Persuasion is the process of attempting to change someone's attitude, beliefs, or behavior.

In simple words, it is the process to persuade someone for bringing change in their attitude, beliefs, or behavior. This process can be seen in instances such as TV advertisements, the speech of a politician or a speaker at a seminar. TV advertisements are designed to bring change in consumer’s attitude to like and buy certain products. A politician’s speech is majorly focused on convincing people to vote for him. A speaker in a seminar attempts to bring an intended change in the behavior of the people. For example, in a seminar on cleanliness, it is intended to bring a positive change in people’s attitude towards cleanliness, such as that they may keep their homes and surroundings clean as well as take care of their personal hygiene.

Apart from the above formal examples, people in general life also persuade one another for certain reasons. However, the success of the persuasion process – its ability to change the old beliefs and attitudes of people – depends on a number of factors. It is important to first understand that the process of persuasion involves three components: 1) the communicator, 2) the communication, and 3) the target. Each component has its factors of persuasion which are explained as follows.

The communicator is the source that provides persuasive information. It is the person who gives a message to bring an intended change in the attitude of others. The role of the communicator in persuasion is the most important one. There are certain factors associated with communicator which ensures successful persuasion.

The first factor is the expertise of the communicator. If the communicator is an expert in the field of persuasion, he is likely to influence others easily. Persuasion requires some specific qualities which should be possessed by the communicator. For instance, the communicator should have good convincing power. He should know the techniques that may work best to convince others based on their socio-demographic attributes such as age, gender, education, and so on. He knows how to engage others or let others become an active part of the persuasion process.

The second factor is the level of knowledge possessed by the communicator. If the communicator is a knowledgeable person (particularly in relation to the area where attitudinal change is required), he is likely to influence others effectively. This is because he would be able to demonstrate with the help of valid facts and figures. For instance, if a doctor speaks about some health issue and gives some medical advice, the people would readily accept it without questioning it. If an irrelevant person speaks about a health issue, his words may not influence others effectively.

The third factor is the trustworthiness of the communicator. If the communicator is evaluated positively by others, he is more likely to bring a change. One of the factors that lead to the positive evaluation of the communicator is his trustworthiness. If the person is generally known for good practices such as his involvement in some social welfare activities, people trust him more. Similarly, if the person remains unbiased during the process of persuasion, people trust him more. If the communicator has no personal interest in persuasion and is focused more on the wellbeing of others, he is trusted more.
The fourth factor is whether the communicator belongs to the same group (or target group) or is an outsider. If the communicator belongs to the same group, he is more likely to influence others. Since he shares common cultural background (e.g., language, dressing style, norms, and values), he is liked and accepted by the other members of the group. On the other hand, an outsider may be relatively less influential in bringing a change.

The last and yet important one is the personality of the communicator. Personal traits such as being a humorous person or being a serious person count a lot. This depends on the area of persuasion, however, a balanced approach (to be neither too serious nor too humorous) typically works best in most cases. Body language also counts a lot. For instance, hand movement and facial gestures, according to the information being shared, plays an important role. Apart from these personal traits, if the communicator is some known person (e.g., a TV celebrity or famous actor) who is generally followed by many people, his message has more influence. This is the reason that for some seminars or programs, TV celebrities or famous actors are hired.

Communication refers to the process of sharing persuasive information. It can also be understood as the information or the message that is shared to change the attitudes of others. The content of the message or the information itself is an important factor that assures producing intended change. If the content of the message is designed properly, it would lead to successful persuasion.

The first factor with regard to the content of the message is the extent to which the provided information is counter-attitudinal or seems to be counter-attitudinal to the target audience. The more the message is counter-attitudinal (or looks counter-attitudinal), the less it would be accepted by the audience. Since an attitudinal change is intended, the content of the message does provide some counter-attitudinal information. However, it does not necessarily mean that a stance can only be supported with the help of utter counter-attitudinal ideas. First, the stance may not require any counter attitudinal ideas at all. Second, if it does involve some counter-attitudinal ideas, its counter-attitudinal effect can be minimized by presenting the ideas in a proper justifiable manner.

The second factor is the strength of the argument. Strong, clear, and logical arguments are more compelling and convincing than weak, ambiguous, and illogical arguments. Arguments, presented in a rational and systematic way, are more likely to produce the intended change. For instance, in a seminar on changing smoker’s attitudes to help them quit smoking, the content of the message should clearly state that why it is good to quit smoking, what health complications (e.g., cancer and cardiac risk) are caused by smoking, how these arguments are supported by valid facts and figures, and what are the strategies to quit smoking.

The third factor is the balanced approach to argumentation. The positive and negative arguments should be presented in a balanced manner. It should not be only focused on negative aspects and outcomes of something simply to scare someone to change their behavior. It is known as the fear arousal mechanism. This mechanism if handled properly can be expected for better output to some extent but extreme fear arousal may work in the opposite way because the audience would ignore it or even reject it due to the defense mechanism. 

Therefore, there should be a balanced presentation of negative and positive aspects to motivate the audience for an intended change. For instance, in the seminar for smokers to quit smoking, the content of the message should not only present negative aspects such as scary health complications (e.g., cancer and cardiac issues) but also on a positive aspect such that if they quit smoking, they would be able to save a lot of money that is spent on buying cigarette, and that they would be able to have a happy social life (with their family members and friends).  

Linked with a balanced approach is the factor of repetition of arguments. Typically, repetition of a strong argument increases the persuasion because this is the way to get an important idea into the minds of the audience. However, repetition increase persuasion up to a point and when it exceeds that point, it may no more be beneficial or may produce a negative impact such as boredom or annoyance in the audience.

Target is the person or group of persons that are to be persuaded for a change in their attitude, belief, or behavior. In formal instances of persuasion, it can be the audience listening to a speaker in a room or a hall. The qualities of the target audience also determine how the persuasion process may perform.

The first factor is the personality traits of the audience. Every individual has different personality characteristics such as aggressiveness, joyousness, perceptual qualities, introverted or extroverted traits. The characteristics determine the extent to which a person would accept the message because different persons (with different personality traits) may perceive the same message differently.

The second factor is the socio-demographic attributes of the audience such as age, gender, educational attainment and social class. For instance, individuals with lower ages are generally more likely to be influenced easily by the message as compared to an individual with higher ages. Educational attainment is also an important factor because it is relatively difficult to change the attitude of a highly educated individual with poor persuasion because they have good evaluative skills and are convinced more by the quality of the message than superficial characteristics (such as characteristics of the communicator). Similarly, the attitude of individuals from higher social classes is difficult to change compared to that of lower classes.

The third factor is ego involvement. The more a person is ego-involved with an issue, the more likely he is to resist change. In such cases, if the attitude (intended to be changed) is linked with one’s reference group (which is generally viewed as important by an ego-involved person), it is hard to change. For example, convincing a person to change his religion is harder than convincing him for changing the brand from which he generally buys shoes.

The fourth factor is cultural considerations. There are different cultures with different standards, norms, and values. People from a specific culture may readily accept the message if the message is coming from the source within the culture or if the message supports the prevalent norms and values of that culture. On the other hand, the people may hesitate to accept the message if it is coming from outside culture or if it contradicts their prevalent cultural norms and values.