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PART I: FOUNDATIONS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PERSUASION
Chapter objectives
This chapter introduces students to persuasion and the study of attitude change. It discusses the
significant role persuasion plays in everyday life ranging from advertising to politics and other
areas. The chapter explains the term persuasion, discusses historic and contemporary
approaches to its study, and raises ethical implications related to persuasive practices.
Terms and issues to know
Attitude shaping, reinforcing, and changing
Coercion
Cult
Deontological ethics
Dual approaches
Ethics of persuasion
Ethos
Experiments and surveys
Logos
Manipulation
Pathos
Persuasion
Propaganda
Rhetoric
Social influence
Social science approach to persuasion
Sophists, Plato, and Aristotle
Theory
Utilitarian ethics
Chapter outline
I. What is persuasion?
A. Just about anything that involves molding or shaping attitudes
B. Can be positive or negative
C. Is the study of attitudes and how to change them
II. Who uses persuasion?
A. Social activists
B. Consumer advocates
C. Health communicators
III. Persuasion – Constancies and Change
A. Persuasion is not new
B. Historical example – traveling educators (Sophists), Niccolo Machiavelli
C. 1820 first crusade to change health behavior, concerns about binge drinking, etc.
IV. Contemporary persuasion differs from past
A. Number of persuasive communications has grown exponentially
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2. Global connection e.g. Tibetans asking about how Michael Jordan is doing
B. Persuasive messages travel faster than ever before
2. 2008 presidential elections, Obama used text messages to announce vice
presidential choice
C. Persuasion has become institutionalized
D. Persuasive communication has become more subtle and devious
1. Salespeople use flattery, empathy, nonverbal communication, and likeability appeals
3. Government produced news provides positive spin on national events
E. Persuasive communication is more complex and impersonal
1. Long ago persuaders knew their clients
2. US now more culturally and racially diverse
4. Some technology allows for message modification which could make persuasive
message take on meaning unintended by original communicator
V. Foundations of Persuasion
A.
else
B. Requires that
mind about something
C. Animals and infants do not persuade because not consciously aware of persuasions
VI. Defining persuasion
A. Scholar defined persuasion different ways
B. According to communication scholars persuasion is:
1. Communication process in which the communicator seeks to elicit a desired
response from his receiver (Andersen, 1971, p.6)
2. A conscious attempt by one individual to change the attitudes, beliefs, or behavior of
3. Symbolic activity whose purpose is to effect the internalization or voluntary
4.
communication in a circumstance in which the persuadee has some measure of
C. Perloff (author of the text) defines persuasion as a symbolic process in which
communicators try to convince other people to change their attitudes or behaviors
regarding an issue through the transmission of a message in an atmosphere of free
choice. There are five components of the definition:
2. Persuasion involves an attempt to influence (conscious attempt to influence)
4. Persuasion involves the transmission of a message
5. Persuasion requires free choice
VII. Persuasion Versus Coercion
A. Persuasion deals with reason and verbal appeals
B. Coercion employs force
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C. One view is that it is only coercion if individuals perceive that they have no choice but to
comply
D. Sometimes difficult to differentiate persuasion and coercion, blurry lines, overlapping
concepts
E. Coercion occurs when the influence agent
2. Attempts to induce the individual to act contrary to her preferences
4. Persuasion occurs in an atmosphere of free choice
a. Assumes individual is capable of resisting an influence attempt (or)
b. Willingly persuaded herself to change her mind about an issue
VIII. Propaganda and Manipulation
A. Propaganda is covert and refers to instances in which a group has total control over the
transmission of information
B. Subjectively propaganda refers to a persuasive communication with which one disagrees
and to which the individual attributes hostile intent
C. Manipulation is a persuasion technique that occurs when a communicator disguises his
IX. Understanding Persuasive Communication Effects
A. Different kinds of persuasive communications have different types of effects
B. Three different persuasive effects – shaping, reinforcing, changing responses
X. Historical Review of Persuasion Scholarship
A. Persuasion has distinguished history
B. Rhetoric (the art of public persuasion)
C. Sophists, teachers of rhetoric, Greek word sophos for knowledge
D. Plato, ancient Greek philosopher, believed truth was supreme value
E. Dual approaches to persuasion – platonic thinking and cogent arguments along with
elements of style, oratory, persuasive appeals
F. Aristotle – fourth century BC
1. Known for his rhetoric (most significant work on persuasion)
3. Argumentation and role of style in persuasion
4. Ethos (the nature of the communicator), pathos (emotional state of the audience),
and logos (message arguments)
G. Cicero and Quintilian wrote treatises on the art of oratory
H. United States rhetorical works – e.g. Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address
XI. Origins of the Social Scientific Approach
A. Social scientific studies of persuasion began 1930s with research on attitudes (Allport,
1935)
B. United States War Department commissioned group of researchers to explore the effects
of a series of documentary films
1. Obtained evidence communication influenced attitudes (Hovland, Lumsdaine, &
Sheffield, 1949)
C. Carl Hovland conducted series of experiments on persuasive communication effects
2. Used scientific method to test their hypotheses
D. Some persuasion pioneers: psychologists William J. McGuire, Milton Rokeach, and
XII. Contemporary Study of Persuasion
A. Social science point of view
XIII. Persuasion and Ethics
A. Is persuasion ethical?
B. Persuasion can be used for good or bad purposes, with ethical and unethical intentions
F. Existentialism – emphasizes freedom and responsibility
XIV. Conclusions
A. Persuasion is a ubiquitous part of contemporary life
B. Persuasion is an ancient art
C. Persuasion is defined as a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince
other people to change their attitudes or behavior regarding an issue through the
transmission of a message, in an atmosphere of free choice
Discussion points/ projects/ exercises
1. We know persuasion can be used to shape, reinforce, and/or change attitudes. Think of
an example for each.
2. The chapter discusses the differences between persuasion and coercion. Admittedly
3. How does contemporary persuasion differ from the past?