Persuasion

Lecture 8: Persuasion

1. Persuasion and Influence
2. What is Argument?
3. Constructing a Logical Argument: Persuasive Logic
4. Message Characteristics: Persuasive Style
5. Identifying False Arguments
6. Engaging in a Constructive Discussion
1. Persuasion and Influence. Teamwork, cooperation is vital for the success of any
organization. How can these be achieved? Management, skilled in the art of
persuasion, will be able to influence company employees, shape their attitudes,
motivate their cooperative activities, and thus ensure the highest levels of efficiency.
In this section we shall focus on the nature and power of persuasion and discuss the
“anatomy” of argument.
It is important to define our terminology first, as common words have special
meanings in social sciences. The street value of terms like „persuasion,. „influence,.
and attitude. may not apply here.
Influence is our umbrella term. Any time a source deliberately attempts to change a
receiver.s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, influence has occurred.
Persuasion is under the umbrella as a special case of influence. When a source
deliberately uses communication to try and change a receiver.s attitude, then
persuasion has occurred.
Both influence and persuasion concern deliberate change, but diverge because
persuasion requires communication (verbal and nonverbal messages) and persuasion
seeks attitude change. By contrast influence can proceed without communication and
may achieve behavior (external) change without gaining attitude (internal) change.
Now what is „attitude.? Attitude is a person.s evaluation of an object of thought. A
person holds up an evaluative (good to bad) yardstick and judges objects against that
scale. Women.s Lib: Good or Bad? Smoking: Good or Bad? Repetitive examples:
Good or Bad?
Persuasion, not influence, seeks to change attitudes because attitudes drive behavior.
Recap:
. Influence deliberately seeks any change
. Persuasion deliberately seeks attitude change through communication
. Attitudes are evaluations
. Persuasion seeks attitude change because attitudes drive our behavior