The Secret Of Persuasion Still Secret Sociology Essay

The Secret Of Persuasion Still Secret Sociology EssayPersuasion is where a deliberate essay is made to deepen peoples attitudes and is concerned with the cognitive process involved in how that change is bought about (Petty and Cacioppo 1981190). In terms of brotherly psychological research, do we roll in the hay all that there is to know about persuasion? Can we use it to control manipulation? As people be likely to be open to some stratum of persuasion in everyday life, it is easy to overlook how our opinions can be influenced by external forces. Persuasive techniques are evident passim society in areas such(prenominal) as politics, advertising, media, religion and education. Psychological research can be used effectively by these institutions in order to change the attitude of the public. For example, this is evident in the transition from the use of behavioural techniques in advertising, to modern day usage of attractive communicators in society (Atkinson 1984). Psychologi cal exploration of persuasion techniques discrepancyally began at the beginning of the 20th century where research has originated from two schools of thought the traditional ascend and the amicable psychological critique. The traditional approach believes that persuasion must be studied scientifically whereas critiques claim that there is no objective truth (Stainton Rogers 2003). This essay will outline the findings of these approaches and use them to confront how the secrets of persuasion are becoming increasingly exposed.This science of persuasion was adopted by Traditional psychologists who believe that persuasion should be studied using scientific methodologies (Billig 199681). Their nomothetic approach aims to uncover trends amongst variables from which they can create laws of persuasion (Billig 1996). Arguably it was early Greek philosophers such as Protagoras and Aristotle, who first provided an keenness into the secrets of persuasion. However, many debate that these i nsights are irrelevant as they did not know what we know now (Billig 1996). Petty, Ostrom and Brock (1981) claim that although the first set of principles governing the art of persuasion was recorded in the fourth century B.C., it was not until the present century that attitude change was investigated experimentally (Billig 199694). On the other hand, Bryant (1965) claims that though modern psychology is very contrastive from that of the Greeks, and doubtless more scientific, modern enlightenment has produced no new method of analysing an audience which can replace Aristotles (Billig 1996,94). If persuasion is to be studied from a scientific stand point, we can consider Kuhns notion of a normal science. He states that knowledge is not accumulated like building blocks aged blocks are entirely replaced by new ones. This would suggest that any findings on persuasion by Greek philosophers strike been replaced by knowledge of modern social psychologists. Does this mean that old knowl edge concerning secrets of persuasion no longer holds any relevance? Many Traditional Psychologists would say yes however, Billig argues otherwise (Billig 1996).Aronson (1976) claims that although Aristotle first asserted some of the basic principles of social influence and persuasion around 350 B.C., it wasnt until the middle of the 20th century that those principles were put to experimental tests by Carl Hovland and his associates. (Billig 199694). This is argued to be the earliest influential research on baring the secrets of persuasion. Hovland (1949) and his colleagues served as chief psychologists for the U.S. War Department during World War II and carried out a scientific study on persuasion which placed instruction of soldier morale. He presented a one-sided text which he gave to group A claiming that they were going to win the war. Then gave a two-sided text which including doubts such as geographical difficulties, death etc. to group B. They found that one sided argument s were more persuasive only when personal beliefs were not taken into account (Myers 1983). By failing to use comparable control groups, prior intelligence could not be measured however, it had a significant effect on his findings. Hovland (1949) argued that the addition of variables would pull back simplicity, however he did recognise the vitality for more complex results. This prompted him and his colleagues to reflect on their research after the war, and focus on aspects of communication and processes of persuasion which change magnitude the likelihood that a message would be persuasive (Myers 1983). Traditional critiques would dismiss Hovlands research for being too infused with subjectivity due to the historic context at bottom which his study was carried out (Stainton Rogers 2003). However, the fact that the concept of intelligence was an exception to his one-sided rule of persuasion, agrees with Billigs argument that there will always be infinite exceptions to laws. Quinti lians findings would uphold this as he claimed that there were no such things as rigid rules of persuasion. He claimed that there is no guarantee that strategies that played in the past will work again in new contexts (Billig 199692). Although this suggests that there are not one set of persuasive rules to be discovered, it can still be argued that Hovlands research was polar as it set a benchmark, from which more research stemmed, on see to iting the secrets of persuasion.Michael Billig (1996) considers himself to be an antiquarian psychologist meaning that he highlights the significance of a neglected register of rhetoric to modern social psychology (Billig 19962). He argues against contemporary social psychology and believes that psychologists should refer back to the findings of ancient Greek philosophers in order to understand the concept of persuasion. He claims that the classical studies of Aristotle and Protagorous in particular, provide valuable knowledge about secrets of persuasion (Billig 1996). For example, Aristotle spoke about the importance of ethos, this was later reinforced by Hovland and his team who discovered the significance of the source of the message and the acceptance of the audience. Billigs focus on specific historical knowledge has been criticised as being a schemata of charm (Billig 19963). However, this may not be negative. The fact that he has sifted through historical findings and extracted those he believed to have relevance to today, is arguably more beneficial to modern social psychologists. We can learn from Billigs support of early findings that there are alternative ways of understanding a persuasive argument. Unlike Atkinsons notion that physical and lexical factors hold importance, Billig believes in looking fundamentally at the arguments themselves (Billig 1996). In terms of persuasion, this may uncover the messages that are trying to be conveyed and affect the way that we mogul allow an argument to influence us. Billigs rhetorical approach has been said to be key to the discursive turn in the social sciences as his faith in historical knowledge has led to key developments in modern social psychology (Billig 1996330).Roman critics of oratory Cicero and Quintilian, arguably provided a very memorable insight in history towards persuasion and rhetoric. Their influence in judicial and political speaking arguably held historical significance in uncovering the secrets of persuasion. (Billig 1996). However, it could also be disputed that they lacked any modern technology to analyse how particular tricks worked (Atkinson 1984). Atkinson carried out an ideographic study on political speeches. He focused on form and how features of rhetoric cause an audience to applaud during a political speech. His ethnomethodological study provided observation on a dependent variable in a sure context as opposed to the Traditional scientific methods (Stainton Rogers 2003). Critiques argue that these techniques rema in context dependent, e.g. appearance of source, intelligence of audience etc. (Myers 1983). With the rapid growth of the media in todays society, the public are becoming increasingly exposed to politics. Atkinsons findings have been highly influential in speech writing and have produced guidelines from which politicians and producers can use his secrets to form the material which is exposed to the public (Atkinson 1984). Arguably politicians may exploit his techniques of manipulation and subsequently the public are becoming more cynical as they start out more conscious that they are targets of persuasion. This could be seen to have positive effects on persuasion, as we are being increasingly exposed to the secrets of persuasion, this is an inevitable lease to increase the levels of sophistication in techniques of persuasion. Orators will be required to use more subtle techniques as they face increasingly cynical audiences (Atkinson 1984). From this point of view, Atkinsons findin gs have posed threat to techniques of persuasion predominantly used in politics and advertising, such as 3-part contingencies (Gettysburgs address 1863) and contrasting pairs (Churchills speech 1940), but at the aforesaid(prenominal) time he has encouraged development. Therefore it can be argued that his study has uncovered secrets of persuasion regularly used by two institutions which have study persuasive powers over society.With reference to both the traditional and critical approaches to social psychology, it must be considered whether the concept of persuasion can now be fully understood. It could be argued that making comparisons between the works of ancient Greek philosophers and modern social psychologists shows the progress in uncovering rules and guidelines to manipulation. However, prior to Hovlands study, there is a classifiable gap in history where the study of persuasion suffered neglect. This could suggest that there are many historical secrets which are yet to be discovered. In todays media predominate society, the study of persuasion holds an increased relevance. Although research has uncovered many rules of persuasion, there is almost a certainty that many remain undiscovered. It is only once these secrets are uncovered, that attitudinal change can fully occur in an increasingly cynical society.