Pandora current song: Sway, Michael Bublé
Every day an overwhelming amount of information surrounds every one of us and we are somehow supposed to process it all. Persuasion occurs constantly and the more we understand it, the more we can learn to accept it or deny it. Persuasion is influential in changing the world and our society as it dominates our lives. The choice is yours. With a wide range of awareness in the study of persuasion, you can improve your skills in communicating as well as become a great receiver to be successful in today’s world. There are many different theories and concepts of persuasion and even though this may not be a personal blog about my crazy life, it’s still important to know and utilize. So how can you better grasp a few essential elements in persuading? Read on.
Intensification
People love to look good in the eyes of their audience whether it’s just a few people or an auditorium full. Repetition, association, and composition are effective tactics in implementing the strategy of intensification. Repetition in advertising, for example, is effective because through repetition, you establish credibility and brand familiarity as well as the first thought when a need for your type of product or service arises. Advertising is the force that drives a sale and familiarizing people with your product or service will generate sales. The power of association can positively or negatively connect the audience with a cause, product, or candidate and links the interaction with something the audience understands. Composition is the third tactic of intensification which uses the physical arrangement of a message to emphasize a point someone is trying to make (Larson, 2007).
Repetition
An example of intensification is the repetition of the Geico commercials. Geico commercials are usually tagged together to intensify the audience experience to the commercial. Repetition creates a kind of interest in the audience that hopefully acts as a reminder to act upon it. For example, we all know the Geico slogan of “15 minutes will save you 15% or more on car insurance” because we have heard it so many times. If someone was considering car insurance, the Geico gecko may come to mind because it has been programmed into our minds through intense repetition of the Geico commercials. If you tell someone something only once, they are more than likely to forget. However, the more reminders given the more likely someone will remember and act upon the message. This is important for high visibility and major influence in persuading an audience.
Downplaying
Downplaying is another tactic in the use of persuasion. Downplaying is used to make something seem less important, significant or serious than it really is because it undermines their persuasive goal (Larson, 2007). Omitting information to avoid highlighting one’s own faults as well as diverting, or shifting, attention away from another’s own points are examples of downplaying. Confusion is another key element to downplaying by confusing the audience with jargon they do not understand, or weaving in and out of an argument as a means to confuse the audience (Larson, 2007). For example, Republican strategist Cleta Mitchel tried to downplay the Mark Foley scandal by saying it is only one scandal among the numerous Democratic scandals. However, Democratic strategist Cliff Schecter lists off plenty of Republican scandals corrupting her party. She omitted critical information to avoid highlighting that the Republican Party is having a lot of legal trouble. Mitchel diverted to shift attention away from the Democratic Party by substituting Republican issues. Both strategists used downplaying tactics in efforts to persuade viewers to side with themselves.
Fear
Hovland, Janis, and Kelley laid the foundation of fear in 1953 by proposing the use of fear would increase the likelihood of persuasion because compliance reduces emotional tension (Larson, 2007, 83). Fear is a concern about something that threatens our physical or psychological self that we cannot control to hopefully alter our attitude. As a persuader, we need to first convince the audience the threat is real and probable. As a receiver, we need to carefully observe the probability of the threat, the difficulty of taking the actions to avoid the threat, and the evidence that these actions will actually prevent a problem (Larson, 2007). This means, as receivers, we need to analyze the situation before we act upon it. In Bad Boys II, a young man comes to take Burnett’s daughter out. Burnett and Lowrey threaten the young man so he will be too afraid to act against Burnett’s house rules. In this situation, psychological threats are given to the young man to increase his likelihood of obeying.
Inoculation
Inoculation is an attempt to warn people and make them immune to potentially damaging information or persuasive efforts that could possibly happen in the future. This strategy gets people to ignore further persuasive attempts from the opposition without careful processing the messages. Undermining the opposition puts them on a constant defense, but this is usually done in a weakened version of the threats so that it does not back fire. The Mac vs. PC commercial about the Vista security is a prime example of inoculating where the ad pokes fun at the hyper-anal security features (Appendix D). This ad gave viewers the idea that the new Vista was annoying and could become frustrating if purchased and used. Apple released this commercial to put Bill Gates on the defense about the new operating system and warn people that Vista was not as user-friendly as Bill Gates implied. Inoculation occurred through advertising where Apple attempted to neutralize potential issues with people switching from Apple to a PC due to a new and exciting operating system.
Social Judgment
A different persuasive theory is the social judgment theory, which focuses on how we form reference points in our decisions or thoughts (Larson, 2007). Sherif and Hovland called these reference points “anchors” meaning internal reference points that we compare different situations to others we have encountered (Larson, 2007). One of the most important goals for persuaders is determining whether their audience has firmly set anchors so that they can manipulate the hearer’s acceptance of the situation. A latitude of acceptance is where we want to persuade, which contains all the positions on a particular topic we find acceptable (Sherif, 1965). We do not want to work in the latitude of rejection because it is a zone of positions we reject. Unfortunately, most people have a specific latitude of acceptance range and a broad latitude of rejection, which makes persuading these people very difficult. An example of this is in the movie Step Up where Mac, one actor, is floored by the fact that Miles, an African American, goes to an art school and that is how Miles and Tyler met. One of Mac’s anchors in this situation is that he lives in the ghetto of his city where African Americans do not have the money to go to a private school for an education, so Miles does not look like a typical art school student. Another actor in this scene asks Mac what an art school student should look like, and follows with naming African American music artists that all went to art school. Mac is persuaded to understand that the snobby, sophisticated stereotype of an art school student is not always the case. He was very set in his ways until examples were brought to his attention that challenged what he thought was true. When we receive information, we store it in categories and tend to distort the information to fit our categories of judgment. This rings true for a lot of information we receive and makes persuading people very difficult, but change will happen in small steps rather than with big changes.
Ambiguity
Ambiguity occurs when the persuader tries to be unclear, vague, and general on purpose to allow the broadest possible meaning (Larson, 2007). As a receiver of ambiguous information, you need to dive into the meaning of the information given by examining the various verbal and nonverbal codes and signifiers, which are signs and symbols that have particular meanings. As a persuader using ambiguity, you give little to no insight and also are seen as lacking credibility or knowledge on the subject. A chief example of ambiguity occurred by the Attorney General to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Attorney General was even given the questions in advance, but in one instance, he pretended he didn’t understand the question. He then followed by trying to answer the question with information about something completely different. When asked specific questions, he refused to answer. Even when asked hypothetical or very general questions, the Attorney General gave confusing answers. When the Attorney General created intentional ambiguity among his answers, he created language that was doubtful and had uncertain meaning (Larson, 2007). He chose words that could be interpreted in many different ways as well as used phrases from President Bush to give himself support and credibility for his statements. These are examples of ambiguity that can be used as strategic ways to persuade someone.
Coercion
Coercion uses some form of force, whether it’s physical or psychological, as a way to gain obedience which results in a change of attitude (Larson, 2007). The difference between persuasion and coercion is people have some degree of choice in persuasion. In the TV show 24, Jack Bauer is coerced into action because his wife and daughter are kidnapped. If Bauer wants to see his family again, he must do what he is told. This is an extreme case, but this force threatens Bauer psychologically by threatening against his own will something very dear to his heart. As a fictional example, you can still see the result in the change of attitude.
Inartistic Proof
The final persuasive theory is inartistic proof, which includes things that the speaker cannot control, such as the occasion, the time allotted to the speaker, and the speaker’s physical appearance (Larson, 2007). Will Smith, in the Pursuit of Happyness, goes to an interview at a stock firm after being let out of jail wearing paint blemished clothing. His physical appearance during this occasion does not reflect how he normally dresses and acts for work. Will Smith’s character could not control the fact that he could not get out of jail until his check was processed and therefore did not have enough time to change into something suitable for an interview.
Other factors are the persuader’s credibility or knowledge on a certain subject. We wouldn’t want Steve Jobs talking about the safety of building a building. We listen to people who are versed and experts in their fields. Emotional appeal also comes into play, usually used with colorful language and imagery. For example, using descriptive words to describe the horrific “hobby” of Michael Vick’s dog-fighting would persuade a listener to become appalled at his actions towards helpless animals. I’m sure it’s already working on you now. The last inartistic proof is the logical or rational appeal like utilizing statistics on behalf of a government policy illustrating it’s positive attributes. The reason government has banned texting while driving due to the high statistics of car crashes, for example.
With the examples given, you can further understand different ways of persuading your audience depending on the situation.
Now take what you’ve learned and boldly challenge the status quo.
Pandora current song: She Says by Howie Day
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