- Persuasion refers to an active attempt to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, or feelings, usually via some form of communication. It is more related to conformity and compliance.
Types of Persuasion:
- Systematic persuasion: The process through which attitudes or beliefs are leveraged by appeals to logic and reason.
- Heuristic persuasion: The process through which attitudes or beliefs are leveraged by appeals to habit or emotion.
Theories of Persuasion
- Attribution theory:
- Attribution is the process by which individuals explain the causes of behaviour and events. Humans attempt to explain the actions of others through:
- Dispositional attribution, referred to as internal attribution, attempts to point to a person’s abilities, and motives, as a cause or explanation for their actions.
- Situational attribution, referred to as external attribution, attempts to point to the context around the person and factors of his surroundings, particularly things that are completely out of his control.
- Classical Conditioning
- Leading someone into taking certain actions of their own, rather than giving direct commands, ex – advertisements
- Repeating the message several times, it will cause the consumer to be more likely to purchase the product because he/she already connects it with good emotion and a positive experience.
- Elaboration likelihood model
- Central route: Whereby an individual evaluates information presented to them based on the pros and cons of it and how well it supports their values
- Peripheral route: Change is mediated by how attractive the source of communication
