Ohhhhhh, Shiny. Central vs. peripheral routes of processing.

As an avid car enthusiast, I sometimes have people come to me and ask my opinions of cars they are thinking of buying. I assume this is because these people know that not only do i enjoy looking up specs and consumer reports for cars, but I am also motivated by my general craving for information to learn as much about the car as I possibly can. When doing this, I utilize a process called the central route of processing (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). The central route of processing is one that people use when they are highly motivated to make a correct decision, or the decision they are making is high in personal relevance (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). The flip side to the central route is the peripheral route, which is the way people make decisions when not highly motivated, or when the decision is low in personal relevance (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). Peripheral route decisions are influenced by heuristics, as well as other factors such as how attractive the source presenting the information is, or simply how the person making the decision is feeling. On the other hand, central route decisions are not influenced by these factors, instead the decision is made by carefully examining the facts, and using logic to make the best choice (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986).

Consider this as an example. Someone recently asked me about my opinion on Ford Mustangs, specifically the GT models from 2005-2008. I told them that, in my opinion they should wait a year and buy a 2011 v6 mustang used instead of the one they were looking at buying, since they were in no real need of a new car. My rationale for saying that was thus: the new v6's have just as much horsepower as the old v8's, they get much better gas mileage, cost less to insure, and use a new, more reliable transmission. All of this, and they would end up paying about the same for a one-year-old v6 as a five-year-old v8. Very logical, yes? Central route processing. They informed me recently that, in spite of my opinion, they had purchased a 2005 GT because, and I quote "It was prettier, and the engine sounded good". Their decision was obviously influenced by factors outside of logic, hence they used the peripheral route.

Petty, R., E. & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Communication and persuasion: Central and peripheral routes to attitude change. New York: Springer-Verlag.