Understanding Persuasion

Understanding Persuasion

Persuasion and Attitude Change

Formation and change of attitude are not two separate things - they are interwoven.
People are always adopting, modifying or relinquishing attitudes to fit their everchanging
needs and interests. Acceptance of new attitudes depends on who is the
communicator, how the communication is presented, how the communication is
perceived by the message receiver, the credibility of the communicator, and the
conditions under which the knowledge was received.
Attitudes change when:

1. A person receives new information from others or media - Cognitive change
2. Through direct experience with the attitude object - Affective change

Force a person to behave in a way different than normal - Behavioral change
Attitudes change, based on how a person perceives the communication and the
communicator. Less committed people will change ideas more frequently. Attitude
change also has to do with other personality characteristics such as susceptibility to
persuasion, intelligence, readiness to accept change, etc. People are more likely to
accept information if they feel the communicator has no intent to change our attitudes
and opinions.

Understanding Persuasion

 Understanding Persuasion

“Few are open to conviction, but the majority of men are open to persuasion”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Smart people know that managing by decree does not work with baby boomers
and Gen-Xers, who will not tolerate the unquestioned authority of the old commanding-
control environment. Work gets done by people who do not just ask: “What should
I do?”, but who ask: “Why should I do it?” Answering these ‘why’ questions requires
persuasion—a conversational art worth developing.

Effective persuasion is a process which involves negotiating and learning through
which a persuader leads colleagues to a problem’s shared solution. It incorporates
discovery, preparation, and dialogue. It is about testing and revising ideas in concert
with one’s colleagues’ concerns and needs.

The principal purpose of persuasion can be defined as being able to influence or
change one’s attitudes, beliefs or values towards a particular subject/object, so that
these will merge and finally equal the persuader’s thoughts and feelings.

• Attitude = A predisposition to respond to people, ideas, objects, or events in
evaluative ways

Beliefs = The ways people perceive reality to be; our conceptions about what is true
and what is false

Values = People’s most enduring judgments about what’s good and bad in life
The objective of persuasion may range from slight shifts in opinion to complete change
in behavior. But, how does one determine whether one’s goals are persuasive?