General Information
| Course Code | S_MCPO |
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| Credits | 6 EC |
| Period | P1 |
| Course Level | 300 |
| Language of Tuition | Dutch / English |
| Faculty | Fac. of Social Sciences and Humanities |
| Course Coordinator | dr. I.E. Vermeulen |
| Examiner | dr. I.E. Vermeulen |
| Teaching Staff |
G.M. Quaedvlieg dr. I.E. Vermeulen J.K. Kat S.G.E. van den Berg |
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Part of programme(s)
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Practical Information
You need to register for this course yourself. The (de)registration deadlines can be found on VU.nl
| Teaching Methods | Lecture |
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Target audiences
This course is also available as:
Course Objective
Upon completion of this course, the student is able to:
- reproduce and interpret the key theories of persuasive and marketing communication, such as theories about attitude formation, message processing, group influence, social influence, implicit behaviour, branding, positioning, and advertising;
- recognise persuasive elements in real-world (marketing) messages, and identify these elements in theoretical terms;
- recognise and analyse influence strategies in a marketing context;
- explain how methods and design of experimental research are applied in order to to study effects of persuasive communication.
Course Content
Marketers and advertisers use persuasive communication to promote goods and services, non-profit organisations use it to acquire donations or volunteers, and politicians use it to win over public opinion. And these are just a few examples - persuasive communication is everywhere: at the workplace, on social media, and even in your daily exchanges with friends and family.
There are many ways in which we can influence - or can be influenced by - others. Generally, the effectiveness of persuasion depends on sender characteristics (e.g., credibility or social attractiveness), message characteristics (e.g., vividness or argument quality), and receiver characteristics (e.g., personality or background).
In this course, we will review the most important theories in persuasive communication and marketing communication. Using real-life examples (often from an advertising context) we will see how these theories are employed in practice, and to what effect. Through the electronic reader and the assignments, you will also become familiar with experimental research into the effects of persuasion.
Additional Information Teaching Methods
Three plenary lectures for a total of six contact hours per week. The lectures will contain interactive elements: demonstrations, quizzes, discussions, Q&A.
Method of Assessment
Written final exam and individual assignments.Literature
- Perloff, R. (2020). The Dynamics of Persuasion: Communication and attitudes in the twenty-first century (7th Ed). New York, NY: Routledge.
- Additional articles
Additional Information Target Audience
- Second year BSc Communication Science
- Students in the minor Communication Science
Additional Information
The language of instruction for this course is “bilingual”, which means that the lectures are held in English but the working groups are offered separately in English or Dutch.