Persuasion: Who, What, & to Whom - Essay Example

?Persuasion: Who, What, & to Whom An effective persuader possesses positive and desirable traits. One of these traits is perceived expertise. If the communicator really knows what they are talking about or even seems to know what they are talking about, they will be far more likely to persuade the audience. Also, if the communicator is authoritative in their speaking as opposed to hesitant and unsure, they will typically not be as persuasive as someone who speaks authoritatively. The trustworthiness of the communicator also plays an important role in persuasive communication. A person who is perceived as always telling the truth is much more credible than a person who seems to lie or shy away from telling the truth. This credibility is important in persuasion because it is associated with a person’s character and, according to Aristotle, the character of the speaker is the most important factor in persuading others. Another thing that an effective persuader does is they build a connection before sharing the actual persuasive message. An effective way to accomplish this connection is to show that you are similar to your audience. The more a person feels that they are similar to the communicator, the more likely they are to be persuaded by them. A person’s physical attractiveness is also related to how persuasive they are. If the audience sees the communicator as attractive, the odds that they will be persuaded by them increase dramatically. So people who are good looking have an inherent advantage over those who are not good looking when it comes to persuasion. It is also interesting that physically attractive people are more likely to get better grades, be hired for jobs, and make more money when they are hired for jobs. One psychological explanation for this is that for whatever reason, people tend to consciously and subconsciously infer that an attractive person is more trustworthy and credible. An attractive communicator is also viewed as more likeable. Likeability is another important factor in persuasive communication. Of course, other things besides looks influence likeability. Those who are perceived as generous, appreciative, sincere, friendly, cheerful, and optimistic are generally more likeable than those who are not. People are persuaded by all these characteristics because they are desirable and ideal. If we see someone that we desire to be like we are definitely more likely to be persuaded by them. Nobody wants to feel unattractive, uncredible, or to be thought of negatively. That is why when people perceive these negative traits they are more likely to be unaffected by what the speaker has to say. Looking at effective persuasive messages in and of themselves, we can observe that messages that appeal to logic and reason are often more effective than messages that do not contain such appeals. Additionally, messages that use data from outside sources have also been found to be more persuasive than those in which all the data originates from the speaker. Emotional appeals can also be persuasive. Arousing fear or guilt, for example, can often persuade a person to buy a product or support a “worthy” cause. The fear approach often works when it arouses in the audience the desire to avoid negative consequences, while the guilt approach works by pointing out a mistake that the audience is responsible for and then showing them how to atone for that mistake. How the message is framed also influences how a person reacts to it. This includes things like changing the context of the message or tailoring it to a specific audience, for example. Framing goes along with the old saying of “it’s not what you say but how you say it.” Effective framing works because it focuses on how the message is presented and often works at a subconscious level. Lastly, narratives can also be very persuasive because they are more likely to capture and hold a person’s attention. Also, the sleeper effect shows that, over time, the content of the message becomes more important than the expertise or credibility of the person who gave the message. This shows that the content of the message is significant in persuading an audience to make lasting changes. In addition to who is giving the message and the content of the message, the characteristics of the audience are also very important. Because people are different from one another they perceive messages in different ways. Also, even when a certain group of people agree on an issue they often disagree on the specifics of that issue. The culture of the receiver is a major factor in determining whether they will be persuaded by the communicator. Many cultures, for example, view male speakers as more credible than female speakers and are therefore more likely to be persuaded by male speakers. Ideas of things like attractiveness, religion, politics, and proper communication also differ across cultures. So an effective persuader needs to know about the culture of the audience and tailor the message to that audience. Audience gender is also important to consider, although it has recently been found to be less of a factor in persuasion than was traditionally thought. But the fact that women have different shopping habits than men, for example, shows that they are persuaded differently than men in certain circumstances. Another important factor in persuasion is self-esteem. In general, audiences with low self-esteem are easier to persuade than audiences with high self-esteem. The elaboration likelihood model explains that the audience will either take a direct approach to being persuaded or an indirect approach to being persuaded. Those who take the direct approach are able and motivated to do so while those receivers who take the indirect approach are influenced more by the speaker’s characteristics. Therefore, we can observe that for those who take the direct approach the message is more important, while for those who take the indirect approach the characteristics of the speaker are more important. In traditional persuasive communication, the expertise of the communicator is important. This characteristic also holds true in e-word of mouth persuasion, where the expertise of the reviewer is often important to the receiver as well. We can also observe how people relate expertise to credibility in an internet setting just as they do in traditional settings. Perceived similarity between the communicator and the receiver is important in e-word of mouth as well. When a person looks at reviews of a product, for example, the people reviewing that product are perceived as similar to that person because they were also interested in that product as well and went through the same buyer process. Also, like in a traditional setting, the actual message is important in persuasion. Just like if the message of the speaker is positive, if the message of the reviewers are positive then they are more likely to persuade the audience. However, people will also be suspicious if the message is too positive just like they would in a traditional setting. Additionally, the sleeper effect is probably more prominent in e-word of mouth persuasion because we can’t visually see who is giving the message. The audience is definitely important as well in e-word of mouth persuasion. For instance, the article points out that the Chinese seek more information but less information provision than Americans do when it comes to e-word of mouth. So we can see that the culture and characteristics of the audience also play a large role in e-word of mouth just as they do in traditional forms of persuasive communication. References Feenstra, J. (2011). Introduction to social psychology. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Read More