The Secret Of Persuasion Still Secret Sociology Essay

The Secret Of Persuasion di stableery Secret Sociology EssayPersuasion is where a deliberate attempt is do to heighten peoples attitudes and is concerned with the cognitive process involved in how that change is bought about (Petty and Cacioppo 1981190). In terms of amicable psychological search, do we shaft all that there is to come about vox populi? Can we wont it to control manipulation? As people ar likely to be muckledid to some physical body of impression in everyday life, it is palmy to overlook how our opinions can be influenced by external forces. Persuasive techniques atomic number 18 evident throughout society in beas such(prenominal) as politics, advertising, media, righteousness and education. Psychological search can be used effectively by these institutions in order to change the attitude of the public. For example, this is evident in the novelty from the use of behavioural techniques in advertising, to newfanglight-emitting diode day usage of m esmerizing communicators in society (Atkinson 1984). Psychological exploration of intellection techniques formally began at the beginning of the 20th ampere-second where research has originated from two schools of thought the traditionalistic approach and the social psychological critique. The traditional approach believes that thought mustiness be studied scientifically whereas critiques claim that there is no butt truth (Stainton Rogers 2003). This essay will outline the findings of these approaches and use them to demonstrate how the secrets of thought argon neat increasingly expresent.This science of persuasion was adopted by traditionalistic 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 in sight into the secrets of persuasion. However, many a(prenominal) fence in that these insights atomic number 18 irrelevant as they did not k instantaneously 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 different from that of the Greeks, and doubtless much scientific, modern wisdom has produced no reinvigorated 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 see Kuhns sentiment of a normal science. He states that familiarity is not roll up like building blocks old blocks are simply replaced by new ones. This would suggest that any findings on persuasion by Greek philosophers shake up been replaced by knowledge of modern social psychologists. Does this mean that old knowledge 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 post to experimental tests by Carl Hovland and his associates. (Billig 199694). This is argued to be the earliest influential research on uncovering the secrets of persuasion. Hovland (1949) and his colleagues served as chief psychologists for the U.S. fight Department during World War II and carried out a scientific theatre on persuasion which placed focus of soldier morale. He presented a sloping schoolbook 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 arguments were more persuasive only when individual(prenominal) beliefs were not taken into account (Myers 1983). By failing to use corresponding control groups, preceding intelligence could not be measured however, it had a significant effect on his findings. Hovland (1949) argued that the addition of variables would lose 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 inside which his mull 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 uncounted exceptions to laws. Quintilians findings would support 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 worked in the departed 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 pivotal as it set a benchmark, from which more research stemmed, on understanding the secrets of persuasion.Michael Billig (1996) considers himself to be an antiquarian psychologist meaning that he highlights the significance of a neglected taradiddle of rhetoric to modern social psychology (Billig 19962). He argues against contemporary social psychology and believes that psychologists should refer cover version 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 up 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 show (Billig 19963). However, this may not be negative. The fact that he has sifted through historical findings and extracted those he believed to make water 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 themselv es (Billig 1996). In terms of persuasion, this may uncover the messages that are trying to be conveyed and affect the way that we might 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 language 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 contest that they lacked any modern technology to analyse how particular tricks worked (Atkinson 1984). Atkinson carried out an ideographic line of business 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 real context as opposed to the Traditional scientific methods (Stainton Rogers 2003). Critiques argue that these techniques remain context dependent, e.g. appearance of source, intelligence of audience etc. (Myers 1983). With the quick growth of the media in todays society, the public are becoming increasingly exposed to politics. Atkinsons findings engender 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 become 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 need to increase the levels of edification in t echniques of persuasion. Orators will be required to use more penetrative techniques as they face increasingly cynical audiences (Atkinson 1984). From this point of view, Atkinsons findings 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 resembling 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 major persuasive powers over society.With reference to both the traditional and searing 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 Hovlan ds study, there is a distinctive 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 dominated society, the study of persuasion holds an increased relevance. Although research has uncovered many rules of persuasion, there is almost a deduction that many remain undiscovered. It is only once these secrets are uncovered, that attitudinal change can fully occur in an increasingly cynical society.