Persuasion and Propaganda

Persuasion

Six Persuasion Principles

  1. Authority

    • People defer to credible experts

      • Application: Establish your expertise; identify problems you have solved and people you have served

  2. Liking

    • People respond more affirmatively to those they like

      • Application: Create bonds based on similar interests, praise freely.

  3. Social Proof

    • People allow the example of others to validate how to think, feel, and act.

      • Application: Use “peer power” - have respected others lead the way.

  4. Reciprocity

    • People feel obliged to repay in kind what they’ve received

      • Application: Be generous with your time and resources. What goes around, comes around.

  5. Consistency

    • People tend to honor their public commitments

      • Application: Have others write or voice their intentions. Don’t say “please do this by…” Instead, elicit a “yes” by asking.

  6. Scarcity

    • People prize what’s scarce

      • Application: Highlight genuinely exclusive information or opportunities.

Two Routes to Persuasion

  • Elaboration Likelihood Model

    • Two routes to attitude change

      • Central route - the individual pays close attention to the quality of the arguments when they have the motivation and ability

        • Most likely to occur when:

          • People find the message personally relevant and involving

          • People are high in the need for cognition

          • The communicator speaks at a normal speed (not too fast)

      • Peripheral route - focusing on some factor other than quality, such as the number of arguments or the attractiveness of the communicator

        • Most likely to occur when:

          • People find the message irrelevant and non-involving

          • People are low in the need for cognition

          • The communicator speaks rapidly

  • Reason vs. Emotion

    • Central plays off reason; peripheral plays off emotion

    • Central is more analytical; peripheral is less analytical

    • Thoughtful, involved audiences are more responsive to reasoned arguments and the central route

    • Uninterested audiences more often travel the peripheral route

The Effect of Fear on Persuasion

  • Moderate levels of fear can be very persuasive

    • Must tell how to avoid the fear

What is Propaganda?

  • Propaganda - an act of persuasion that systematically spreads biased information that is designed to support or oppose a person, product, cause, or organization

    • Often use emotional appeals

    • Propaganda - biased, or not factually based information

Irrelevant Arguments

Fallacies

  • Personal attack: using abusive remarks in place of evidence for a point or argument.

    • Also known as an ad hominem attack.

  • Straw Man Fallacy: Misrepresents someone’s argument to make it easier to dismiss

    • Distorts, misrepresents, or falsifies an opponent’s position. Attention is shifted away from a strong argument to a weaker one

  • Name-calling uses negative labels for a product, idea, or cause. The labels use emotionally loaded words and use details that cannot be verified.

  • Testimonials are irrelevant personal opinions to support a product, idea, or cause. Often, a celebrity is used as a spokesperson.

  • Bandwagon uses or suggests the irrelevant detail that “everyone is doing it.” Therefore, you should do it too!

  • Plain folks use irrelevant details to build trust based on commonly shared values. An image is put forth to which everyday people can more easily relate.

  • Either-or assumes only two sides to an issue exist.

    • Also known as the black-and-white fallacy, it offers a false dilemma because more than two options are usually available.

  • False comparison assumes that two things are similar when they are not. This is also known as a false analogy.

  • False cause, or Post Hoc ergo Propter Hoc, assumes that because events occurred around the same time, they have a cause-and-effect relationship.

  • Burden of Proof: Someone makes a claim that requires evidence, then shifts the burden of proof onto another to prove it wrong

Resisting Persuasion

  • Attitude Inoculation

    • exposed to weak arguments

    • A person generates counterarguments

    • increases resistance (builds defenses)

  • Forewarning

    • Sneak attacks are persuasive

    • But people who know a persuasive attack is coming are more resistant

  • Increase Cognitive Energy

    • Sleep deprivation and use of distracting music may increase susceptibility to persuasion