that the individual invokes.
15.There is a „sleeper effect“ in communications received from sources that the
listener regards as having low credibility. In some tests, time has tended to wash
out the distrusted source and leaves information behind.
If we sum up all above mentioned principles together, we can present four guiding principles:
Identification Principle
Most people will ignore an idea, an opinion or a point of view unless they see clearly that it effects their personal fears or desires hopes or aspirations.
Action Principle
People seldom buy ideas separated from action – either action taken or about to be taken by sponsor of the idea or action that the people themselves can conveniently take to prove the merit idea.
Familiarity and Trust Principle
People buy ideas only from those they trust, they are influenced by or adopt, only those opinions or points of view put forward by individuals or corporations or institutions that they regard as credible.
Clarity Principle
The situation must be clear to the people, not confusing. The thing they observe, read, see or hear, the thing that produces their impressions, must be clear not subject to several interpretations. This means, when we communicate, we must employ words, symbols or stereotypes that the receiver comprehends and responds to.
PERSUASION TECHNIQUES
With the consideration of these main principles of persuasion, the persuasion activist must define his audience by great precision and he must use different strategies and techniques to accomplish his different goals of persuading others. The persuasion communicator must vary his communications strategy in accordance with the intensity of concern with an issue felt by his audience.
For example the following techniques may reduce the discrepancy between the communicator's position and the audience's attitudes:
Using most closely identified message with the audience's position.
Using communications source that enjoys high credibility for the audience.
Playing down the differences between the persuader and the audience's attitudes.
Seeking identification in vocabulary and anecdote with the audience.
Establishing the communicator's position as being the majority opinion – defining the majority from the audience itself.
Bringing the audience's group identifications into play – when those identifications will help the development a positive response.
Modifying the message to fit the organizations needs.
REQUIREMENTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL PERSUASION
Getting people to adopt ideas requires more than a bare presentation of facts. It requires interpretation of the facts in terms of the self-interest of those people. Successful persuasion mostly depends on several ingredients. Some of these ingredients are:
Source: Credibility of source is a necessity. To attain credibility, there must be
complete and absolute honesty. Recipients of a message is biased in its
own interest.
Idea: The idea must be related to the hopes, fears, problems, values and
attitudes of the receivers. In other words, it must appeal to their self
interest.
Meaning: The meaning of the message must be clear there must be no possibility
of misunderstanding. This requires careful checking of every phrase to
be sure that it will be understood by the receiver. This necessitates a
thorough understanding of the language used by the receivers.
Penetration: The message must get through. It must be repeated often enough to
guarantee a solid impression. The more pervasive the idea, the better
chance it has of reception. The person who receives the same basic
message time after time – possibly in slightly different terms but always
bearing the same idea – is more likely to get the idea than if he hears
the message only once.
Proposed Action: There must be a recommendation for action and the action must be
possible. Generalities will not work.
Growth in the importance and power of public opinions has resulted in a commensurate growth of efforts to influence it, mainly through the arts of persuasion spheres. Basically, there are four means of getting people to do what we want them to do: Purchase, patronage, pressure and persuasion. If a lady wants a hairstyling, she pays for the service. That is purchased. If a prime minister needs a legislator's vote on a crucial bill, he agrees to appoint the legislator friend to a state post. That is patronage. If a taxpayer fails to file his income tax return, the taxpayer is penalized. That is pressure. If Toyota company mounts a nationwide advertising campaign to encourage the public to buy more Toyota cars and thus increase the sale of Toyota car. That is persuasion.
Persuasion, primarily as a communication process, is an effort to convey information in such a way as to get people to revise old pictures in their heads or form new ones and thus change their behaviour. The basic objective of most programs is either to change or neutralize hostile opinions, to crystallize unformed or latent opinions or to conserve favourable opinions by making reinforcing them. (Ross R. Understanding Persuasion; Englewood Cliffs 1990)
Persuasion has been a major research topic in the social and behavioural sciences during recent years. This research has been directed toward testing old insights accumulated over many centuries of theorizing about the persuasion process and also has revealed new relationships. The number of investigations show no sign of diminishing and it is likely that coming decades will show similar progress. Since manipulation of attitudes and behaviour is obviously the autonomy of the individual it is fortunate that study continues to be devoted to ways of producing resistance as well as compliance to persuasive communication.
We have briefly described persuasion, its definition and evolution, its principles and techniques.
In the next chapters of part I we discuss and describe the main spheres of persuasion such as advertising, public relations and propaganda.
In next chapter we will take the most important and the most expensive and the most controversial sphere of persuasion advertising
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