Hello Blog! Today we will discuss the Elaboration Likelihood Model to determine where the best place for your to travel is and when the best time for you to travel is. We will discuss using high and low elaboration to help you understand what things might encourage you to travel. There are so many different cities that are amazing to visit, but how will you know which one is best for you? Did a friend recommend it? Is it something you saw on social media that told you that you absolutely had to go there? It is important to be elaborate when picking your destination and you will learn how that works in this post.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model was created by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo and there are two routes of persuasion. The first is the Central Route. This is “the path of cognitive processing that involves scrutiny of message content” (pg. 183). To elaborate, the central route involves message elaboration. People use the central route to scrutinize new ideas and prove that they are legit. The second route is Peripheral. That is “a mental shortcut process that accepts or rejects a message based on irrelevant cues as opposed to actively thinking about the issue” (pg. 183). Recipients rely on cues that allow them to make quick decisions. Many people are persuaded when thinking about making certain decisions, that is why this theory is so important. We learn which questions are to ask when deciding where to go in life.
We can apply this to travel by thinking about the places people recommend us to travel. Are they using biased elaboration, objective elaboration, strong arguments? Are they a credible source? We are constantly seeing people post beautiful and fun places to travel but how do we know if we will like them. Using this theory we can take their advice and apply it to our decisions. My advice is to so your research and elaborate on the questions you are asking which can help you decide where to travel. Some example questions are: What will I gain from traveling to this city? Will I enjoy the people, places and things I encounter? And, what can I learn from this trip, how can I make the most out of it? Be precise and thorough and then use Elaboration Likelihood Model to make the right decision.
Citations:
Griffin, Emory A., et al. A First Look at Communication Theory. McGraw-Hill Education, 2019.