Persuasion Meaning In Psychology

Persuasion can be used in various situations, such as writing, politics, education, and the workplace. However, regardless of how you use persuasion, it can be beneficial to know its meaning in psychology. By understanding the basis of persuasion, you may be more equipped to use it or avoid being persuaded by others. 

What is persuasion in psychology?

The American Psychology Association (APA) defines persuasion as an "active attempt by one person to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, or emotions associated with some challenge, person, concept, or object." While coercion involves pressure, persuasion is often more covert. However, persuasion is not the same as manipulation. 

In contemporary society, persuasion is a tool used to sway the acceptance of specific ideas as truth or to market products and services. However, there are many ways in which people might benefit from resisting persuasion. When learning about persuasion, it can be helpful to learn how attitude impacts your likeliness to be persuaded, tactics people use to persuade others, and strategies to resist persuasion in different contexts.

The role of attitude in persuasion

Research suggests that attitude may guide behavior. Findings reported by the University of Pennsylvania show that attitudes are based on the arguments presented in a message and the feelings aroused by them, as feelings are subsequently "rationalized into beliefs." The study discovered the following regarding what types of people are more easily persuaded:

• Distracted people are more likely to be persuaded based on their lack of focus on the connection between their feelings and the presented message.
• While holding steadfast to your values, being closed-minded, or feeling that your values are being “attacked” may result in confirmation bias, dissonant information can lead people to approach information that contradicts their views.
• People with optimistic outlooks are more likely to be convinced than those with pessimistic attitudes.
• Because individuals tend to focus more on a speaker's persona versus the message, they may forget the source of the argument but remember how a charismatic person made them feel, influencing them to be more susceptible to persuasion.
• Those who enjoy debating are likelier to seek opportunities to debate and defend their views. However, this propensity may lead them to change their opinions more than those who block out information inconsistent with their beliefs as a defense mechanism.

The Yale attitude change approach

Persuasion is one of the most well-researched topics in social psychology because of its power to influence society. Campaign strategists, advertisers, marketing managers, litigators, and others use persuasion to influence people to change their belief, judgment, or opinion about a given topic, product, or person.

In the 1950s, the work of experimental psychologist Carl Hovland and other researchers at Yale University began studying the persuasive effects of propaganda. In the Yale attitude change approach, researchers devised a model of persuasion in communication that sought to explain how an attitude can be changed through persuasion. This model of persuasion suggests that for a message to be persuading, it must consider the following elements:

• Audience characteristics: Features like attention, self-esteem, and age may determine how the message will be received. For a message to sway a particular audience, they must pay attention to the message.  
• Message content: Features like subtlety and timing can affect the reception of a message, as it may hold little persuasion or much persuasion in effect.
• Message source: Credibility of the message's source must be established for persuasion to work on an audience (target). Features like trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness (physical and otherwise) of the message source may influence the appeal and acceptance of the message.  

Other models of persuasion

Below are some of the most common models of persuasion that might be used by individuals in all careers and from all backgrounds. 

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) 

Petty and Cacciopo proposed the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion. This model considers the source of the message, the contents of the message, and the characteristics of the audience to predict attitude change and the factors (variables) of the attitude change approach. According to this model, two main routes exist for delivering a persuasive message, including the following. 

The peripheral or indirect route

An audience persuaded through the peripheral route may be described as unmotivated, passive, and unanalytical, so persuasion may occur by cues outside the message and little effort on the part of the audience to evaluate the content presented. 

By focusing on evoking positive emotions, such as through association with a famous actor, athlete, or celebrity, peripheral persuasion may result in a less permanent change in attitude or behavior. In some cases, the persuasion process may go unnoticed by the audience, as in the case of product placement. 

The central or direct route

Appealing to an audience's logic, a central route to persuasion may present facts, statistics, data, and other information to convince the audience more comprehensively. It may work best when the audience is receptive and motivated to consider and evaluate the information and its relevance. 

However, to be convincing, individuals can benefit from making the argument strong and compelling. Often, the argument is one-sided and shows the benefits of endorsing or accepting the product or message. Persuasion occurring through this route may affect long-term change in attitude, known as having "temporal persistence." Once someone has been persuaded through the central route, they might be less likely to change their minds or be convinced by counterarguments. 

Foot-in-the-door approach

To grasp the foot-in-the-door persuasive route, think back to when someone stopped you on the street hoping to get your attention. There may be a limited time to pique your attention because of the context and likelihood that you, their target, may be intent on heading somewhere else. In the foot-in-the-door approach, a small change is requested, and then, once granted, another request may be favorably predicted based on the initial response.

Contemporary study on the topic also points to other perspectives on persuasion, considering media and technology within the framework of complex societies. Their focus may be less on attitude change and more on the communication of a group and social influence, for example. 

Methods for resistance to persuasion

Reflect on when a salesperson has come to your door, trying to sell a service or a product. What percent of the time do you give them your attention or buy something from them? Do you later wish you had never opened the door or had the assertiveness to respectfully but firmly tell them that you were uninterested? 

Parts of an individual’s personality may make them more or less prone to persuasion’s influence. However, it is possible to resist persuasion. While not inherently wrong or manipulative, persuasive techniques may not serve one’s need to weigh the pros and cons before deciding to vote for a candidate, write a check in support of a cause, or purchase a product. 

Below are a few methods individuals consciously (or naturally) use to resist persuasion, which may be helpful for you in your decision-making processes.

Avoidance strategies

Avoidance strategies often entail passive resistance, where a person avoids persuasion attempts. For example, a person using this tactic may leave the room when a political message or an ad comes on. Other tactics that fall under avoidance strategies are cognitive avoidance (ignoring a message) and selective avoidance (disregarding a message that doesn’t align with one’s point of view).

With cognitive avoidance, you might walk right by someone attempting to get your attention without making eye contact or acknowledging them. In selective avoidance, you might change the TV channel when an advertisement comes on that contradicts your values, but watch five other ads selling other products that align with your values.

Contesting strategies

Contesting strategies involve challenging the message, its sources, and the persuasion methods. Doing so involves taking in the message and then creating counterarguments against it. The source of the message may also be subject to rejection. Narratives without an overt persuasive intention may decrease contesting strategies.

Consider a time you called a representative to cancel a service you no longer used or needed. Thinking back, did the person at the call center attempt to convince you to remain a customer by offering discounts or other plans? Were you frustrated because you wanted to cancel the service and be done with it? You may have used contesting strategies by sharing your reasons for canceling and refuting their attempts to keep you paying a monthly fee.

Biased processing strategies

Biased processing strategies relate to receiving parts of the message that support a person's original attitude or behavior while disregarding the rest. Features of biased strategies include weighing attributes, reducing impact, and optimism bias, all of which involve distorting the information presented when it challenges an attitude or behavior. 

By placing more weight on specific attributes and reducing the importance of others, for example, a person can maintain their original stance. Reducing the impact of negative information entails focusing on only one aspect of the negative message without affecting the overall positive regard toward an object, person, or idea. 

The optimism bias allows someone to believe that negative information regarding an aspect of their behavior does not necessarily apply to them. For instance, someone who drinks alcohol heavily may disregard information about the risk of liver disease by reassuring themselves that they have a healthy lifestyle.  

If you are struggling with substance use, contact the SAMHSA National Helpline at (800) 662-4357 to receive support and resources.

Empowerment strategies

Empowerment resistance to persuasion involves asserting one's views instead of arguing against the message. It consists in bolstering one's sense of self and ideas to be less influenced by the persuasive attempts of others and, in doing so, validating one's existing ideas.

If asserting yourself seems overwhelming, it may help to remember that your boundaries are yours. Directly communicating your boundaries is not offensive or harmful to a person trying to persuade you. If they act in a way that makes you think they are taking your firmness personally, remaining convicted in your beliefs can be helpful. Salespeople and those whose job is to make money from persuading others are sometimes trained to capitalize on people’s empathy, uncertainty, or desire to appear likable, compassionate, or generous. 

Learn how to resist persuasion with professional guidance

There may sometimes be a fine line between persuasion and manipulation. Suppose you feel persuaded to act in ways that make you uncomfortable or cause you to believe your boundaries are being intentionally crossed. In that case, you may wish to consider therapy to build assertiveness. However, some people may be uncomfortable reaching out to an in-person therapist. 

Online therapy, offered through platforms like BetterHelp, offers accessible support with licensed therapists. Counselors working online can employ cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which has been shown to help clients change thought and behavioral patterns into more helpful ones. Research findings also show that online therapy can significantly impact functioning and quality of life. You can reach your online therapist by phone or text and arrange video calls from anywhere with a secure internet connection.

Studies indicate that online therapy is as effective as in person-therapy. Online CBT is also linked with significantly reducing symptoms of stress, which may cause anxiety and depression. Stress or anxiety in the face of persuasive techniques may make it difficult to assert yourself or make decisions that serve your needs. Your online counselor can model effective techniques and possibly role-play scenarios to help you practice asserting yourself.