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Examples Of Emotional Appeals

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Every message an audience receives is composed of information which appeals to them on both rational an emotional levels. Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, Ted Brader, states in his article published in Journal of Political Science that while rational appeals rely on the relay of information so the audience can make utilitarian decisions, emotional appeals motivate responses by making the audience feel a certain way. This paper sets out to establish what has been understood regarding emotional appeals, and to critically evaluate what has been proposed surrounding their use. Understanding emotional appeals is relevant, especially in a post-truth society, because these appeals have the power to influence …show more content…

Different emotions are processed in distinct ways by the brain. To understand the processing methods Devenport, Doctor of Philosphy, Thiel, PhD, and Connelly and Kligyte both professors of psychology at the University of Oklahoma, juxtapose in their Human Performance article, the effects of two intense emotions: anger and fear. Their studies show anger to be linked with feelings of certainty, individual control, displaced responsibility, and threatened self-esteem. They explain that anger is processed “heuristically” or from the top down, and that this kind of processing includes biased and retaliatory thinking. This results in a limitation of the focus of a situation’s interpretation to oneself, and such thinking is linked to preferences for risky and impulsive behaviour and …show more content…

There is something else to consider when examining emotional appeals, regardless of its association, which is the rationality of the appeal itself. National Research Council in Italy member, Miceli, and university professors Rosis and Poggi, argue in their paper for Applied Artificial Intelligence that messages which appeal to emotions are not always irrational, while Panda, Mishra, and Brader propose that irrational behaviour is best encouraged through emotional appeals.
Panda, Professor of Marketing, and Mishra, Doctoral Scholar at Ravenshaw University, find in their contribution to The IUP Journal of Brand Management that companies whose advertisements created emotional links with their audience through colour, music, and tonalities were far more successful in garnering an audience willing to pay high premiums than those whose advertisements focused on information, formatting rational appeals. Their research also shows that affective buying behaviour (behavioural response to an affective advertising appeal) is not only less stressful for consumers, but also that consumers required less information about their product before they buy it. Panda and Mishra’s work demonstrates that emotion has the potential to override the need for information and rational decision making because “when exposed to an affect-laden advertising appeal,

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