Persuasion. The ability to make others agree with, or if nothing less, at least respect your decisions is indeed an invaluable skill; a skill that we’ve been trying to hone since we first learned to communicate our thoughts. And odds are, if we’ve made it this far in life, we’ve gotten rather decent at it. Not only have we gotten decent at it but, just as an artist develops his or her own artistic style, we develop our own styles of persuasion. Some chose to persuade by using facts and figures, some rely on charisma and emotions to make people agree with them, and others (the true masters) do both. It is especially important to be able to make logical and emotional appeals because, just as individuals have their own ways of persuading, they also have developed certain ways that they are more easily persuaded. Some are swayed by logic, but impervious to emotion. While others prove to be just the opposite. For these reasons, it can be said that there is no set-in-stone right or wrong way to persuade. Just effective, and not so effective. Depending on the speaker/audience relationship.
Though I’d prefer not to get into political here, I feel like there is a good point that can be made of Democrats and Republicans and how they chose to persuade their target audiences. I won’t say which party I support, and before you decide to get all up in arms and disagree with me, let me just say that both parties are relatively successful in making their appeals. As a whole, Republicans have a tendency to make persuasive arguments based on emotional/charismatic appeal. Of course, there are exceptions to this observation, but most republicans have found success in arousing belief in voters/other politicians through powerful emotional appeals. Democrats however, seem to take a more “here’s the ‘facts.’ Now you decide type approach. A prime example of this occurred during the debates of the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Though I think most can agree that Gore was the more intelligent of the two, Bush proved to be more effective in persuading the American people. His success was not essentially attributed to his knowledge, but his ability to make himself likeable to the people, and connect himself with the average Joe of America.
Another, more rudimentary, tool in persuasion is repetition. This tactic may result in the speaker getting his/her audience to do what they want in the immediate present/future, but is less effective in influencing long-term beliefs. Think of a child nagging a parent for a candy bar in line at the grocery store. After a given amount of time, the parent is likely to give in, and buy the candy bar for them. But come the next time they’re at the grocery store, the child will, more than likely, yet again have the uphill battle of persuasion to fight if he or she wants another candy bar.
Having said that… Mom’s about to go to the grocery store, and I want a Reese’s.
