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Deborah Strong COM 611: Media and Social Influence Dr. William J. Brown July 19, 2003 Gritty Spirituality: Teen Involvement in Missions When missionary Jim Elliot was just 23 years of age, he wrote in his journal: For youth, there is special wretchedness; for then the powers within conflict most bluntly with the powers without. Restraint is most galling, release most desired. To compensate for these, youth has special powers. (Zoba 56) The “wretchedness” and “special powers” of today’s youth have been brutally displayed in the string of school shootings over the past few years and other alarming trends like copy-cat suicides, self-mutilation, anorexia/bulimia, and complete body tattooing. This generation, known as the Millennials, is characterized by extremes – both positive and negative. Despite some of the troubling behaviors of the Millennials, there is good news. Seventy eight percent of teenagers say religion is important to them and many identify themselves as spiritual, though few want to be labeled “religious” (57). Christian pollster George Barna notes that two out of three teens strongly desire a personal relationship with God. The downside is that fewer than half of these kids are excited about church (www.barna.org). This leaves many church leaders wondering how to best reach this complicated and conflicted group of kids. This paper proposes using short term mission trips to reach American youth. Involvement in missions could help harness the “wretchedness” of youth which Elliot mentioned and provide a positive release for their “special powers.” Persuasion strategies using media can effectively motivate teens to become involved in short term mission trips. The goal of this paper’s
persuasion strategy is to recruit teens to sign up for a short term mission trip. Many organizations and ministries conduct short term mission trips designed specifically for teens (Appendix A). A short term mission trip (ten days to two or three months) provides the kind of gritty spirituality which animates many of today’s teenagers. I have observed this phenomenon up close and personal while guiding over fifty short term mission teams in Nepal. Without exception, the most dynamic, effective teams I host are those teams with teenagers. Teens are full of energy and enthusiasm and they sincerely want to make a difference in this world. They are usually up for any challenge you can throw at them. Thus, they make ideal candidates for short term mission trips. A persuasion campaign to reach teens for missions can be done easily, effectively and in a financially feasible manner for church youth groups. The principle of social proof will be imbedded in a persuasive media campaign. The Principle of Social Proof Defined Social proof is the primary influence strategy which will be implemented in this persuasion campaign used to recruit teens for short term mission trips. The principle of social proof states that we determine what is correct by finding out what other people think is correct (Cialdini 100). Social proof works hand-in-hand with common teen peer pressure. Peer pressure is often seen as a strong motivating factor in conformative behavior among youth Social proof’s theoretical framework comes from Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory. Also known as Social Learning Theory, this theory simply posits that individuals learn by observing actions of others and modeling the behaviors of others with whom they interact or observe in the media (Bandura 23). People copy the actions they observe based on positive and negative consequences. Observation is a primary means of behavior motivation.
Marketers reap huge benefits by using the rule of social proof. They often apply this rule to their competitive advantage by featuring testimonials that show how delighted some people are with a particular product or service (Rieck 44). We are all driven in so many ways to conform. Smart marketers use this knowledge to their advantage. This is why bartenders salt their tip jars. If others are tipping, it must be the right thing to do! Social proof is what psychologists call a “decision heuristic” – a shortcut for making decisions. Life is too complicated to carefully evaluate every element of every situation, so we learn to take shortcuts to help us make what are usually reasonable and reliable decisions (Rieck 45). Social proof works best when someone sees others most similar to themselves using a product or service. They should be able to say, “Yes, these people are like me and they are doing it. So, I’m the type of person who should do it, too” (Rieck 45). If the “others” you show are not similar, the social proof principle will not be as effective. The rule of social proof works directly when you are selling something, because most transactions involve personal gain or clear benefits. You trigger the “Yes” response by showing others who have said “Yes” (Rieck 45). Social Proof Literature Review Much of the research done with the social proof principle includes studies with a negative connotation. The dynamics of social proof along with commitment and consistency principles have been exploited to destroy countless numbers of lives. The Reverend Jim Jones of the “The People’s Temple,” convinced 910 of his followers to willfully and peacefully commit suicide (Cialdini 130). Millions of Jews died, in part, because they believed that they were only being moved to relocation camps, when all the evidence suggested otherwise (Jason 1). But since everyone else was doing it, they did, too. Thousands of people participated in killing the Jews
partly because they observed everyone else doing it (2). This was the power of social proof at its worst. In a well controlled experiment by psychologists Robert Liebert and Robert Baron, children were shown filmed depictions of violence. They watched excerpts in which people intentionally harmed other people. They found that the children acted more aggressively toward one another after watching others act out their aggressions toward one another. This held true for both girls and boys. Frequent depictions of violence and aggression cause children to act in significantly more harmful ways toward other children (Liebert and Baron 474). This is a prime example of how the principle of social proof works in a negative behavioral manner. The Chicago doomsday cult, The Guardians, is another example of the negative effects of social proof. This was a group of people who were completely deceived by others. “So massive was the commitment to their beliefs, even though no saucer had landed, no spaceman had knocked, no flood had come, nothing had happened as prophesied – the group established proof for the validity of its beliefs: social proof” (Cialdini 110). They were certain that the more people they could convince, their beliefs would come true. Since the physical evidence did not come true, the social evidence kept them together. When such groups, such as the Dutch Anabaptists, build social proof for their beliefs through effective recruitment efforts, they have grown and prospered. When the Anabaptists saw their prophesied year of destruction, 1533, pass by, they became radically evangelistic and poured unprecedented energy into making new converts. So powerful was the snowballing social evidence in support of the Anabaptist position that it rapidly overwhelmed the disconfirming physical evidence and turned two-thirds of the population of Holland’s great cities into adherents (Cialdini 111).
All of the above persuasion principles will be used along with a multi-media presentation to persuade teens to sign up for a short term mission trip. Methodology and Media Use It is imperative to choose the most appropriate medium/media for any persuasion message. It is also important to target your message to a specific audience. The target audience for this communication persuasion campaign is teens in churches. Depending on a church’s circumstances and resources, one could use a single-medium or a combination of media for this persuasion message. One medium approach - Using only one medium – video, music, drama, print or any other medium – is relatively simple to manage. The disadvantage to this approach, however, is that your product must stand alone, and it therefore loses the potential reinforcement that other media can bring to it. Multimedia approach – The advantage to using a combination of media is that different media have different characteristics, which can complement one another. For example, if you use a combination of video and print:
- The video component is able to reach a mass audience and it can also communicate a broader message.
- The print materials can complement this by conveying more detailed information, which can be kept by readers and used for future reference.
- Additional messages, whether through the use of video, music or drama, reinforce the print materials.
It is also possible to use different media at different times in different places. This is slightly easier to manage than a project in which several media are used simultaneously. It also has several benefits:
- The credibility and popularity of one medium can lend credibility and popularity to another medium that has not yet begun. For example, short printed articles or testimonials in a church bulletin can lead up to a longer length video presentation.
- Different media can also help you reach more members of your target audience more effectively. Some youth are motivated by sight more than sound. They would be persuaded more by print messages. Other youth are more highly motivated by sound. Videos, music and dramatic presentations would most effectively reach these youth.
- Drama presentations can be used to reinforce the message of print, music and video presentations. Using a multi-media combination is almost always more powerful than using a single medium. While a multi-media approach requires more project management and coordination, the benefits are worth the effort - the synchronization of media can immediately reinforce your messages. Just as advertisers use radio, television and print to increase the impact of their advertisements, having more than one source of information adds credibility to your persuasion message. All of the media used for this persuasion campaign will display teenagers. Similar social conditions produce similar responses. People, especially if they are unsure of themselves, follow the lead of similar others. Who is more similar to a teenager than another teenager? If a lot of teenagers are doing the same thing, social proof principle posits that other teenagers will want to do it, too. When social proof is operating, people think, “They must know something we don’t.”
credibility: testimonials, case studies, reprints of articles, and interviews. All of these will be used in this persuasion campaign but the emphasis will be on testimonials of teens. Teenagers will speak directly to other teenagers in all the messages presented. Each testimonial, case study, article and interview will include:
- a photo of the person, their full name and contact information (used with permission) using actual photos and real names increases credibility
- their quote with a headline that captures the essence of what they are saying
- the quote should be set apart with a nice border and/or color so people can’t miss it Sample Testimonials - The testimonials below were gathered from random members of two youth teams which came to Nepal during the summer of 2003. They wrote these comments on a final evaluation form which they filled out on the last day of their trip during a debriefing meeting. Some of them also shared their comments verbally during a banquet on their last night in Nepal. One team of fifteen was from a church in Malaysia. Their ages ranged from sixteen to twenty-two. The other team of twenty-one was from a church in Canada. Their ages ranged from fourteen to eighteen. The following are examples of their testimonials, a mixture of humorous and serious comments, which could be used for a multi-media presentation including print, videos, music or dramas. Amy -“I promise to never take running water, toilets, toilet paper or electricity for granted again.” Allen - “I learned a valuable lesson on this trip. My life is really worth nothing unless I am about God’s business and showing others His love.”
Jake - “Where else can you ride an elephant one day, tell people about Jesus while white-water rafting, climb a mountain the next day and bathe in icy rivers every other day?” Brandon - “We all changed on this trip. I never want to be normal again. If God can use me over there, He can use me here at home, too. Use me up, God.” Jordan – “Fried. My flesh got fried on this trip. All my lousy attitudes – selfishness, pride, anger, insecurities – it all got burned out. Which is a good thing. It hurt but I thank God for it ‘cuz now I can be all He created me to be. I finally get it – dead to self and alive to Christ.” Angela - “It’s good to be reminded what we believe and why. This mission trip helped solidify that within me. I definitely know God’s purpose for my life now. I know why I am here and what He wants me to do.” Brianna - “Nehemiah prayed that God would be his strength. God showed me the impact the Spirit has on your physical being. There were times I thought I’d collapse on our trip. I was too tired to think straight. But Paul commanded us not to complain or grumble. This mission trip taught me that I should make this my goal always, in whatever I am doing.” Sue Ling - “Bottom line – I grew up on this trip. I grew emotionally, mentally and most of all I grew up spiritually. I now know what matters most in life. This trip opened my eyes.” Jason - “I learned perseverance. My legs ached, my back was killing me. I didn’t feel like I could keep going on to the next village. I just wanted to stop on the trail and yell whenever I heard our guide say, ‘It’s not far now. Honest.’ If I saw one
Geoff -“For me, this trip was all about obedience. Obedience is key. I saw first hand that my obedience does have an impact on people’s lives. If I am obedient today to what God calls me to do, He will lead me tomorrow on the journey He has mapped out for me. Lives are at stake and my life of obedience matters.” Kent - “This trip fulfilled all my wildest dreams. My dream was to go to a place, to a people, who had never heard the Gospel. We hiked to several remote villages. It took us eight days to hike over the mountains to one village. By day three, my knees were killing me and my feet ached like you would not believe. I had blisters on my heels bigger than a Frisbee. They never really healed the entire time I was there. But it was worth it. Yup, it was all worth it. I’ve already signed up for next year.” Andrew - “Just go. That’s all I can tell you. Just go. I didn’t get it until I went. Now I do. I will go and go and go every chance I get now. It changed my life. It can change yours, too.” These are all samples of the kinds of testimonials which could be used effectively in a multi-media persuasion campaign to elicit response from teens to sign up for a short term trip. It is important to hand out commitment/signature cards immediately after a message has been seen or read. Signature Cards and Commitment/Consistency Behavior After viewing a testimonial video, reading a testimonial brochure, watching a music or drama production, teens will be asked to sign a commitment card signing up for a short term trip. Signature cards are essential for gaining a teen’s commitment to a trip (Appendix B). Once a person makes a choice or a stand, they will encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to
behave consistently with that commitment. Those pressures cause a person to respond in ways that justify their earlier decision (Cialdini 53). The power of the consistency principle directs human action. If you can get a teen to sign a commitment card, their desire for consistency as a central motivator of behavior will be much stronger and lead toward more consistent behavior change. This tendency for consistency is fed from three sources. First, good personal consistency is highly valued by society. Second, aside from its effect on public image, generally consistent conduct provides a beneficial approach to daily life. Third, a consistent orientation affords a valuable shortcut through the complexity of modern life. By being consistent with earlier decisions, one reduces the need to process all the relevant information in future similar situations; instead, one merely needs to recall the earlier decision and to respond consistently with it. Commitments are most effective when they are active, public, effortful, and viewed as internally motivated (uncoerced) (96). Signature cards will help increase commitment and reinforce consistent behavior. Assessing Effectiveness When implementing any persuasive communication campaign, it is important to assess how effective it is. If you do not measure the goals you set, you will not know how effective your persuasion campaign is. Before studying the effects of this persuasion program, it would be beneficial to first develop the messages, together with members of the target audience. Once a draft message has been developed, the next step is to get feedback from small focus groups within the target audience. This feedback can be used to modify the messages and how they are presented. Focus groups could be given a short form or questionnaire concerning a short term missions trip. After they have filled this out, they would then watch a short testimonial video or
Qualitative methods - Qualitative methods are primarily based on the target audience’s own perception of the value of the message, rather than measurement by statistics. They are particularly useful when members of the target audience themselves make the connection between their own attitudinal or behavioral shifts, or new knowledge gained and your persuasion materials. Typical qualitative methods include:
- in-depth interviews
- observation of the message’s target audience actually viewing/listening/engaging with the message
- focus-group discussions Another way to carry out a qualitative evaluation would be to analyze what the listeners say or write on comment cards after watching a video, music or drama production or reading printed materials. You could do a question-answer session after a live performance or video screening. You could record the audience’s questions and comments and analyze them afterwards. For this project, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will be used. A survey questionnaire will be used before and after exposure to the persuasion message. All these methods will help in evaluating this campaign’s effectiveness. The emphasis, however, will be on focus group discussions and in-depth interviews conducted before and after exposure to the persuasion messages. Focus groups discussions have been used for many years in the marketing industry as a means of establishing customer’s preferences with regard to specific products or services. More recently, they have been used extensively in research for education and development projects,
since they are an effective, relatively inexpensive way of getting information about what people think and feel (Japhet 220). For focus group discussions, we will bring together small groups of approximately six to ten teens who are typical of our intended audience. A gender mix and an age mix as well as different groups with and without mission experience would provide valuable discussions. A moderator facilitates a discussion with them, either by asking questions or by showing them sample materials and eliciting their responses. The idea is that once people feel a sense of belonging in the group, they will express what they really feel about a certain issue. The information we get from this research will help us design our finished product message so that it is most attractive to our target audience. In the initial phase of designing our persuasion messages, we will need to find out a great deal of information about the characteristics of our audience, as well as their existing knowledge, attitudes and experiences with short term missions trips. This can all be done within the focus groups. Once a draft message has been developed, focus group discussions will help obtain feedback on the message. This input will help produce more effective persuasion messages. Focus group discussions are beneficial in this stage to help hone the message to exactly what the audience wants and needs. We can gain an understanding of how the material is received by the target audience by asking a few key questions such as: Did you learn anything new? If so, what? Do you like the message? What would you change, delete or add? How would you change it? What did you not like? Why? After the message has been shown, focus groups can also be used for the evaluation process. We can bring together members of the target audience who have watched the video, read the printed materials, or attended a live performance and elicit their responses to the messages.
“People have to die a lot of little deaths on a mission trip, forcing them to submit their individual wills to the greater purpose” (Moore 3). I have seen hundreds of foreign youth in Nepal talking with needy, poor people; hugging hurting lepers; loving the unlovely; playing with smelly, dirty kids; worshipping God with total abandonment; and wholeheartedly praying flat on their faces when their flesh is screaming, tired and hurting. These youth give me reason to hope. Many of them want to follow in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul who said: My life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus Christ – the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love. (Acts 20:24, NLT) The teens I have had the privilege of working with overseas have taught me much about God’s kindness and love. Through them, I have also learned to never underestimate what one person can do. God will work through anyone, of any age, who is submitted to Him to accomplish His will on the earth. Just look at what Moses did. One man or woman, who is willing to obey God, can change the destiny of millions. A short term mission trip may not change an entire generation but, as I have seen over and over again, it can help young people see and experience God who is very much alive in their lives. It’s too soon to tell if short term mission trips can raise up a new generation of power. But it’s a start.
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