Communication Articles

Amplification Principle
Amplification is making something appear more significant (or insignificant) than it really is. In persuasive situations, we seek to direct the attention of the other person towards points that support our argument and away from points that reduce our argument. We thus both amplify the supporting points and attenuate (the reverse of amplifying) other points. Just as you can turn the volume of music up and down, you can amplify or attenuate individual points to suit your purpose.

Amplifying may include:

Pointing out elements that play to the other person's needs, values and goals and otherwise focusing their attention.
Showing evidence of how other people have benefitted.
Contrasting the benefits of a proposition with alternative actions.
Frequently repeating the message.
Providing confirming experiences.

Attenuating may include:

Distracting the person away from these elements.
Decreasing the person's investment in alternatives.
Reframing the situation to exclude alternatives.
Closing off concerns.
Hurting the person when they see alternatives so you can then rescue them with your proposition.
Framing yourself as an authority so you can criticize and trivialize non-supporting elements.

Forced Choice. A way of biasing options when offering or discussing a choice is to both amplify the choice you want the other person to make and to attenuate the choices that you do not want them to make.

A Managed Truth. Amplification and attenuation need not include deliberate lying, but they do manipulate the truth, hence the famous phrase about a politician being "Economical with the truth".

To use this persuasion principle effectively, first identify those things that support your argument and also those things that detract from it. Then find ways to amplify the good points and attenuate the bad points. Aim to keep them both truthful and subtle. As with all persuasion methods, if the other person feels you are being less than honest, they will not trust you or your arguments.

For more persuasion principles, see www.ChangingMinds.org BACK

Appeal Principle
[What follows is one of a Persuasion Principles which applies to everyday interactions. The ability to persuade can be used for good or evil.]

Values As Rules. Our values and other rules give strong direction to our behavior. Although we may sometimes break our values, social norms, morals and ethics, we feel shame. Just the anticipated feeling of shame is enough to force us to comply, especially if a person is making a direct appeal to our values. This is the appeal often used by charities. "You know it's right to help the elderly and infirm."

Role Appeal. Transactional Analysis (TA) describes how we may use our "child" ego state to appeal to the other person's "adult" state. "Oh please, Mom, buy me that new dress!". We may also appeal to the other person at any TA level. We can even do child-to-child wicked appeals. "Hey, let's have some fun!!" You can also appeal to another person’s role. Appeal to a manager for a decision. Appeal to an engineer for an explanation. If people are wearing a suit, they will act as if they are the suit.

Appeal to Needs, Greed and Addictions. "Hey, would you like some chocolate?" Appealing to things that people can't resist is usually a certainty. "Would you like to have a million dollars?"

So what does this all mean? Appeal to their better nature. Appeal to common values of decency. Talk to the child in them. Or the parent. Or even the rational adult. Appeal to their dark secrets. Whisper that nobody will know.

For more persuasion principles, see www.ChangingMinds.org BACK

Ten Newsletter Tips
There are only two kinds of newsletters: those that get read and those that get tossed. Through its design and content, a good newsletter captures and holds the attention of the reader. Here are ten tips to make sure your newsletter gets read:

1. Write your articles objectively. By its nature, a newsletter should be a "soft" sell and provide useful information to readers. A newsletter that's full of propaganda will get tossed.

2. Write to express, not to impress. The purpose of a newsletter is to communicate, not to see how many times you can send readers scrambling for a dictionary. Don't use big words when smaller words will do. Keep your writing casual and conversational. When using acronyms like CC&Rs, write them out in the first reference, for instance, Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (CC&Rs) and then use the acronym.

3. Proofread. You probably wouldn't dream of sending out a resume that is full of typos and grammatical errors. Make sure your newsletter has polished writing. Proofreading is tedious but absolutely necessary. A second pair of eyes sees things you miss.

4. Use front page articles to draw in readers. If the front page doesn't contain interesting articles, most people will glance at it and throw it away without even reading one story.

5. Use graphics like photos, artwork, charts, pull quotes or colored or shaded boxes behind an article. Graphics are important because they are the first things that readers' eyes are drawn to when they turn to a new page. Secondly, graphics are important because they provide visual breaks from solid blocks of text.

6. Use image-editing software like Adobe Photoshop to sharpen and adjust the contrast, color and brightness levels of photos.

7. Use accent colors and tints to make your newsletter more eye-catching. A black and white newsletter is better than no newsletter at all. But if your budget allows, add an accent color to your newsletter's design. This is called a "two-color" or "two-ink" (black plus your accent color) newsletter. Another technique is to use different shades of an ink color. For instance, if you use dark blue as its accent color, using a 50% shade of that ink which would appear medium blue and a 25% shade would appear light blue.

8. Email your print shop your newsletter in a Word, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) or Publisher file attachment to print from instead of paper originals. The results are vastly superior to copying a copy.

9. Use recycled paper. There's very little cost difference today between recycled and virgin paper. Recycled paper generally range between 10-50% post consumer fiber, the higher, the better. If you do use it, be sure to include "Printed on Recycled Paper"

10. Use no paper at all. A large majority of the population has internet access and an email address so newsletters can either emailed or posted on the HOA’s website. Save time and trim your budget.

Excerpts from an article by David Kandler BACK

Arousal Principle
When I am aroused, I am full engaged and hence more likely to pay attention. When my emotions are stimulated, my ability to make rational decisions is reduced, making me easier to influence.

How it works. Arousal occurs when the mind spots something that is

important, often as a threat to basic needs although it can also be something that could help us achieve our goals.

Physiology of arousal. Arousal is a physical state which can range from a gentle increase in interest to full on fight-or-flight reaction, where the whole biology of the body is changed. Think of a time when you were aroused by something. You probably experienced bodily sensations of some kind. There may have been a powerful tingling shooting up your spine. Your might have had a hot flush rushing up you neck and around your face. You toes or fingers may have twitched.

Emotional arousal. When needs or goals are affected, either by threat or opportunity, we become emotionally engaged. When emotionally aroused, our rationality reduces, making us more likely to make rash decisions. Hence emotionally aroused people are more open to carefully-placed persuasive methods.

Ready for action. When a person is aroused, their whole body is poised for action and they are very easy to tip into doing things, possibly with relatively little thought about the consequences.

Think about the motivating speeches of leaders. Consider the threats of competitors. Remember when you were last in an auction. When you were aroused, you were ready to act at a moment's notice.

So what? If you want somebody to act quickly, wind them up with direct or indirect threats or other immediate things that lead to them to a heightened state of arousal. Beware in doing this that you do not wind them up so much they go in the opposite direction.

To manage your own arousal and those you seek to help, consider building aspects of Emotional Intelligence.

For more persuasion principles, see www.ChangingMinds.org BACK

Association Principle
One of the fundamental ways in which our minds work is to link things together. If I say "elephant" your mind will immediately start charging off on a butterfly series of associations, for example, leaping to 'circus', 'clown', 'fool', 'king' and so on.

If, however, I can control how you associate, I can lead you in any direction I choose. The trick of this is to follow the natural tendencies of the mind, leading you along the rutted paths that already groove your thinking.

Association is, to some extent, the opposite of the contrast principle (or perhaps a contrast is an automatic association). Instead of highlighting something by showing you something else which is different, it is about seducing you through things which are similar, or related in some way.

Emotional association. Emotions are very often associated with events, and the strength of the emotion is what makes that even significant in our memories. Emotional memories come to mind more easily and so continue to occupy our attention.

Phobias happen this way. I see a spider as a child, I am terrified. Now, whenever I even hear the word "spider", I feel fear. This association of emotion with words and events is accentuated if others feel emotion at the same time. If my mother was also scared of the spider (or maybe was the first to feel fear), then the phobia will only be made stronger.

A connected society. As a species, we have found it advantageous to live in groups where we can share the tasks of living. However, this comes at a price: to be accepted, we have to obey the social rules. It also leads to non-stop competition within the pecking order as we seek a mate, esteem and social power.

Even when we stand next to someone we do not know, we feel connected in some way. If they are famous or powerful, we feel a reflected glory. If they are socially undesirable, we feel tainted and will ignore them or move away.

So what? So connect things. Connect people with their needs and wants. Connect what you want with what they want. Connect what is already accepted with what you want to be accepted. You can connect in time, starting with things with which they cannot disagree, and following immediately with things of which you want to persuade them.

One of the most powerful things you can do is to connect personally -- from them to you. They will then follow you. You can get them to connect visually, for example making yourself look powerful and attractive. You can connect emotionally, getting them into a buying frame of mind before presenting what you have to sell.

For more persuasion principles, see www.ChangingMinds.org BACK