PERSUASION

Persuasion

Persuasion is underneath the umbrella term of Influence. In other words, persuasion is influence, but it requires communication, whereas influence doesn't necessarily. Persuasion can attempt to influence the beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviors.^[1] Persuasion is a process aimed at changing a person's (or a group's) attitude or behavior toward some event, idea, object, or other person(s), by using written or spoken words to convey information, feelings, or reasoning, or a combination thereof.^[2] Persuasion is also an often used tool in the pursuit of personal gain, such as election campaigning, giving a sales pitch.^[3] or in Trial Advocacy. Persuasion can also be interpreted as using one's personal or positional resources to change people's behaviors or attitudes. Systematic persuasion is the process through which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to logic and reason. Heuristic persuasion on the other hand is the process through which attitudes or beliefs are changed because of appeals to habit or emotion.^[4]

Brief History

Persuasion began with the Greeks, who emphasized rhetoric and elocution has the highest standard for a successful politician. All trials were held in front of the Assembly, and both the prosecution and the defense rested, as they often do today, on the persuasiveness of the speaker.^[5]. Rhetoric was the ability to find the available means of persuasion in any instance. The Greek philosopher Aristotle listed four reasons why one should learn the art of persuasion: 1) truth and justice are perfect; thus if a case loses, it is the fault of the speaker; 2) it is an excellent tool for teaching; 3) a good rhetorician needs to know how to argue both sides to understand the whole problem and all the options; and 4) there is no better way to defend one’s self.

In the fifteenth century, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote ''The Prince'', which explored how a ruler must be concerned not only with reputation, but might also need to be willing to act immorally at the right times. As a political scientist, Machiavelli emphasized that occasional need for the methodical exercise of brute force or deceit. His moral and ethical beliefs led to the formation of Machiavellianism, which is characterized “the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct,”^[5] a very different form of persuasion.

Theories of Persuasion

Functional theories

Functional theorists attempt to understand the divergent attitudes individuals have towards people, objects or issues in different situations.^[6] There are four main functional attitudes:

·         Adjustment function: A main motivation for individuals is to increase positive external rewards and minimize the costs. Attitudes serve to direct behavior directed towards the rewards and away from punishment.

·         Ego Defensive function: The process by which an individual protects their ego from being threatened by their own negative impulses or threatening thoughts.

·         Value-expressive: When an individual derives pleasure from presenting an image of themselves which is in line with their self-concept and the beliefs that they want to be associated with.

·         Knowledge function: The need to attain a sense of understanding and control over one’s life. An individual’s attitudes therefor serve to help set standards and rules which govern their sense of being.^[6]

When communication is targeted at an underlying function its degree of persuasiveness will influence whether the individual will change their attitude, after determining that another attitude will be more effective in fulfilling that function.^[7]

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of Persuasion

Persuasion has traditionally been associated with two routes.^[8]

·         Central route: Whereby an individual evaluates information presented to them based on the pros and cons of it and how well it supports their values

·         Peripheral route: Change is mediated by how attractive the source of communication is bypassing the deliberation process.^[8]

The ELM forms a new facet of the route theory. It holds that the probability of effective persuasion depends on how successful the communication is at bringing to mind a relevant mental representation, which is the elaboration likelihood. Thus if the target of the communication is personally relevant, this increases the elaboration likelihood of the intended outcome and would be more persuasive if it were through the central route. Communication which does not require careful thought would be better suited to the peripheral route.^[9]

Conditioning Theories

Conditioning plays a huge part in the concept of persuasion. It is more often about leading someone into taking certain actions of their own, rather than giving direct commands. In advertisements for example, this is done by attempting to connect a positive emotion to a brand/product logo. This is often done by creating commercials that make people laugh, using a sexual undertone, inserting uplifting images and/or music etc. and then ending the commercial with a brand/product logo. Great examples of this are professional athletes. They are paid to connect themselves to things that can be directly related to their roles; sport shoes, tennis rackets, golf balls, or completely irrelevant things like soft drinks, popcorn poppers and panty hose. The important thing for the advertiser is to establish a connection to the consumer.^[10]

The thought is that it will affect how people view certain products, knowing that most purchases are made on the basis of emotion. Just like you sometimes recall a memory from a certain smell or sound, the objective of some ads is solely to bring back certain emotions when you see their logo in your local store. The hope is that by repeating the message several times it will cause the consumer to be more likely to purchase the product because he/she already connects it with a good emotion and a positive experience. Stefano DellaVigna and Matthew Gentzkow did a comprehensive study on the effects of persuasion in different domains. They discovered that persuasion has little or no effect on advertisement; however, there was a substantial effect of persuasion on voting if there was face-to-face contact.^[11]

Methods

Persuasion methods are also sometimes referred to as persuasion tactics or persuasion strategies.

Weapons of influence

Robert Cialdini, in Influence, his book on persuasion, defined six "influence cues or weapons of influence":^[12] Influence is the process of changing.

Reciprocity

The principle of reciprocity states that when a person provides us with something, we attempt to repay him or her in kind. Reciprocation produces a sense of obligation, which can be a powerful tool in persuasion. The reciprocity rule is effective because it can be overpowering and instill in us a sense of obligation. Generally, we have a dislike for individuals who neglect to return a favor or provide payment when offered a free service or gift. As a result, reciprocation is a widely held principle. This societal standard makes reciprocity extremely powerful persuasive technique, as it can result in unequal exchanges and can even applies to an uninvited first favor.

Commitment and Consistency

Consistency is an important aspect of persuasion because it 1)is highly valued by society, 2)results in a beneficial approach to daily life, and 3)provides a valuable shortcut through the complicated nature of modern existence. Consistency allows us to more effectively make decisions and process information. The concept of commitment states that if a person commits, either orally or in writing, he or she is more likely to honor that particular commitment. This is especially true for written commitments, as they appear psychologically more concrete and can be back up with hard proof. Once a person commits to a stance, he or she has a tendency to behave according to that commitment. Commitment is an effective persuasive technique because once you get someone to make a commitment, they are more likely to engage in self-persuasion, providing themselves and others with reasons and justifications to support his or her commitment in order to avoid dissonance.

Social Proof

We are influenced by others around us; we want to be doing what everyone else is doing. People often base their actions and beliefs on what others around them are doing, how others act or what others believe. “The power of the crowd” is very effective. We all want to know what others are doing around us. We are so obsessed with what others do and how others act, that we then try to be just like other people. Cialdini gives an example that is somewhat like this: in a phone–a–thon, the host will say something along the line of, “Operators are waiting, please call now.” The only context that you have from that statement is that the operators are waiting and they are not busy. Rather the host may say: “If operators are busy, please call again.” This is proving the technique of social proof. Just by changing three words, it sounds like the lines are busy and other people are calling; so it must be a good, legitimate organization.

Social proof is most effective when people are uncertain or when there are similarities in a situation. In uncertain or ambiguous situations, when there are multiple possibilities or choices that need to be made, people are likely to conform to what others do/are doing. We become more influenced by the people around us, in situations that cause us to make a decision. The other effective situation for social proofing is when there are similarities. We are more prone to change/conform around people who are similar to us. If someone who is similar to you is being controlling and a leader, you are more likely to listen and follow what it is they are saying.

Liking

This principle is simple and concise. People say “yes” to people that they like. Two major factors contribute to overall liking. The first is physical attractiveness. People who are more physically attractive seem to be more persuasive; they get what they want and they can easily change others' attitudes. This attractiveness is proven to send favorable messages/impressions of other traits that a person may have, such as talent, kindness, and intelligence. The second factor is similarity. This is the simpler aspect of "liking." The idea of similarity states if people like you, they are more likely to say “yes” to what you ask them. When we do this, we usually don’t think about it, it just comes naturally.

Authority

We have the tendency to believe that if an expert says something, then it must be true. People like to listen to those who are knowledgeable and trustworthy, so if you can be those two things, then you are already on your way to getting people to believe and listen to you. In order to get someone to listen to you, especially in a business setting, you need to present the weak argument first. If you do, then the stronger argument that follows will stand out, as people will quickly forget the weaker part as they are hearing your stronger arguments. Credibility makes strong points shine.

The Milgram study, done in 1974, consisted of a teacher and a learner who are both in different rooms. The teacher was told to ask questions to the learner and if the learner got it wrong, the teacher was to give him an electric shock. The catch to this experiment is that the teacher does not know is that the learner does not actually get a shock; the experiment was being done to see “When it is their job, how much suffering will ordinary people be willing to inflict on an entirely innocent other person” (Cialdini 176). In this study the results show that most teachers were willing to give as much pain that was available to them. People are willing to bring pain upon others when they are directed to do so by some other authority figure.

Scarcity

Scarcity is a principle that people underestimate. When something has limited availability, people assign it more value. According to Cialdini, “people want more of what they cannot have.” When scarcity is an issue, the context matters. This means that within certain contexts, scarcity “works” better. To get people to believe that something is scarcer, you need to explain what about that certain product will give them what no other product will. You have to work the audience in the correct way. Something else that you can do to get people believe that something is scarce is to tell them what they will lose, not what they will gain. Saying things like “you will lose $5”, rather than saying “you could save $5”. You are making something sound more scarce.

There are two major reasons why the scarcity principle keeps: 1)when things are difficult to get, they are usually more valuable so that can make it a better cue for the quality; and 2) when things become less available, we lose the chances to acquire those things. When this happens, we assign the scarce item or service more value simply because it is harder to aquire.

The whole of this principle is that we all want things that are out of our reach. If we see something that is popular we do not want it as much as something that is very rare.

Machiavellian Persuasion

Machiavellianism employs the tools of manipulation and deceit to gain wealth and power. Robert Greene wrote The 48 Laws of Power, a distillation of 3,000 years of the history of power, drawing on the lives of strategists and historical figures using the philosophies of Machiavelli to show people how to gain power, preserve it, and defend themselves against power manipulators.^[5]

In the preface of his book, Greene explains the dilemma of courtier, embodied in most of rules in his book: “While appearing the very paragon of elegance, they had to outwit and thwart their opponents in the subtlest of ways. The successful courtier learned over time to make all of his moves indirect; if he stabbed an opponent in the back, it was with a velvet glove and the sweetest of smiles on his faces. Instead of coercion or outright treachery (expect into the most rare of occasions), the perfect courtier got his way through seduction, charm, deception, and subtle strategy, always planning several moves ahead. Life in the court was a never-ending game that required constant vigilance and tactical thinking. It was civilized war.”^[5]

Some of the 48 Laws include:

·         1: Never Outshine the Master - Draws on the issues of Authority and Need for Ego Gratification

·         5: So Much Depends on Reputation - Emphasizes the power and necessity for Credibility and Likeability

·         16: Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor - Draws upon the influential power of Authority and Scarcity

·         37: Create Compelling Spectacles - Emphasizes the power of Vividness

·         40: Despise the Free Lunch - Recognizes on the danger of Reciprocity

Relationship based persuasion

In their book The Art of Woo, G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa present a four-step approach to strategic persuasion.^[13] They explain that persuasion means to win others over, not to defeat them. Thus it is important to be able to see the topic from different angles in order to anticipate the reaction others have to a proposal.

Step 1: Survey your situation
This step includes an analysis of the persuader's situation, goals, and challenges that the persuader faces in his or her organization.

Step 2: Confront the five barriers
Five obstacles pose the greatest risks to a successful influence encounter: relationships, credibility, communication mismatches, belief systems, and interest and needs.

Step 3: Make your pitch
People need a solid reason to justify a decision, yet at the same time many decisions are made on the basis of intuition. This step also deals with presentation skills.

Step 4: Secure your commitments
In order to safeguard the longtime success of a persuasive decision, it is vital to deal with politics at both the individual and organizational level.

Persuasion in Culture

It is through a basic cultural personal definition of persuasion that everyday people understand how others are attempting to influence them and then how they influence others. The dialogue surrounding persuasion is constantly evolving because of the necessity to use persuasion in everyday life. Persuasion tactics traded in society have influences from researchers, which may sometimes be misinterpreted. It is evolutionary advantageous, in the sense of wealth and survival, to persuade and not be persuaded. In order to understand persuasion, members of a culture will gather knowledge from domains such as “buying, selling, advertising, and shopping, as well as parenting and courting.”^[14]

The Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM)

The Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM)was created by Friestad and Wright in 1994. This framework allows the researchers to analyze the process of gaining and using everyday persuasion knowledge. The researchers suggest the necessity of including “the relationship and interplay between everyday folk knowledge and scientific knowledge on persuasion, advertising, selling, and marketing in general.”^[14]

In order to educate the general population about research findings and new knowledge about persuasion, teacher must draw on their pre-existing beliefs from folk persuasion in order to make the research relevant and informative to lay people, which creates “mingling of their scientific insights and commonsense beliefs.”^[14]

As a result of this constant mingling, the issue of persuasion expertise becomes messy. Expertise status can be interpreted from a variety of sources like job titles, celebrity, or published scholarship.

It is through this multimodal process that we create concepts like ‘stay away from car salesman, they will try to trick you.” The kind of persuasion techniques blatantly employed by car salesman creates an innate distrust of them in popular culture. According to Psychology Today, they employ tactics ranging from making personal life ties with the customer to altering reality by handing the customer the new car keys before the purchase.^[15]

Neurobiology of persuasion

Attitudes and persuasion are among the central issues of social behavior. One of the classic questions is when are attitudes a predictor of behavior. Previous research suggested that selective activation of left prefrontal cortex might increase the likelihood that an attitude would predict a relevant behavior. Using lateral attentional manipulation, this was supported.^[16]

An earlier article showed that EEG measures of anterior prefrontal asymmetry might be a predictor of persuasion. Research participants were presented with arguments that favored and arguments that opposed the attitudes they already held. Those whose brain was more active in left prefrontal areas said that they paid the most attention to statements with which they agreed while those with a more active right prefrontal area said that they paid attention to statements that disagreed.^[17] This is an example of defensive repression, the avoidance or forgetting of unpleasant information. Research has shown that the trait of defensive repression is related to relative left prefrontal activation.^[18] In addition, when pleasant or unpleasant words, probably analogous to agreement or disagreement, were seen incidental to the main task, an fMRI scan showed preferential left prefrontal activation to the pleasant words.^[19]

One way therefore to increase persuasion would seem to be to selectively activate the right prefrontal cortex. This is easily done by monaural stimulation to the contralateral ear. The effect apparently depends on selective attention rather than merely the source of stimulation. This manipulation had the expected outcome: more persuasion for messages coming from the left.^[20]

^{Source : www.wikipedia.com}