For this assignment, review the basic concepts of persuasion discussed in Cialdini (2001) and McLean (2012). Make sure you are clear on the distinction between argument, persuasion, and propaganda.
Once you have finished reviewing the background materials, think about communication that you receive in your daily life that is intended to sway your attitudes, opinion, or behavior. This could be communication from your employer, YouTube videos, TV advertisements, spam email, and a host of other communication that you are exposed to in your daily life. After reviewing some communication examples, write a 3-page paper with a minimum of two scholarly sources (citing and referencing) addressing the following questions:
- Describe a communication example that you have seen that is best described as propaganda. In addition to describing the communication, explain why you think this was propaganda rather than argumentation or persuasion.
- Now find a communication example that you think is a good example of argumentation.
- Last, but definitely not least, find a communication example that is best defined as persuasion and best fits the concepts of persuasion discussed in Cialdini (2001) or McLean (2012). Explain why you think this communication best fits the definition of persuasion rather than propaganda or argumentation.
SLP Assignment Expectations
- SLP assignments are to be prepared in Microsoft Word and should be 2 to 3 pages in length in addition to a cover page (course name and number, module number, session name, student name, and date prepared) and reference list (double-spaced, 12 pt. type, Times New Roman font) with a 2- to 3-sentence introduction, a body, and a 2- to 3-sentence conclusion. Use Trident University International’s cover page and the present the reference list page in APA format.
- Assignment content should include a brief introduction to the assignment, background information about the organization being studied, and discussion in terms of the concepts or theories being applied in the assignment.
- Use headings and subheadings to improve presentation values.
- Include both a References page and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Attention is to be given to citing sources of information in-text as well as in the References page to list sources at the end of the paper. Citation and reference style instructions are available at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/ or at APAstyle.org.
- Submit your report in the SLP dropbox for this module on or before the date due, as indicated in the TLC Homepage.
- Since you are engaging in research, be sure to cite and reference the sources in APA format. The paper should be written in the third person; this means words like “I,” “we,” and “you” are not appropriate. For more information, see Differences Between First and Third Person.
Submit the presentation through the appropriate Dropbox by the due date. Your submission will be graded with the assignment’s grading rubric.
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Chapter 14
Presentations to Persuade
We are more easily persuaded, in general, by the reasons that we ourselves
discovers than by those which are given to us by others.
– Pascal
For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred
because you’re not enthusiastic enough.
– Zig Ziglar
Getting Started
I N T R O D U C T O R Y
E X E R C I S E S
1. Please list three things that you recently purchased, preferably in the
last twenty-four hours—the things can be items or services. Decide
which purchase on your list stands out as most important to you and
consider why you made that purchase decision. See if you can list three
reasons. Now pretend you are going to sell that same item or service to a
friend—would the three reasons remain the same, or would you try
additional points for them to consider? Compare your results with a
classmate.
2. Please think of one major purchase you made in the past year. It should
be significant to you, and not a daily or monthly purchase. Once you
made the purchase decision and received the item (e.g., a car), did you
notice similar cars on the roads? Did you pay attention to details like
color, modifications, or reports in the popular press about quality? Did
you talk to your friends about it? What kind of information did you pay
attention to—information that reinforced your purchase decision, or
information that detracted from your appreciation of your newly
acquired possession? Discuss your responses with classmates.
515
No doubt there has been a time when you wanted something from your parents,
your supervisor, or your friends, and you thought about how you were going to
present your request. But do you think about how often people—including people
you have never met and never will meet—want something from you? When you
watch television, advertisements reach out for your attention, whether you watch
them or not. When you use the Internet, pop-up advertisements often appear.
Living in the United States, and many parts of the world, means that you have been
surrounded, even inundated, by persuasive messages. Mass media in general and
television in particular make a significant impact you will certainly recognize.
Consider these facts:
• The average person sees between four hundred and six hundred ads
per day—that is forty million to fifty million by the time he or she is
sixty years old. One of every eleven commercials has a direct message
about beauty.Raimondo, M. (2010). About-face facts on the media.
About-face. Retrieved from http://www.about-face.org/r/facts/
media.shtml
• By age eighteen, the average American teenager will have spent more
time watching television—25,000 hours—than learning in a
classroom.Ship, J. (2005, December). Entertain. Inspire. Empower. How
to speak a teen’s language, even if you’re not one. ChangeThis.
Retrieved from http://www.changethis.com/pdf/
20.02.TeensLanguage
• An analysis of music videos found that nearly one-fourth of all MTV
videos portray overt violence, with attractive role models being
aggressors in more than 80 percent of the violent videos.DuRant, R. H.
(1997). Tobacco and alcohol use behaviors portrayed in music videos:
Content analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 87, 1131–1135.
• Forty percent of nine- and ten-year-old girls have tried to lose weight,
according to an ongoing study funded by the National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute.Body image and nutrition: Fast facts. (2009). Teen Health
and the Media. Retrieved from http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/
view.cgi?section=bodyimage&page=fastfacts
• A 1996 study found that the amount of time an adolescent watches
soaps, movies, and music videos is associated with their degree of body
dissatisfaction and desire to be thin.Tiggemann, M., & Pickering, A. S.
(1996). Role of television in adolescent women’s body: Dissatisfaction
and drive for thinness. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 20,
199–203.
• Identification with television stars (for girls and boys), models (girls),
or athletes (boys) positively correlated with body
dissatisfaction.Hofschire, L. J., & Greenberg, B. S. (2002). Media’s impact
516
http://www.about-face.org/r/facts/media.shtml
http://www.about-face.org/r/facts/media.shtml
http://www.changethis.com/pdf/20.02.TeensLanguage
http://www.changethis.com/pdf/20.02.TeensLanguage
http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi?section=bodyimage&page=fastfacts
http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi?section=bodyimage&page=fastfacts
on adolescent’s body dissatisfaction. In D. Brown, J. R. Steele, & K.
Walsh-Childers (Eds.), Sexual Teens, Sexual Media. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Inc.
• At age thirteen, 53 percent of American girls are “unhappy with their
bodies.” This grows to 78 percent by the time they reach
seventeen.Brumberg, J. J. (1997). The body project: An intimate history of
American girls. New York, NY: Random House.
• By age eighteen, the average American teenager will witness on
television 200,000 acts of violence, including 40,000 murders.Huston, A.
C., et al. (1992). Big world, small screen: The role of television in American
society. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Mass communication contains persuasive messages, often called propaganda, in
narrative form, in stories and even in presidential speeches. When President Bush
made his case for invading Iraq, his speeches incorporated many of the techniques
we’ll cover in this chapter. Your local city council often involves dialogue, and
persuasive speeches, to determine zoning issues, resource allocation, and even
spending priorities. You yourself have learned many of the techniques by trial and
error and through imitation. If you ever wanted the keys to your parents’ car for a
special occasion, you used the principles of persuasion to reach your goal.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
517
14.1 What Is Persuasion?
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of persuasion.
2. Describe similarities and differences between persuasion and
motivation.
Persuasion1 is an act or process of presenting arguments to move, motivate, or
change your audience. Aristotle taught that rhetoric, or the art of public speaking,
involves the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of
persuasion.Covino, W. A., & Jolliffe, D. A. (1995). Rhetoric: Concepts, definitions,
boundaries. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. In the case of President Obama, he may have
appealed to your sense of duty and national values. In persuading your parents to
lend you the car keys, you may have asked one parent instead of the other,
calculating the probable response of each parent and electing to approach the one
who was more likely to adopt your position (and give you the keys). Persuasion can
be implicit or explicit and can have both positive and negative effects. In this
chapter we’ll discuss the importance of ethics, as we have in previous chapters,
when presenting your audience with arguments in order to motivate them to adopt
your view, consider your points, or change their behavior.
Motivation2 is distinct from persuasion in that it involves the force, stimulus, or
influence to bring about change. Persuasion is the process, and motivation is the
compelling stimulus that encourages your audience to change their beliefs or
behavior, to adopt your position, or to consider your arguments. Why think of
yourself as fat or thin? Why should you choose to spay or neuter your pet?
Messages about what is beautiful, or what is the right thing to do in terms of your
pet, involve persuasion, and the motivation compels you to do something.
Another way to relate to motivation also can be drawn from the mass media.
Perhaps you have watched programs like Law and Order, Cold Case, or CSI where the
police detectives have many of the facts of the case, but they search for motive.
They want to establish motive in the case to provide the proverbial “missing piece
of the puzzle.” They want to know why someone would act in a certain manner.
You’ll be asking your audience to consider your position and provide both
persuasive arguments and motivation for them to contemplate. You may have
heard a speech where the speaker tried to persuade you, tried to motivate you to
change, and you resisted the message. Use this perspective to your advantage and
1. An act or process of presenting
arguments to move, motivate,
or change your audience.
2. Involves the force, stimulus, or
influence to bring about
change.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
518
Figure 14.1 Measurable
Gain
consider why an audience should be motivated, and you may find the most
compelling examples or points. Relying on positions like “I believe it, so you should
too,” “Trust me, I know what is right,” or “It’s the right thing to do” may not be
explicitly stated but may be used with limited effectiveness. Why should the
audience believe, trust, or consider the position “right?” Keep an audience-centered
perspective as you consider your persuasive speech to increase your effectiveness.
You may think initially that many people in your audience would naturally support
your position in favor of spaying or neutering your pet. After careful consideration
and audience analysis, however, you may find that people are more divergent in
their views. Some audience members may already agree with your view, but others
may be hostile to the idea for various reasons. Some people may be neutral on the
topic and look to you to consider the salient arguments. Your audience will have a
range of opinions, attitudes, and beliefs across a range from hostile to agreement.
Rather than view this speech as a means to get everyone to agree with you, look at
the concept of measurable gain3, a system of assessing the extent to which
audience members respond to a persuasive message. You may reinforce existing
beliefs in the members of the audience that agree with you and do a fine job of
persuasion. You may also get hostile members of the audience to consider one of
your arguments, and move from a hostile position to one that is more neutral or
ambivalent. The goal in each case is to move the audience members toward your
position. Some change may be small but measurable, and that is considered gain.
The next time a hostile audience member considers the issue, they may be more
open to it. Figure 14.1 “Measurable Gain” is a useful diagram to illustrate this
concept.
Edward HallHall, E. (1966). The hidden dimension. New
York, NY: Doubleday. also underlines this point when
discussing the importance of context. The situation in
which a conversation occurs provides a lot of meaning
and understanding for the participants in some
cultures. In Japan, for example, the context, such as a
business setting, says a great deal about the
conversation and the meaning to the words and
expressions within that context. In the United States,
however, the concept of a workplace or a business
meeting is less structured, and the context offers less meaning and understanding.
Cultures that value context highly are aptly called high-context cultures. Those that
value context to a lesser degree are called low-context cultures. These divergent
perspectives influence the process of persuasion and are worthy of your
3. A system of assessing the
extent to which audience
members respond to a
persuasive message.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.1 What Is Persuasion? 519
consideration when planning your speech. If your audience is primarily high-
context, you may be able to rely on many cultural norms as you proceed, but in a
low-context culture, like the United States, you’ll be expected to provide structure
and clearly outline your position and expectations. This ability to understand
motivation and context is key to good communication, and one we will examine
throughout this chapter.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
Persuasion is the act of presenting arguments for change, while motivation
involves the force to bring about change. The concept of measurable gain
assesses audience response to a persuasive message.
E X E R C I S E S
1. Select an online advertisement that you find particularly effective or
ineffective. Why does it succeed, or fail, in persuading you to want to
buy the advertised product? Discuss your ideas with your classmates.
2. Think of a social issue, widely held belief, or political position where
change has occurred in your lifetime, or where you would like to see
change happen. What kinds of persuasion and motivation were
involved—or would need to happen—to produce measurable gain?
Explain your thoughts to a classmate.
3. Think of a time when someone tried to persuade you to do something
you did not want to do. Did their persuasion succeed? Why or why not?
Discuss the event with a classmate.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.1 What Is Persuasion? 520
14.2 Principles of Persuasion
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E
1. Identify and demonstrate how to use six principles of persuasion.
What is the best way to succeed in persuading your listeners? There is no one
“correct” answer, but many experts have studied persuasion and observed what
works and what doesn’t. Social psychologist Robert CialdiniCialdini, R. (1993).
Influence. New York, NY: Quill. offers us six principles of persuasion that are
powerful and effective:
1. Reciprocity
2. Scarcity
3. Authority
4. Commitment and consistency
5. Consensus
6. Liking
You will find these principles both universal and adaptable to a myriad of contexts
and environments. Recognizing when each principle is in operation will allow you
to leverage the inherent social norms and expectations to your advantage, and
enhance your sales position.
Principle of Reciprocity
Reciprocity4 is the mutual expectation for exchange of value or service. In all
cultures, when one person gives something, the receiver is expected to reciprocate,
even if only by saying “thank you.” There is a moment when the giver has power
and influence over the receiver, and if the exchange is dismissed as irrelevant by
the giver the moment is lost. In business this principle has several applications. If
you are in customer service and go out of your way to meet the customer’s need,
you are appealing to the principle of reciprocity with the knowledge that all
humans perceive the need to reciprocate—in this case, by increasing the likelihood
of making a purchase from you because you were especially helpful. Reciprocity
builds trust and the relationship develops, reinforcing everything from personal to
brand loyalty. By taking the lead and giving, you build in a moment where people
will feel compelled from social norms and customs to give back.4. The mutual expectation for
exchange of value or service.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
521
Principle of Scarcity
You want what you can’t have, and it’s universal. People are naturally attracted to
the exclusive, the rare, the unusual, and the unique. If they are convinced that they
need to act now or it will disappear, they are motivated to action. Scarcity5 is the
perception of inadequate supply or a limited resource. For a sales representative,
scarcity may be a key selling point—the particular car, or theater tickets, or pair of
shoes you are considering may be sold to someone else if you delay making a
decision. By reminding customers not only of what they stand to gain but also of
what they stand to lose, the representative increases the chances that the customer
will make the shift from contemplation to action and decide to close the sale.
Principle of Authority
Trust is central to the purchase decision. Whom does a customer turn to? A
salesperson may be part of the process, but an endorsement by an authority holds
credibility that no one with a vested interest can ever attain. Knowledge of a
product, field, trends in the field, and even research can make a salesperson more
effective by the appeal to the principle of authority. It may seem like extra work to
educate your customers, but you need to reveal your expertise to gain credibility.
We can borrow a measure of credibility by relating what experts have indicated
about a product, service, market, or trend, and our awareness of competing
viewpoints allows us insight that is valuable to the customer. Reading the manual of
a product is not sufficient to gain expertise—you have to do extra homework. The
principal of authority involves referencing experts and expertise.
Principle of Commitment and Consistency
Oral communication can be slippery in memory. What we said at one moment or
another, unless recorded, can be hard to recall. Even a handshake, once the symbol
of agreement across almost every culture, has lost some of its symbolic meaning
and social regard. In many cultures, the written word holds special meaning. If we
write it down, or if we sign something, we are more likely to follow through. By
extension, even if the customer won’t be writing anything down, if you do so in
front of them, it can appeal to the principle of commitment and consistency and
bring the social norm of honoring one’s word to bear at the moment of purchase.
Principle of Consensus
Testimonials, or first person reports on experience with a product or service, can be
highly persuasive. People often look to each other when making a purchase
decision, and the herd mentality is a powerful force across humanity: if “everybody5. The perception of inadequate
supply or a limited resource.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.2 Principles of Persuasion 522
else” thinks this product is great, it must be great. We often choose the path of the
herd, particularly when we lack adequate information. Leverage testimonials from
clients to attract more clients by making them part of your team. The principle of
consensus involves the tendency of the individual to follow the lead of the group or
peers.
Principle of Liking
Safety is the twin of trust as a foundation element for effective communication. If
we feel safe, we are more likely to interact and communicate. We tend to be
attracted to people who communicate to us that they like us, and who make us feel
good about ourselves. Given a choice, these are the people with whom we are likely
to associate. Physical attractiveness has long been known to be persuasive, but
similarity is also quite effective. We are drawn to people who are like us, or who we
perceive ourselves to be, and often make those judgments based on external
characteristics like dress, age, sex, race, ethnicity, and perceptions of
socioeconomic status. The principle of liking involves the perception of safety and
belonging in communication.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
A persuasive message can succeed through the principles of reciprocity,
scarcity, authority, commitment and consistency, consensus, and liking.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.2 Principles of Persuasion 523
E X E R C I S E S
1. Think of a real-life example of the principle of scarcity being used in a
persuasive message. Were you the one trying to persuade someone, or
were you the receiver of the scarcity message? Was the message
effective? Discuss your thoughts with a classmate.
2. Do you think the principle of consensus often works—are people often
persuaded to buy things because other people own that item, or are
going to buy it? Are you susceptible to this kind of persuasion? Think of
some examples and discuss them with classmates.
3. Do people always use reason to make decisions? Support your opinion
and discuss it with classmates.
4. Make a list of five or six people you choose to associate with—friends,
neighbors, and coworkers, for example. Next to each person’s name,
write the characteristics you have in common with that person. Do you
find that the principle of liking holds true in your choice of associates?
Why or why not? Discuss your findings with your classmates.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.2 Principles of Persuasion 524
14.3 Functions of the Presentation to Persuade
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E
1. Identify and demonstrate the effective use of five functions of speaking
to persuade.
What does a presentation to persuade do? There is a range of functions to consider,
and they may overlap or you may incorporate more than one as you present. We
will discuss how to
• stimulate,
• convince,
• call to action,
• increase consideration, and
• develop tolerance of alternate perspectives.
We will also examine how each of these functions influences the process of
persuasion.
Stimulate
When you focus on stimulation as the goal or operational function of your speech,
you want to reinforce existing beliefs, intensify them, and bring them to the
forefront. Perhaps you’ve been concerned with global warming for quite some time.
Many people in the audience may not know about the melting polar ice caps and
the loss of significant ice shelves in Antarctica, including part of the Ross Ice Shelf,
an iceberg almost 20 miles wide and 124 miles long, more than twice the size of
Rhode Island. They may be unaware of how many ice shelves have broken off, the 6
percent drop in global phytoplankton (the basis of many food chains), and the
effects of the introduction of fresh water to the oceans. By presenting these facts,
you will reinforce existing beliefs, intensify them, and bring the issue to the surface.
You might consider the foundation of common ground and commonly held beliefs,
and then introduce information that a mainstream audience may not be aware of
that supports that common ground as a strategy to stimulate.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
525
Figure 14.2
Convince
In a persuasive speech, the goal is to change the attitudes, beliefs, values, or
judgments of your audience. If we look back at the idea of motive, in this speech the
prosecuting attorney would try to convince the jury members that the defendant is
guilty beyond reasonable doubt. He or she may discuss motive, present facts, all
with the goal to convince the jury to believe or find that his or her position is true.
In the film The Day After Tomorrow, Dennis Quaid stars as a paleoclimatologist who
unsuccessfully tries to convince the U.S. vice president that a sudden climate
change is about to occur. In the film, much like real life, the vice president listens to
Quaid’s position with his own bias in mind, listening for only points that reinforce
his point of view while rejecting points that do not.
Audience members will also hold beliefs and are likely to involve their own personal
bias. Your goal is to get them to agree with your position, so you will need to plan a
range of points and examples to get audience members to consider your topic.
Perhaps you present Dennis Quaid’s argument that loss of the North Atlantic
Current will drastically change our climate, clearly establishing the problem for the
audience. You might cite the review by a professor, for example, who states in
reputable science magazine that the film’s depiction of a climate change has a
chance of happening, but that the timetable is more on the order of ten years, not
seven days as depicted in the film. You then describe a range of possible solutions. If
the audience comes to a mental agreement that a problem exists, they will look to
you asking, “What are the options?” Then you may indicate a solution that is a
better alternative, recommending future action.
Call to Action
In this speech, you are calling your audience to action.
You are stating that it’s not about stimulating interest
to reinforce and accentuate beliefs, or convincing an
audience of a viewpoint that you hold, but instead that
you want to see your listeners change their behavior. If
you were in sales at Toyota, you might incorporate our
previous example on global warming to reinforce, and
then make a call to action (make a purchase decision),
when presenting the Prius hybrid (gas-electric)
automobile. The economics, even at current gas prices,
might not completely justify the difference in price
between a hybrid and a nonhybrid car. However, if you
as the salesperson can make a convincing argument that
choosing a hybrid car is the right and responsible decision, you may be more likely
to get the customer to act. The persuasive speech that focuses on action often
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.3 Functions of the Presentation to Persuade 526
A call to action features a clear
response for the audience.
© 2010 Jupiterimages
Corporation
generates curiosity, clarifies a problem, and as we have
seen, proposes a range of solutions. They key difference
here is there is a clear link to action associated with the
solutions.
Solutions lead us to considering the goals of action.
These goals address the question, “What do I want the
audience to do as a result of being engaged by my
speech?” The goals of action include adoption,
discontinuance, deterrence, and continuance.
Adoption6 means the speaker wants to persuade the audience to take on a new way
of thinking, or adopt a new idea. Examples could include buying a new product,
voting for a new candidate, or deciding to donate blood. The key is that the
audience member adopts, or takes on, a new view, action, or habit.
Discontinuance7 involves the speaker persuading the audience to stop doing
something what they have been doing, such as smoking. Rather than take on a new
habit or action, the speaker is asking the audience member to stop an existing
behavior or idea. As such, discontinuance is in some ways the opposite of adoption.
Deterrence8 is a call action that focuses on persuading audience not to start
something if they haven’t already started. Perhaps many people in the audience
have never tried illicit drugs, or have not gotten behind the wheel of a car while
intoxicated. The goal of action in this case would be to deter, or encourage the
audience members to refrain from starting or initiating the behavior.
Finally, with continuance9, the speaker aims to persuade the audience to continue
doing what they have been doing, such as reelect a candidate, keep buying product,
or staying in school to get an education.
A speaker may choose to address more than one of these goals of action, depending
on the audience analysis. If the audience is largely agreeable and supportive, you
may find continuance to be one goal, while adoption is secondary.
These goals serve to guide you in the development of solution steps. Solution steps
involve suggestions or ways the audience can take action after your speech. They
often proceed from national to personal level, or the inverse. Audience members
appreciate a clear discussion of the problem in a persuasive speech, but they also
appreciate solutions. You might offer a national solution that may be viewed as
unworkable, but your solution on a personal level may be more realistic, such as
6. Persuading the audience to
take on a new way of thinking
or adopt a new idea.
7. Persuading the audience to
stop doing something that they
have been doing.
8. Persuading audience not to
start something if they haven’t
already started.
9. Persuading the audience to
continue doing what they have
been doing.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.3 Functions of the Presentation to Persuade 527
considering an alternate point of view or making a small donation to a worthy
cause.
Increase Consideration
Perhaps you know that your audience is not open to emotional appeals that involve
the fear of global warming, so you choose to base your persuasive speech on
something they are more open to: the economic argument and the relative cost of
car ownership. In this speech, you want to increase consideration on the part of the
audience whose members either hold hostile views or perhaps are neutral and
simply curious. You might be able to compare and contrast competing cars and
show that the costs over ten years are quite similar, but that the Prius has
additional features that are the equivalent of a bonus, including high gas mileage.
You might describe tax incentives for ownership, maintenance schedules and costs,
and resale value. Your arguments and their support aim at increasing the
audience’s consideration of your position. You won’t be asking for action in this
presentation, but a corresponding increase of consideration may lead the customer
to that point at a later date.
Develop Tolerance of Alternate Perspectives
Finally, you may want to help your audience develop tolerance of alternate
perspectives and viewpoints. Perhaps your audience, as in the previous example, is
interested in purchasing a car and you are the lead salesperson on that model. As
you listen, and do your informal audience analysis, you may learn that horsepower
and speed are important values to this customer. You might raise the issue of
torque versus horsepower and indicate that the “uumph” you feel as you start a car
off the line is torque. Many hybrid and even electric vehicles have great torque, as
their systems involve fewer parts and less friction than a corresponding internal
combustion-transaxle system. You goal is to help your audience develop tolerance,
but not necessarily acceptance, of alternate perspectives. A traditional way of
measuring speed has always been how fast a car can go from zero to sixty miles per
hour.
You are essentially indicating that there are two relevant factors to consider when
discussing speed (horsepower and torque), and asking the customer to consider the
alternate perspective. Lots of horsepower might be all right for high speeds, but by
raising the issue of their normal driving, they might learn that what counts day in
and day out for driving is torque, not horsepower. By starting from common
ground, and introducing a related idea, you are persuading your audience to
consider an alternate perspective.
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K E Y T A K E A W A Y
A persuasive speech may stimulate thought, convince, call to action,
increase consideration, or develop tolerance of alternate perspectives.
E X E R C I S E S
1. Select a commercial for a product or service you do not believe you
would ever buy. Evaluate the commercial according to the principles of
persuasion described in this section. Does it use more than one
principle? Is any principle effective on you as an audience member? If
you could change the commercial to increase its persuasive appeal to
yourself as a customer, what changes would you make? Discuss your
findings with your classmates.
2. Which do you think is a more difficult challenge, discontinuance or
deterrence? Why? Give some examples and discuss them with your
classmates.
3. Do you think persuasion by continuance is necessary? Or would people
continue a given behavior regardless of any persuasive messages? Think
of an example and discuss it with your classmates.
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14.4 Meeting the Listener’s Basic Needs
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E
1. Identify and describe several basic needs that people seek to fulfill when
they communicate.
In this section we will examine why we communicate, illustrating how meeting the
listener’s basic needs is central to effective communication. It’s normal for the
audience to consider why you are persuading them, and there is significant support
for the notion that by meeting the audience’s basic needs, whether they are a
customer, colleague, or supervisor, you will more effectively persuade them to
consider your position.
Not all oral presentations involve taking a position, or overt persuasion, but all
focus on the inherent relationships and basic needs within the business context.
Getting someone to listen to what you have to say involves a measure of persuasion,
and getting that person to act on it might require considerable skill. Whether you
are persuading a customer to try a new product or service, or informing a supplier
that you need additional merchandise, the relationship is central to your
communication. The emphasis inherent in our next two discussions is that we all
share this common ground, and by understanding that we share basic needs, we can
better negotiate meaning and achieve understanding.
Table 14.1 “Reasons for Engaging in Communication” presents some reasons for
engaging in communication. As you can see, the final item in the table indicates
that we communicate in order to meet our needs. What are those needs? We will
discuss them next.
Table 14.1 Reasons for Engaging in Communication
Review Why We Engage in Communication
Gain
Information
We engage in communication to gain information. This information can
involve directions to an unknown location, or a better understanding
about another person through observation or self-disclosure.
Understand
Communication
Contexts
We also want to understand the context in which we communication,
discerning the range between impersonal and intimate, to better
anticipate how to communicate effectively in each setting.
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Review Why We Engage in Communication
Understand
Our Identity
Through engaging in communication, we come to perceive ourselves, our
roles, and our relationships with others.
Meet Our Needs We meet our needs through communication.
Maslow’s Hierarchy
If you have taken courses in anthropology, philosophy, psychology, or perhaps
sociology in the past, you may have seen Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Figure 14.3
“Maslow’s Hierarchy”). Psychologist Abraham MaslowMaslow, A. (1970). Motivation
and personality (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row. provides seven basic
categories for human needs, and arranges them in order of priority, from the most
basic to the most advanced.
Figure 14.3 Maslow’s HierarchyMaslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Harper
& Row.
In this figure, we can see that we need energy, water, and air to live. Without any of
these three basic elements, which meet our physiological needs (1), we cannot
survive. We need to meet them before anything else, and will often sacrifice
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.4 Meeting the Listener’s Basic Needs 531
everything else to get them. Once we have what we need to live, we seek safety (2).
A defensible place, protecting your supply lines for your most basic needs, could be
your home. For some, however, home is a dangerous place that compromises their
safety. Children and victims of domestic violence need shelter to meet this need. In
order to leave a hostile living environment, people may place the well-being and
safety of another over their own needs, in effect placing themselves at risk. An
animal would fight for its own survival above all else, but humans can and do acts of
heroism that directly contradict their own self-interest. Our own basic needs
motivate us, but sometimes the basic needs of others are more important to us than
our own.
We seek affection from others once we have the basics to live and feel safe from
immediate danger. We look for a sense of love and belonging (3). All needs in
Maslow’s model build on the foundation of the previous needs, and the third level
reinforces our need to be a part of a family, community, or group. This is an
important step that directly relates to business communication. If a person feels
safe at your place of business, they are more likely to be open to communication.
Communication is the foundation of the business relationship, and without it, you
will fail. If they feel on edge, or that they might be pushed around, made to feel
stupid, or even unwanted, they will leave and your business will disappear. On the
other hand, if you make them feel welcome, provide multiple ways for them to
learn, educate themselves, and ask questions in a safe environment, you will form
relationships that transcend business and invite success.
Once we have been integrated in a group, we begin to assert our sense of self and
self-respect, addressing our need for self-esteem (4). Self-esteem is essentially how
we feel about ourselves. Let’s say you are a male, but you weren’t born with a “fix-
it” gene. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but for many men it can be hard to admit.
We no longer live in a time when we have to build our own houses or learn about
electricity and plumbing as we grow up, and if it is not part of your learning
experience, it is unreasonable to expect that you’ll be handy with a wrench from
the first turn.
The do-it-yourself chain Home Depot may have recognized how this interest in
home repair is paired with many men’s reluctance to admit their lack of experience.
They certainly turned it into an opportunity. Each Saturday around the country,
home repair clinics on all sorts of tasks, from cutting and laying tile to building a
bird house, are available free to customers at Home Depot stores. You can
participate, learn, gain mastery of a skill set, and walk out of the store with all the
supplies you need to get the job done. You will also now know someone (the
instructor, a Home Depot employee) whom you can return to for follow-up
questions. Ultimately, if you don’t succeed in getting the job done right, they will
help you arrange for professional installation. This model reinforces safety and
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14.4 Meeting the Listener’s Basic Needs 532
familiarity, belonging to a group or perceiving a trustworthy support system, and
the freedom to make mistakes. It’s an interactive program that squarely addresses
one of customers’ basic of human needs.
Maslow discusses the next level of needs in terms of how we feel about ourselves
and our ability to assert control and influence over our lives. Once we are part of a
group and have begun to assert ourselves, we start to feel as if we have reached our
potential and are actively making a difference in our own world. Maslow calls this
self-actualization (5). Self-actualization10 can involve reaching your full potential,
feeling accepted for who you are, and perceiving a degree of control or
empowerment in your environment. It may mean the freedom to go beyond
building the bird house to the tree house, and to design it yourself as an example of
self-expression.
As we progress beyond these levels, our basic human curiosity about the world
around us emerges. When we have our basic needs met, we do not need to fear
losing our place in a group or access to resources. We are free to explore and play,
discovering the world around us. Our need to know (6) motivates us to grow and
learn. You may have taken an elective art class that sparked your interest in a new
area, or your started a new sport or hobby, like woodworking. If you worked at low-
paying jobs that earned you barely enough to meet your basic needs, you may not
be able to explore all your interests. You might be too exhausted after sixty or
seventy hours a week on a combination of the night shift and the early morning
shift across two jobs. If you didn’t have to work as many hours to meet your more
basic needs, you’d have time to explore your curiosity and address the need to
learn. Want to read a good book? You’d have the time. Want to take a watercolor
class? Sounds interesting. If, however, we are too busy hunting and gathering food,
there is little time for contemplating beauty.
Beyond curiosity lies the aesthetic need to experience beauty (7). Form is freed
from function, so that a wine bottle opener can be appreciated for its clever design
that resembles a rabbit’s head instead of simply how well it works to remove the
cork. The appreciation of beauty transcends the everyday, the usual; it becomes
exceptional. You may have walked in a building or church and become captivated
by the light, the stained-glass windows, or the design. That moment that transcends
the mundane, that stops you in your tracks, comes close to describing the human
appreciation for the aesthetic, but it’s really up to you.
We can see in Maslow’s hierarchy how our most basic needs are quite specific, and
as we progress through the levels, the level of abstraction increases until ultimately
we are freed from the daily grind to contemplate the meaning of a modern painting.
As we increase our degree of interconnectedness with others, we become
10. Involves reaching your full
potential, feeling accepted for
who you are, and perceiving a
degree of control or
empowerment in your
environment.
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interdependent and, at the same time, begin to express independence and
individuality. As a speaker, you may seek the safety of the familiar, only to progress
with time and practice to a point where you make words your own.
Your audience will share with you a need for control. You can help meet this need
by constructing your speech with an effective introduction, references to points
you’ve discussed, and a clear conclusion. The introduction will set up audience
expectations of points you will consider, and allow the audience to see briefly what
is coming. Your internal summaries, signposts, and support of your main points all
serve to remind the audience what you’ve discussed and what you will discuss.
Finally, your conclusion answers the inherent question, “Did the speaker actually
talk about what they said they were going to talk about?” and affirms to the
audience that you have fulfilled your objectives.
Social Penetration Theory
The field of communication draws from many disciplines, and in this case, draws
lessons from two prominent social psychologists. Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor
articulated the social penetration theory11, which describes how we move from
superficial talk to intimate and revealing talk.Altman, I., & Taylor, D. (1973). Social
penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York, NY: St. Martin’s
Press. Altman and Taylor discuss how we attempt to learn about others so that we
can better understand how to interact.Altman, I., & Taylor, D. (1973). Social
penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York, NY: St. Martin’s
Press. With a better understanding of others and with more information, we are in a
better position to predict how they may behave, what they may value, or what they
might feel in specific situations. We usually gain this understanding of others
without thinking about it through observation or self-disclosure. In this model,
often called the “onion model,” we see how we start out on superficial level, but as
we peel away the layers, we gain knowledge about the other person that
encompasses both breadth and depth.
11. Theory by Irwin Altman and
Dalmas Taylor which describes
how we move from superficial
talk to intimate and revealing
talk.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
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Figure 14.4 Altman and Taylor’s Social Penetration Model
Source: Adapted from Altman and Taylor’s social penetration model.Altman, I., & Taylor, D. (1973). Social
penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
We come to know more about the way a person perceives a situation (breadth), but
also gain perspective into how they see the situation through an understanding of
their previous experiences (depth). Imagine these two spheres, which represent
people, coming together. What touches first? The superficial level. As the two start
to overlap, the personal levels may touch, then the intimate level, and finally the
core levels may even touch. Have you ever known a couple—perhaps your parents
or grandparents—who have been together for a very long time? They know each
other’s stories and finish each other’s sentences. They might represent the near
overlap, where their core values, attitudes, and beliefs are similar through a
lifetime of shared experiences.
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Figure 14.5 American
Foreign Service Manual
Iceberg Model
We move from public to private information as we
progress from small talk to intimate conversations.
Imagine an onion. The outer surface can be peeled away,
and each new layer reveals another until you arrive at
the heart of the onion. People interact on the surface,
and only remove layers as trust and confidence grows.
Another way to look at it is to imagine an iceberg. How
much of the total iceberg can you see from the surface
of the ocean? Not much. But once you start to look
under the water, you gain an understanding of the large
size of the iceberg, and the extent of its depth. We have
to go beyond superficial understanding to know each
other, and progress through the process of self-
disclosure to come to know and understand one
another. See Figure 14.5 “American Foreign Service
Manual Iceberg Model” for an illustration of an “iceberg model” adapted from the
American Foreign Service Manual.American Foreign Service Manual. (1975). This
model has existed in several forms since the 1960s, and serves as a useful
illustration of how little we perceive of each other with our first impressions and
general assumptions.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
We are motivated to communicate in order to gain information, get to know
one another, better understand our situation or context, come to know
ourselves and our role or identity, and meet our fundamental interpersonal
needs.
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14.4 Meeting the Listener’s Basic Needs 536
E X E R C I S E S
1. Consider your life in relation to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. To what
degree do you feel you have attained the different levels in the
hierarchy? Two or three years ago, were you at the same level where
you currently are, or has your position in the hierarchy changed? In
what ways do you expect it to change in the future? Discuss your
thoughts with your classmates.
2. Think of someone you have met but do not know very well. What kinds
of conversations have you had with this person? How might you expect
your conversations to change if you have more opportunities to get
better acquainted? Discuss your thoughts with a classmate.
3. Think of a conversation you have had within the past day. What were
the reasons for having that conversation? Can you relate it to the
reasons for engaging in conversation listed in Table 14.1 “Reasons for
Engaging in Communication”? Discuss your thoughts with a classmate.
4. Write a brief paragraph about getting to know someone. Discuss
whether, in your experience, it followed the social penetration theory.
Share and compare with classmates.
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14.5 Making an Argument
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Label and discuss three components of an argument.
2. Identify and provide examples of emotional appeals.
According to the famous satirist Jonathan Swift, “Argument is the worst sort of
conversation.” You may be inclined to agree. When people argue, they are engaged
in conflict and it’s usually not pretty. It sometimes appears that way because people
resort to fallacious arguments or false statements, or they simply do not treat each
other with respect. They get defensive, try to prove their own points, and fail to
listen to each other.
But this should not be what happens in persuasive argument. Instead, when you
make an argument in a persuasive speech, you will want to present your position
with logical points, supporting each point with appropriate sources. You will want
to give your audience every reason to perceive you as an ethical and trustworthy
speaker. Your audience will expect you to treat them with respect, and to present
your argument in way that does not make them defensive. Contribute to your
credibility by building sound arguments and using strategic arguments with skill
and planning.
In this section, we will briefly discuss the classic form of an argument, a more
modern interpretation, and finally seven basic arguments you may choose to use.
Imagine that each is a tool in your toolbox, and that you want to know how to use
each effectively. Know that people who try to persuade you, from telemarketers to
politics, usually have these tools at hand.
Let’s start with a classical rhetorical strategy, as shown in Table 14.2 “Classical
Rhetorical Strategy”. It asks the rhetorician, speaker, or author to frame arguments
in six steps.
Table 14.2 Classical Rhetorical Strategy
1. Exordium Prepares the audience to consider your argument
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
538
2. Narration
Provides the audience with the necessary background or context for your
argument
3.
Proposition
Introduces your claim being argued in the speech
4.
Confirmation
Offers the audience evidence to support your argument
5. Refutation
Introduces to the audience and then discounts or refutes the
counterarguments or objections
6. Peroration Your conclusion of your argument
The classical rhetorical strategy is a standard pattern and you will probably see it in
both speech and English courses. The pattern is useful to guide you in your
preparation of your speech and can serve as a valuable checklist to ensure that you
are prepared. While this formal pattern has distinct advantages, you may not see it
used exactly as indicated here on a daily basis. What may be more familiar to you is
Stephen Toulmin’sToulmin, S. (1958). The uses of argument. New York, NY:
Cambridge University Press. rhetorical strategy that focuses on three main
elements, shown in Table 14.3 “Toulmin’s Three-Part Rhetorical Strategy”.
Table 14.3 Toulmin’s Three-Part Rhetorical Strategy
Element Description Example
1. Claim Your statement of belief or truth It is important to spay or neuter your pet.
2. Data
Your supporting reasons for the
claim
Millions of unwanted pets are euthanized
annually.
3.
Warrant
You create the connection
between the claim and the
supporting reasons
Pets that are spayed or neutered do not
reproduce, preventing the production of
unwanted animals.
Toulmin’s rhetorical strategy is useful in that it makes the claim explicit, clearly
illustrating the relationship between the claim and the data, and allows the listener
to follow the speaker’s reasoning. You may have a good idea or point, but your
audience will be curious and want to know how you arrived at that claim or
viewpoint. The warrant often addresses the inherent and often unspoken question,
“Why is this data so important to your topic?” and helps you illustrate relationships
between information for your audience. This model can help you clearly articulate
it for your audience.
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Argumentation Strategies: GASCAP/T
Here is useful way of organizing and remembering seven key argumentative
strategies:
1. Argument by Generalization
2. Argument by Analogy
3. Argument by Sign
4. Argument by Consequence
5. Argument by Authority
6. Argument by Principle
7. Argument by Testimony
Richard FulkersonFulkerson, R. (1996). The Toulmin model of argument and the
teaching of composition. In B. Emmel, P. Resch, & D. Tenney (Eds.), Argument
revisited: Argument redefined: Negotiating meaning the composition classroom (pp. 45–72).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. notes that a single strategy is sufficient to make an
argument some of the time, but more common is an effort to combine two or more
strategies to increase your powers of persuasion. He organized the argumentative
strategies in this way to compare the differences, highlight the similarities, and
allow for their discussion. This model, often called by its acronym GASCAP, is a
useful strategy to summarize six key arguments and is easy to remember. In Table
14.4 “GASCAP/T Strategies” we have adapted it, adding one more argument that is
often used in today’s speeches and presentations: the argument by testimony. This
table presents each argument, provides a definition of the strategy and an example,
and examines ways to evaluate each approach.
Table 14.4 GASCAP/T Strategies
Argument by
Claim Example Evaluation
G Generalization
Whatever is
true of a good
example or
sample will be
true of
everything like
it or the
population it
came from.
If you can vote, drive,
and die for your
country, you should
also be allowed to buy
alcohol.
STAR System: For it to be
reliable, we need a (S)
sufficient number of (T)
typical, (A) accurate, and (R)
reliable examples.
A Analogy
Two situations,
things or ideas
are alike in
Alcohol is a drug. So is
tobacco. They both
alter perceptions, have
Watch for adverbs that end
in “ly,” as they qualify, or
lessen the relationship
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14.5 Making an Argument 540
Argument by Claim Example Evaluation
observable
ways and will
tend to be alike
in many other
ways
an impact
physiological and
psychological systems,
and are federally
regulated substances.
between the examples.
Words like “probably,”
“maybe,” “could, “may,” or
“usually” all weaken the
relationship.
S Sign
Statistics, facts
or cases
indicate
meaning, much
like a stop sign
means “stop.”
Motor vehicle
accidents involving
alcohol occur at
significant rates
among adults of all
ages in the United
States
Evaluate the relationship
between the sign and look
for correlation, where the
presenter says what a facts
“means.” Does the sign say
that? Does is say more, or
what is not said? Is it
relevant?
Argument
by
Claim Example Evaluation
C Cause
If two
conditions
always
appear
together,
they are
causally
related.
The U.S. insurance
industry has been
significantly
involved in state
and national
legislation requiring
proof of insurance,
changes in
graduated driver’s
licenses, and the
national change in
the drinking age
from age 18 to age
21.
Watch out for “after the
fact, therefore because
of the fact” (post hoc,
ergo propter hoc)
thinking. There might
not be a clear
connection, and it might
not be the whole
picture. Mothers Against
Drunk Driving might
have also been involved
with each example of
legislation.
A Authority
What a
credible
source
indicates
is
probably
true.
According to the
National
Transportation and
Safety Board, older
drivers are
increasingly
involved in motor
vehicle accidents.
Is the source legitimate
and is their information
trustworthy? Institutes,
boards and people often
have agendas and
distinct points of view.
P Principle
An
accepted
or proper
truth
The change in the
drinking age was
never put to a vote.
It’s not about
alcohol, it’s about
our freedom of
Is the principle being
invoked generally
accepted? Is the claim,
data or warrant actually
related to the principle
stated? Are there
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.5 Making an Argument 541
Argument
by
Claim Example Evaluation
speech in a
democratic society.
common exceptions to
the principle? What are
the practical
consequences of
following the principle
in this case?
T Testimony
Personal
experience
I’ve lost friends
from age 18 to 67 to
alcohol. It impacts
all ages, and its
effects are
cumulative. Let me
tell you about two
friends in particular.
Is the testimony
authentic? Is it relevant?
Is it representative of
other’s experiences? Use
the STAR system to help
evaluate the use of
testimony.
Evidence
Now that we’ve clearly outlined several argument strategies, how do you support
your position with evidence or warrants? If your premise or the background from
which you start is valid, and your claim is clear and clearly related, the audience
will naturally turn their attention to “prove it.” This is where the relevance of
evidence becomes particularly important. Here are three guidelines to consider in
order to insure your evidence passes the “so what?” test of relevance in relation to
your claim. Make sure your evidence is:
1. Supportive Examples are clearly representative, statistics accurate
testimony authoritative, and information reliable.
2. Relevant Examples clearly relate to the claim or topic, and you are not
comparing “apples to oranges.”
3. Effective Examples are clearly the best available to support the claim,
quality is preferred to quantity, there are only a few well-chosen
statistics, facts or data.
Appealing to Emotions
While we’ve highlighted several points to consider when selecting information to
support your claim, know that AristotleAristotle. (1991). On rhetoric (G. A. Kennedy,
Trans.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. strongly preferred an argument
based in logic over emotion. Can the same be said for your audience, and to what
degree is emotion and your appeal to it in your audience a part of modern life?
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Emotions12 are a psychological and physical reaction, such as fear or anger, to
stimuli that we experience as a feeling. Our feelings or emotions directly impact our
own point of view and readiness to communicate, but also influence how, why, and
when we say things. Emotions influence not only how you say what you say, but
also how you hear and what you hear. At times, emotions can be challenging to
control. Emotions will move your audience, and possibly even move you, to change
or act in certain ways. Marketing experts are famous for creating a need or
associating an emotion with a brand or label in order to sell it. You will speak the
language of your audience in your document, and may choose to appeal to emotion,
but you need to consider the strategic use as a tool that has two edges.
Aristotle indicated the best, and most preferable, way to persuade an audience was
through the use of logic, free of emotion. He also recognized that people are often
motivated, even manipulated, by the exploitation of their emotions. In our modern
context, we still engage this debate, demanding to know the facts separate from
personal opinion or agenda, but see the use of emotion used to sell products. If we
think of the appeal to emotion as a knife, we can see it has two edges. One edge can
cut your audience, and the other can cut you. If you advance an appeal to emotion
in your document on spaying and neutering pets, and discuss the millions of
unwanted pets that are killed each year, you may elicit an emotional response. If
you use this approach repeatedly, your audience may grow weary of it, and it will
lose its effectiveness. If you change your topic to the use of animals in research, the
same strategy may apply, but repeated attempts at engaging an emotional response
may backfire on you, in essence “cutting” you, and produce a negative response,
called emotional resistance.
Emotional resistance13 involves getting tired, often to the point of rejection, of
hearing messages that attempt to elicit an emotional response. Emotional appeals
can wear out the audience’s capacity to receive the message. As Aristotle outlined,
ethos (credibility), logos (logic) and pathos (passion, enthusiasm and emotional
response) constitute the building blocks of any document. It’s up to you to create a
balanced document, where you may appeal to emotion, but choose to use it
judiciously.
On a related point, the use of an emotional appeal may also impair your ability to
write persuasively or effectively. If you choose to present an article to persuade on
the topic of suicide, and start with a photo of your brother or sister that you lost to
suicide, your emotional response may cloud your judgment and get in the way of
your thinking. Never use a personal story, or even a story of someone you do not
know, if the inclusion of that story causes you to lose control. While it’s important
to discuss relevant topics, including suicide, you need to assess you own
relationship to the message. Your documents should not be an exercise in therapy
12. A psychological and physical
reaction, such as fear or anger,
to stimuli that we experience
as a feeling.
13. Occurs when the audience gets
tired, often to the point of
rejection, of hearing messages
that attempt to elicit an
emotional response.
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14.5 Making an Argument 543
and you will sacrifice ethos and credibility, even your effectiveness, if you “lose it”
because you are really not ready to discuss the issue.
As we saw in our discussion of Altman and Taylor,Altman, I., & Taylor, D. (1973).
Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York, NY: St.
Martin’s Press. most relationships form from superficial discussions and grow into
more personal conversations. Consider these levels of self-disclosure when
planning your speech to persuade in order to not violate conversational and
relational norms.
Now that we’ve outlined emotions and their role in a speech in general and a speech
to persuade specifically, it’s important recognize the principles about emotions in
communication that serve us well when speaking in public. DeVitoDeVito, J. (2003).
Messages: Building interpersonal skills. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. offers us five key
principles to acknowledge the role emotions play in communication and offer
guidelines for their expression.
Emotions Are Universal
Emotions are a part of every conversation or interaction that we have. Whether or
not you consciously experience them while communicating with yourself or others,
they influence how you communicate. By recognizing that emotions are a
component in all communication interactions, we can place emphasis on
understanding both the content of the message and the emotions that influence
how, why, and when the content is communicated.
The context, which includes your psychological state of mind, is one of the eight
basic components of communication. Expression of emotions is important, but
requires the three Ts: tact, timing, and trust. If you find you are upset and at risk of
being less than diplomatic, or the timing is not right, or you are unsure about the
level of trust, then consider whether you can effectively communicate your
emotions. By considering these three Ts, you can help yourself express your
emotions more effectively.
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14.5 Making an Argument 544
Figure 14.6
Emotions are often
communicated through
nonverbal gestures and actions.
© 2010 Jupiterimages
Corporation
Emotional Feelings and Emotional Expression Are Not the Same
Experiencing feelings and actually letting someone
know you are experiencing them are two different
things. We experience feeling in terms of our
psychological state, or state of mind, and in terms of our
physiological state, or state of our body. If we
experience anxiety and apprehension before a test, we
may have thoughts that correspond to our nervousness.
We may also have an increase in our pulse, perspiration,
and respiration (breathing) rate. Our expression of
feelings by our body influences our nonverbal
communication, but we can complement, repeat,
replace, mask, or even contradict our verbal messages.
Remember that we can’t tell with any degree of
accuracy what other people are feeling simply through
observation, and neither can they tell what we are
feeling. We need to ask clarifying questions to improve
understanding. With this in mind, plan for a time to
provide responses and open dialogue after the
conclusion of your speech.
Emotions Are Communicated Verbally and
Nonverbally
You communicate emotions not only through your
choice of words but also through the manner in which you say those words. The
words themselves communicate part of your message, but the nonverbal cues,
including inflection, timing, space, and paralanguage can modify or contradict your
spoken message. Be aware that emotions are expressed in both ways and pay
attention to how verbal and nonverbal messages reinforce and complement each
other.
Emotional Expression Can Be Good and Bad
Expressing emotions can be a healthy activity for a relationship and build trust. It
can also break down trust if expression is not combined with judgment. We’re all
different, and we all experience emotions, but how we express our emotions to
ourselves and others can have a significant impact on our relationships. Expressing
frustrations may help the audience realize your point of view and see things as they
have never seen them before. However, expressing frustrations combined with
blaming can generate defensiveness and decrease effective listening. When you’re
expressing yourself, consider the audience’s point of view, be specific about your
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.5 Making an Argument 545
concerns, and emphasize that your relationship with your listeners is important to
you.
Emotions Are Often Contagious
Have you ever felt that being around certain people made you feel better, while
hanging out with others brought you down? When we interact with each other,
some of our emotions can be considered contagious. If your friends decide to
celebrate, you may get caught up in the energy of their enthusiasm. Thomas Joiner
noted that when one college roommate was depressed, it took less than three weeks
for the depression to spread to the other roommate.Joiner, T. (1994). Contagious
depression: Existence, specificity to depressed symptoms, and the role or
reassuracne seeking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 287. It is
important to recognize that we influence each other with our emotions, positively
and negatively. Your emotions as the speaker can be contagious, so use your
enthusiasm to raise the level of interest in your topic. Conversely, you may be
subject to “catching” emotions from your audience. Your listeners may have just
come from a large lunch and feel sleepy, or the speaker who gave a speech right
before you may have addressed a serious issue like suicide. Considering the two-
way contagious action of emotions means that you’ll need to attend to the emotions
that are present as you prepare to address your audience.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
Everyone experiences emotions, and as a persuasive speaker, you can choose
how to express emotion and appeal to the audience’s emotions.
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E X E R C I S E S
1. Think of a time when you have experienced emotional resistance. Write
two or three paragraphs about your experience. Share your notes with
the class.
2. Which is the more powerful, appeal to reason or emotion? Discuss your
response with an example.
3. Select a commercial or public service announcement that uses an
emotional appeal. Using the information in this section, how would you
characterize the way it persuades listeners with emotion? Is it effective
in persuading you as a listener? Why or why not? Discuss your findings
with your classmates.
4. Find an example of an appeal to emotion in the media. Review and
describe it in two to three paragraphs and share with your classmates.
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14.5 Making an Argument 547
14.6 Speaking Ethically and
Avoiding Fallacies
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Demonstrate the importance of ethics as part of the persuasion process.
2. Identify and provide examples of eight common fallacies in persuasive
speaking.
What comes to mind when you think of speaking to persuade? Perhaps the idea of
persuasion may bring to mind propaganda and issues of manipulation, deception,
intentional bias, bribery, and even coercion. Each element relates to persuasion, but
in distinct ways. In a democratic society, we would hope that our Bill of Rights is
intact and validated, and that we would support the exercise of freedom to discuss,
consider and debate issues when considering change. We can recognize that each of
these elements in some ways has a negative connotation associated with it. Why do
you think that deceiving your audience, bribing a judge, or coercing people to do
something against their wishes is wrong? These tactics violate our sense of fairness,
freedom, and ethics.
Manipulation involves the management of facts, ideas or points of view to play
upon inherent insecurities or emotional appeals to one’s own advantage. Your
audience expects you to treat them with respect, and deliberately manipulating
them by means of fear, guilt, duty, or a relationship is unethical. In the same way,
deception involves the use of lies, partial truths, or the omission of relevant
information to deceive your audience. No one likes to be lied to, or made to believe
something that is not true. Deception can involve intentional bias, or the selection
of information to support your position while framing negatively any information
that might challenge your belief.
Bribery involves the giving of something in return for an expected favor,
consideration, or privilege. It circumvents the normal protocol for personal gain,
and again is a strategy that misleads your audience. Coercion is the use of power to
compel action. You make someone do something they would not choose to do
freely. You might threaten punishment, and people may go along with you while
the “stick” is present, but once the threat is removed, they will revert to their
previous position, often with new antagonism toward the person or agency that
coerced them. While you may raise the issue that the ends justify the means, and
you are “doing it for the audience’s own good,” recognize the unethical nature of
coercion.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
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As Martin Luther King Jr. stated in his advocacy of nonviolent resistance, two
wrongs do not make a right. They are just two wrongs and violate the ethics that
contribute to community and healthy relationships. Each issue certainly relates to
persuasion, but you as the speaker should be aware of each in order to present an
ethical persuasive speech. Learn to recognize when others try to use these tactics
on you, and know that your audience will be watching to see if you try any of these
strategies on them.
Eleven Points for Speaking Ethically
In his book Ethics in Human Communication,Johannesen, R. (1996). Ethics in human
communication (4th ed.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. Richard Johannesen
offers eleven points to consider when speaking to persuade. His main points
reiterate many of the points across this chapter and should be kept in mind as you
prepare, and present, your persuasive message.
Do not:
• use false, fabricated, misrepresented, distorted or irrelevant evidence
to support arguments or claims.
• intentionally use unsupported, misleading, or illogical reasoning.
• represent yourself as informed or an “expert” on a subject when you
are not.
• use irrelevant appeals to divert attention from the issue at hand.
• ask your audience to link your idea or proposal to emotion-laden
values, motives, or goals to which it is actually not related.
• deceive your audience by concealing your real purpose, by concealing
self-interest, by concealing the group you represent, or by concealing
your position as an advocate of a viewpoint.
• distort, hide, or misrepresent the number, scope, intensity, or
undesirable features of consequences or effects.
• use “emotional appeals” that lack a supporting basis of evidence or
reasoning.
• oversimplify complex, gradation-laden situations into simplistic, two-
valued, either-or, polar views or choices.
• pretend certainty where tentativeness and degrees of probability
would be more accurate.
• advocate something which you yourself do not believe in.
Aristotle said the mark of a good person, well spoken was a clear command of the
faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. He
discussed the idea of perceiving the many points of view related to a topic, and
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.6 Speaking Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies 549
their thoughtful consideration. While it’s important to be able to perceive the
complexity of a case, you are not asked to be a lawyer defending a client.
In your speech to persuade, consider honesty and integrity as you assemble your
arguments. Your audience will appreciate your thoughtful consideration of more
than one view, your understanding of the complexity, and you will build your ethos,
or credibility, as you present your document. Be careful not to stretch the facts, or
assemble them only to prove yourself, and instead prove the argument on its own
merits. Deception, coercion, intentional bias, manipulation and bribery should have
no place in your speech to persuade.
Avoiding Fallacies
Fallacies14 are another way of saying false logic. These rhetorical tricks deceive
your audience with their style, drama, or pattern, but add little to your speech in
terms of substance and can actually detract from your effectiveness. There are
several techniques or “tricks” that allow the speaker to rely on style without
offering substantive argument, to obscure the central message, or twist the facts to
their own gain. Here we will examine the eight classical fallacies. You may note that
some of them relate to the ethical cautions listed earlier in this section. Eight
common fallacies are presented in Table 14.5 “Fallacies”. Learn to recognize these
fallacies so they can’t be used against you, and so that you can avoid using them
with your audience.
Table 14.5 Fallacies
Fallacy Definition Example
1. Red
Herring
Any diversion intended to distract attention
from the main issue, particularly by relating
the issue to a common fear.
It’s not just about the death
penalty; it’s about the victims
and their rights. You wouldn’t
want to be a victim, but if you
were, you’d want justice.
2. Straw
Man
A weak argument set up to be easily refuted,
distracting attention from stronger
arguments
What if we released criminals
who commit murder after just a
few years of rehabilitation?
Think of how unsafe our streets
would be then!
3.
Begging
the
Question
Claiming the truth of the very matter in
question, as if it were already an obvious
conclusion.
We know that they will be
released and unleashed on
society to repeat their crimes
again and again.
14. False logic.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.6 Speaking Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies 550
Fallacy Definition Example
4.
Circular
Argument
The proposition is used to prove itself.
Assumes the very thing it aims to prove.
Related to begging the question.
Once a killer, always a killer.
5. Ad
Populum
Appeals to a common belief of some people,
often prejudicial, and states everyone holds
this belief. Also called the Bandwagon
Fallacy, as people “jump on the bandwagon”
of a perceived popular view.
Most people would prefer to get
rid of a few “bad apples” and
keep our streets safe.
6. Ad
Hominem
“Argument against the man” instead of
against his message. Stating that someone’s
argument is wrong solely because of
something about the person rather than
about the argument itself.
Our representative is a drunk
and philanderer. How can we
trust him on the issues of safety
and family?
7. Non
Sequitur
“It does not follow.” The conclusion does not
follow from the premises. They are not
related.
Since the liberal antiwar
demonstrations of the 1960s,
we’ve seen an increase in
convicts who got let off death
row.
8. Post
Hoc Ergo
Propter
Hoc
“After this, therefore because of this,” also
called a coincidental correlation. It tries to
establish a cause-and-effect relationship
where only a correlation exists.
Violent death rates went down
once they started publicizing
executions.
Avoid false logic and make a strong case or argument for your proposition. Finally,
here is a five-step motivational checklist to keep in mind as you bring it all
together:
1. Get their attention
2. Identify the need
3. Satisfy the need
4. Present a vision or solution
5. Take action
This simple organizational pattern can help you focus on the basic elements of a
persuasive message when time is short and your performance is critical.
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14.6 Speaking Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies 551
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
Speaking to persuade should not involve manipulation, coercion, false logic,
or other unethical techniques.
E X E R C I S E S
1. Can persuasion be ethical? Why or why not? Discuss your opinion with a
classmate.
2. Select a persuasive article or video from a Web site that you feel uses
unethical techniques to persuade the audience. What techniques are
being used? What makes them unethical? Discuss your findings with
your classmates.
3. Find an example of a particularly effective scene where a character in
your favorite television program is persuaded to believe or do
something. Write a two- to three-paragraph description of the scene and
why it was effective. Share and compare with classmates.
4. Find an example of a particularly ineffective scene where a character in
your favorite television program is not persuaded to believe or do
something. Write a two- to three-paragraph description of the scene and
why it was ineffective. Share and compare with classmates.
5. Find an example of a fallacy in an advertisement and share it with the
class.
6. Find an example of an effective argument in an advertisement and share
it with the class.
7. Write a two- to three-paragraph description of a persuasive message
that caused you to believe or do something. Share and compare your
description with classmates.
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14.6 Speaking Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies 552
14.7 Sample Persuasive Speech
Here is a generic, sample speech in an outline form with notes and suggestions.
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E
1. Understand the structural parts of a persuasive speech.
Attention Statement
Show a picture of a person on death row and ask the audience: does an innocent
man deserve to die?
Introduction
Briefly introduce the man in an Illinois prison and explain that he was released only
days before his impending death because DNA evidence (not available when he was
convicted), clearly established his innocence.
A statement of your topic and your specific stand on the topic:
“My speech today is about the death penalty, and I am against it.”
Introduce your credibility and the topic: “My research on this controversial topic
has shown me that deterrence and retribution are central arguments for the death
penalty, and today I will address each of these issues in turn.”
State your main points.
“Today I will address the two main arguments for the death penalty, deterrence and
retribution, and examine how the governor of one state decided that since some
cases were found to be faulty, all cases would be stayed until proven otherwise.”
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
553
Body
Information: Provide a simple explanation of the death penalty in case there are
people who do not know about it. Provide clear definitions of key terms.
Deterrence: Provide arguments by generalization, sign, and authority.
Retribution: Provide arguments by analogy, cause, and principle.
Case study: State of Illinois, Gov. George Ryan. Provide an argument by testimony
and authority by quoting: “You have a system right now…that’s fraught with error
and has innumerable opportunities for innocent people to be executed,” Dennis
Culloton, spokesman for the Governor, told the Chicago Tribune. “He is determined
not to make that mistake.”
Solution steps:
1. National level. “Stay all executions until the problem that exists in
Illinois, and perhaps the nation, is addressed.”
2. Local level. “We need to encourage our own governor to examine the
system we have for similar errors and opportunities for innocent
people to be executed.”
3. Personal level. “Vote, write your representatives, and help bring this
issue to the forefront in your community.”
Conclusion
Reiterate your main points and provide synthesis; do not introduce new content.
Residual Message
Imagine that you have been assigned to give a persuasive presentation lasting five
to seven minutes. Follow the guidelines in Table 14.6 “Sample Speech Guidelines”
and apply them to your presentation.
Table 14.6 Sample Speech Guidelines
1.Topic
Choose a product or service that interests you so much that you would like
to influence the audience’s attitudes and behavior toward it.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.7 Sample Persuasive Speech 554
2. Purpose
Persuasive speakers may plan to secure behavioral changes, influence
thinking, or motivate action in their audience. They may state a proposition
of fact, value, definition, or policy. They may incorporate appeals to reason,
emotion, and/or basic needs.
3. Audience
Think about what your audience might already know about your topic and
what they may not know, and perhaps any attitudes toward or concerns
about it. Consider how this may affect the way that you will present your
information. You won’t be able to convert everyone in the audience from a
“no” to a “yes,” but you might encourage a couple to consider “maybe.”
Audiences are more likely to change their behavior if it meets their needs,
saves them money, involves a small change, or if the proposed change is
approached gradually in the presentation.
4.
Supporting
Materials
Using the information gathered in your search for information, determine
what is most worthwhile, interesting, and important to include in your
speech. Time limits will require that you be selective about what you use.
Consider information that the audience might want to know that
contradicts or challenges your claims and be prepared for questions. Use
visual aids to illustrate your message.
5.
Organization
1. Write a central idea statement, which expresses the
message, or point, that you hope to get across to your
listeners in the speech.
2. Determine the two to three main points that will be
needed to support your central idea.
3. Prepare a complete sentence outline of the body of the
speech, including solution steps or action items.
6.
Introduction
Develop an opening that will
1. get the attention and interest of your listeners,
2. express your central idea/message, and
3. lead into the body of your speech.
7.
Conclusion
The conclusion should review and/or summarize the important ideas in
your speech and bring it to a smooth close.
8. Delivery
The speech should be delivered extemporaneously, using speaking notes
and not reading from the manuscript. Work on maximum eye contact with
your listeners. Use any visual aids or handouts that may be helpful.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.7 Sample Persuasive Speech 555
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
A speech to persuade presents an attention statement, an introduction, the
body of the speech with main points and supporting information, a
conclusion, and a residual message.
E X E R C I S E S
1. Apply this framework to your persuasive speech.
2. Prepare a three- to five-minute presentation to persuade and present it
to the class.
3. Review an effective presentation to persuade and present it to the class.
4. Review an ineffective presentation to persuade and present it to the
class
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.7 Sample Persuasive Speech 556
14.8 Elevator Speech
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Discuss the basic parts of an elevator speech.
2. Create an effective elevator speech.
An elevator speech is to oral communication what a Twitter message (limited to 140
characters) is to written communication. It has to engage and interest the listener,
inform and/or persuade, and be memorable.Howell, L. (2006). Give your elevator
speech a lift. Bothell, WA: Publishers Network. An elevator speech15 is a
presentation that persuades the listener in less than thirty seconds, or around a
hundred words. It takes its name from the idea that in a short elevator ride (of
perhaps ten floors), carefully chosen words can make a difference. In addition to
actual conversations taking place during elevator rides, other common examples
include the following:
• An entrepreneur making a brief presentation to a venture capitalist or
investor
• A conversation at the water cooler
• Comments during intermission at a basketball game
• A conversation as you stroll across the parking lot
Creating an Elevator Speech
An elevator speech does not have to be a formal event, though it can be. An elevator
speech is not a full sales pitch and should not get bloated with too much
information. The idea is not to rattle off as much information as possible in a short
time, nor to present a “canned” thirty-second advertising message, but rather to
give a relaxed and genuine “nutshell” summary of one main idea. The speech can be
generic and nonspecific to the audience or listener, but the more you know about
your audience, the better. When you tailor your message to that audience, you zero
in on your target and increase your effectiveness.Albertson, E. (2008). How to open
doors with a brilliant elevator speech. New Providence, NJ: R. R. Bowker. The emphasis
is on brevity, but a good elevator speech will address several key questions:
1. What is the topic, product or service?
2. Who are you?
3. Who is the target market? (if applicable)
15. A presentation that persuades
the listener in less than thirty
seconds.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
557
4. What is the revenue model? (if applicable)
5. What or who is the competition and what are your advantages?
Table 14.7 “Parts of an Elevator Speech” adapts the five parts of a speech to the
format of the elevator speech.
Table 14.7 Parts of an Elevator Speech
Speech Component Adapted to Elevator Speech
Attention Statement Hook + information about you
Introduction What you offer
Body Benefits; what’s in it for the listener
Conclusion Example that sums it up
Residual Message Call for action
Example:
1. How are you doing?
2. Great! Glad you asked. I’m with (X Company) and we just received this
new (product x)—it is amazing. It beats the competition hands down
for a third of the price. Smaller, faster, and less expensive make it a
winner. It’s already a sales leader. Hey, if you know anyone who might
be interested, call me! (Hands business card to the listener as visual
aid)
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
You often don’t know when opportunity to inform or persuade will present
itself, but with an elevator speech, you are prepared!
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.8 Elevator Speech 558
E X E R C I S E S
1. Pick a product or service and prepare an elevator speech (less than a
hundred words, no more than thirty seconds). Rehearse the draft out
loud to see how it sounds and post or present it in class.
2. Find an example of an elevator speech online (YouTube, for example)
and review it. Post the link and a brief summary of strengths and
weaknesses. Share and compare with classmates.
3. Prepare an elevator speech (no more than thirty seconds) and present to
the class.
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.8 Elevator Speech 559
14.9 Additional Resources
Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, asks, “Which
messages spur citizens to protect the environment?” January 25, 2007, at the Royal
Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA); free
downloads of MP3 and PDF transcripts are available. http://www.thersa.org/
events/audio-and-past-events/which-messages-spur-citizens-to-protect-the-
environment-the-secret-impact-of-social-norms
Justthink.org promotes critical thinking skills and awareness of the impact of
images in the media among young people. http://www.justthink.org
Watch a YouTube video of a persuasive speech on becoming a hero.
Watch a YouTube video of a persuasive speech on same-sex marriage.
Professional speaker Ruth Sherman speaks persuasively about her book, Get Them to
See It Your Way, Right Away. http://www.ruthsherman.com/video.asp
Visit this site for a video and other resources about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp
Read an informative article on negotiating face-to-face across cultures called
“Cross-Cultural Face-Negotiation: An Analytical Overview” by Stella Ting-Toomey,
presented on April 15, 1992, at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.
http://www.cic.sfu.ca/forum/ting-too.html
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides a guide to persuasive
speaking strategies. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/04
Visit the Web site of talk show host Sean Hannity and assess his persuasive speaking
techniques. http://www.hannity.com
Visit the Web site of National Public Radio and assess the persuasive message of
various radio programs. http://www.npr.org
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
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http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/which-messages-spur-citizens-to-protect-the-environment-the-secret-impact-of-social-norms
http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/which-messages-spur-citizens-to-protect-the-environment-the-secret-impact-of-social-norms
http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/which-messages-spur-citizens-to-protect-the-environment-the-secret-impact-of-social-norms
http://www.justthink.org
http://www.ruthsherman.com/video.asp
http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp
http://www.cic.sfu.ca/forum/ting-too.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/04
http://www.hannity.com
http://www.npr.org
This site from Western Washington University provides information about
persuasive techniques and fallacies. http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~gmyers/esssa/
rhetoric.html
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.9 Additional Resources 561
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~gmyers/esssa/rhetoric.html
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~gmyers/esssa/rhetoric.html
- Licensing
Chapter 14 Presentations to Persuade
14.1 What Is Persuasion?
14.2 Principles of Persuasion
14.3 Functions of the Presentation to Persuade
14.4 Meeting the Listener’s Basic Needs
14.5 Making an Argument
14.6 Speaking Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies
14.7 Sample Persuasive Speech
14.8 Elevator Speech
14.9 Additional Resources
Harnessing the Science
of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
A LUCKY FEW HAVE IT; most of US d o not. A handful
/ \ of gifted “naturals” simply know how to cap-
/ \ ture an audience, sway the undecided, and
convert the opposition. Watching these masters of
persuasion work their magic is at once impressive
and frustrating. What’s impressive is not just the easy
way they use charisma and eloquence to convince
others to do as they ask. It’s also how eager those
others are to do what’s requested of them, as if the
persuasion itself were a favor they couldn’t wait
to repay.
The frustrating part of the experience is that
these bom persuaders are often unahle to ac-
count for their remarkable skill or pass it on to
others. Their way with people is an art, and
artists as a rule are far hetter at doing than at
explaining. Most of them can’t offer much
help to those of us who possess no more
than the ordinary quotient of charisma
and eloquence but who still have to wres-
tle with leadership’s fundamental chal-
lenge: getting things done through oth-
ers. That challenge is painfully familiar
to corporate executives, who every day
have to figure out how to motivate
and direct a highly individualistic
workforce. Playing the “Because I’m
the boss” card is out. Even if it
weren’t demeaning and demoraliz-
ing for all concerned, it would be
out of place in a world where
cross-functional teams, joint ven-
tures, and intercompany part-
nerships have blurred the lines
of authority. In such an en-
vironment, persuasion skills
exert far greater influence
over others’ behavior than
formal power structures do.
72 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Jo leader can succeed without mastering the art of persuasion.
But there’s hard science in that skill, too, and a large body
3f psychological research suggests there are six basic laws of
rinning friends and influencing people.
OCTOBFR 2001
H a r n e s s i n g t h e S c i e n c e o f P e r s u a s i o n
Which brings us back to where we started. Persuasion
skills may be more necessary than ever, but how can ex-
ecutives acquire them if the most talented practitioners
can’t pass them along? By looking to science. For the past
five decades, behavioral scientists have conducted exper-
iments that shed considerable light on the way certain
interactions lead people to concede, comply, or change.
This research shows that persuasion works by appealing
to a limited set of deeply rooted human drives and needs,
and it does so in predictable ways. Persuasion, in other
words, is governed by basic principles that can be taught,
learned, and applied. By mastering these principles, exec-
utives can bring scientific rigor to the business of securing
consensus, cutting deals, and winning concessions. In the
pages that follow, 1 describe six fundamental principles of
persuasion and suggest a few ways that executives can
apply them in their own organizations.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Liking:
People like those who like them.
THE APPLICATION:
Uncover real similarities and offer
genuine praise.
The retailing phenomenon known as the Tupperware
party is a vivid illustration of this principle in action.
The demonstration party for Tupperware products is
hosted by an individual, almost always a woman, who in-
vites to her home an array of friends, neighbors, and rel-
atives. The guests’ affection for their hostess predisposes
them to buy from her, a dynamic that was confirmed by
a 1990 study of purchase decisions made at demonstra-
tion parties. The researchers, Jonathan Frenzen and
Harry Davis, writing in the Journal of Consumer Research,
found that the guests’ fondness for their hostess weighed
twice as heavily in their purchase decisions as their re-
gard for the products they bought. So when guests at a
Tupperware party buy something, they aren’t just buy-
ing to please themselves. They’re buying to please their
hostess as well.
What’s true at Tupperware parties is true for business
in general: If you want to influence people, win friends.
How? Controlled research has identified several factors
that reliably increase liking, but two stand out as espe-
Robert B. Cialdini is the Regents’ Professor of Psychology
at Arizona State University and the author of Influence:
Science and Practice (Allyn & Bacon, 2001), now in its fourth
edition. Further regularly updated information about the in-
fluence process can be found at www.influenceatwork.com.
cially compelling-similarity and praise. Similarity liter-
ally draws people together. In one experiment, reported
in a 1968 article in the Journal of Personality, participants
stood physically closer to one another after learning that
they shared political beliefs and social values. And in a
1963 article in American Behavioral Scientists, researcher
F. B. Evans used demographic data from insurance com-
pany records to demonstrate that prospects were more
willing to purchase a policy from a salesperson who was
akin to them in age, religion, politics, or even cigarette-
smoking habits.
Managers can use similarities to create bonds with a re-
cent hire, the head of another department, or even a new
boss. Informal conversations during the workday create
an ideal opportunity to discover at least one common
area of enjoyment, be it a hobby, a college basketball
team, or reruns of Seinfeld. The important thing is to es-
tablish the bond early because it creates a presumption
of goodwill and trustworthiness in every subsequent
encounter. It’s much easier to build support for a new
project when the people you’re trying to persuade are al-
ready inclined in your favor.
Praise, tbe other reliable generator of affection, both
charms and disarms. Sometimes the praise doesn’t even
have to be merited. Researchers at the University of
North Carolina writing in the Journal of Experimental So-
cial Psychology found that men felt the greatest regard for
an individual who flattered them unstintingly even if the
comments were untrue. And in their book Interpersonal
Attraction (Addison-Wesley, 1978), Ellen Berscheid and
Elaine Hatfieid Walster presented experimental data
showing that positive remarks about another person’s
traits, attitude, or performance reliably generates liking in
retum, as well as willing compliance with the wishes of
the person offering the praise.
Along with cultivating a fruitful relationship, adroit
managers can also use praise to repair one that’s damaged
or unproductive. Imagine you’re the manager of a good-
sized unit within your organization. Your work frequently
brings you into contact with another manager-call him
Dan – whom you have come to dislike. No matter bow
much you do for him, it’s not enough. Worse, he never
seems to believe that you’re doing the best you can for
him. Resenting his attitude and his obvious lack of trust
in your abilities and in your good faith, you don’t spend
as much time with him as you know you should; in con-
sequence, the performance of both his unit and yours is
deteriorating.
The research on praise points toward a strategy for fix-
ing the relationship. It may be hard to find, but there has
to be something about Dan you can sincerely admire,
whether it’s his concern for the people in his department,
his devotion to his family, or simply his work ethic. In
your next encounter with him, make an appreciative
comment about that trait. Make it clear that in this case
74 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
at least, you value what tie values. I predict that Dan will
relax his relentless negativity and give you an opening to
convince him of your competence and good intentions.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Reciprocity:
People repay in kind.
THE APPLICATION:
Give what you want to receive.
Praise is likely to have a wanning and softening effect on
Dan because, ornery as he is, he is still human and subject
to the universal human tendency to treat people the way
they treat him. If you have ever caught yourself smiling at
a coworker just because he or she smiled first, you know
how this principle works.
Charities rely on reciprocity to help them raise funds.
For years, for instance, the Disabled American Veterans
organization, using only a well-crafted fund-raising letter,
garnered a very respectable 18% rate of response to its ap-
peals. But when the group started enclosing a small gift in
the envelope, the response rate nearly doubled to 35%.
The gift – personalized address labels – was extremely
modest, but it wasn’t what prospective donors received
that made the difference. It was that they had gotten any-
thing at all.
What works in that letter works at the office, too. It’s
more than an effusion of seasonal spirit, of course, that
impels suppliers to shower gifts on purchasing depart-
ments at holiday time. In 1996, purchasing managers ad-
mitted to an interviewer from Inc. magazine that after
having accepted a gift from a supplier, they were willing
to purchase products and services they would have oth-
erwise declined. Gifts also have a startling effect on re-
tention. I have encouraged readers of my book to send me
examples of the principles of influence at work in their
own lives. One reader, an employee of the State of Ore-
gon, sent a letter in which she oftered these reasons for
her commitment to her supervisor:
He gives me and my son gifts for Christmas and gives
me presents on my birthday. There is no promotion for
the type of job I have, and my only choice for one is to
move to another department. But I find myself resist-
ing trying to move. My boss is reaching retirement age,
and I am thinking 1 will be able to move out after he re-
tires….[F]or now, I feel obligated to stay since he has
been so nice to me.
Ultimately, though, gift giving is one of the cruder
applications of the rule of reciprocity. In its more sophis-
ticated uses, it confers a genuine first-mover advantage
on any manager who is trying to foster positive attitudes
and productive persona! relationships in the office:
Managers can elicit the desired behavior from cowork-
ers and employees by displaying it first Whether it’s a
sense of trust, a spirit of ctwperation, or a pleasant de-
meanor, leaders should model the behavior they want to
see from others.
The same holds true for managers faced with issues of
information delivery and resource allocation. If you lend
a member of your staff to a colleague who is shorthanded
and staring at a fast-approaching deadline, you will sig-
nificantly increase your chances of gefting help when you
need it. Your odds wil! improve even more if you say,
when your colleague thanks you for the assistance, some-
thing like, “Sure, glad to help. I know how important it is
for me to count on your help when I need it.”
THE PRINCIPLE OF I
Social Proof:
People follow the lead of similar others. ,
THE APPLICATION:
Use peer power whenever it’s available.
Social creatures that they are, human beings rely heav-
ily on the people around them for cues on how to think,
feel, and act. We know this intuitively, but intuition has
also been confirmed by experiments, such as the one first
described in 1982 in the Journal of Applied Psychology. A
group of researchers went door-to-door in Columbia,
South Carolina, soliciting donations for a charity cam-
paign and displaying a list of neighborhood residents who
had already donated to the cause. The researchers found
that the longer the donor list was, the more likely those
solicited would be to donate as well.
To the people being solicited, the friends’ and neigh-
bors’ names on the list were a form of socia! evidence
about how they should respond. But the evidence would
not have been nearly as compelling had the names been
those of random strangers. In an experiment from the
1960s, first described in the Journal of Personality and 50-
ciat Psychology, residents of New York City were asked to
retum a lost wallet to its owner. They were highly likely
to aftempt to return the waUet when they !earned that an-
other New Yorker had previous!y aftempted to do so. But
!eaming that someone from a foreign country had tried
to retum the wallet didn’t sway their decision one way or
the other.
The lesson for executives ftom these two experiments
is that persuasion can be extremely effective when it
comes from peers. The science supports what most sales
professionals already know: Testimonials from satis-
fied customers work best when the satisfied customer
OCTOBER 2001 75
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
and the prospective customer share similar circum-
stances. That lesson can help a manager faced with the
task of selling a new corporate initiative. Imagine that
you’re trying to streamline your department’s work
processes. A group of veteran employees is resisting.
Rather than try to convince the employees of the move’s
merits yourself, ask an old-timer who supports the initia-
tive to speak up for it at a team meeting. The compatriot’s
testimony stands a much better chance of convincing the
group than yet another speech from the boss. Stated sim-
ply, influence is often best exerted horizontally rather
than vertically.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Consistency:
People align with their clear commitments.
THE APPLICATION:
Make their commitments active,
public, and voluntary.
Liking is a powerful force, but the work of persuasion in-
volves more than simply making people feel warmly to-
ward you, your idea, or your product. People need not
only to like you but to feel committed to what you want
them to do. Good turns are one reliable way to make peo-
ple feel obligated to you. Another is to win a public com-
mitment from them.
My own research has demonstrated that most people,
once they take a stand or go on record in favor of a posi-
tion, prefer to stick to it. Other studies reinforce that find-
ing and go on to show how even a small, seemingly triv-
ial commitment can have a powerful effect on future
actions. Israeli researchers writing in 1983 in the Person-
ality and Social Psychology Bulletin recounted how they
asked half the residents of a large apartment complex to
sign a petition favoring the establishment of a recreation
center for the handicapped. The cause was good and the
request was small, so almost everyone who was asked
agreed to sign. T\vo weeks later, on National Collection
Day for the Handicapped, all residents of the complex
were approached at home and asked to give to the cause.
A little more than half of those who were not asked to
sign the petition made a contribution. But an astounding
92% of those who did sign donated money. The residents
of the apartment complex felt obligated to live up to their
commitments because those commitments were active,
public, and voluntary. These three features are worth con-
sidering separately.
There’s strong empirical evidence to show that a choice
made actively – one that’s spoken out loud or written
down or otherwise made explicit – is considerably more
likely to direct someone’s future conduct than the same
choice left unspoken. Writing in 1996 in the Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, Delia Cioffi and Randy Gar-
ner described an experiment in which college students in
one group were asked to fill out a printed form saying
they wished to volunteer for an AIDS education project
in the public schools. Students in another group volun-
teered for the same project by leaving blank a form stat-
ing that they didn’t want to participate. A few days later,
when the volunteers reported for duty, 74% of those who
showed up were students from the group that signaled
their commitment by filling out the form.
The implications are clear for a manager who wants to
persuade a subordinate to follow some particular course
of action: Get it in writing. Let’s suppose you want your
employee to submit reports in a more timely fashion.
Once you believe you’ve won agreement, ask him to sum-
marize the decision in a memo and send it to you. By
doing so, you’ll have greatly increased the odds that he’ll
fulfill the commitment because, as a rule, people live up
to what they have written down.
Research into the social dimensions of commitment
suggests that written statements become even more pow-
erful when they’re made public. In a classic experiment,
described in 1955 in the Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, college students were asked to estimate the
length of lines projected on a screen. Some students were
asked to write down their choices on a piece of paper, sign
it, and hand the paper to the experimenter. Others wrote
their choices on an erasable slate, then erased the slate im-
mediately. Still others were instructed to keep their deci-
sions to themselves.
The experimenters then presented all three groups
with evidence that their initial choices may have been
wrong. Those who had merely kept their decisions in their
heads were the most likely to reconsider their original es-
timates. More loyal to their first guesses were the students
in the group that had written them down and immedi-
ately erased them. But by a wide margin, the ones most re-
luctant to shift from their original choices were those who
had signed and handed them to the researcher.
This experiment highlights how much most people
wish to appear consistent to others. Consider again the
matter of the employee who has been submitting late re-
ports. Recognizing the power of this desire, you should,
once you’ve successfully convinced him of the need to be
more timely, reinforce the commitment by making sure it
gets a public airing. One way to do that would be to send
the employee an e-mail that reads, “1 think your plan is
just what we need. I showed it to Diane in manufacturing
and Phil in shipping, and they thought it was right on tar-
get, too.” Whatever way such commitments are formal-
ized, they should never be like the New Year’s resolutions
people privately make and then abandon with no one the
wiser. They should be publicly made and visibly posted.
76 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
More than 300 years ago, Samuel Butler wrote a cou-
plet that explains succinctly why commitments must be
voluntary to be lasting and effective: “He that complies
against his will/Is of his own opinion still.” If an undertak-
ing is forced, coerced, or imposed from the outside, it’s not
a commitment; it’s an unwelcome burden. Think how you
would react if your boss pressured you to donate to the
campaign of a political candidate. Would that make you
more apt to opt for that candidate in the privacy of a vot-
ing booth? Not likely. In fact, in their 1981 book Psycho-
logical Reactance (Academic Press), Sharon S. Brehm and
Jack W. Brehm present data that suggest you’d vote the
opposite way just to express your resentment of the boss’s
coercion.
This kind of backlash can occur in the office, too. Let’s
return again to that tardy employee. If you want to pro-
duce an enduring change in his behavior, you should
avoid using threats or pressure tactics to gain his compli-
ance. He’d likely view any change in his behavior as the
result of intimidation rather than a personal commitment
to change. A better approach would be to identify some-
thing that the employee genuinely values in the work-
place – high-quality workmanship, perhaps, or team
spirit-and then describe how timely reports are consis-
tent with those values. That gives the employee reasons
for improvement that he can own. And because he owns
them, they’ll continue to guide his behavior even when
you’re not watching.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Authority:
People defer to experts.
THE APPLICATION:
Expose your expertise; don’t assume
it’s self-evident
T\vo thousand years ago, the Roman poet Virgil offered
this simple counsel to those seeking to choose correctly:
“Believe an expert.” That may or may not be good advice,
but as a description of what people actually do, it can’t be
beaten. For instance, when the news media present an ac-
knowledged expert’s views on a topic, the effect on pub-
lic opinion is dramatic. A single expert-opinion news story
in the New York Times is associated with a 2% shift in pub-
lic opinion nationwide, according to a 1993 study de-
scribed in the Public Opinion Quarterly. And researchers
writing in the American Political Science Review in 1987
found that when the expert’s view was aired on national
television, public opinion shifted as much as 4%. A cynic
might argue that these findings only illustrate the docile
submissiveness of the public. But a fairer explanation is
that, amid the teeming complexity of contemporary life,
a well-selected expert offers a valuable and efficient short-
cut to good decisions. Indeed, some questions, be they
legal, financial, medical, or technological, require so much
specialized knowledge to answer, we have no choice but
to rely on experts.
Since there’s good reason to defer to experts, execu-
tives should take pains to ensure that they establish their
Surprisingly often, people mistakenly
assume that others recognize and
appreciate their experience.
own expertise before they attempt to exert influence. Sur-
prisingly often, people mistakenly assume that others rec-
ognize and appreciate their experience. That’s what hap-
pened at a hospital where some colleagues and I were
consulting. The physical therapy staffers were frustrated
because so many of their stroke patients abandoned their
exercise routines as soon as they left the hospital. No mat-
ter how often the staff emphasized the importance of
regular home exercise-it is, in fact, crucial to the process
of regaining independent function – the message just
didn’t sink in.
Interviews with some of the patients helped us pin-
point the problem. They were familiar with the back-
ground and training of their physicians, but the patients
knew little about the credentials of the physical therapists
wbo were urging them to exercise. It was a simple matter
to remedy that lack of information: We merely asked the
therapy director to display all the awards, diplomas, and
certifications of her staff on the walls of the therapy
rooms. The result was startling: Exercise compliance
jumped 34% and has never dropped since.
What we found immensely gratifying was not just how
much we increased compliance, but how. We didn’t fool
or browbeat any of the patients. We informed them into
compliance. Nothing had to be invented; no time or re-
sources had to be spent in the process. The staff’s exper-
tise was real -all we had to do was make it more visible.
The task for managers who want to establish their
claims to expertise is somewhat more difficult. They can’t
simply nail their diplomas to the wall and wait for every-
one to notice. A little subtlety is called for. Outside the
United States, it is customary for people to spend time in-
teracting socially before getting down to business for the
first time. Frequently they gather for dinner the night be-
fore their meeting or negotiation. These get-togethers can
OCTOBER 2001 77
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
Persuasion Experts, Safe at Last
Thanks to several decades of rigorous empirical
research by behavioral scientists, our understand-
ing of the how and why of persuasion has never
been broader, deeper, or more detailed. But these
scientists aren’t the first students of the subject.
The history of persuasion studies is an ancient
and honorable one, and it has generated a long
rosterof heroes and martyrs.
A renowned student of social influence,
William McCui re, contends in a chapter of the
Handbook of Social Psychology, 3rd ed. (Oxford
University Press, 1985) that scattered among the
more than four millennia of recorded Western
history are four centuries in which the study of
persuasion flourished as a craft. The first was the
Periclean Age of ancient Athens, the second oc-
curred during the years of the Roman Republic,
the next appeared in the time of the European
Renaissance, and the last extended over the hun-
dred years that have just ended, which witnessed
the advent of large-scale advertising, mformation,
and mass media campaigns. Each of the three
previous centuries of systematic persuasion study
was marked by a flowering of human achieve-
ment that was suddenly cut short when political
authorities had the masters of persuasion killed.
The philosopher Socrates is probably the best
known of the persuasion experts to run afoul of
the powers that be.
Information about the persuasion process is a
threat because it creates a base of power entirely
separate from the one controlled by political au-
thorities. Faced with a rival source of influence,
rulers in previous centuries had few qualms
about eliminating those rare individuals who
truly understood how to marshal forces that
heads of state have never been able to monopo-
lize, such as cleverly crafted language, strategi-
cally placed information, and, most important,
psychological insight.
It would perhaps be expressing too much faith
in human nature to claim that persuasion experts
no longer face a threat from those who wield politi-
cal power. But because the truth about persuasion
is no longer the sole possession of a few brilliant,
inspired individuals, experts in the field can pre-
sumably breathe a littie easier Indeed, since most
people in power are interested in remaining in
power, they’re likely to be more interested in ac-
quiring persuasion skills than abolishing them.
make discussions easier and help blunt disagreements-
remember the findings about liking and similarity – and
they can also provide an opportunity to establish exp)er-
tise. Perhaps it’s a matter of telling an anecdote about
successfully solving a problem similar to the one that’s on
the agenda at the next day’s meeting. Or perhaps dinner
is the time to describe years spent mastering a complex
discipline-not in a boastful way but as part of the ordi-
nary give-and-take of conversation.
Granted, there’s not always time for lengthy introduc-
tory sessions. But even in the course of the preliminary
conversation that precedes most meetings, there is almost
always an opportunity to touch lightly on your relevant
background and experience as a natural part of a sociable
exchange. This initial disclosure of personal information
gives you a chance to establish expertise early in the
game, so that when the discussion turns to the business at
hand, what you have to say will be accorded the respect it
deserves.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Scarcity:
People want more ofwhat they can have less of.
THE APPLICATION:
Highlight unique benefits and
exclusive information.
Study after study shows that items and opportunities are
seen to be more valuable as they become less available.
That’s a tremendously useful piece of information for
managers. They can harness the scarcity principle with
the organizational equivalents of limited-time, limited-
supply, and one-of-a-kind offers. Honestly informing a
coworker of a closing window of opportunity-the chance
to get the boss’s ear before she leaves for an extended va-
cation, perhaps-can mobilize action dramatically.
Managers can learn from retailers how to frame their
offers not in terms of what people stand to gain but in
terms ofwhat they stand to lose if they don’t act on the in-
formation. The power of “loss language” was demon-
strated in a 1988 study of California home owners written
up in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Half were told
that if they fully insulated their homes, they would save
a certain amount of money each day. The other half were
told that if they failed to insulate, they would lose that
amount each day. Significantly more people insulated
their homes when exposed to the loss language. The same
phenomenon occurs in business. According t o a 1994
study in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human
Decision Processes, potential losses figure far more heavily
in managers’ decision making than potential gains.
78 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
In framing their offers, executives should also remem-
ber that exclusive information is more persuasive than
widely available data. A doctoral student of mine, Amram
Knishinsky, wrote his 1982 dissertation on the purchase
decisions of wholesale beef buyers. He observed that they
more than doubled their orders when they were told that,
because of certain weather conditions overseas, there was
likely to be a scarcity of foreign beef in the near future.
But their orders increased 600% when they were in-
formed that no one else had that information yet.
The persuasive power of exclusivity can be harnessed
by any manager who comes into possession of informa-
tion that’s not broadly available and that supports an idea
or initiative he or she would like the organization to
adopt. The next time that kind of information crosses
your desk, round up your organization’s key players. The
information itself may seem dull, but exclusivity will give
it a special sheen. Push it across your desk and say, “I just
got this report today. It won’t be distributed until next
week, but I want to give you an early look at what it
shows.” Then watch your listeners lean forward.
Allow me to stress here a point that should be obvious.
No offer of exclusive information, no exhortation to act
now or miss this opportunity forever should be made un-
less it is genuine. Deceiving colleagues into compliance is
not only ethically objectionable, it’s foolhardy. If the de-
ception is detected-and it certainly will b e – i t will snuff
out any enthusiasm the offer originally kindled. It will
also invite dishonesty toward the deceiver. Remember the
rule of reciprocity.
Putting It All Together
There’s nothing abstruse or obscure about these six prin-
ciples of persuasion. Indeed, they neatly codify our intu-
itive understanding of the ways people evaluate informa-
tion and form decisions. As a result, the principles are
easy for most people to grasp, even those with no formal
education in psychology. But in the seminars and work-
shops I conduct, I have learned that two points bear re-
peated emphasis.
First, although the six principles and their applications
can be discussed separately for the sake of clarity, they
should be applied in combination to compound their im-
pact. For instance, in discussing the importance of ex-
pertise, I suggested that managers use informal, social
conversations to establish their credentials. But that con-
versation affords an opportunity to gain information as
well as convey it. While you’re showing your dinner com-
panion that you have the skills and experience your busi-
ness problem demands, you can also learn about your
companion’s background, likes, and dislikes – informa-
tion that will help you locate genuine similarities and
give sincere compliments. By letting your expertise sur-
face and also establishing rapport, you double your per-
suasive power. And if you succeed in bringing your din-
ner partner on board, you may encourage other peopie
to sign on as well, thanks to the persuasive power of so-
cial evidence.
The other point I wish to emphasize is that the rules
of ethics apply to the science of social influence just as
they do to any other technology. Not only is it ethically
wrong to trick or trap others into assent, it’s ill-advised in
practical terms. Dishonest or high-pressure tactics work
only in the short run, if at all. Their long-term effects are
malignant, especially within an organization, which can’t
function properly without a bedrock level of trust and
cooperation.
That point is made vividly in the following account,
which a department head for a large textile manufacturer
related at a training workshop I conducted. She described
a vice president in her company who wrung public com-
mitments from department heads in a highly manipu-
lative manner. Instead of giving his subordinates time
to talk or think through his proposals carefully, he would
approach them individually at the busiest moment of
their workday and describe the benefits of his plan in
exhaustive, patience-straining detail. Then he would
move in for the kill. “It’s very important for me to see
you as being on my team on this,” he would say. “Can I
count on your support?” Intimidated, frazzled, eager to
chase the man from their offices so they could get back
to work, the department heads would invariably go along
with his request. But because the commitments never
felt voluntary, the department heads never followed
through, and as a result the vice president’s initiatives all
blew up or petered out.
Tliis story had a deep impact on the other participants
in the workshop. Some gulped in shock as they recog-
nized their own manipulative behavior. But what stopped
everyone cold was the expression on the department
head’s face as she recounted the damaging collapse of her
superior’s proposals. She was smiling.
Nothing I could say would more effectively make the
point that the deceptive or coercive use of the principles
of social infiuence is ethically wrong and pragmatically
wrongheaded. Yet the same principles, if applied appro-
priately, can steer decisions correctly. Legitimate exper-
tise, genuine obligations, authentic similarities, real so-
cial proof, exclusive news, and freely made commitments
can produce choices that are likely to benefit both parties.
And any approach that works to everyone’s mutual ben-
efit is good business, don’t you think? Of course, I don’t
want to press you into it, but, if you agree, 1 would love it
if you could just jot me a memo to that effect. ^
Reprint R0109D
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OCTOBER 2001 79
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