Designing Persuasive Texts - Chapters 1-5
Week 1. Introduction, Attitudes, Integrated Model of Behavioral Prediction
Lecture 1 - Chapter 1 “Convincing documents”
Influencing behavior
● how to get people to do something:
○ no freedom: threat of violence
○ very limited freedom: legal provisions
○ considerable freedom: transfer of information
● 3 responsibilities of speaker:
○ invention (gathering & selecting information)
○ dispositio (structuring the selected information)
○ elocutio (putting the info into words)
Persuasion
➢ “Successful intentional effort at influencing another’s mental state through
communication in a circumstance in which the persuadee has some measure of
freedom” (O’Keefe, 2002)
➢ persuasion can only be said to have occurred if the persuadee had an alternative
➢ intention to influence: THE distinguishing feature between persuasive & informative
Functions of documents
● informative (e.g. brochure about disease)
○ communication principle: clarity, honesty, efficiency & relevance
○ persuasive: more likely to think about it because the flyer informed us
● instructive (e.g. how to wear something properly)
○ goal is not persuasion
○ but unintentionally persuade: more likely to buy baby wrap
● persuasive (e.g. fund-raising email from unicef or wwf)
○ intended to persuade certain audience
Persuasive documents
➢ “designed with the aim of influencing readers’ attitudes through the transfer of
information, with the readers having a certain degree of freedom”
Directive vs. non-directive communication
● directive: intended to make the target group draw particular conclusion
● non-directive: no intention to steer people towards particular conclusion
Measurability or knowability of behavior
● Structure of target group
- size & heterogeneity of group
● Costs of target group
- costs of behavior change
- costs perceived as low, their resistance to adopting behavior will decrease
1
Week 1. Introduction, Attitudes, Integrated Model of Behavioral Prediction
Lecture 1 - Chapter 1 “Convincing documents”
Influencing behavior
● how to get people to do something:
○ no freedom: threat of violence
○ very limited freedom: legal provisions
○ considerable freedom: transfer of information
● 3 responsibilities of speaker:
○ invention (gathering & selecting information)
○ dispositio (structuring the selected information)
○ elocutio (putting the info into words)
Persuasion
➢ “Successful intentional effort at influencing another’s mental state through
communication in a circumstance in which the persuadee has some measure of
freedom” (O’Keefe, 2002)
➢ persuasion can only be said to have occurred if the persuadee had an alternative
➢ intention to influence: THE distinguishing feature between persuasive & informative
Functions of documents
● informative (e.g. brochure about disease)
○ communication principle: clarity, honesty, efficiency & relevance
○ persuasive: more likely to think about it because the flyer informed us
● instructive (e.g. how to wear something properly)
○ goal is not persuasion
○ but unintentionally persuade: more likely to buy baby wrap
● persuasive (e.g. fund-raising email from unicef or wwf)
○ intended to persuade certain audience
Persuasive documents
➢ “designed with the aim of influencing readers’ attitudes through the transfer of
information, with the readers having a certain degree of freedom”
Directive vs. non-directive communication
● directive: intended to make the target group draw particular conclusion
● non-directive: no intention to steer people towards particular conclusion
Measurability or knowability of behavior
● Structure of target group
- size & heterogeneity of group
● Costs of target group
- costs of behavior change
- costs perceived as low, their resistance to adopting behavior will decrease
1
