Language Use in Persuasion

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Hy Smart People.. This article title is Language Use in Persuasion, I hope Useful For you

LANGUAGE AND PERSUASION

CONNOTATIVE AND DENOTATIVE MEANING
• DENOTATIVE the first meaning
• CONNOTATIVE the other meaning
• Pig is an example. Also bad.
• Meaning is arbitrary and flexible. People understand different things from different words.

ULTIMATE TERMS
• God Terms – always good
• Progress, fact, critical thinking, family values, balanced budget.
• Devil Terms – always bad
• Nazi, fascist, communist, racist, terrorist, gang member, sexual harassment, sweat shop.
• Charismatic terms – observable but have a mysterious power
• Freedom, democracy, they call for sacrifice if needs be.

POLITICIANS AND THE RIGHT WORDS
• Pentagon becomes department of defense
• Vouchers become opportunity scholarships
• Tax cuts become tax relief
• Global warming becomes climate change
• Washington is always negative
• Prosperity is always positive
• Empower is always positive – power walks
• Extremes can be tempting to some – extreme sports, etc.

FAMILIAR PHRASES
Aphorisms and idioms work better on the peripheral route.

LABELS
• Different names get different hot or not ratings – MIT photo study
• Broken homes become blended families
• Put bad labels on things you do not like.

LANGUAGE VIVIDNESS AND INTENSITY

Profanity
• 8.5% OF WORDS USED BY COLLEGE STUDENTS, 3.5% adults at work, 12.5% adults at leisure.
• Religious, excretory and sexual. Studies shows sexual are the most offensive, religious the least offensive.
• Most audiences do not find profanity persuasive, but it does get attention and promote conflict.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
• There are many options. Person with a wheelchair: normal (uses a wheelchair), heroic (handicapable), disabled, or pathetic (abnormal).
• The pathetic characterizations were received with hostility.
• PC speech makes a difference when you go to the extreme.

VIVID LANGUAGE
• It is more persuasive up to a point. At some point it becomes too much and people do not like it.
• Starving children example.
• Vividness needs to match the message and be appropriate.

INTENSE LANGUAGE
1. Vivid language works with those who agree, not with those who disagree.
2. Must not violate their expectations. More credible speakers have more latitude here. Rape of the forest.
3. Can make your position sound more extreme, and make people not want to go along with you.
4. Talking like the audience talks is the best adaptation

POWERLESS LANGUAGE
• Avoid it as it makes you less persuasive.
• Hesitations: um, ah, pause
• Hedges: Too much qualification
• Intensifiers: I really, really believe this, and hope very much that you will too.
• Too Polite: Indicates deference and subordination. Excuse me if you wouldn’t mind too much, I have an idea I hope you will consider.
• False questions: This is fun, don’t you think?
• Disclaimers: I know this is a really dumb question, but…