Social psychology reflection paper 4page

Planning a Political Campaign

In this paper, you will be asked to plan out the campaign for a candidate that is running for an office/position (NOTE: I prefer that you not specify a particular candidate or political party in your writing). Please write out an outline of this candidate’s campaign strategy. The strategy can include the types of commercials they will run, things they will say in their speeches, what campaign staff will say when they knock on doors, buttons/merchandise they will sell and much more. In your outline of the campaign strategy, please be sure to address the following questions.

· Please spend one paragraph setting a context for the campaign you will be planning. While I encourage you not to mention specific individuals or political parties by name, you are welcome to add any other specific details you see fit to help your paper. For example, you can specify the position your candidate is running for (it doesn’t have to be political; you may choose to write about running for a leadership position in a sorority/fraternity for example). If it helps your writing, you can also choose to describe key issues/platforms your candidate will take on (you can write, for example, how you would plan a campaign for a candidate who specifically wants to propose a new health care plan).

· According to the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), some voters will use the central route when deciding on what candidate to vote for, and others will use the peripheral route. Please describe the type of voter you believe will use each route, and one strategy your campaign will use to convince each of them.

· Please describe, in detail, two persuasion heuristics you will use in your messaging. Describe not only how you will use these heuristics, but why you believe they will be successful.

· Please describe how your campaign can use Asch’s understanding of conformity (either in the original 1951 paper or in the follow-ups) to leverage more support for your candidate.

· Please describe one interpersonal influence strategy and how you will use it to leverage more support for your candidate.

NOTE: Exceptional papers will be able to provide both (1) a thorough understanding of attitudes and persuasion and (2) detailed, relevant examples of how they would apply those to a campaign. Papers will be regarded as incomplete if they do not respond to each of the points in this paper with clarity and specificity.

NOTE: The writing prompt is listed here in a checklist to facilitate your writing and organization. It is not an indication that you should write your paper as a set of several separate short answers to the different points listed here. Exceptional papers will sound like one single, connected narrative. Papers that sound “choppy” or disconnected will be evaluated more poorly.