Chapter 13 • Persuading
negative responses. You can prepare a number of possible reasons why a particular action is desirable and then advance the one that seems most appropriate for the particular situation. In this way, you make sure that you present the best argument possible. You do not make an effective argument by using every reason you can possibly think of or find. Any reason you use should meet three tests.5 First, it must uphold what you’re proposing. Second, it must be supportable by the facts. Third, the reason must have an impact on the person you’re trying to persuade. The implications of these three criteria are self-evident. Take aim at your target with the precision of a rifle rather than with the overkill of a shotgun. If you’re trying to persuade through logical argument, do your homework. Gather the facts to support your argument and, very important, get to know the “persuadees.” The best-supported argument can fail if you haven’t taken into consideration the goals, needs, and interests of the person you’re trying to persuade. 3. Emotional Appeal. You might be able to persuade people on the basis of good reasons alone. However, you’re more likely to be effective if you also use language that touches their emotions. Therefore, whenever you can, supplement good reasons with appeals to a person’s fears, loves, joys, frustrations, and the like. Why is a combination of logic and emotional appeal more effective than logic alone? The answer is that people can believe in the logic of an argument but still not act on that belief. What they need is a stimulus or kick that will move them from passive to active. An appeal to the emotions can be that stimulus. 4. Social Proof. Another way of convincing people to do something we are recommending is to demonstrate to them that others are taking the same action. This “social proof” suggests that others agree with the action and that it is appropriate and socially acceptable.6 Examples of the effectiveness of social proof in action range from victims rushing to invest with Bernard Madoff because other sophisticated investors had done so, to bartenders priming their tip jars with a few dollar bills to signal to customers that folding money is the appropriate type of tip. 5. Ingratiation. Ingratiation is a strategic attempt to get someone to like you in order to obtain compliance to a request.7 Three common ingratiation tactics are flattery and offering complements, conforming to the other’s opinion, and rendering favors to be perceived as helpful.8 Persuasion Tactics Credibility, reason, and emotion are three general strategies for persuading others. There are also four more specific tactics people use for influencing others:9 active facilitative, passive facilitative, active inhibiting, and passive inhibiting. The first two tactics improve persuasive results; the latter two hinder effectiveness. People rarely use inhibiting tactics deliberately. Rather, these tactics are usually the unintended consequences of poor planning, lack of information, inadequate listening skills, or an inability to assess one’s impact on others accurately. They’re included here to dramatize how a tactic that might have begun as facilitative can backfire and hinder persuasive efforts. 1. Active Facilitative. If you actively engage in behavior that succeeds in influencing another person, you have used an active facilitative approach. Popular examples of this approach are being prepared and organized, stating views with conviction, providing information, asking for information, making recommendations, being willing to negotiate, taking the initiative, and paraphrasing.10 This approach is an effective means of clarifying facts, correcting mistakes or inaccurate or incomplete beliefs, and modifying priorities.
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