Forms Of Persuasion

Scholars have defined persuasion in different ways. According to communication scholars, “persuasion is a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to change their attitudes or behavior regarding an issue through the transmission of a message, in an atmosphere of free choice” (Perloff, 2003). In short, persuasion is an act or process of presenting arguments to move, motivate, or change the audience.

We see different forms of persuasion in our daily lives; from morning to night. When we are watching TV, we see people advertising their products to persuade their audience to buy their products. We persuade our families and friends that we should go out to eat, to go see a movie, and which film to see. Professors can

In our Got Talent activity, we were asked to convince the audience and justify as to why we deserve to get the role we are playing by laying out facts about ourselves and proving them that we are the right choice for that role by showing off our disparate personalities, skills and talents despite the challenges and anxieties about one’s own ability to perform with a big audience aside from the people you are comfortable with. On the other hand, the Amazing race activity made use of questions for others, example, asking 5 vendors in UP and getting tips on persuading and selling their product. Some of the answers included approaching and taking the initiative to offer their product. Moreover, this activity also made us, the one doing the task, see how difficult it is to ask people and persuade them to answer our questions, do the task such as taking picture with them, asking for their signatures, etc. In these activities, persuasion exists in one or both of two forms: we tried to persuade others (to answer our questions in the Amazing race activity), and other people tried to persuade us (that they deserve the role they are auditioning for in the Got Talent

In the Got Talent activity, I learned that, people, including myself, try to persuade others by highlighting certain features/ characteristics that we may find appealing to them or the other way around. However, for me, to influence others through messages (speaking, in this case) is difficult, thus, it is important to not only understand persuasion to increase the likelihood that our message will be successful but also the persuasion aimed at us so that other people will not be able to overly influence us. On the other hand, in our Amazing race activity, I learned that people can be persuaded by providing them facts about yourself first by giving out your name, age, the purpose of your inquiry, etc. You see, people tend to unconsciously look for cues whether we can trust a person or not—to make them feel safe and comfortable interacting with you. Knowing the right time to talk to them is also important because if you approach people when they are distracted, in this case, when the vendors are currently serving a customer, will leave a bad impression to the interviewee as they will feel that you are bothersome. It is better to approach them when they are more relaxed and open to discussion. Morever, in this activity, we tried to repeat the questions in a manner that will suit the background of the interviewee and will make them less confused about the