scholarly journals Engaging Persuasion: What Should Undergraduate Students Enrolled in a Persuasion Course Learn?

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 12-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Hunt ◽  
Kevin Meyer

In our daily activities we are bombarded with persuasive messages. From advertising on mass and social media to interactions with friends, we are constantly exposed to attempts to change or reinforce our attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors. Conversely, we routinely attempt to influence others and gain their compliance through persuasive attempts of our own. Without question, persuasion is a central feature of virtually every aspect of human communication and is found wherever we find people communicating. Fortunately, scholars have developed a great number of empirically tested persuasive techniques, strategies, and theories that can help students become effective producers and consumers of persuasive messages. This article outlines the foundations, content areas, and applied assignments appropriate for an undergraduate persuasion course. In addition, we outline several pedagogical issues for instructors to consider.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Ntongha Eni Ikpi ◽  
Veronica Akwenabuaye Undelikwo

The use of social media platforms has over the years become a veritable tool for individuals, groups, institutions and corporate bodies for the promotion of health and wellness. In recent times, social media has become one of the most potent agents of the media through which health issues are addressed as well as generated and disseminated to different populations in society. The study was conducted to examine social media use and students’ health lifestyle modification in the University of Calabar, Nigeria. It sought to determine the extent to which students’ use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp) influences the modification of their health-related lifestyles such as eating habits, sexual behaviour, cigarette and alcohol consumption, drug use and the engagement in fitness activities. The study adopted a randomized descriptive survey design and used a sample of 300 undergraduate students. The questionnaire was the main instrument used for collection of data while simple percentages and means were used to determine the difference between the expected mean of 2.50 and the observed means across various items in the questionnaire. The results showed that apart from Twitter, social media use by University of Calabar students has significantly influenced the modification of their health lifestyles. Since social media has become a veritable tool for the promotion of positive health lifestyle, effort should be made by government through the health sector to create more awareness among students and the entire population of social media users, on the health benefits accruing from use of social media.


2021 ◽  
pp. 009365022199531
Author(s):  
German Neubaum

In light of the growing politicization of social media, the spiral of silence theory and its predictions on the conditions under which individuals express political opinions have gained increasing scholarly attention. This study contributes to this line of research by identifying the influence of a central characteristic of social media: message persistence. It was expected that high technical durability of political messages reduces users’ propensity to voice their opinion, moderating the silence effect. A pre-registered experiment ( N = 772) revealed a small-to-medium persistence effect in three out of four topical contexts. While perceived congruence with the opinion climate was not associated with the likelihood of opinion expression, the latter could be explained by a mental cost-benefit calculus that was shaped by message persistence. Theoretical implications are discussed referring to (a) a situational approach regarding silencing processes on social media and (b) its connection to a behavioral calculus of human communication.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olubunmi Michael Odewumi ◽  
Foluke B. Bamigboye ◽  
Olushola F. Olawuyi ◽  
Oluwatosin O. Bamigboye

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayed Salahuddin Ahmed ◽  
Abdulkhaleq Q. A. Hassan

s not it deplorable that in a country that tops in the entire world in using several social media sites does not utilize the same media in acquiring knowledge and skills? In Saudi Arabia, undergraduate students spend a significant amount of time on social media every day, but they are reluctant (or not motivated enough) to use the same media for educational purposes. This study was carried out on the undergraduate English majors of King Khalid University in Muhayil Asir in Saudi Arabia. In the English department, every student carries at least one smart phone with Internet connection, and they are found occupied with their phones on the campus, sometimes even in classrooms, but they are weak both in subject knowledge and skills of English language. The teachers-cum-researchers were baffled with students’ competence because regular users of Internet and social media are supposed to be updated with the subject knowledge as well as confident in using English language. The researchers designed an empirical study to explore students’ rationale of using the social media and their language preference. The study concludes with gloomy findings that students use the media mainly for entertainment and ineffective communication in English language. The worst fact is: they are not motivated enough to use the social media for educational purposes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Perez ◽  
Mairead Brady

This paper presents a preliminary scoping review exploring the evidence landscape regarding academic staff experiences and perceptions of social media adoption as an educational tool in higher education. The goal of this paper is to examine 10 empirical studies of social media adoption in teaching and learning by academics in preparation for a proposal for a systematic literature review. Consequently, this scoping study assisted in the development of a review protocol which established the inclusion and exclusion criteria for conducting this systematic review at a future date. This paper will present the first stage of carrying out a systematic review: planning the review and presenting the results of the scoping study. The findings of this scoping study revealed that academics are slow in adopting social media within teaching and academics that have adopted the use of social media do so primarily for sharing relevant information and resources easily with students rather than for teaching purposes. Overall, the adoption of social media as an educational tool is faced with many challenges, such as cultural resistance, pedagogical issues, lack of institutional support and time investment. The results also indicate that teaching styles, demographic factors, privacy issues and previous experience can influence academic staff’s decision to adopt social media for teaching purposes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-251
Author(s):  
Aidatul Chusna

Social media enables its users to participate in creating and sharing media contents through their accounts; thus, it gives opportunity to gain popularity for anyone, including celebrity.  This paper is aimed at revealing celebrities’ strategy to increase and maintain their popularity by constructing self-image through social media. Videos from Baim Paula youtube channel are selected as the main data of the analysis, considering Baim Wong’s success as celebrity and content creator. Using textual approach, the vidoes created and shared are analized as a cultural text which demonstrates celebrities’ self-representation in social media. The result shows that Baim Wong performs various self- images through his videos contents. His prank videos indirectly indicate authenticity and honesty entitled to Baim Wong’s image, as a strategy to create closeness to his fans. He also construcs an altruistic persona by giving presents and/or money to his pranked targets. Another self-representation is seen in videos about his daily activities with family and friends. Through these videos, Baim Wong constructs his image as a family man. The persona performed in social media has successfully attracted more fans/ subscribers and enhanced his fame. Subsequently, it generates profit not only from his YouTube channel, but also from advertising agencies and TV stations that hire him.


Author(s):  
Chinomnso C. Nnebue ◽  
Chukwuma B. Duru ◽  
Kelechukwu C. Uzoh ◽  
Blessing E. Udozor ◽  
Sulyat T. Salaudeen ◽  
...  

Background: Social networking has become integral to the intellectual, emotional and social lives of the young. The often-unrestricted access to sexually explicit content on the social media and associated adverse sexual health among this group, constitute key outcomes in public health research. Aim: To determine social media use and the effect on sexual practices among undergraduate students in a private university in Southern Nigeria. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional survey among 300 undergraduate students of Madonna University Nigeria, Elele campus, was conducted between June and November, 2019. Respondents were selected using multistage sampling technique. Data were obtained using self-administered semi-structured questionnaires. Data analysis employed statistical package for social sciences version 22.0. Chi-square test was used to determine statistically significant associations between variables at p values < 0.05. Results:  Out of a sample size of 300, all were returned and analysed, giving a response rate of 100%, and a mean age of 21.85+ 2.63years. The awareness of social media was 97.9%, with commonest 237 (79%) from friends/peers. The reasons cited for its use include: 208 (72.7%) access to news, 182(63.6%) academics, while 173 (60.5%) accessed social media for sexually explicit content. The mean age at sexual debut was 17.44 + 2.63 years. There were associations between use of social media for sexually explicit content and [the sexually active (p=0.000); type of sexual acts practised (p=0.003) and number of sexual partnerships (p=0.000)] respectively. Conclusion: This study found an association between use of social media for sexually explicit content and risky sexual practices. No association was found between ever had sexual act and gender. We recommend behaviour-change interventions that control social media use for sexually explicit content and not compromise access to sexual health education among them.


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