Persuasion

Persuasion is one of the classic forms of power. Persuasion is at work when an actor (a person or group) is able to convince others to give their assent to a recommended course of action. The power of persuasion is the power to convince, typically on the basis of credible rather than proven evidence. Thus, to be persuasive is to be able to get the assent of others to take on trust the credentials of the persuader and the credibility of the proposed course of action. The credentials of persuaders can derive from their formal authority, but in many of the more interesting instances of social persuasion it can derive from their unofficial “moral authority” or personal power.

Persuasion is one of the oldest forms of social power, and its history is interwoven with the practice and analysis of social trust. An early example that still features prominently in the scholarly literature on persuasion is the story recorded in Book IX of Homer's Iliad, where various friends of the great warrior Achilles plead with him to rejoin the Greek forces doing battle against Troy. The retinue of persuaders take turns in working through the now-standard list of persuasive strategies (e.g., pleas to honor, obligation, and interest) to try to get Achilles to rejoin their campaign. This classic example illustrates much about the play of persuasion: the persuaders have to convince Achilles to agree to rejoin them, and Achilles has to be convinced that it is in his interests to do so. The routines of persuasion almost always involve argument because the merits of the proposed action are not self-evident but are open to debate (see “Argument, Power of”). As with many arguments, both sides in the persuasive relationship have a case to make. Not all the power rests with the persuaders: to a considerable degree, being persuasive means being accepted or chosen as a credible source, where much of the power to accept or reject rests with the receiver rather than the transmitter of the message. Of course, there is no message without a transmitter, which suggests that the real power of persuasion arises from a relationship where power is shared between proposer and respondent.

Persuasion is a distinctive form of power because it works through influence, which is the term most frequently used by scholars to describe the nature of persuasion. Influence is an imprecise term referring to remarkably effective if little-understood social powers. Influence refers generally to a flow of information and advice comprising a relationship of power initiated by persuaders in order to get the assent of the persuaded. To have influence is to have an effect, usually by moving or motivating others to accept advice. This type of social power is all the more effective because it elicits “buy-in” by the persuaded, whose consent reinforces the persuasive relationship. Of course, genuinely free consent is fully informed consent. But there is nothing in the nature of persuasion that requires persuaders to comply with this high standard of full disclosure.

The murky nature of persuasion is evident from the industry of influence surrounding commercial and also political marketing and advertising. Vance Packard's 1950s work The Hidden Persuaders still resonates in both commerce and politics where consumers and citizens are sized up by marketing experts whose expertise is hidden well behind the products on offer. Effective persuasion in both commerce and politics can become an exercise in spin (by so-called spin doctors), which speeds up and force-feeds the assent-giving process. Practices vary, but if there is a regulatory ideal it is that the persuader offers advice and the persuaded, if convinced, accepts the advice, after whatever deliberation is considered appropriate in the circumstances. Deliberation literally means “weighing things up” and assessing the relative balance of good and bad effects. Theories of persuasion highlight the important place of deliberation in norms of the persuasive process, in contrast to the alternative norms of control through force and coercion. Deliberation might be interpersonal, such as between the persuader and the potentially persuaded; or internal, privately within the one person or group being persuaded.

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