The latent effect is a term used to refer to the influence of information that was initially brazen because it was impossible or highly unlikely; in theory, this effect occurs when someone initially ignores a message because it doesn’t seem reliable, but it gradually begins to fade. creates the information that has been rejected.
This change may come from external evidence in your favor or from an internal cycle of reflection that motivates us to reconsider information.
- This strategy may seem a little contradictory when you consider that people often question more messages about which they have doubts.
- However.
- This does not prevent content stored in memory that initially did not have much consideration.
- From ending up being important.
In fact, it will start to make sense when we find data or suspicions that will make us change our strategy and start using confirmation.
In the 1940s, during World War II, several advertising campaigns were carried out to foster a positive spirit in all aspects of the war. Specifically, the U. S. Department of War wanted to know if its political propaganda films were effective.
To this end, they developed a series of experiments to analyze how the attitudes of soldiers would be affected, the results of which are quite unique, as it was found that these short films did not affect the attitudes of soldiers as spontaneously as had been imagined.
When the films were informative, they reinforced some existing attitudes, but did not fuel optimism, so producers and psychologists have been unable to achieve their goal.
Interestingly, the researchers found that the shorts had a curious effect on the soldiers after a few months, and although their attitude towards war did not change immediately, nine weeks later some differences could be noticed.
For example, soldiers who witnessed the Battle of Britain immediately showed some sympathy for the British; nine weeks later, this affinity had increased. Carl Hovland, a professor at Yale University, called it a “sleeping effect. “
Unsurprisingly, this phenomenon was widely questioned in the field of scientific psychology, because it could not be said with certainty that the change in attitude, after such a long period of time, was due only to a film.
In fact, there are studies that show that the persuasive effect of a message is greater shortly after receiving the information, so over time the influence tends to decrease. This is something advertisers know, so they offer us a better deal if we rush to make a purchase.
Two essential conditions must be met for this curious phenomenon to occur:
Advertisers are very familiar with this detail, so they can write an article about the benefits of chocolate to convince us to consume it, however, it is only at the bottom of the page that they indicate that the writer is a person involved in a chocolate. Therefore, we receive the persuasive message before we know the source of the information from which it comes, and we are exposed to the effect of sleep.
The explanation for this phenomenon is very simple: in our minds, over time, we forget that the source was not very reliable and will only retain the initial information. This is why, over time, we are much more suggestible for this message than at first.
This is how the latent effect occurs, with which advertising and the media can try to persuade us to focus our attention on the purchase of certain products or on getting us to vote for a certain candidate; In addition, this phenomenon can lead us to overlook the negative aspects of the product.