Central Route of Persuasion and Attitudes

The Power of Arguments: An Experiment on Central Route Persuasion
Introduction
Persuasion is a fundamental aspect of social interaction. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) by Petty and Cacioppo (1986) proposes two routes to persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route. The central route focuses on the quality of the arguments presented, while the peripheral route relies on superficial cues. This experiment investigates the central route of persuasion by examining how the strength of arguments in a persuasive message influences participants' attitudes. The author’s hypothesis is that the group who receives the strong argument will have more positive attitudes towards the program than those who receive the vague argument.
Participants
One hundred undergraduate students (50 male, 50 female) were recruited from a psychology introductory course and participated for partial course credit.
Methodology
Participants were randomly assigned to two groups. Both groups read a persuasive message advocating for increased government funding for renewable energy sources. The message in the strong argument group included detailed statistics on the environmental and economic benefits of renewable energy. The weak argument group received the same message, but with vague and unsubstantiated claims about the benefits.
Following the message, all participants completed a survey measuring their attitudes towards government funding for renewable energy. The survey used a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) with statements like "The government should allocate more resources to develop renewable energy sources."
Results
The data was analyzed using an independent samples t-test. Participants who read the strong argument message (M = 6.2, SD = .8) expressed significantly more positive attitudes towards government funding for renewable energy compared to those who read the weak argument message (M = 4.5, SD = 1.1). t(98) = 6.34, p < .001.
Figure 1: Attitudes towards Government Funding for Renewable Energy by Argument Strength
[Insert a bar graph here with Argument Strength (Strong vs. Weak) on the x-axis and Average Rating (1-7) on the y-axis. The strong argument group should have a higher average rating.]
Discussion
The results support the central route of persuasion. Participants who received the message with stronger arguments (detailed statistics) expressed more positive attitudes towards government funding for renewable energy compared to those who received the message with weaker arguments (vague claims). This suggests that when individuals are motivated and have the capacity to think carefully about the message, the quality of the arguments plays a significant role in influencing their attitudes.
Source
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 123–205). Academic Press.
Your response to the question should be provided in six parts:  A, B, C, D, E and F.  Write the response to each part of the question in complete sentences.  Use appropriate psychological terminology in your response.

Using the source provided, respond to the following questions.
Identify the research method used in the study.
State the operational definition of attitudes.
Describe the meaning of the mean in this study.
Identify at least one ethical guideline applied by the researchers.
Explain the extent to which the research finding may or may not be generalizable using specific and relevant evidence from the study.
Explain how at least one of the research findings supports or refutes the hypothesis in the study).