Part I: Understanding Persuasion

The Study of Persuasion

Why Study Persuasion?
Methods of Studying Persuasion　
Toward a Definition of Persuasion
The Ethics of Persuasion
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

The Psychology of Persuasion: Basic Concepts and Principles

Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes
A Preview of Theories
Persuasion by Degrees: Adapting to Different Audiences
BVA theory: Beliefs and Values as Building Blocks of Attitudes
From Attitudes to Actions and the Role of Subjective Norms:
The Theory of Reasoned Action
The Role of Emotion: Westen’s Critique of Expectancy-Value Theories
Priming Effects
"Two Systems" Theories
Persuasion as a Learning Process
Persuasion as Psychological Unbalancing and Rebalancing
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Persuasion Broadly Considered

The Globalized Rhetorical Hypothesis
"Persuasion" Versus "Non-Persuasion"— God terms and Devil terms
Preview to the Globalized View of Persuasion: Five Key Communication Principles
Impression Management as Persuasion
Deception about Persuasive Intent
Persuasion in the Guise of Objectivity
How Multiple Messages Shape Ideologies
Persuasion and Ideology: McWorld
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Part 2: The Coactive Approach

Coactive Persuasion

Using Receiver-Oriented Approaches
Being Situation Sensitive
Combining Similarity and Credibility
Building on Acceptable Premises
Appearing Reasonable and Providing Psychological Support
Using Communication Resources
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Resources of Communication

Resources of Language
Nonverbal Resources
Visual and Audiovisual Resources
Resources of the New Media
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Framing and Reframing: The Coactive Approach

What are Frames?
Metaphors as Frames
Frames as Metaphors
Cultural Frames and Verbal Repertoires
Research on Frames and Reframes
Metacommunicative Frames
Framing in the News Media
Reframing in Political Confrontations: "Going Meta"
Reframing in Psychotherapy
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Cognitive Shorthands

Cialdini’s Seven Principles
The Highly Persuadable Persuadee
Case Study One: How Doctors Using Shortcuts Puts Your Health at Risk.
Case Study Two: How Financial Advertisers Using Shortcuts Puts Your Money at Risk.
Case Study Three: How Crooks Using Shortcuts Steal from People Both Gullible and Wise.
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Reasoning and Evidence

Propositions of Policy, Fact, and Value
Changing, Repairing, or Retaining a Policy: The Stock Issues Revisited
Types of Evidence as Resources of Argumentation
Fallacies Reconsidered
The Case of Gulf War Syndrome
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Part 3. Context for Persuasion

Going Public: Delivering a Presentation that Persuades

The Genuinely Committed Persuader
Strategic Planning: A Three-Step Process
Making Ideas Stick
Organizing Persuasive Presentations
Issues in Message Design
Adapting to Different or Multiple Audiences
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Persuasive Campaigns

Campaign Stages and Components
Types of Campaigns
Summary
Question and Projects for Further Study

Staging Political Campaigns

Persuasion in the Four Stages of Presidential Campaigning
Machiavellianism in Political Campaigns: A Guide to Getting Elected to High Office
Campaign Decisions That Matter: Five Case Studies
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Analyzing Product Advertising

Analyzing Product Advertising
What is Advertising?
The Changing Character of Advertising Campaigns
Today’s Phase: Hypercommunication
Breaking With Tradition in the Phase of Hypercommunication: Anti-Ads
Misdirection in the Language of Advertising
Visual Misdirection in Product Advertising
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Talking Through Differences

Persuasion in Social Conflicts
What are Social Conflicts?
Cooperation and Competition in Mixed-Motive Conflicts
Symmetrical Versus Asymmetrical Conflicts
Destructive versus Productive Conflicts
Dealing with Conflicts Productively
Doc Reardon’s Negotiating Strategies
The Persuasion Dialogue
Moving to Dialogue in Interpersonal Conflicts
Case 1: A Taped Conversation about a Taped Conversation
Case 2: A Structured Conversation about Abortion
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

Leading Social Movements

What Are Social Movements?
Types of Social Movements
Tactics of Social Movements
Social Protests and Mass Media
Leading Social Movements: The Requirements-Problems-Strategies (RPS) Approach
Open- and Closed-Minded Movements
The Fate of Social Movements
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

More About Ethics

The Ethics of Faculty Advocacy in the College Classroom
Ethically Problematic Forms and Genres of Persuasion
The Mindful Society
The Ethics of Being Ethically Sensitive
Communication Activism Revisited
Summary
Questions and Projects for Further Study

About the Author

Herbert W. Simons taught persuasion and related topics in communication at Temple University from 1960 until his retirement in 2007. He has served as Director of the National Communication Association Forum (NCA-F) and is currently on its Advisory Board. Recipient of the National Communication Association's Distinguished Scholar Award, he has authored or edited eight books. A frequent media commentator, visiting professor, and guest lecturer, he directed Temple's London Study Abroad program, lectured at Peking University and at other institutions in China, and served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Hong Kong and Jakarta. Jean G. Jones is professor of communication at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and has over two decades' experience studying, teaching, and writing about rhetoric and persuasion. Named Edinboro University's "Educator of the Year" in 2006, Jones also has an active life in politics, having run for office and served on her city council. Jones currently serves as president of her local faculty union, where she puts her persuasive skills into practice at the negotiations table, bargaining on behalf of the hundreds of professors and coaches she is elected to represent.

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About the Author