MACS 110 | Introduction to Mass Communication Theory translate
Persuasion back to MACS 110 Week 5
Persuasion is a process, as opposed to an event, and involves understanding values, attitudes, and opinions.
Values form one's core identity. We have fewer values than either attitudes or opinions. Values might include, beauty, youth, music, individuality, independence, honesty, and integrity.
Attitudes are the outward expressions of these values through feelings and behaviour, and are more susceptible to change than values.
Opinions are the expression of both values and attitudes. Opinions can easily change because they're much more open to outside pressure.
Sophisticated propagandists acknowledge our common underlying values and attempt to exploit them in order to bring about change of opinion - or to reinforce an existing opinion. For example, human life, as a value, can be exploited by pro-life and pro-choice camps alike. The human life emphasized being that of the baby or of the mother. In this way, both sides of an issue seek to exploit values but for contrasting purposes.
Manipulation of existing values and prejudices was evident in Nazi Germany. The attitude toward Jews wasn't created by Hitler. Indeed, long standing prejudices had existed for centuries in most European countries - including England. This prejudice, when provoked through language and images, and coupled with economic hard times and insecurity, helped portray Jews both as inferior humans and as scapegoats for Germany's financial problems.
The effect of group and peer pressure is also an important factor in persuasion. A message is usually more effective when delivered through a familiar setting and level of discourse. For example, schools were used to show Nazi propaganda movies, and textbooks included unmistakeably negative attitudes toward Jews. The textbooks are an example of subtle persuasion in encouraging youth to get on-side against what was presented as a common threat or opponent. Peer pressure is also an effective persuasion technique in current advertising - we commonly see teens talking to teens, seniors addressing other seniors, in the attempt to achieve buy-in. Group pressure and group identification are promoted through in-group/out-group connotations related to notions such as patriotism. An example used for propaganda purposes by George W. Bush is his statement following 911 - "you're either with us or you're with the terrorists."
Persuasion involves the emotive power of language. In addition to symbols, using appropriate tone and key words to generate positive connotations is essential. Consider how the following words add symbolic meaning to a beer, or to even white supremacy as a supposed ideal. (powerful, wholesome, golden, true, rich, natural, pure, dream)
Stereotypes - either positive or negative include pre-packaged meaning inherent in just the look of many characters, e.g. a wholesome or delinquent individual on a poster bearing a message about joining the army and fighting for your country as opposed to being a coward and staying home. The coward, in this case, might well be portrayed as a caricature, i.e. the opposite of a hero.
Control of information - Censorship.
Can be either blatant or subtle - from outright news blackout to slanting - i.e. drawing attention to strong points in an argument
Appeal to authority can either work or backfire. For example if one were to quote Abraham Lincoln, or Winston Churchill, there's more room for positive communication than by quoting Jean Chretien or Brian Mulroney. A persuasion technique still used is the three-part trick - e.g. 'Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.", or , "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few," or even "Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Furher."
Appeal to the senses includes the subtle use of sound and the power and rhythm of the human voice. Some believe that sound also is more effective with women than it is with men if one believes the advertising conventional wisdom that 'men fall in love between the eyes and women fall in love between the ears'.
Image or visual appeals are particularly effective in that, again, according to advertisers, 'logic cannot override the image'. Humans are seen as having internal billboards where images stick indefinitely. For example, all I have to say is "jolly green giant" and you're probably all looking at a big green guy in a leotard holding a can of peas. The bad news is he's there for ever, you'll never be able to get rid of him no matter how hard you try.
Along with appeal to authority and appeal to the senses, there are many other types of claims to truth used in propaganda and persuasion. They employ a variety of fallacies.