In relation to the field of psychology, persuasion can be defined as the specific act or process of convincing people to change their visions or ideas regarding the viewpoint proposed by the partner in communication (Kumkale & Albarracín, 2004). Furthermore, those persons who try to persuade the other people are inclined to make the opponents believe and share definite visions. From this point, persuasion is the complex process during which persons intend to manipulate the arguments which can be discussed by the opponents as rather credible or persuasive (Kumkale & Albarracín, 2004).
In this case, persuasion is the complex act because people are oriented to using not only logic while developing their arguments but also emotional component in order to make the speech more convincing and appealing (Powers, 2007). The process of persuasion can be also based on the use of different tools and symbols such as the verbal techniques or visual signs in order to achieve the goal of persuasion.
Focusing on all the above-mentioned details, it is necessary to pay attention to the extended definition of persuasion as the complex process or act during which a person intends to convince the other man to change the vision, share the idea, or do the specific act discussed as desirable by the person who persuades; while persuading, a person orients not only to presenting the logical arguments in the form of verbal or visual symbols but also to the emotional content in order to appeal to the opponent’s internal motives which can make him or her change the opinion regarding the definite situation or phenomenon.
From this point, persuasion can also be discussed as a kind of the psychological impact on the person in order to change his or her attitudes, opinions, or behaviours (Shavitt & Brock, 2005). That is why, persuasion is the effective tool used in marketing and advertising to regulate the customers’ behaviour. Furthermore, persuasion in the form of messages, speeches or advertisements is also important for controlling the development of social opinions because it is the effective subtle technique (Powers, 2007).
To formulate the final variant of the definition, a lot of details determining the process of persuasion were analyzed and combined in order to provide the detailed and complete definition to reflect all the sides of such a complex psychological phenomenon. Thus, the focus on the necessity to convince people to change the attitudes and behaviours depends significantly on the methods used by the person. As a result, the next step to define the concept is to pay attention to the tools or techniques used by people to persuade. To draw the effective conclusions, it is important to concentrate on the logical and emotional components of the arguments used and on the verbal or visual techniques.
Today, it is possible to refer to many factors which can influence the fact of being persuaded. These factors are the presentation of the effective and well-supported arguments and the references to the experts’ visions and opinions as well as to the factual evidences. Moreover, the peripheral information can also affect the process of persuading if it is rather emotional and attractive. Furthermore, the atmosphere of communication and the specific words chosen by the person to persuade the opponent are significant to affect the final decision.
References
Kumkale, G., & Albarracín, D. (2004). The Sleeper Effect in persuasion: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 130(1), 143-172.
Powers, P. (2007). Persuasion and coercion: A critical review of philosophical and empirical approaches. HEC Forum, 19(2), 125-143.
Shavitt, S., & Brock, T. (2005). Persuasion: psychological insights and perspectives. USA: Allyn and Bacon.