Ways and Strategies of Persuasion: Analytical Essay

Persuasion is seen in everywhere in all over the world. You find it on computers, social media, and on television. Persuasion starts from the minute a human being born. It is a tool used to persuade others in order to get the things you want. It is aimed to change others idea or behaviour toward some events or ideas. According to Perloff (2003), persuasion can be defined as '...a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to change their attitudes or behaviours regarding an issue through the transmission of a message in an atmosphere of free choice.'

Persuasion is not new; it starts in the fourth century BC in Ancient Greece. It has a long history. Sometimes such behaviour plays a significant role in persuasion than of what we say. It is started from the minute we are born. Persuasion can be seen at personal and public levels. On one hand, we start by giving examples from the personal levels. People use different strategies to convince others. For example, my little sister always convinces her elder sister to buy her Ice-cream. She convinces her sister by two means, either by crying or by cheating. Another example is that, some children persuade their fathers to give them more money to go out with their friends and having dinner together. They use different ways, sometimes, they cry to get more money and sometimes, they use some kind words to get what they want. Another example, some people use logic to convince others. For instance, one of my friends convince me to buy a new car. I was hesitated to choose between two cars. He used logic to convince me. He said, this car has many specifications. It can go very fast and it is very convenience. He said it has screens so, you can also play videos on it. He added it has GPS. The result is that he convinced me to buy it because he used logic and facts to persuade me. On the other hand, when it comes to the public levels. We can see persuasion in the court of law, advertisement and election campaign. For example, lawyers use the skill of persuasion to convince the judge that their clients are innocent. Some advertisers use commercial advertisements as a tool to persuade others to buy a certain product. Some political nominees try to persuade people to get more votes. Interviews are also persuasion. The applicant is trying to convince the interviewer that he is a good nominee to get the job. Spring (2011) in his e-book “Advertising in the Age of Persuasion” said that, “In the twenty-first century, American brands and the use of persuasive information in business, diplomacy, and politics spanned the globe as nations increasingly became enmeshed in the American consumer economy” .Persuasion is not limited by what we say. It is also influenced by gestures, sound, and movement. Sometimes, the way you use your language to persuade others is more important of what you say. So, persuasion is used for many reasons. It may be used to convince someone to accept thought or a view. It may be also used to other things. Politicians usually use persuasive language to get their listeners consent with their ideas or views on a specific subject.

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Persuasion is not restricted to a specific language. It is used in all languages. It was used in Latin and Greek languages. People of Rome and Greek were familiar with persuasion. It was used in adversarial law and political campaigning. The art of rhetoric is found not only in the English cultures but also in other cultures such as India. People of India had the skill of rhetoric before it was practised in Greek and Rome. The most significant work that we would never think of is the art of rhetoric written by Aristotle. The art of rhetoric is used in English language. People use different strategies to convince the audience. There are three different strategies. The first one is using reasoned proof. If the appeal is to reasoned proof, we call it as logos. Logos is used to convince the audience of your perspective. The second one is appealing to emotions. If the appeal is to the emotions, we call it as pathos. Pathos is used to convince the audience using effective emptions. The last one is using the good reputation of someone. If the appeal is to the good reputation of someone, we call it as ethos. Ethos is used to convince the audience of a good ethical personality. “In Aristotle’s art of persuasion, the term ethos (in Greek, character) designates the image of self-built by the orator in his speech in order to exert an influence on his audience” (Amossy,2001). An example of reasoned proof is that, a doctor wants to convince other doctors that a particular injection is very good for cancer patients. He said I injected many patients and the result is that, most of the patients live good life and years without the disease returning. The injection does not have any impact on their bodies. The doctor uses reason proof (Logos). An example of emotional appeal is that, some societies use emotional appeal (pathos) to convince others to pay money for the poor people. They use photos of the poor people to get them some money or shelters. An example of the good reputation is that, some advertisers use the reputation of a famous player to make advertising to a particular product to convince others buy that product. There are many rhetorical figures and devices in persuasion. These devices are usually used by successful speakers. The first device is rhetorical question which means when someone ask a question, he or she does not anticipate an answer. They either answer the question themselves, or the answer is clear. The second device is repetition. Repetition means when someone repeat something to emphasize on something. For example, the British Prime Minster Johnson uses repetition in his first speech as a prime minister. He said, “we will do a new deal, a better deal.” Here he repeats the word “deal”. Another repetition that he used the word “my job” like here “my job is to make your streets safer; my job is to protect you and my job is to make sure your kids get a superb education”. The third device is a rhetorical triplet. Rhetorical triplets are expressions of related thought in a group of three leading to climax. For example, Johnson used rhetorical triplet in his speech. As he said, “ ”. The fourth device is the verbatim repetition. It means when someone repeats the same word. “Verbatim is defined as an exact repetition without changing the words” (LoveToKnow Corp 2018). For example, in Johnson’s speech “The time has come to act, to take decisions, to give strong leadership and to change this country for the better”. The fifth device is contrastive device which means using two opposite things at the same time. Politicians use contrastive device as a way to convince the audience. As Johnson said in his speech that, “And though I am today building a great team of men and women”. The two opposite words are men and women. Johnson is also used reasoned proof (logos) to convince the British People. He said “let’s develop the blight-resistant crops that will feed the world”.” Let’s change the tax rules to provide extra incentives to invest in capital and research”.

In conclusion, this research has discussed the different ways that people used to convince others. It also discussed the strategies in persuasion. Persuasion is a very effective way to get what you like. It is all over the world and in every phase. Some people have the ability to persuade others by the way they talk. Persuasion plays a very significant role in our life. Everyone can use his or her own persuasive language. Everyone has its distinctive way to persuade others.