Persuasion

Persuasion
 Persuasion is a process in which communicators try
to convince other people to change their attitudes,
beliefs or behaviors regarding an issue through a
transmission of a message in an atmosphere.

A conscious attempt by one individual to change the

attitudes, beliefs, or behavior of another individual
or group of individuals through the transmission of
Persuasion some message.

In addition to the usual contexts that come to mind

when you think of persuasion advertising, political
campaigns, and interpersonal sales there are other
domains that contain attitude altering messages.
 Techniques of Persuasion
1- Foot in the door:

• The foot in the door principle means that prior to asking for a
big favor, you should ask for a smaller one.
• By first asking for something small, you’re making the individual
“committed” to helping you, and the larger request acts as a
continuation of something technically already agreed upon.
• Example: You missed a class and asked your classmate for their
notes. Subsequently, you admit to have been a bit irresponsible
this semester and ask for the notes for the entire semester . By
first asking for the small favor, you increase your chances of
getting the big one namely, a free-ride on your classmate’s
notes.
2. Door in the
Face
• First, you ask for something huge they are not
going to agree with, then ask for something
contrastingly easier.

• Example: You ask a classmate to tutor you on that

upcoming midterm in Advanced Statistics. Oh, and
you haven’t studied at all up to now. The
classmate apologizes, saying that they just don’t
have the time. And besides, they’ve never even
seen you before. Your follow-up request for their
notes is, however, granted.
 3. Reciprocation
• People tend to feel obliged to return favors.
• Regardless of whether the person likes the gift, they’re
still inclined to give something in return. Having someone
feel indebted to you is something that will always be
useful, raising your chances of receiving something you
want exponentially.

• Example: In fundraisers, charities post small, free gifts

such as bookmarks and calendars to potential donors,
whilst requesting a donation. The recipients appreciate
the effort made to send the gift and feel obliged to
reward the favor by making a donation.
 4. Scarcity
• Scarcity is one of the most-used persuasion techniques
used by salesmen and marketers.
• People tend to want more of things which are in low
supply. If you convince an individual that something is
only available for a limited time, or is in limited supply,
they’re more likely to want it.
• Any product which is LIMITED TIME ONLY DISCOUNT
GOING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE BUY IT NOW.
• Example: Digital marketers use scarcity by offering their
products once a year, for a specific time period, while
stressing on how the product is a limited time offer. In a
similar manner, offering a discount, but attaching a timer,
or a validity date to it. The more you stress on how
limited the product is, the higher the conversion rate.
Attribution Theory
 Attribution Theory
• Attribution Theory analyzes how we explain people’s
behaviors.
• It attempts to explain the causes of people's behavior and
attributing or explaining reasons as to why people behave
the way they do.

• We typically explain behavior in one of two ways:

• We attribute the behavior to the person or
• we attribute the behavior to the situation.
1. Internal/Dispositional Attribution: The process of
assigning the cause of behavior to some internal
characteristic, rather than to outside forces. For
example, we attribute the behavior of a person to their
personality, motives or beliefs.

2. External/Situational Attribution: The process of

assigning the cause of behavior to some situation or
event outside a person's control rather than to some
internal characteristic. When we try to explain our own
behavior, we tend to make external attributions, such
as situational or environment features.
Examples
Zain got highest marks in test he explains the reasons that it was due to his efforts
and hard work. Because the attributions involved in the explanation is internal it’s
an example of Dispositional or Internal Attribution.

Sahar failed her final exam she explains that the reason for her failure was because
the questions were difficult, rather than her inability to answer them. She blames
the situation rather than herself. This is an example of Situational or External
Attribution.
Spouses’ answers correlate with marriage satisfaction. Unhappy couples usually
offer distress-maintaining explanations for negative acts (“she was late because she
doesn’t care about me”). Happy couples more often externalize (“she was late
because of heavy traffic”)
Fundamental Attribution Error

• Fundamental attribution error occurs when people wrongly attribute other

people behaviors to internal factors such as personality traits, abilities, while
explaining their own behavior people tend to attribute it to the situational
factors.

• For example: Ali falls asleep in the class he attributes his behavior to the all
night he pulled finishing a term paper while he attribute his friend’s similar
behavior to laziness.
Why do we
do it?
• Attribution theorists pointed out
that we observe others from a
different perspective than we
observe ourselves
• When we watch another person
act, that person occupies the
center of our attention and the
environment becomes relatively
invisible
 Cognitive Dissonance

• Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation

involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or
behaviors.
• This produces a feeling of discomfort leading
to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs
or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and
restore balance etc.
 Explanation

• It assumes that we feel tension, or a lack of harmony (“dissonance”), when two

simultaneously accessible thoughts or beliefs (“cognitions”) are psychologically
inconsistent.
• Dissonance theory pertains mostly to discrepancies between behavior and
attitudes.
• Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our
attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance).
• This inconsistency/dissonance leads to discomfort, tension, or guilt (in some
cases all three).
 Daily life examples of Cognitive Dissonance

• You want to be healthy, but you don't exercise regularly or eat a

nutritious diet.
• Lying is not a good thing, but I have to lie to my mother about going
out.
• I must prepare for exams to get good grades, but I am wasting my
time gaming.
• Smoking is injurious to health, but I still smoke.
Assumptions of Cognitive Dissonance
• The same principle applies to cognitive dissonance, which refers to the mental
discomfort that results when new information clashes with or contradicts
currently held beliefs, attitudes, or values.
• Using cognitive dissonance as a persuasive strategy relies on three assumptions:

(1) people have a need for consistency in their thinking and behaviors

(2) when inconsistency exists, people experience psychological discomfort

(3) this discomfort motivates people to address the inconsistency to restore balance
Causes of Cognitive Dissonance
• Receiving new information
• Experiencing social pressure
• Needing to make a choice
• Accepting/ receiving a new role

• Examples?
• We hold many cognitions about the world and ourselves; when they clash, a
discrepancy is evoked, resulting in a state of tension known as cognitive dissonance.
• As the experience of dissonance is unpleasant, we are motivated to reduce or
eliminate it, and achieve consonance (i.e. agreement).

Ways to eliminate dissonance:

(1) Reduce the importance of the dissonant beliefs

(2) Add more consonant beliefs that outweigh the dissonant beliefs
(3) Change actions
(4) Change action perception
 Example of eliminating Dissonance
“When people smoke and they know that smoking causes cancer they are in a state of
cognitive dissonance”.

• A person could convince themself that it is better to "live for today" than to "save for
tomorrow.“(Reduce the importance of the cognitions/ dissonant beliefs )

• However, new information such as “research has not proved definitely that smoking
causes lung cancer” may reduce the dissonance. (Acquire new information that
outweighs the dissonant beliefs/ Adding more consonant beliefs)

• Quit Smoking (Change actions)

• Convincing yourself that you only smoke occasionally and that too for fun. (Change
action perception)
Class Activity on Discovering your
Dissonance
• Write any one instance where you experienced cognitive dissonance.
• It can be any daily routine experience and may not be a significant
event
• How did that make you feel?
• What did you do to resolve this dissonance?
Use of Cognitive dissonance in Therapy
• Increasing cognitive dissonance in patients suffering with any kind of
addiction (i.e., porn, smoking, drugs etc.)
• This can be done by asking questions and exploring their beliefs
around the unfavorable action.
• Their core values will be tapped and explored.
• A dissonance will be created leading to a sense of discomfort and
tension.
• This discomfort will then be used to steer the patient in getting rid of
the action.
 Time Management
• “Time management” is the process of planning how much time you
have to spend on different activities. It involves prioritizing
responsibilities and reducing time spent on unimportant tasks.
• A person with poor time management finds it difficult to initiate tasks,
reach deadlines, or prioritize which tasks are important to complete.
Urgent vs Important Matrix
Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 3
• Q1 is both urgent and important: It deals with significant results and requires immediate
attention.
• The activities in Q1 are often called CRISES or PROBLEMS
• As long as the focus is on Q1, it keeps getting bigger. So much so until it dominates people
completely.
• The cycle just keeps repeating until they are overwhelmed

• Then, there are other people who spend a great deal of time In the “Urgent, but not
Important” Q3 (thinking they are in Q1).
• They spend most of their time reacting to things. They are urgent (assuming they are also
important)
• But the reality is that the urgency of these matters: is based on the priorities & expectations of
others
• Q4 is both unimportant and
not urgent

04/13/2024 28
Quadrant 2
Q2 is the heart of effective personal management
It deals with things that are not urgent but important

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
LONG TERM PLANNING
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
WRITING A PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT
EXERCISING AND KEEPING FIT

All those things we know we need to do, but somehow, seldom get around to doing,
Because they are not urgent.