Persuasive Communication: How Audiences Decide

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- DETAILED CONTENTS -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- PART I Understanding Rational Decision Making -- 1 Audience Decision-Making Expertise -- Decision Criteria of Expert Audiences -- Decision Criteria: The Audience's Mental Checklist of Questions -- The Number of Decision Criteria in Audience Decisions -- Metrics and Tests That Operationalize Decision Criteria -- The Similarity of Decision Criteria Among Audience Members -- Audience Expectations Based on Decision Criteria.

Techniques for Discovering and Using Audience Decision Criteria -- Benchmarks of Expert Audiences -- Benchmarks: The Comparative Information Audiences Require -- Audience Expectations About Benchmark Information -- Audience-Provided Benchmarks -- Decision Schemata of Expert Audiences -- Decision Schemata: The Audience's Decision-Making Framework -- Decision Schemata as Guides to the Decision-Making Process -- Limitations of Decision Schemata -- The Shared Decision Schemata of Groups -- Decision Schemata of Novice Audiences.

Novices' Less Well-Developed Decision Schemata -- Consequences of Less Well-Developed Decision Schemata -- The Development of Expert-Like Decision Schemata -- The Development of Shared Decision Schemata in Groups -- Expert Audiences vs. Linear Models and Normative Rules -- Linear Models: The Gold Standard of Rational Decision Making -- The Causes of Individual Experts' Normally Inferior Performance -- The Causes of Groups of Experts' Normally Inferior Performance -- The Importance of Expert Audiences Despite Their Limitations -- 2 Types of Audience Decisions.

Audience Decisions About Principal/Agent Relationships -- Oversight Decisions: Responses to Requests for Permission -- Compliance Decisions: Responses to Demands -- Staffing Decisions: Responses to Applications -- Employment Decisions: Responses to Recruiting Efforts -- Exonerative Decisions: Responses to Requests for Pardon -- Rallying Decisions: Responses to Attempts to Inspire and Lead -- Audience Decisions About Financial Resources -- Investment Decisions: Responses to Requests for Investment.

Lending Decisions: Responses to Requests for Loans -- Usage Decisions: Responses to Requests to Try Out -- Sourcing Decisions: Responses to Offers From Vendors -- Budgetary Decisions: Responses to Requests for Resources -- Borrowing Decisions: Responses to Offers of Loans -- Audience Decisions About Organizational Policies -- The Influence of Group Affiliations on Policy Decisions -- The Influence of External Groups on Policy Decisions -- Organizational Decision Criteria for Policy Decisions.

3 Cognitive Processes in Audience Decision Making.

Description based upon print version of record.