Richard, a venture capitalist, funds budding entrepreneurs on the basis of the business plans presented. When a business plan is complex, logical, and presented in a detailed manner, Richard is convinced and provides funding to the entrepreneur. This implies that Richard:

Richard is using the central route of persuasion.

Explanation:

According to the elaboration likelihood model, there are two fundamental routes to persuasion: peripheral and central. While the peripheral route is driven by immediate impressions, the central route considers all the objective merits of a decision.

For example, if a person wants to buy a car, the central route would make the person consider the car durability or fuel efficiency; on the other hand, a person under the peripheral route could make his decision based on the colour or design.

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