Fundamentals of Public Communication Campaigns

CHAPTER 3 Persuasion in Public Communication Campaigns

Persuasion began with the Ancient Greeks, who accentuated rhetoric and diction as the highest criteria for successful politicians. Trials were conducted before the Assembly, and both the prosecution and the defense depended—as it is still the case today—on the persuasive capabilities of the orator.¹ Contemporary scholars have described persuasion in various ways. The following nine definitions describe how different researchers approach the topic. Persuasion has been framed both as a form of influence (the first four definitions) and as a method of communication (the last five definitions). As such, persuasion is

• an attempt to manipulate an individual’s beliefs, attitudes, objectives, motivations, or behaviors;²
• a deliberate attempt by someone to change another person or group of people through sending a specific message;³
• an active effort by advocates to “change the utility functions of other players to reflect some new normative commitment”;⁴
• a conscious effort to change an individual’s mental state through communication in a situation in which the persuader has some degree of freedom;⁵
• “a communicative activity; thus, there must be a message for persuasion, as opposed to other forms of social influence, to occur”;⁶
• a communication practice whereby the communicator wants to obtain an expected response from his or her recipient;⁷
• a “communication strategy designed to satisfy the needs of the parties involved by influencing ...