There is no single key to a successful persuasive speech. Some people take longer than others to be persuaded, and some respond to different persuasion techniques. Therefore, persuasive speakers should be cognizant of audience characteristics to customize the pitch.
1a. Weapons of Influence
The psychology of persuasion is best exemplified by two theories that try to explain how people are influenced. Robert Cialdini, in his book Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion, defined six “weapons of influence,” which are outlined in the following graphic.
The six weapons of influence were developed by Robert Cialdini.
Reciprocity: With reciprocity, people tend to return a favor. In Cialdini's conferences, he often uses the example of Ethiopia providing thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid to Mexico just after the 1985 earthquake, despite Ethiopia suffering from a crippling famine and civil war at the time. Ethiopia had been reciprocating for the diplomatic support Mexico provided when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1937.
Commitment and consistency: Once people commit to what they think is right, they are more likely to honor that commitment even if the original motivation is subsequently removed. For example, in car sales, suddenly raising the price at the last moment works because buyers have already decided to buy.
Social proof: People will do things they see other people are doing, also known as social proof. In one experiment, if one or more people looked up into the sky, bystanders would then look up to see what they could see. This experiment was aborted, as so many people looked up that they stopped traffic.
Authority: People will tend to obey authority figures, even if they are asked to perform objectionable acts. Cialdini cites incidents like the Milgram experiments in the early 1960s and the My Lai massacre in 1968.
Liking: People are easily persuaded by other people whom they like. Cialdini cites the marketing of Tupperware, wherein people were more likely to buy from others they liked. Some of the biases favoring more attractive people are discussed, but generally, more aesthetically pleasing people tend to use this influence over others.
Scarcity: Perceived scarcity will generate demand. For example, saying that offers are available for a "limited time only" encourages sales.
terms to know
Reciprocity
The responses of individuals to the actions of others.
Social Proof
People tend to do things that they see others are doing.
1b. Relationship-Based Persuasion
The second theory is called relationship-based persuasion. The overall theory is that persuasion is the art of winning over others.
Relationship-based persuasion was developed by Richard Shell and Mario Moussa.
Survey your situation: This step includes an analysis of the persuader's situation, goals, and challenges.
Confront the five barriers: Five obstacles pose the greatest risks to a successful influence encounter—relationships, credibility, communication mismatches, belief systems, and interest and needs.
Make your pitch: People need a solid reason to justify a decision, yet at the same time, many decisions are made on the basis of intuition. This step also deals with presentation skills.
Secure your commitments: In order to safeguard the longtime success of a persuasive decision, it is vital to deal with politics at both the individual and organizational levels.
2. The Ethics of Persuasion
Not all persuasion is ethical. Persuasion is widely considered unethical if it is for the purpose of personal gain at the expense of others or for personal gain without the knowledge of the audience.
Furthermore, some methods of persuasion are wholly written off as unethical.
EXAMPLE
Coercion, brainwashing, and torture are never considered ethical.
Barring any of the persuasive methods that are easily distinguished as unethical (such as torture), the line between ethical and unethical persuasion is less clearly demarcated. Ethical persuasion has a series of common characteristics that are missing in unethical persuasion.
Ethical persuasion seeks to achieve the following three goals:
Explore the other person's viewpoint.
Explain your viewpoint.
Create resolutions.
Notably, this approach involves input from the audience and an honest explanation of your viewpoint. If you have questions about the ethics of a persuasive attempt, there are a number of tests that can be done.
term to know
Coercion
Use of physical or moral force to compel a person to do something or to abstain from doing something, thereby depriving that person of the exercise of free will.
2a. TARES Test
Sherry Baker and David Martinson proposed a five-part TARES test to help guide the public relations practitioner to define ethical persuasion.
According to the TARES test, ethical persuasive speech must have all of the following components:
Truthfulness of the message
Authenticity of the persuader
Respect for the audience
Equity of the persuasive appeal
Social responsibility
2b. Fitzpatrick and Gauthier Test
Fitzpatrick and Gauthier developed a series of questions that must be honestly answered to determine how ethical a pitch is.
This test includes the following considerations:
For what purpose is persuasion being employed?
Toward what choices and with what consequences for individual lives is persuasion being used?
Does the persuasion in this case contribute to or interfere with the decision-making process for its target audience?
summary
In this lesson, you learned that each person is unique, so there is no single psychological key to persuasion. Cialdini proposed six persuasive psychological techniques, or weapons of influence: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity. The relationship-based persuasion technique has four steps: Survey the situation, confront the five barriers to a successful influence encounter, make the pitch, and secure the commitments.
Some types of persuasion, such as torture, coercion, and brainwashing, are always unethical. Ethical persuasion has three components: the exploration of the other person's viewpoint, the explanation of your viewpoint, and the creation of resolutions. Tests such as the TARES test and the Fitzpatrick and Gauthier test are used to determine if a persuasion attempt is ethical.
Use of physical or moral force to compel a person to do something or to abstain from doing something, thereby depriving that person of the exercise of free will.
Reciprocity
The responses of individuals to the actions of others.
Social Proof
People tend to do things that they see others are doing.
