Persuasion and Influence

From where it all began…Understanding the Power of Behaviour Change

 

  

-          Understanding the power that advertisements can have on their viewers most powerfully resonated with me when I watched the ‘Eternal Jew’ with a friend on YouTube . This was thought to be one of the

-          most well-known and influential Propaganda adverts used within Nazi Germany during World War II. Their infamous demonization of the enemy technique (Zimbardo, 2003) in representing Jews as non- human trying to corrupt German Racial Purity was perversely captivating (Rabbi & Moritz, 1988). Seeing how effective this advert was in influencing people to become so emotionally charged and enact otherwise unimaginable behaviours put a scary undertone to the power of adverts.

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References:

 Rabbie, J. M., & Horwitz, M. (1988). Categories versus groups as explanatory concepts in intergroup relations. European Journal of Social Psychology, 18(2), 117-123.

Zimbardo, P. G. (2004). A situationist perspective on the psychology of evil: Understanding how good people are transformed into perpetrators. The social psychology of good and evil, 21-50.

D.S