Ways to Persuade People, Article Writing Example

As discussed in this course, there are many different ways to persuade people.  This can take the form of subtle or overt advertising messages, the use of positive and negative emotions, and the perceptions that we have about the person (or corporation) that is trying to sway us in a particular direction.  The manner in which we frame our arguments plays a crucial role in persuading our audience.  I discovered this personally in high school when I launched a neighborhood campaign to install a traffic light on a street that had seen half-a-dozen accidents in as many months. One of these accidents, unfortunately, resulted in the death of my dog, which was what impelled me to take action.

I had little luck pleading my case to the city as a lone individual, especially because I was still a teenager and didn’t carry much weight in the community. With support from my family and friends, I went door-to-door throughout the neighborhood trying to get people to sign my petition. I presented both gain-framed and loss-framed messages while discussing the issue with my neighbors. From a gain-framed perspective, I cited the increased level of safety that would come from having a traffic light at this particular intersection and mentioned how much safer the street would be for pedestrians, cyclists, children at play, and pets.  The accident involving my dog gave me a perfect lead-in to my loss-framed message, as I was able to talk about my own distress at witnessing the accident, the high speed of the car that hit my dog, and the high likelihood that future accidents could involve more pets or, worse, a child.

This approach allowed for me to capitalize on both the positive and negative emotions of my neighbors.  While it wasn’t my intention to manipulate them in order to gain their signatures, after reading about persuasive messages in this course I realize that I was playing on my neighbors’ personal fears.  However, this wasn’t a matter of using scare tactics:  instead, I was informing them of the very real dangers that existed right outside their door.  Motivated by my own personal loss, I was able to articulate the problem (the lack of a traffic light which resulted in speeding cars and vehicles making unsafe turns at this particular intersection) and offer them a way to fix the problem (by signing my petition). This essentially turned a negative into a positive.  Rather than merely feeling helpless about the situation, as I had for so long, my neighbors were able to feel that they were active participants for change.  This stimulated their positive emotions, and I believe it was a major reason why many people signed my petition.

I do admit that I used my dog’s death for my own gain, to a certain extent.  I carried a picture of him with me that I showed to everyone that I spoke to, thus putting a ‘face’ on the neighborhood problem.  However, I think that these manipulative techniques were used for a good reason, as my campaign for the traffic light was ultimately successful.  In two days of going door-to-door, I had over two hundred signatures and had the opportunity to meet several local lawyers who assisted me in drafting my request to city council.  Very few people refused to sign the petition. This may be because the issue itself was so specific to our neighborhood, thus making it personal for almost everyone I spoke to.  Also, there was very little attitude inoculation  of my neighbors because, as far as I know, I was the first person to have brought a petition of this nature to their attention.  The people who did decline to sign the petition tended to state that they didn’t sign any petitions on general principle.  This suggests to me that their refusal had less to do with the persuasiveness of my argument than it did my neighbors’ own personal mindsets.  This experience demonstrated to me that a strong argument can play a major role in getting assistance from others to enact real change.