We have two large activity studios, a lounge area and treatment room which houses our Physio and Masseur Clinic on the ground floor and we have a chill-out bean bag room and large group room on the 1st floor.
• University of Bristol - https://www.bristol.ac.uk/library/accessibility-support/wellbeing/ - Relaxation space in the Arts and Social Sciences Library “We’ve created a dedicated calm space on the first floor where you can take a break away from your study in order to recharge and refresh. Within the pleasant woodland and meadow-decorated space, you’ll find rocking chairs, blankets, comfortable floor pillows, a family of stress-busting cuddly animals and an assortment of materials designed to enhance your sense of wellbeing.
• UCL - https://www.ucl.ac.uk/students/support-and-wellbeing/specialist-information-and-support/religion-and-faith- “Quiet contemplation room”

Other educational and professional organisations have also started to provide these ‘recharge’ spaces for their students and staff, such as Google, Soundcloud, Nike, primary and secondary schools.

We all know that university can be a stressful time and evidence shows that university students report high levels of stress, with the prevalence of anxiety and depression in students of the 4th year, 3rd year, 2nd year and 1st year was 49%, 47%, 73% and 66% respectively. Relaxation techniques such as elevator breathing and guided relaxation have shown to have significant effects of reducing levels of test anxiety (Larson et al, 2010). There are also long term benefits such as increased self-esteem, improved grade point average overtime were supported by research (Sharif & Armitage, 2004) due to these relaxation techniques.

We recommend that these recharge spaces be areas of quiet, relaxation and minimal distractions. Therefore, not much is needed to fill these rooms - perhaps a few bean bags, relaxation technique posters and helpline guidance.Please let us know if we can progress this idea further in any way. We would love to be a part of this as much as possible. We have noticed in the Arts Centre there is a space for ‘creative learning’, consisting of children’s toys and furniture. We suggest that an area like this, with bean bags etc. would be great for the students of the University of Warwick. We would be more than happy to conduct a poll to see if there would be significant interest in a space like this. If you would like to have a look at further evidence we have gathered, the links are provided at the bottom of this email.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing back from you. Best wishes

Carnegie Mellon Uni - https://www.cmu.edu/wellness/be-mindful/mindfulness/index.html
University of Stirling - https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties-and-services/information-services-and-library/current-students-and-staff/library-information/wellbeing-space/
University of Plymouth - https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/student-life/services/learning-gateway/counselling/space
Schools - https://www.safespaces.co.uk/safespace-in-schools/
University of Worcester - https://www.worc.ac.uk/content_images/labyrinth.pdf
Pop-up Wellbeing Spaces - https://www.tes.com/news/welcome-wellbeing-zone

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Techniques:

Our email consisted of concepts from two theoretical frameworks: the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the YALE approach to persuasion.

1. Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

Firstly we investigated the ELM. This is a framework that was developed by Petty and Cacioppo (1986) with the aim of explaining why the same variable affecting persuasion sometimes enhances the effect, but in other circumstances minimises it. This model is a dual process model of persuasion. One process is automatic, quick and uses heuristics (peripheral route) and the other process is controlled, deliberate and rational (central route).

Peripheral route: Persuasion occurs via the peripheral route when the persuasive conditions promote low elaboration. Either the message is thought about very little (the idea that we are cognitive misers; we like to use little effort to think (Stanovich, 2008), or the one being persuaded lacks ability and motivation (factors determined by things such as how much the message is personally relevant to them, whether they have knowledge in the domain, or feel responsible) to understand what is being said. People going down the peripheral route rely on more judgemental heuristics and superficial features, for example, agreeing with a request because the speaker is attractive (Halo Effect (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977), or believing they are qualified/authoritative because they are wearing a suit blazer, despite having no specific expertise in the field.

Central route: On the other hand, the central route persuasion occurs when the message has been thought about and elaborated on. The person receiving the message has the ability to pay attention to the logic and rationale of what is being said, going beyond what is apparent from the surface. The ability to do this increase with clear presentation, attention, time and having the cognitive resources available, i.e. being awake and alert. Petty and Cacioppo (1986) argued that persuasion via the central route leads to more predictive future behaviour and information processing, it is more stable over time, and more resistant to future persuasion formed under peripheral route conditions (Petty, Barden & Wheeler, 2009).

Therefore, for our project, we chose to focus on the central route. This was for a number of reasons. 1. The request we were making needed an active response and action, whereas the peripheral persuasion route tends to be passive. 2. The people we contacted in order to find out the feasibility of having a recharge room and the associated benefits, have a deeper understanding and expertise in the field: the University’s Head of Counselling, Vice-Chancellor and the Student’s Union’s Welfare and Campaign’s Officer. 3. The topic of a recharge room was salient, relevant and important to those listening, thus increasing the motivation for them to listen to the message they were being given. 4. According to the ELM, the message itself needs to be coherent, logically sound and compelling (Petty, Cacioppo & Heesacker, 1981; Areni & Lutz, 1988). Therefore, the email described what we were asking, why it was important and contained the persuasive evidence that has been found to support recharge rooms at different universities, schools and workplaces across the UK and worldwide.

2. The YALE Approach

Secondly, we used the YALE approach. This is a persuasion technique developed by Carl Hovland at Yale University (Hovland et al, 1953) which aims to study conditions in which people are more likely to change their response according to persuasive messages. There are three components in Yale approach to form a persuasive message: the message source (who), the content of the message (what), and the receiver (whom).  

On the ‘who’ level: the credibility of the sources can affect how persuasive a message is, for example, experts opinions are more persuasive than non-experts, and increase the trustworthiness of the source. A study showed that compliance and agreement with the topic are greater if the source is from an expert (Maddux & Rogers, 1980). Next, on the message ‘what’ level: higher quality messages are more persuasive, for instance, the vividness of message can affect the quality of message and messages that focus on a single individual are more persuasive than fact-based messages. Combined with graphic images this technique can induce fear into people, which increases the persuasiveness of the message. An example of this would be a cigarette warning label with graphic images. Another study showed that fear appeals with instructions for what to do in response were the most effective treatment (Leventhal et al, 1967). Lastly, on the ‘whom’ level: age of the audience is also a contributing factor. Young people are more susceptible to persuasion than old people. Additionally, the mood of the receiver can also play a role, for example, feeling very negative or very positive increases susceptibility to persuasion.

For our project, we focused on the quality of sources. We supported our suggestions by referencing scientific papers with empirical research that investigated the advantages of having a safe space and how relaxation techniques help reduce anxiety. This would increase the strength of the argument and highlight the importance of this issue. We hypothesised that those we contacted were more likely to take the central route to consider our suggestion and with reference to expertise and research, this would increase the persuasiveness of our message.        

Conclusion:

Overall, our project was a way of increasing the awareness of ongoing mental health problems to those in higher positions within our University. Our thorough research has shown us that recharge rooms/safe spaces are beneficial for all involved and can help students when they’re going through a troubling period. We thought that the best way to persuade the university to seriously look at the potential of getting a space was to contact them with all the statistics and information about the benefits, meaning that there was less research for them to do. We used the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the YALE approach to do this. However, unfortunately, we did not receive a definitive reply, with a plan of action, within the 4 weeks. Depending on the direction of a future response, we will try to use persuasion techniques that are appropriate for the direction: either a decline of a recharge room or acceptance. If they decline, we will ask why, then work on turning the ‘no’ into a ‘yes’. If we know the reason why not, we can research ways around this. If they accept, our job is done.

References:

Areni, C.S., & Lutz, R.J. (1988). The role of argument quality in the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Advances in Consumer Research, 15, 197-203.

Bayram, N., & Bilgel, N. (2008). The prevalence and socio-demographic correlations of depression, anxiety and stress among a group of university students. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43, 667-672.

Dehghan-nayeri, N., & Adib-Hajbaghery, M. (2011). Effects of progressive relaxation on anxiety and quality of life in female students: a non-randomized controlled trial. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 19, 194-200.

Eppley, K. R., Abrams, A. I., & Shear, J. (1989). Differential effects of relaxation techniques on trait anxiety: a meta‐analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45, 957-974.

Gotink, R. A., Chu, P., Busschbach, J. J., Benson, H., Fricchione, G. L., & Hunink, M. M. (2015). Standardised mindfulness-based interventions in healthcare: an overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of RCTs. PloS one, 10, e0124344.

Hovland, C. I., Janis, I. L., & Kelley, H. H. (1953). Communication and persuasion.

Inam, S. N. B., Saqib, A., & Alam, E. (2003). Prevalence of anxiety and depression among medical students of private university. Journal-Pakistan Medical Association, 53, 44-46.

Larson, H. A., El Ramahi, M. K., Conn, S. R., Estes, L. A., & Ghibellini, A. B. (2010). Reducing Test Anxiety among Third Grade Students through the Implementation of Relaxation Techniques. Journal of School Counselling, 8, 19.

Leventhal, H., Watts, J. C., & Pagano, F. (1967). Effects of fear and instructions on how to cope with danger. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6, 313.

Maddux, J. E., & Rogers, R. W. (1980). Effects of source expertness, physical attractiveness, and supporting arguments on persuasion: A case of brains over beauty. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 235.

Neuderth, S., Jabs, B., & Schmidtke, A. (2009). Strategies for reducing test anxiety and optimizing exam preparation in German university students: a prevention-oriented pilot project of the University of Würzburg. Journal of Neural Transmission, 116, 785-790.

Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 250-256.

Petty, R. E., Barden, J., & Wheeler, S.C. (2009). The Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion: Developing health promotions for sustained behavioural change.

Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Heesacker, M. (1981), The Use of Rhetorical Questions in Persuasion: A Cognitive Response Analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 432-440.

Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 123-205.

Sharif, F., & Armitage, P. (2004). The effect of psychological and educational counselling in reducing anxiety in nursing students. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 11, 386-392.

Stanovich, K. E., & West, R.F. (2008). On the relative independence of thinking biases and cognitive ability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 672–695.