Discussion 1 PSY535

Instructor Burton Discussion Example

Now that you have completed your multiple regression analyses, please share with the class what you found. You do not need to include your APA style results, but list the predictors you used and how effective or ineffective they were at predicting persuasion. What other variables not included in the data (or those you did not include in your analysis) do you think would be good predictors of persuasion, and why? How would you measure persuasion? Is how it is measured likely to influence how well it can be predicted?

For this assignment, I used attractiveness and expertise as my independent or predictor values. I ran the Pearson correlation for the other variables, and saw through the correlation that variables such as age, socioeconomic status, and income as not having positive P-Values and some where above 0.5. As we learned in the videos, in order for a variable to be significant, it has to have a P-Value of less than 0.5 (Quantitative Specialists, 2014). By having a lower P-Value, these variables show a higher correlation for a viewer to be more persuaded during a presentation. Attractiveness had a P-Value of .014 and expertise had a P-Value of .001. Both of these values are significantly lower than .05, which shows a strong and positive correlation.

I also chose these values because it is something that I can see having a higher influence on me when viewing a presentation. If I were to have to give a presentation, I would want to look my best in a professional manner and would want to know as much as I could about what I am presenting. By the presenter looking professional and being knowledgeable about what I am learning, I have more of a tendency to pay attention and absorb the information. If someone were to walk into a presentation in sweatpants and a torn shirt, while not being able to hold my attention and not being able to fully explain what they are presenting, I would not be able to grasp their topic fully.

Although I do not see age, socioeconomic status, or income as being a good variable based off of their P-Values, I do see it having some positive correlation. If someone is of higher economic status and age, they may look to gain more out of a presentation than someone who is just out of college and is on the lower scale of income and status. The entire process also depends on the information being presented. Someone who has retired and is living in a beach house in Florida, may not be persuaded by a topic of discussion having to do with lower economic standings of poverty and vise versa for those of lower status. Overall, the main determinate finding of this study would need to be based on the information being provided and the interest of the topic to the viewers.

By saying this, I feel one of the easiest and best ways to measure persuasion is by conducting a simple survey after the presentation. This could include open ended questions about what they learned, what they thought was good during the presentation, and what suggestions they could make to the presenter. This is not a sure thing as some people will not take the survey seriously, but if invested in the presentation, they have a higher likability of completing the survey. It can be a good area to see if it can be measured this way, but it is not always for certain; it depends on the group of viewers and willingness to participate.

References Quantitative Specialists (October 2014). Multiple Regression in SPSS- R Square; P-Value; ANOVA F; Beta (Part 3 of 3). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O435SJtU2c8&t=21s