Persuasion

David Letterman, host of The Late Show, told a joke about Sarah Palin’s daughter during one of his nightly monologues. During the ensuing controversy, Letterman offered two extended statements about the joke. Approaching Letterman’s responses from the perspective of Benoit’s image repair typology reveals three primary strategies: denial, mortification, and corrective action. While Letterman’s first attempt to resolve the controversy failed, his second attempt was largely successful. Implications for public relations image repair strategies are offered.

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Questa tesi si propone di analizzare empiricamente l’effetto persuasivo di una delle principali tecnologie web del mondo moderno: il social network Facebook. L’elaborato si compone di quattro parti: nella prima parte vengono presentati dal punto di vista teorico alcuni modelli e alcune teorie sulla persuasione, successivamente viene introdotto il concetto di Captologia, una disciplina che studia i computer nel ruolo di tecnologie persuasive. Infine, la tesi introduce il tema delle fallacie logiche in qualità di elemento persuasivo alla base dell'analisi empirica. Nella parte conclusiva del lavoro viene descritta la metodologia utilizzata e i risultati ottenuti dalla analisi empirica realizzata su Facebook.

A cognitive bias is a mistake in reasoning, evaluating, remembering, or other cognitive process, often occurring as a result of holding onto one's preferences and beliefs regardless of contrary information. There are as many as 180 known cognitive bias’.

Leveraging cognitive biasses may sound, well, manipulative… and at a certain level there’s no denying the impact they have in the decision making process. Let’s not forget, however, every form of communication is designed to influence in one way or another, marketing is not unique in that aspect. Our goal is not to manipulate, the implication being that we're acting only with our interests in mind and with unscrupulous tactics … No, our goal is to persuade; the difference being that everyone wins in the equation, and our reader has come to their decision fairly.
Here’s what you need to keep in mind, and this is a point I’ll repeat many times in this guide… If, and only if, you believe in your offers real value should you consider influencing your reader with these strategies. Let’s also not forget it’s your ethical, and often legal, responsibility to be truthful & transparent in your efforts to close the sale. When done well, and with integrity, you’ll come to find that not only do you have influence, but you're genuinely helping others with your offers in a sustainable way.
Let's now investigate a handful of “cognitive biases” and explore ways to ethically use them to increase the persuasive power of our marketing. Full: https://app.increase.academy/this-is-the-most-important-entrepreneur-skill by https://increase.academy

This paper sheds light on the reasons why conventional messages prove largely ineffective at fostering pro-environmental behaviors among individuals with high egoistic values. We conducted three experiments comparing the effectiveness of prevention-focused and promotion-focused messages at promoting pro-environmental behaviors. We found that egoistic individuals exposed to prevention-focused messages tended to perceive pro-environmental efforts as less worthy, compared to those exposed to promotion-focused messages. This effect, in turn, decreased their willingness to take environmental action. We also observed that the negative effect prevention -focused messages have on egoists is attributable to a defense mechanism. Egoistic people exposed to prevention-focused messages seem to deny the veracity of the message, which in turn decreases the perceived worthiness of the environmental effort and thus the intention to act. The findings highlight the best way to frame environmental communication to reach those who are least likely to adopt eco-responsible behavior, i.e., egoistic people.

The NFL protests are only one of many celebrity-fueled political controversies during the Trump presidency. Why is there such a proliferation of celebrity activism? More importantly, does it amount to anything? What does our knowledge of celebrity influence tell us about the recent NFL controversy?

The pending narrative is an important macrostructure of persuasive speech. With it, the speaker not only describes the world and its social phenomena, but also lays a foundation for transforming the world to conform with the objective imposed in the narrative. The rhetorical force of the pending narrative comes from its sudden interruption: as soon as the motivation for an action has been created and as soon as identities have been established for the actors involved in the action, the story is interrupted, brought to a halt. This article outlines the basic mechanisms of the pending narrative and illustrates them using one alcohol policy editorial and two introductory chapters from scientific texts: Erik Allartd's The Structure of Society and Social Pressure and C. Wright Mills' The Sociological Imagination.

This study aims to explore the rhetorical and persuasive strategies employed by a political leader to propagate his ideology using language. It intends to critically analyze the victory speech of Pakistani Premier Imran Khan (IK)—the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)—which he delivered at the Prime Minister House, Islamabad, after being elected as the 22nd Premier of Pakistan in 2018. The researchers attempt to unveil and analyze critically the strategies that worked behind this speech to persuade the audience. Different linguistic tools used for projecting and achieving political power have been identified and scrutinized. The qualitative analysis of the speech is based on theory of Aristotle’s Rhetoric; Ethos, Pathos, Logos and other persuasive strategies like use of personal pronoun, predication strategy, and positive self-presentation and negative others-presentation employed by IK, and further to study how language carries the power of transforming the perception and p...

Despite the frequent pairing of and contrast between persuasion and force, Plato’s Republic undermines any coherent distinction between these two modes of handling others. The dialogue creates a puzzle with respect to this division, demanding of political philosophy a fuller investigation into the way speech and deed may rule. Peithô is not simply the gentler democratic cousin of authoritarian bia; but neither is the former simply the latter veiled in sweet speech. Indeed, I take Glaucon and Adeimantus’ frequent use and easy assent to the pairing to show their confusion about political and human autonomy, a matter displayed in detail in Book II. To the extent that Socrates’ obedience to Glaucon’s request for a defense of justice is simultaneously a testing of Glaucon and his brother, and to the extent that Plato’s brothers stand in for some aristocratic Athenians, Plato is performing here a sharp political diagnosis—or, should he be pessimistic, a prognosis. That the ideal city the interlocutors want to hear about requires totalitarian and illiberal mechanisms of control—one of speech, one of motion—implicates not Plato but the interlocutors who accept and speak of this traditional set of techniques of mastery. This paper provides two major pieces of evidence to support my primary claim. (Supporting evidence is Plato’s tendency to subvert this same sophistically popular binary elsewhere, especially in Statesman, Sophist and Laws.) (i) Book I dramatizes the weakness of the distinction between persuasion and coercion, especially in Polemarchus’ apparent bullying of Socrates, Socrates’ and Thrasymachus’ debate about the shepherd, and Thrasymachus’ struggle with the norms of polite conversation. (ii) The arguments that the best rulers will rule only under coercion (in Books I, V, VII, and IX) make the distinction into an obvious conundrum. Ultimately resolving this conundrum—if even possible—would depend on first clarifying in what ways— physical, moral, epistemic, (etc.)—coercion differs from persuasion. And so the more important task will precede what may be an impossible one (viz., figuring out how this city-in-speech could work). Arendt and Strauss, as well as others, write that the coupling of force and persuasion simply indicates the political necessity for both. Though this paper does not tell the story of these various scholars’ positions, it shows these positions to take inadequately seriously the sensitivity with which Plato—just as any other critic of Athenian political rhetoric—would value various modes of influence.

In three learning experiments we examined how subjects' level of involvement during initial exposure to consumer trivia influences what they learn and what they subsequently come to believe.  Subjects rated consumer trivia statements as more true when they had been exposed to those statements earlier in the experiment.  Simple repetition increased subsequent truth ratings.  Moreover, when subjects processed the information during initial exposure in a less involving fashion, the effect of repetition on truth became more pronounced.  Familiarity emerged as a key mediator of the truth effect.  When subjects experienced an "it rings a bell" reaction, they judged the information to be more true. Finally, under low-involvement processing, the truth effect increased when subjects engaged in a processing task (rote rehearsal) that increased familiarity without increasing evaluative processing of the information.

Sharing a holistic communication approach developed from years of research, teaching and professional experience, Midnight Musings: Explorations in Public Speaking is your public speaking playbook. You will discover how to understand your audience, overcome communication apprehension, create memorable presentations, and  develop a will to plan and practice that will enhance your value as a communicator -- forever.

With Midnight Musings: Explorations in Public Speaking you will learn to:
·  Overcome stage fright and anxiety
·  Merge the basics of rhetoric with the principles of design thinking
·  Maximize the power of persuasion with storytelling
·  Motivate, inform and inspire your audience
·  Recognize and confront gaslighting
·  Craft and receive constructive critique
·  Communicate online and in diverse contexts
·  Leverage emerging technology and prepare for the future of public speaking



Keywords: Public Speaking; Communication; Design Thinking; Persuasion; Leadership; Career Development Counseling; Success Self-Help; Education

Directory paths: Communication Studies; Public Speaking

Psalms of lament characteristically include affirmations of trust and sometimes a vow to praise God in the future. This paper questions the motivation behind such vows by looking carefully at whether future praise is conditional on God's positive response, and what other rhetorical devices are linked to the promise (or vow) he makes.

In the midst of a particularly difficult, deadly flu season, Gloria Copeland – televangelist, co-founder of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, and member of President Trump’s faith advisory council – seemed to suggest that flu shots were unnecessary to protect against influenza, and instead, one should “inoculate yourself with the word of God.” This paper examines Copeland's inoculation rhetoric through the lens of inoculation theory and finds that Copeland's rhetoric was both consistent and inconsistent. She neither promoted flu shots nor used inoculation as a rhetorical device, but she did claim to be advocating inoculation of a different type.

This paper proposes the interpretation of video games as discourse (in the explanation of discourse commonly used in linguistics and studies of natural language, not as understood in semiotics or cultural studies) to explore further the dynamics through which video games can propose structured meaning and articulate an argument. Such topic is especially relevant for video games with an agenda, whose goal is not just to produce an engaging game experience, but also to convey a message and have some control over the desired outcome (persuasion, information, expression, aesthetic experience). The notion of discourse can help classify serious games according to their specific aim, and can help understand how meaning production in procedural rhetoric takes place.

Quiero ser locutor...o locutora. Cuántas veces a lo largo de los años chicos y chicas ilusionadas por la profesión te confiesan este deseo. Quiero ser locutor...pero no sé por dónde empezar. Generalmente son alumnos que ya han tenido contacto con algún medio de comunicación audiovisual y allí han descubierto que el micrófono es lo suyo. A otros les han dicho muchas veces aquello de ‘¡pero qué voz tienes! Y directamente quisieron dedicarse a ello. Unos por su manera de expresarse y otros por su voz han decidido que quieren dedicarse a la locución profesional. Pero, exactamente ¿qué es la locución?

Even if emotions and pathos were a major part of Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian’s teachings on rhetoric, the twentieth-century professionalization of the field of argumentation as an academic discipline had the consequence of marginalizing appeals to emotion. Yet, emotions are just another way in which we rhetorically construct meaning.
This chapter suggests a rationale for bringing emotional appeals back to the center of rhetorical studies. Affective rhetoric is defined as the use of affective means of persuasion to induce cooperation in beings that, by nature, respond not just to symbols but to the emotions they trigger. It questions how we are persuaded, not merely by facts, but by the way facts are felt.
Three domains are highlighted – media communication, argumentation and politics – in which affects play a key role. Because rhetoric shapes human affairs, the role of emotions must be recognized in order to understand the full potential of persuasion in contemporary social, cultural and political life.

The article presents the considerations, that the tabloids (here: the press and gossip portals) promote distorted, but suggestive picture of the world. These media have enormous creative potential. Under this concept the ability to create a false vision of reality (rather than reflecting it faithfully) is meant. The article is divided into two parts, an analysis of media discourse is the first of them. The author tries to determine if the tabloid articles and gossip portals respect the principle of accuracy, brevity and of regulation of journalistic ethics. Research helps deduce the following conclusion: tabloid media break "factual pact." The media create a false picture of the world and they use the mechanisms of fiction, rather than reflect reality. In the second part of the article the author focuses on the language, typography and graphic persuasive mechanisms that are present in the tabloids and gossip websites. Case studies were preceded by reflections on the relationship between persuasion and manipulation.

The article aims to discuss the levels of application, efficiency, as well as potential dangers and methods of avoiding them which can be encountered while applying metaphors in formulating a business strategy. The theory underlying the research is the Conceptual Theory of Metaphor by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and the analysis was based on an article presenting a new business strategy – the Blue Ocean Strategy devised by Kim and Mauborgne (2005a).

La radio es uno de los medios de comunicación más propicios para contar historias. Su poder estimulador la ha convertido en un soporte idóneo para hacer soñar al oyente. Pero los relatos de ficción en la radio se han ido perdiendo y por ello este libro nace con el objetivo de recuperar esa magia, analizando sus beneficios, y explicando paso a paso cómo elaborar una historia de ficción en la radio. Para quienes quieran idear, escribir o producir relatos de ficción en la radio, es un gran libro de apoyo.

George Pullman's lively and accessible introduction to the study of persuasion is an ideal text for use in courses where the understanding and practice of argumentation, rhetoric, and critical thinking are central. Continually challenging his readers to seek and recognize sound evidence, to question the obvious, and to assess and reassess the credibility of claims made by others - including the author's own - Pullman shows the way to strong writing, effective speaking, and rigorous critical thinking. Persuasion: History, Theory, Practice provides:
• An overview of the traditional canons of rhetoric, along with updated versions for contemporary communication practices.
• Strategies for honing persuasive skills.
• Guidelines for creating persuasive arguments and for critically evaluating the arguments of others.
• A wealth of exercises - including activities appropriate for group participation - that can be assigned or used for self-testing and practice.
• Guidelines for the writing of argumentative papers.
• A section on decision-making.
• Selected classical readings on rhetoric and persuasion.
• A glossary of important terms.
• Suggestions for further reading.

The purpose of the current study is to identify the readability and simplicity of Donald J. Trump's speech in his media interviews and debates during the 2016 U.S. presidential primary campaign. Ten interviews and debates broadcast on different television networks were analyzed using three of the most commonly used readability formulas: Flesch-Kincaid, SMOG and Gunning-Fog. The analysis revealed that a fourth-to fifth-grade level of education (9-11 year-olds) is required to understand Trump's language. Ten additional interviews and debates of other candidates in the presidential election of 2016, from both the Republican and the Democratic parties, were analyzed, using the same readability formulas, in order to shed additional light on Trump's results. This analysis showed that the average score of all the other candidates was at a ninth-grade level (14-15 year-olds). Furthermore, the study reveals that Trump's sentences and words were significantly shorter and less complex than those of any other candidate. This study suggests that Trump uses low readability and simplicity of language as a rhetorical strategy to gain popularity, in accordance with the trend of anti-intellectualism.

Despite the historical importance of dominant group solidarity with movements for social justice, little empirical work has examined how the social identity of movement supporters influences the persuasiveness of their social movement messages. Across two experiments, we manipulated the group identity (White, Black, or anonymous) of a speaker in a message supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement to examine its effects on White Americans' perceptions of the speaker and their ultimate support for the movement. Results indicated that identity cues affected evaluations of the speaker (Study 1), and that these evaluations, in turn, mediated the effects of identity cues on attitudes toward the social movement (Study 2). Among White participants, White speakers were evaluated (a) more favorably in general than anonymous speakers, and (b) as less racist than both Black and anonymous speakers. Such evaluations were ultimately associated with increased support for #BlackLivesMatter. Implications of solidarity effects in social movement messaging are discussed.

RESUMEN
La obediencia del héroe en el Cantar de mio Cid es una decisión táctica, no estratégica, a partir de la cual se desarrolla un proceso de persuasión de la voluntad regia que contrarrestará el efectuado por los malos mestureros gracias al predominio de las obras sobre las palabras.

RÉSUMÉ
L’obéissance du héros dans la Chanson de mon Cid est une décision tactique, non stratégique. À partir de celle-ci se développe un processus de persuasion du roi que doit compenser les agissements des courtisans détracteurs, en raison de la primauté des actions sur les mots.

Through three sciences: Positivism, critical rationalism and social constructivism I found my field of research; Hjem-IS and the socials constructions in young people, that makes barriers for sale. How can we re-position Hjem-IS in the eyes of young people Danish people between 18 and 26 years of age. What social conventions exists in the mind of young people, that hinders sale ice-cream? The purpose of this thesis is create knowledge about the nature and conventions about Hjem-IS existing in the heads of young consumers. The conventions will be disrupted. This disruption, will ultimately be deduced to recommendations for a product of communication, that will change the view of Hjem-IS amongst the youth.

I analyze internet memes dealing with the subject of whether or not Christians can judge others, typically stemming from a discussion of Matthew 7:1. Rather than comment on the merits of interpretation, I expose how Christian and non-Christian anti-judgers and Christian judging proponents utilize funny memes to make their case and bolster their own views.

Since 2014, there has been a very concerted campaign launched by the neo-liberal Western mainstream mass media against Russia. The format and content suggest that this is an attempt to induce a moral panic among the Western publics. It seems to be intended to create a sense of fear and to switch the logic to a series of emotionally-based reactions to assertion propaganda. Russia has been variously blamed for many different events and trends around the world, such as the "destroying" of Western "democracy", and democratic values. In many regards, Russia is projected as being an existential threat in both the physical and intangible realms. This paper traces the strategic messages and narratives of the "Russia threat" as it is presented in Western mainstream media. Russia is connoted as a scapegoat for the failings of the neo-liberal democratic political order to maintain its global hegemony; therefore, Russia is viewed as the "menacing" other and a desperate measure to halt this gradual decline and loss of power and influence. This ultimately means that this type of journalism fails in its supposed fourth estate role, by directly aiding the hegemonic political power.

В рамках сопоставления когнитивного подхода к аргументации и производства сообщений проведена граница между двумя видами когнитивных подходов к аргументации, выявлены некоторые сходства и раз-
личия концепций Д. Хэмпла и В. Н. Брюшинкина, а также рассмотрены основные концепции производства сообщений. Проанализирована связь между производством сообщений и аргументорикой.

Communication models frequently include the source of a message as an important determinant of persuasion. However, research on the contribution of source characteristics to warning effectiveness is virtually non-existent. The present research investigated three types of sources: (1) specific regulatory governmental agencies (e.g., U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION), (2) specific scientific professional groups (e.g., AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION), and (3) general statements in which an explicit source is not mentioned (e.g., IMPORTANT HEALTH WARNING). Participants rated 11 sources of the alcohol, cigarette, and iron supplement warnings on credibility and compliance likelihood. The results show that exemplars from the two types of specific sources made the warnings more credible and increased the compliance likelihood ratings compared to a signal word (WARNING) by itself. Having a signal word was better than no signal word. Implications for warning design are discussed.

Persuasion is rampant in our culture—in advertising, politics and education—but many of us are
relatively unaware of how pervasive it is, the effect that persuasion has on our lives and how skillfully it is
used by those who want to persuade us. One arena in which persuasion plays an integral role is the cult.
This paper will examine the role of persuasion in cults, and how its use in cults differs from that in other
organizations. What constitutes coercion, mind control or brainwashing, and how are they different from
benign persuasion? In addition, it is the author’s intention to offer some clarity regarding unhealthy
persuasion and how to recognize and avoid succumbing to it.

According to Nisbett and Ross, “Information may be described as vivid, that is, as likely to attract and hold our attention and excite the imagination to the extent that it is (a) emotionally interesting, (b) concrete and imagery-provoking, and (c) proximate in a sen­ sory, temporal, or spatial way.” Despite a widespread belief held by scholars and practi­ tioners alike that vividness enhances persuasion, most early studies on this topic found weak or nonexistent vividness effects. To further understand this relationship, subse­ quent research focused on explaining these inconsistent findings. Taylor and Thompson explored the different ways that vividness has been operationalized across studies. Guadagno, Okdie, Sagarin, DeCoster, and Rhoads elucidated the conditions under which vividness enhances or detracts from persuasion. Generally, the extant literature suggests that vividness is an effective means of enhancing persuasion when the main point of a communication is the sole component made vivid. These findings caution against at­ tempts to persuade by increasing overall message vividness, because off-thesis or incon­ gruent vividness has the unintended and undercutting consequence of distracting influ­ ence targets from the point of the communication. This conclusion is based on the results of individual empirical studies as well as meta-analytic findings. Literature on shock ad­ vertising as a specialized case of vividness also exists. Future research on vividness might further delineate when, how, and why vividness sometimes enhances and sometimes de­ tracts from persuasion.