Art, Science, and Psychological Principles of Persuasion

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Table of Contents

Examples Illustrating the Liking Principle
The Relevance of the Liking Principle
Characteristics of the Communicator, the Message, and the Target Audience
Measures for Enhancing Persuasiveness
Ethical Issues of Persuasion
Practical Application of the Liking Principle
Conclusion
References

Some people think that persuasiveness is a character trait or a talent, and those who succeed in influencing others are simply lucky to possess this feature. However, Robert Cialdini (2001) figured out six principles of persuasion that are present in every situation when a person is subject to the influence of another one. These principles include liking, reciprocity, consistency, social proof, scarcity, and authority (Cialdini, 2001). Their existence proves that persuasion follows a consistent pattern, and anyone may learn to apply them in practice. This essay considers the principle of liking, which implies that people are prone to believe those whom they like and who like them. The factors influencing this concept include “physical attractiveness, cooperation, compliments, similarity of background, attitudes, and even attire” (Swart, Vlok, & Jooste, 2016, p. 76). An analysis of the liking principle of persuasion shows that it may be used to enhance credibility and benefit an individual in personal and professional life.

Examples Illustrating the Liking Principle

The principle of liking is implemented in many commercials and advertisements, as well as in life situations. For example, Anheuser-Busch, a brewing company, used it for its poster for Budweiser (2019). This advertisement depicts a middle-aged couple sitting on the floor with a pizza and two cans of beer. Boxes on both sides of the poster indicate that the two people have just moved into a new flat. At the top of it, there is the product’s name and the company’s slogan. This poster relates to the principle of liking because of the similarity between the characters pictured on it and potential customers. The depicted couple looks like many other people who want to relax after work and spend time together with their partners. Therefore, the poster may persuade them that drinking Budweiser is an excellent way of satisfying their needs.

Another example of the liking principle implementation is L’Oreal commercial featuring Celine Dion. In this promotional video, the woman locks her hotel room door to dye her hair with the advertised product. After this, she walks through a luxurious hall together with other beautiful women. In the end, Celine gets into a car and says, “because you are worth it” (Leon, 2019). This commercial is relevant to the liking principle for two reasons. First, the physical attractiveness of the characters makes it pleasant to the eye. Special attention paid to the women’s hair only increases customers’ liking for the product. Secondly, potential customers receive a compliment at the end of the video. This attribute of the principle helps to win customers over and make them like the product.

The principle of liking is utilized in a commercial of another brand of hair care products, Pantene. The campaign launched in 2019 aims at persuading women that they do not have to dye their grey hair. Advertisers tried to achieve this goal by showing short interviews with attractive grey-haired women. They say that the necessity of dyeing grey hair is imposed by culture (Pantene UK, 2019). They add that they like how their hair looks and will never change its color. At the end of the video, the advertised product, shampoo for grey hair, is shown. This commercial relates to the liking principle because it features beautiful women, so customers will probably like it. Furthermore, in this video, one woman gives a compliment to customers: “Do not dye your hair. It looks good” (Pantene UK, 2019). Finally, this commercial tackles the concept of similarity between the characters and the audience. Grey-haired female customers are more likely to believe women who look like them. If there were young girls saying that they would not dye their hair in old age, it would not be convincing.

The Relevance of the Liking Principle

The principles of persuasion explained by Cialdini have proven to be functioning. With regard to the liking principle, people indeed are more likely to trust individuals who attract them. Reingen and Kernen (as cited in Swart et al., 2016) conducted an experiment demonstrating how appearance influenced persuasion. They invited good-looking and less attractive solicitors to ask people for a small donation. As a result, handsome participants collected almost twice as much money as their counterparts (Swart et al., 2016). Palmer and Peterson (2016) have discovered that good-looking political candidates are regarded as more competent. They explain this phenomenon by a broader psychological concept, the halo effect, meaning that “individuals ascribe characteristics to others based on the presence of another observable characteristic” (Palmer & Peterson, 2016, p. 355). Thus, when people see an attractive person, they subconsciously endow him or her with other good qualities, including trustworthiness.

Since people are attracted by those similar to them, there have been studies proving that similarity influences persuasiveness. Aune and Basil (as cited in Swart et al., 2016) carried out an experiment in which they asked students to ask for a donation from their peers. The first group simply asked for money, while the participants from the second one added that they were also students. As a result, the first group managed to receive a donation from 9.8% of the approached students, while the other group collected money from 47.1% of respondents (Swart et al., 2016, p. 77). Thus, when people see that they have something in common with a person who tries to persuade them, they are more likely to trust him or her.

Characteristics of the Communicator, the Message, and the Target Audience

In any situation involving persuasion, there needs to be a communicator, a message, and the audience. According to Feenstra (2013), the main attributes of a communicator include credibility, likeability, and attractiveness. Credibility includes a persuader’s expertise, which means the knowledge of the subject in question, and trustworthiness, which determines whether this person can be trusted (Feenstra, 2013). In the context of the liking principle, this characteristic becomes primary when the audience cannot see a communicator, for example, if the message is broadcast on the radio. Otherwise, attractive speakers may be more persuading despite being less trustworthy. Palmer and Peterson (2016) have proved by discovering that people tend to ascribe expertise to more good-looking individuals, even though there may be evidence to the contrary. The principle of likeability implies that physical appearance is not the only way for a persuader to win over the audience. If communicators give compliments or try to find common grounds with their recipients to demonstrate their similarity, it will also enhance their persuasiveness.

Although the personality of a persuader plays a significant role in influencing other people, the way in which the message is constructed is no less important. One of the possible strategies for a convincing message is to evoke emotions (Feenstra, 2013). In some cases, inspiring fear may be an appropriate way of leading people to action (Feenstra, 2013). However, when implementing the liking principle, it seems to be more suitable to elicit positive emotions. It can be seen in many commercials, including those mentioned above. The view of beautiful women with shiny hair inspires delight and makes customers associate the advertised product with this feeling. According to Feenstra (2013), the message can be gain-framed or loss-framed. As for the principle of liking, it seems to use gain-framed messages because they are more likely to evoke positive emotions.

The characteristics of the audience also need to be taken into account since people with diverse backgrounds perceive the information differently. The most significant attributes of the audience include culture, age, self-esteem, and the elaboration likelihood model (Feenstra, 2013). It is quite clear that adolescents have values different from that of older people, and residents of Western and Asian countries see the world differently. Thus, the same message cannot persuade all of these groups of the population. According to Feenstra (2013), individuals with low self-esteem are more easily persuaded than their self-confident peers because the latter adhere to their own judgments. Based on this characteristic, it may be assumed that to influence a person with high self-esteem, the message should contain strong arguments.

The elaboration likelihood model shows how people process a persuasive message. They can choose a central or peripheral route to persuasion (Feenstra, 2013). The first route implies that people will take time to consider the message and will be persuaded if it contains strong arguments (Feenstra, 2013). Individuals choosing the second way do not have time or ability to process the information carefully (Feenstra, 2013). Therefore, they are likely to evaluate the persuasiveness of the message not by arguments but by other attributes such as the appearance of a communicator (Feenstra, 2013). Thus, if the principle of liking is the only means used for persuasion, it is likely to affect those who do not consider the message thoughtfully, even if it contains weak reasons.

Measures for Enhancing Persuasiveness

Since persuasion is not an innate gift of a person but a set of specific principles, it can be intentionally enhanced. The principle of liking implies that to increase one’s influence, one should try to look more attractively. For this reason, commercials usually feature good-looking men and women even for advertising products not related to appearance. Another way of enhancing persuasiveness using the liking principle is to find common grounds with the audience. It is successfully utilized in the Pantene commercial, in which grey-haired women apply to female customers with the same problem.

Naturally, persuasiveness should not be ensured only by the principle of liking. The examples of commercials mentioned above could become more convincing if, alongside the liking principle, other concepts were used. For instance, the Budweiser advertisement could be improved by providing social proof in the form of the number of people choosing this brand of beer. The commercials promoting hair care products could use the principle of authority by demonstrating the audience some proof of the company’s expertise in this field.

Ethical Issues of Persuasion

Persuasion may be considered ethical if people are not drawn into activities that may be unfavorable to them or others. Lemanski (2018) determines several ethical issues related to persuasion in advertising, which include promoting materialism and harmful products, unethical appeal types, and advertising to children. The collected examples of commercials seem to be ethical, including the Budweiser poster. Although it advertises beer, which may be regarded as a harmful product, it does it discreetly. The alcoholic beverage seems to be a minor part of the whole picture, and only the name of the product helps to understand what is advertised. From the ethical point of view, it is better not to enhance the persuasiveness of this advertisement with the principle of social proof. As for the other two commercials, they do not have any issues related to ethics because they do not advertise harmful products, do not feature nude or half-dressed women, and do not deceive customers. Even if they were enhanced by other persuasion principles, as suggested above, they would still be ethical.

Practical Application of the Liking Principle

Since the principle of liking has proven its effectiveness in persuasion, it would be beneficial to use it in one’s personal and professional life. As people tend to trust attractive individuals, one should take care of one’s appearance. Certainly, not every person is endowed with exceptional beauty, but clean and elegant clothes suited for a particular occasion will benefit anyone. For example, during a job interview, potential workers will seem more convincing to the employer if they wear a nice suit and have a neat haircut and a friendly face. The liking principle also suggests that finding similarities with one’s interlocutor will also help to win him or her over. For example, if managers see that their employees do not get along with each other, they may ask them to fill a questionnaire to discover their interests. Then, the results may be used to unite workers with common hobbies.

Conclusion

The liking principle has proven to enhance persuasiveness through physical attractiveness and finding similarities between the communicator and the audience. Therefore, this concept may be used in one’s personal and professional life when one needs to influence others or reach common grounds. Given people’s tendency to ascribe trustworthiness to attractive individuals, one should exercise good judgment while evaluating if a persuader indeed deserves one’s trust.

References

Budweiser [Image]. (2019). Web.

Cialdini, R. B. (2001). Harnessing the science of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 79(9), 72-79.

Feenstra, J. (2013). Social psychology. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Lemanski, J. L. (2018). Traditional and emerging ethical concerns in advertising. Annales: Ethics in Economic Life, 21(4), 21-29.

Leon, J. D. (2019).Celine Dion – L’oreal commercial 2019 (English)[Video file]. Web.

Palmer, C. L., & Peterson, R. D. (2016). Halo effects and the attractiveness premium in perceptions of political expertise. American Politics Research, 44(2), 353-382.

Pantene UK. (2019).Pantene Pro-V #PowerofGrey interviews [Video file]. Web.

Swart, P. D., Vlok, P. J., & Jooste, J. L. (2016). Broadening the influence of asset managers through the six principles of persuasion. South African Journal of Industrial Engineering, 27(2), 72-80.

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