DIG 3610 Persuasion in Communication
DIG 3610 Persuasion in Communication
Persuasion involves influencing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors through effective messaging. The ability to persuade is a critical skill for organizations in fields like business, politics, social activism, and more. Persuasive techniques allow organizations to inspire customers, motivate employees, sway public opinion, and drive meaningful change.
This course consists of two core components:
1) A lecture series providing an in-depth look at the psychological mechanisms that make certain messages persuasive to target audiences in different contexts.
2) Hands-on group project where you'll apply these concepts to analyze real-world examples and create your own pieces of persuasive media.
The student should be able to
- Define persuasive communication and articulate key theoretical frameworks and ethical considerations surrounding its use
- Explain the multi-faceted nature of human attitudes, including how they are structured and their complex, bidirectional relationship with behavior
- Identify and analyze the critical source, message, and audience factors that influence the persuasiveness of communication in various contexts
Analyze target audience profiles and identify relevant needs, challenges, and opportunities for influence
• Select an empirically grounded communication strategy based on theoretical and practical knowledge to achieve defined goals
• Design and structure persuasive media productions (e.g., social media, short speeches, video) that are targeted and effectively adapted to the specific audience
- Evaluate and adjust content, style and delivery based on feedback and self-reflection
- Collaborate in groups to coordinate idea development, production and presentation of the complete communication materials
The topics below are exemplary and subject to change.
- Introduction to concepts, definitions, and ethics
- Methods of testing persuasive communication
- The attitude – behavior relationship
- Models explaining cognitive responses to persuasive communication
- The role of source characteristics
- The role of message characteristics
- The role of audience/receiver characteristics
- The role of settings/contexts
- Models of interpersonal compliance
- How to produce persuasive messages
- How to design persuasive campaigns
The course combines lectures and various individual and group assignments (both in-class and out-of-class).
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Portfolio Assessment other than PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 100 Grouping: Group (3 - 3) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Portfolio (in groups). The final exam for this course requires you, in a group, to submit a portfolio consisting of three media artifacts (e.g., social media post, video, speech) crafted to persuade a clearly defined audience. You must also deliver a 10-minute presentation explaining the target audience, the chosen persuasion strategies, and how they are integrated across different media, with relevant theories and ethical considerations. Exam code: DIG 36101 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 24 Hour(s) | Classroom hours |
Digital resources
| 5 Hour(s) | Asynchronous contents (videos, exercises) |
Student's own work with learning resources | 78 Hour(s) | |
Group work / Assignments | 90 Hour(s) | Term project group work |
Feedback activities and counselling | 3 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.
