Explanation of the theory:When someone tries to persuade others to join in thinking or believing something, a process takes place. Those who receive the information must process what the source says and, in turn, decide whether or not to accept the idea. But what if people didn't always process the information and just followed the crowd? Elaboration Likelihood Theory (ELM), developed by social psychologists Petty and Cacioppo, illustrates how persuasion, or the presentation of facts to move someone or something in a certain way, occurs. This model “analyses the probability that recipients will process cognitively”, in other words it breaks down the information collected and determines whether or not the message is sufficient to persuade the recipient (Enfante, Rancer & Avtgis, 2010, p. 172). In the most advantageous case, this model suggests that a recipient “carefully considers the content of the persuasive message and has favorable thoughts about the content” (Enfante, Rancer & Avtgis, 2010, p. 172). When recipients engage in cognitive thinking, they participate in the type of persuasion that the authors call the “central route” (Enfante, Rancer & Avtgis, 2010, p. 172). According to the central route, the recipient employs positive feelings toward whatever the source is saying and then in turn acts or forms attitudes based on the positive thoughts. This way they thoughtfully interact with the information the source is trying to convey. On the other hand, the authors propose that the other way of evaluating information is similar to the bandwagon approach we learn in high school. Every time I think about the concept of the bandwagon I hear my mother ask "if your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?" In this... middle of the paper... their parents were very against US involvement in other countries. When we were asked to write this assignment, my blood boiled thinking about this example. I was so frustrated that this person couldn't step outside of the ideologies established by his parents and see the debate for what it was. I still think we deserved to win that round and if we had, my partner and I could have made it further in the tournament. When I read about ELM it helped me put into perspective why the judge thought the way he did. I suppose this gives me some peace of mind, but I'm still frustrated that people are unable to see a persuasive message for what it is and leave out any external beliefs. References Infante, Dominic A., Andrew S. Rancer and Theodore A Avtgis. Contemporary communication theory. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Pub., 2010. Print.