Elaboration Likelihood Model

Richard Petty and John Cacioppo's 1986 dual-route theory of persuasion: attitude change reached via the "central route" — effortful, argument-based engagement with a message's actual content — tends to be durable and to generalize, while change reached via the "peripheral route" — reliance on superficial cues (the speaker's likability, a slogan, a mood) — tends to be shallow and short-lived.

Matters to this vault as the theoretical frame Costello, Pennycook & Rand reach for, in their own 2024 paper, to explain why a tailored AI dialogue's effects on conspiracy belief held at two months and spilled over to unrelated conspiracies — while their own Limitations section is explicit that this explanation is offered as consistent with the data, not established by it (the causal mechanism "remain[s] unformalized"). The model is invoked, not confirmed, in the primary text.

References

• claim-costello-2024-central-route-mechanism-is-a-hedged-inference
• Capture: 10-inbox/raw/2026-10-13-does-the-costellopennycookrand-2024-finding-that-a-tailored.md