We expose ourselves daily to stimuli and information that attempts to modify our beliefs. These phenomena They are studied by the Psychology of Persuasion to know the way in which people are influenced by others, even in decision-making.
Whether consciously or unconsciously, you have surely tried to influence someone, try to win a conversation, be right in an argument, or persuade other people to do what you want. It is not just an individual thing, in our daily lives we are exposed to influences from businesses, politicians, organizations and other majority groups in our society.
In psychology, there is the current of Persuasion Psychology, which tries to define what are the basic principles that make us give in and be persuaded by other people, but it also gives us the keys to using these principles to convince other people and make them converge. with our ideas.
When we talk about persuasion, it is also important to comment on what social influence is. Social influence has been defined as a process of both a social and psychological nature that aims to achieve cognitive or behavioral changes in a person or group of people. This social influence can present itself in different ways, one of them being through persuasion.
Persuasion is therefore a type of social influence that is based on the transmission by a sender of a message that he or she seeks. change the attitudes, beliefs, feelings or behaviors of the recipient of this information This entails changes in decision-making that can be in conjunction with the message issued to persuade. Do you want to know more about how we are persuaded on a daily basis and how you can learn to persuade other people? Keep reading!
Historic context
Before getting into the practice, it is important to learn a little about how the concept of persuasion has developed and evolved throughout history.
Rhetoric is spoken of as the predecessor to persuasion. This has been defined as the art of persuading and had the purpose of charming or seducing the public through speech, using it as an instrument to enable persuasion. Rhetoric has been mentioned in texts as ancient as poems by Homer (8th century BC!) and even by Aristotle, who spoke of it as “the art of arguing.” It was during the 20th century when the concept of “persuasion” began to become popular and was considered a key component in orientations as diverse as economics, politics, advertising and even the army. It has been widely studied by social psychology in terms of its relationship with processes focused on social influence and communication.
In World War II, to try to find ways to increase the self-esteem and morale of the American military, Carl Hovland, together with his team of social psychologists, studied persuasion as a cognitive process They found that, to produce behavioral changes, a change in the beliefs of the persuaded person must also occur to confront thoughts different from their own. For this reason, persuasion began to be considered as a set that includes the source, content, communicative channel and context of the message issued to persuade. It also differs according to the attention of the recipients, their comprehension and memory abilities, among others.
Explanatory models
Two explanatory models have been differentiated to understand the principles of persuasion. Here we differentiate them to understand their differences:
1. Chaiken Heuristic-Systematic Model
This model focuses on unconscious persuasion, that which happens without us realizing it. In her, persuaded people make a decision without first taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of this decision ; They have fully trusted the content of the persuasive message and have acted automatically.
These messages are known as peripheral signals and encompass all of these decisions that we make based on observation or experience. For example, when in the supermarket you buy a product that is a little more expensive than another and you have not considered their differences or whether it is more worthwhile to buy one or the other. You have simply decided to buy something more expensive without giving it too much thought.
2. Petty and Cacciopo Manufacturing Probability Model
This perspective proposes that There are two strategies or paths when it comes to being persuaded by a message: the central route and the peripheral route
The central route is the one in which we analyze and break down in depth the characteristics of the message that has been presented to us, considering the consequences that making this decision may have and encompassing everything through our knowledge or previous experiences.
On the other hand, the peripheral route is the one we usually take when we end up being persuaded. In this cognitive path, we do not take as much time as we should to think about the persuasive message and we focus on information that does not make us reflect too much. We accept these messages without being fully aware of them, in a similar way to the previous model proposal.
Principles of persuasion: can we learn to persuade?
The interesting part of the Psychology of Persuasion is knowing its fundamental principles, not only to know how to persuade other people, but also to detect when they are doing it to us, and know how to react to it.
The basic psychological principles of persuasion were proposed by Robert Cialdini, a researcher and professor of psychology at Arizona State University. Cialdini published his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, in which he presents the six laws of social influence that entail persuasion as a whole. Here we break down each of these laws or principles:
1. Reciprocity
When someone does us a favor, we end up feeling obligated to return it at some point This is based on the fact that we cannot bear emotional inconsistency or cognitive dissonance when feeling indebted to someone.
How is this presented to us? For example, with free samples in stores, or with trial periods on an online streaming platform. These businesses offer us a part of their products for free temporarily, so when this ends, we feel indebted and we can agree to buy it or pay for the full version.
2. Scarcity
When something begins to disappear, we want it more, because it also generates in us the feeling that if there is great difficulty in getting something, it means that it will be valuable. Thus In these situations we act quickly so as not to risk losing something in a situation in which it may disappear
A very clear example of this is when real-time statistics appear on online sales pages. Has it ever happened to you that you want to buy some clothes and when you see the t-shirt you like, the website tells you that there are only 3 units available? Here they are applying the principle of scarcity to persuade you.
3. Social proof
Social proof focuses on the way in which, being social people and living in society, We guide our decisions based on what other people do Basically, when you check other people’s reviews online of the restaurant you want to go to for dinner, you are using the standard of social proof to know whether or not it is a socially acceptable place to dine there.
Once we have committed to something, we will do everything possible to achieve it; to be consistent with this commitment. Showing an inconsistency causes us emotional discomfort so strong that we avoid it at all costs.
It is closely related to the principle of reciprocity, but in addition to feeling that you have to return a favor, you feel that you have a commitment to fulfill. For example, when you are offered a free or highly discounted course; You feel that you have to fulfill it and finish it, and even make another one once you finish it because “it was a very good price for you” and you feel that you have developed a commitment to this organization.
5. Attraction
People are very influenced by friends, family, people we trust or simply by people we consider attractive.
Businesses use this principle in the way they communicate with their customers generating a special closeness trusting that it will create emotional ties that will increase your sales or the consumption of your products.
6. Authority
When we are presented with opinions or arguments from people considered eminences or experts, we defer to these authority figures and assume that their arguments will be appropriate. We assume that they are wise because they present themselves as such
It is very easy to find opinions from, for example, reputable writers, printed on the cover of new best-selling books, to encourage their promotion and trust that people will trust the opinions of other famous writers.
Be careful with persuasion!
Finally, the Psychology of Persuasion can be very curious and interesting to learn about the way we make decisions and relate to other people. Even so, we consider it important to know how to understand these principles of persuasion, but not to put them to the test and try to influence everyone around us, but to be aware of these decisions and these cognitive processes. Persuasion can be useful as long as it is not used to harm other people or to put ourselves above others. It is good to know our mind, but always with a head and being aware of the reality of other people.
