PERSUADE: MEANING, METHODS, EXAMPLES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Persuading is trying to influence the behavior or thoughts of another person. It is an intentional effort to influence the mental state of another person through communication. The term comes from the Latin persuādeō, whose meaning is to convince. For example, one person may try to persuade another to buy a television or to study a certain degree.

The influence of influence has been such in the history of mankind that even the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead thinks about it that "civilization is the victory of persuasion over force."

From this point of view, it can be considered in a figurative sense, that the barbarian skins dressed by man several thousand years ago, were replaced by the clothes of civilized man as they introduced more and more elements of persuasion.. That is, the impulses to use brute force changed in favor of achieving social order and a stable individual life.

Its use is closely linked to the domain of linguistic expression, that is, the ability to verbally express ideas, particularly from its rhetorical form.

The practice of this discipline was common in the ancient Greeks, who loved to speak, they enjoyed feeling the force of their own words and the effect of these on those who listened to them. It is said that the second quarter of the fifth century BC was when it was given greater importance, after Tibias and Corax, or possibly both, undertook to teach a technique of judicial rhetoric.

On the other hand, the ancient Romans also gave great social weight to those who with their words managed to convince others on issues related to politics and have Marco Tulio Cicero, one of the main representatives of rhetoric, who wrote a whole treatise " about the reason for saying ".

You may be interested in 9 keys to convince someone of anything.

Current use of persuasion

Among the many uses given, its practice is often mentioned in advertising campaigns, political speeches or business conference.

However, its scope and validity have been increased due to the new dissemination mechanisms, reaching more numerous audiences than could be reached in the past and even influencing the thinking of subjects whose geographical location is distant.

Difference between persuade and coerce

It is essential that the person you want to convince is in a certain way free to choose to change their mental state or not, in order to be considered as a true persuasion. You must not be forced by violence to say or act in a certain way.

Example:

A thief threatens a victim with shooting if the money he possesses is not handed over to him. It cannot be considered to persuade the action carried out by the subject with the weapon.

In contrast, a person who has been exposed to a television commercial, which invites her to donate money for a charity, where she later agrees to give an amount to the cause. This time, if you can talk about a case of persuasion.

Classification of persuasion

Once the fundamental characteristics are clarified, you can move on to the classification of persuasion. This can be separated into two main types according to the final subject in whom you want to cause a change:

Cognitive persuasion

Every person, after collecting information from their environment, analyzing consequences and benefits, makes decisions allowing themselves to make a judgment of conviction to choose the appropriate resolutions that will allow them to control their emotional, social or physical situation.

This persuasion, carried out in a personal way, is known as cognitive persuasion. The individual "convinces" himself that he is doing the right thing.

Ideological persuasion or propaganda

When it is proposed to generate a change in the opinions or feelings outside the individual, it is said that an ideological persuasion or propaganda is applied. Examples of this type of persuasion are political speeches, marketing campaigns, television advertisements.

Regarding this type, it is considered that the conviction achieved through rational mechanisms lasts longer and influences later thoughts and behaviors to a greater extent than persuasion through non-rational mechanisms.

Persuasion methods

There are different mechanisms through which an individual can be convinced. Some are mentioned below:

Cognitive oscillation

It seeks to know the irrational beliefs of a subject, those without foundation and can be demolished in a relatively simple way, causing the phenomenon of hesitation. Once you've recognized the vulnerability of your reasons for staying in a certain attitude, you can move on to a new one.

This moment of crisis is used by the persuader, who introduces a new idea, which is presented with sufficient reasons to demonstrate its convenience or veracity. The persuaded adopts the idea, making changes in his way of thinking and therefore, changing his attitude.

Attitude measurement

Understanding that the persuasion effect culminates in a change in attitude, then, the measurement of initial attitudes allows us to know how close or far the subject of persuasion is from the desired attitude.

Example:

You want to convince a child to stay away from the fire because it is dangerous. A measurement of the attitude scale for the case could be the following:

In the previous measurement scale, we can see that if the child is afraid of fire, then it will be relatively simple to convince him to stay away, just by reinforcing his attitude, probably explaining the possible consequences of getting too close.

On the contrary, if the child is attracted to fire, it will take more effort to convince him to stay away.

Resistance management

An element that accompanies any persuasion process is resistance, which can be understood as the ability of an individual to remain firm in their convictions in the face of a persuasive attack.

Reducing it is one of the most effective methods to achieve conviction. It can be classified into four types:

Reactance

It refers to when the individual deliberately expresses his repulsion for the expected attitude with phrases such as "I don't like it!" or "I never would!"

Distrust

It is when the individual is cautious about the behavior that is suggested to him, he does not trust the motives behind who tries to convince him.

Scrutiny

It refers to when the individual has become aware that it is the objective of an influence and his natural reaction is to think more carefully about each point, questioning each proposal more deeply.

Inertia

Faced with a message clearly loaded with intentions to dissuade him, an individual remains in his convictions, he does not precisely resist, he remains static.

How to override persuasion

Just as the methods used to persuade have evolved, on the other hand, methods have also been developed whose purpose is to stop it.

Some contemporary approaches focus on inducing more resistant attitudes in crucial areas such as health, education or religion. So a persuasive attack on such convictions will not achieve the expected result.

This is particularly important due to studies showing how vulnerable the most cherished ideals and core beliefs are.

The reason is that such convictions have been simply endorsed and rarely defended, so it is believed that with better education the individual becomes more resistant to persuasion.

References

1. Silber, JR (1963). Mayor, LII (III), 43.

2. of, VM (1808). Universal Latin-Spanish Dictionary. Madrid. p.553.

3. Dillard, JP, & Pfau, M. (2002). The persuasion handbook: Developments in theory and practice. Sage Publications. p. 17.

4. Spanish, RA (2017). Spanish dictionary. Retrieved on April 7, 2017, from rae.es.

5. Kennedy, GA (2015). History of Thetoric, Volume I: he Art of Persuasion in Greece (Vol. 1). Princeton University Press. p.26.

6. Knowles, ES, & Linn, JA (2004). Resistance and Persuasion. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. p.7.

12. Roiz Miquel Modern persuasion techniques Retrieved on April 7, 2017, from imagenes.mailxmail.com.