Persuasion: definition and elements of the art of persuasion

What is persuasion and what are the components that allow us to understand it?

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 the social beings that we are, on many occasions our objectives require that 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 usually not 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 is to try to change the behavior, affection or opinion of others in a way that favors one's own interests. That is to say, to make use of persuasion.

What is persuasion?

We understand persuasion as the process by which messages are used with supporting arguments, with the purpose of changing a person's attitude, causing him to do, believe or express an opinion that originally he would not do, believe or express an opinion.

According to McGuire, this process of change depends mainly on the existence of the probability of reception of the messageThe probability of the message being received, i.e. whether the receiver of the message has the capacity to attend to and understand the message that is to be given, and of the receiver's acceptance of the message.

This acceptance will depend mainly on how the message is processed, as well as the level of involvement and familiarity we have with the subject we are trying to persuade. Thus, someone who attaches high importance to the topic being discussed 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 relevant will be less likely to even begin to analyze the content of the message and may not be so analyzed, although he or she may be persuaded by elements external to the message itself.

For example, if someone tells us that this very 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, it must be kept in mind that the process of persuasion is not straightforward: ie, just because one person tells another person that they should exercise more or use X product with a convincing technique does not mean that the latter will obey.. Some elements that make it difficult to bring about real change are presenting weak arguments that the receiver can counter by further reinforcing his or her initial point of view.

In addition, believing that we are being manipulated by deception or simplistic proclamations makes the process of being persuaded more difficult, provoking resistance and even an action contrary to that which was intended, as our personal freedom feels attacked. This phenomenon is called reactance.

Key elements of persuasion

In order to better understand the process by which a person or medium can influence another person or medium to change his or her mind, it is necessary to take into account the key elements of the process, These are the sending source, the receiver, the message itself and the technique used to transmit the message..

1. Sender

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

However, the most influential feature of the the most influential characteristic of the source in persuading us is credibility.This is given by the source's level of expertise in the subject matter and perceived sincerity.

Let's look at a simple example. We are told that in ten years Halley's comet will crash into the Earth. If the person telling us this is someone we meet on the street, we will probably not change our behavior, but if the person telling us this is a NASA expert, we are more likely to become more concerned about it. Another example can 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. Recipient

As far as the receiver of the message is concerned, the main characteristics that affect the level of influence are the level of intelligence, self-esteem and level of involvement with the topic..

It should be kept in mind that the effect of the level of intelligence should not be taken as a direct measure. It is not that those who are more susceptible to influence have less intelligence, but someone with greater intelligence will have more resources to question the arguments used in persuasion. By having a greater capacity to learn and to use memorized information in real time, the way more intelligent people converse is more fluid and consistent, something that is reflected in the results they obtain when it comes to convincing.

With regard to self-esteem, we generally find that the lower the self-esteem, the less likely we are to consider our own arguments as valid, and the more easily we accept those of others.

3. Message

Another of the main elements in persuading someone is the message itself.. Several studies indicate that the fact of using a more rational or more emotional message will depend on the type of response to be favored. It also affects whether the message incorporates elements that provoke fear or a sense of threat: according to Rogers' theory of protective motivation, we will tend to look for and consider more truthful messages that allow us to minimize or avoid harm.

The fact that persuasion is more often given with a closed or open message has also been investigated, indicating that it is generally better to leave a conclusion open to interpretation, albeit guided in the direction of the one to be persuaded. This may be because in this way listeners are more satisfied when they reach such conclusionsThey experience it 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 in favor of one's own position or whether the arguments of the opposing position should also be indicated. In this aspect, 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 make a rational decision, and this ends up provoking reactance.

A way of influencing others

As we have seen, persuasion consists in part of detecting those "cracks" in a person's psychological defenses through which you can influence them and make it easier to convince them to make a decision. However, this process should not give the impression that the person being persuaded is losing or giving in to the person who is persuading him or her, since the simple fact of experiencing an exchange of ideas from this perspective generates resistance that is difficult to overcome.

Therefore, persuasion does not act through rationality, but through heuristics and mental shortcuts in general. in general. People who are persuaded are hardly aware of this, since in many cases they believe they are acting solely on the basis of their rationality.

That is why these strategies are so widely used; they make it possible to make a person opt for a certain option without him noticing the presence of a plan to persuade him.

Bibliographical references:

• Cialdini, R. (1983, 1984). Influence. The Psychology of Persuasion. Revised Edition. HarperCollins.
• McGuire, W.J. (1969). An information-processing model of advertising effectiveness. In H.L. Davis & A.J. Silk (Eds.), Behavioral and Management Sciences in Marketing. New York: Ronald.
• Rivas, M. & López, M. (2012). Psicología social y de las organizaciones. Manual CEDE de Preparación PIR, 11. CEDE. Madrid.
• Rogers, R.W. (1985). Attitude change and information integration in fear appeals. Psychological Reports, 56, 179-182.