Persuasion

Goals

  1. Describe persuasion.
  2. Excel at ethical persuasion.

Persuasion (What)

Persuasion is the process of getting another actor (person or group) to do something or believe something.

Examples of Persuasion

  1. Parenting:

    1. A parent gets their child to go to bed on time.
    2. A child gets their parent to allow them to stay up past bedtime.
    3. A parent causes their child to believe that swimming is a great sport to learn.
    4. A child convinces their parent to stop smoking.

  2. Business

    1. A company gets people to buy their product.
    2. A company gets another firm to partner with them.
    3. A university gets students to enroll.
    4. A company positions themselves so that many people believe that they can be trusted to wisely invest customer money.
    5. The cigarette industry convinces many people to use a product that shortens their life, decreases their health, and costs them a lot of money.

  3. Politics

    1. A group (politicians, influencers, media, church leaders) convinces many people to believe that the US elections are rigged or not rigged.
    2. In the 1960s, a group convinces many people that US involvement in Vietnam is justified or not justified.
    3. Various actors convince many people to believe that global warming is a hoax or not a hoax.

  4. Relationships

    1. A person gets their shy friend to try dancing.
    2. A college student at spring break convinces someone to hook up with them.
    3. One person in a friends group talks the group into trying out a new restaurant.
    4. A clever person in the 9th grade gets a bully to give up their bullying.

  5. A con man gets someone to give them their credit card number.

  6. A political leader gets his country to go to war.

  7. A research group convinces many people to believe that exercise is worthwhile. And this group gets many people to exercise much more than they have been previously.

  8. A company gets many people to want to work for them. As a result, they have an easy time hiring new employees.

  9. A religious leader gets people to donate large amounts of money and gets people to believe that he is a prophet who speaks for God and gets many women in the congregation, including minors, to have sex with him. Here I’m talking about Warren Jeffs who is now in prison.

  10. Politicians get many people to believe that “All men are created equal.” According to the Library of Congress, the phrase “all men” is best interpreted as “all humanity.”

Analysis (Breakdown of Main Ideas)

Process

A process or method is a set of steps for getting a worthwhile result. Can also be called a recipe, a framework, or an algorithm.

Actor

An actor is a person or group. The persuader can be either one. Similarly, the target can be either a person or group.

Persuader

The actor (person or group) who is striving to persuade the target.

Target

The actor that the persuader is attempting to influence.

Persuasion can be ethical or manipulative.

Ethical Persuasion

Ethical persuasion is when the persuader uses skilled reasoning, strives to act in the best interests of their target, and uses methods that are commonly viewed as acceptable.

Manipulative Persuasion

Manipulative persuasion prioritizes the persuader’s goals, often at the expense of the target’s best interests. It may involve deception, pressure, emotional exploitation, or other questionable tactics to achieve compliance.

Rationale

Here are some reasons why excelling at ethical persuasion is worthwhile.

  1. Get others to act in their own best self-interest. For example, doctors, teachers, parents, managers, friends and so forth can be people to do wise things.

  2. Get groups (families, teams, companies, universities, governments, and so on) to make wise decisions.

  3. Build powerful trust-based relationships with others.

  4. Avoid being unduly influenced by manipulative persuasion.

Concerns

  1. There are not many people who excel at ethical persuasion. This makes it harder to learn.

  2. There are many people who excel at manipulative persuasion: con (confidence) men, cult leaders, fraudsters, and so forth. It can be tempting to pick up the unacceptable methods used by these actors.

Ethical Persuasion (How To)

Principles

  1. Law of Human Behavior: People act in their perceived best interests, but their perceptions can be flawed, biased, or incomplete. As a result, they don’t always act objectively, rationally, or ethically.

  2. While being right is essential in ethical persuasion, it does not lead to the results we want. We need to be right and to use effective methods.

  3. Manipulative persuasion is pervasive. Accept this and effectively deal with it.

Framework (How To)

  1. Goal: Figure out what you want your target to believe or do.
    1. Ensure that your conclusions are backed up by high-quality CT (critical thinking).
    2. Ensure that you are acting in the target’s best interests.

2 Design: Select the best methods and figure out the best ways to apply them for your context (surrounding circumstances).

  1. Application: Apply your methods and pay attention to what works and what does not.

  2. Reflective Thinking (RT): Figure out next steps. Figure out how to improve your process of ethical persuasion.

Manipulative Persuasion (Effective Responses)

Principles

  1. Manipulative Persuasion (MP) can offer a conclusion that is in your best interests to accept.

  2. MP can be done without intent or malice; that is, the persuader is unaware that they are manipulating.

  3. The hallmark of MP is high levels of emotion. EP does not need high levels of emotion because it is grounded in evidence and logic and tends to be right.

Framework

  1. Goals: Figure out the persuader’s conclusions: what they want you to do and believe.

  2. Analysis: Carefully analyze these conclusions. If they are in your best interests, accept them.

  3. Best Response. Determine your best response. Examples

    1. Often this is to ignore the conclusion; that is, filter it out.
    2. Sometimes, you might want to kindly and carefully discuss it because the persuader is someone you care about or work with.
    3. Sometimes, you might want to call out the manipulative techniques.
      1. Personal boundaries matter.

  4. Reflective Thinking (RT). Figure out your next steps. Figure out how to improve your skills in dealing with manipulative persuasion.