Persuasion: Definition And Elements Of The Art Of Convincing

Since the beginning of time, human beings have tried to achieve their goals in the most optimal way possible by creating long-term plans and strategies to do so. However, as social beings that we are, on many occasions our objectives involve making others act or think in a certain way.

Although in some cases the objectives of others coincide with our own, it is common to find that this is not normally the case, with incompatibility of objectives and conflicts that make it difficult to achieve our goals. How to solve this problem? One of the methods that can be used to do this is to try to change the behavior, affection or opinion of others in a way that favors one’s own interests. That is, make use of persuasion

    What is persuasion?

    We understand persuasion as the process by which messages are used, which are provided with arguments that support them, with the purpose of changing a person’s attitude, causing them to do, believe or think things that they would not originally do, believe or think.

    According to McGuire, This change process depends mainly on the existence of the probability of receiving the message that is, whether the recipient has the capacity to attend to and understand the message that is intended to be given, and acceptance by the recipient of the message.

    Said acceptance will depend mainly on how the message is processed, as well as the level of involvement and familiarity we have with the topic we are trying to persuade us about. Thus, someone who gives high importance to the topic being talked about and who feels challenged by it will pay special attention to the content of the message, evaluating it critically, while someone who does not consider the topic discussed to be relevant will be less likely to even start. to analyze the content of the message may not be as analyzed, although it may be persuaded by elements external to the message itself.

    For example, if someone tells us that this same text is going to be examined in a subject next week, those students who have the subject in question will be highly motivated to believe it, while the others will hardly change their attitude.

    Persuasion is not based on slogans

    Of course, one must keep in mind that the persuasion process is not direct: i.e. Just because one person tells another that they should exercise more or use X product with a convincing technique, this does not mean that the latter will obey them Some elements that make it difficult to bring about real change are presenting weak arguments that the recipient can counter by further reinforcing their initial point of view.

    Furthermore, believing that they want to manipulate us through deception or simplistic proclamations makes the process of being persuaded more difficult, provoking resistance and even an action contrary to what was intended when our personal freedom feels attacked. This phenomenon is called reactance.

    Key elements of persuasion

    To better understand the process by which a person or medium can influence another by making them change their mind, we must take into account what the key elements of the process are, these being the sending source, the receiver, the message itself and the technique used to transmit it

    1. Issuer

    Regarding the person who transmits the information, the source trying to persuade, there are two characteristics that are taken into account when it comes to being or not being persuaded: his attractiveness and his credibility It has been shown in multiple experiments that we generally consider those individuals who we perceive as more attractive to be more trustworthy (partly due to the halo effect, in which we assume that someone who has one good quality will surely have others). This is one of the reasons why men and women of great physical attractiveness, or well-valued celebrities, frequently appear in advertising in order to sell us a product.

    However, The most influential characteristic of the source when it comes to persuading us is credibility which is given by the level of competence of the source on the topic in question and the perceived sincerity.

    Let’s see it with a simple example. They tell us that in ten years Halley’s Comet will crash into Earth. If the person who tells us this is a person we meet on the street, we probably will not change our way of acting, but if the person who says it is a NASA expert, it is more likely that concern will increase. Another example would be found once again in the use of celebrities to advertise products in advertising pieces. In this case, most celebrities not only tend to be attractive, but are also associated with a good level of credibility based on their public image.

    2. Receiver

    As far as the recipient of the message is concerned, The main characteristics that affect when being influenced are the level of intelligence, self-esteem and the level of involvement with the subject

    It must be taken into account that the effect of intelligence level should not be taken as a direct measure. It is not that the person who is most influenced has less intelligence, but someone with greater intelligence will have more resources to cast doubt on the arguments put forward in persuasion. By having a greater capacity when it comes to learning and using memorized information in real time, the way the most intelligent people communicate is more fluid and consistent, something that is reflected in the results they obtain when it comes to convincing.

    When it comes to self-esteem, we generally find that the lower the self-esteem, the less likely we are to consider our own arguments as valid, making it easier to accept those of others.

    3. Message

    Another of the main elements when persuading someone is the message itself Several studies indicate that whether to use a more rational or more emotional message will depend on the type of response you want to encourage. It also affects whether the message incorporates elements that cause fear or a feeling of threat: according to Rogers’ theory of protection motivation, we will tend to look for and consider more certain messages that allow us to minimize or avoid harm.

    The fact that persuasion occurs more often with a closed or open message has also been investigated, indicating that it is generally better to leave a conclusion open to interpretation, although guided in the direction of which one wants to persuade. This may be because in this way listeners are more satisfied when reaching those conclusions something they experience as if it had been a discovery made by themselves, without someone trying to impose an idea on them from outside.

    Finally, it has been discussed whether it is convenient to indicate only the arguments that favor one’s own position or whether the arguments of the opposite position should also be indicated. In this regard, it has been suggested that it is more persuasive to show both positions, since otherwise it is more perceptible that the intention of the message is to create publicity or propaganda rather than to provide data to decide rationally, and this ends up causing reactance.

    A way to influence others

    As we have seen, persuasion consists in part of detecting those “cracks” in a person’s psychological defenses that can be influenced and easier to convince them to make a decision. Of course, this process should not give the impression that the person you are trying to convince loses or gives in to the person who convinces them, since the simple fact of experiencing an exchange of ideas perceiving it from this perspective generates resistance that is difficult to break down.

    Therefore, persuasion It does not act through rationality, but through heuristics and mental shortcuts in general. People who are persuaded hardly realize this, since in many cases they believe they are acting only from their rationality.

    That is why these strategies are so used; They allow a person to opt for a certain option without realizing the presence of a plan to persuade them.