The Principle of Persuasion Essay

In 1983, Raymond Carver introduced his short story “Cathedral” to the public. The first-person narrative takes place within the narrator’s home, where his wife is waiting upon the arrival of her blind friend Robert. The narrator, however, becomes more concerned about how Robert’s visit will affect him rather than enjoy the situation. Once Robert arrives, the narrator tries to understand the blind man, but he is unaware of what tasks Robert is capable of performing due to the narrator’s inability to “see”. In time, Robert shows the narrator the difference between looking and seeing through illustrations of a cathedral, drawn by the narrator with his eyes closed. “Cathedral’s” narrator exposes readers to anti-heroic views

In the most widely quoted and discussed model of presidential power, Richard Neustadt states that the power of the president lies in the power to persuade. According to Neustadt, the key to presidential success and influence is persuasion. Although some may view the president as a powerful authority figure, the checks and balances established by the founders makes the president’s skills of persuasion crucial.

If Iowa was the only state in the United States, what city would you live in

This essay aims to explore and describe some of the key studies within Social Psychology and show why social psychology is still important within the science of psychology today. Social psychology was once described by Allport (as cited in Lindzey & Aronson, 1985, p.5) as, “the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others”. One of the first psychologists to study social psychology was Kurt Lewin. Lewin is considered the “father of social psychology” by many as he took a stand against the dominant behaviourist approach during the 1920’s through his belief that interaction between the individual and their environment is key to affecting behaviour, rather than environment alone. His revolutionary ideas matured into the study of group dynamics, which is widely used by many organisations today (Collin, 2012).

“Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell 2). This quote is from the novel 1984 by George Orwell. In this book, the society is controlled by an all powerful government that capsizes the people’s brain so that there is no independent thought. Citizens are constantly being watched and monitored while all they can do is support them and pour out hate to the enemy thinking the party is always right. Hope comes to a man named Winston, the protagonist, a lone man who secretly opposes the manipulation of the mind. After the plot unravels, Winston begins to show his opposition against the party. The party controls everything in the society and puts everything the way they want it to be, endlessly reminding people that they

“Weight Loss: Health Risk Associated With Obesity.” WebMD. WebMD. 04 Jan. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.

With NFL Players kneeling everywhere and soldiers feeling unappreciated, our country is in shock. It all started by a player named Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, in 2016. This event persuaded numerous NFL players to continue this process. One by one, players all over the league began to protest to call attention to the issues of "racial inequalities and police brutality". With mixed reviews of this protest, I believe that kneeling during the National Anthem of the United States of America is disrespectful because it is abrasive, selfish, and hurtful. Also, I am not sure that all of those protesting in this manner know the true meaning of our national anthem or the flag that represents our freedom.

According to Heider and Skowronski (2007), human beings have a tendency of behaving in certain ways under certain conditions and, more importantly, in the presence of others. To explain the phenomenon, psychologists explore the science of social psychology which was traditionally designed to address the gap between sociology and psychology. It follows, therefore, that social psychology is a discipline that employs empirical investigations towards understanding and explaining the way the implied, actual or imagined presence of other humans influences the behavior, emotions and thoughts of other individuals (Simmons, Nelson & Simonsohn, 2011). Socially, psychologists opine that humans tend to behave in a manner designed

Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Health, United States, 2002. Flegal et. al. JAMA. 2002;288:1723-7. NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, 1998.

The Art of Persuasion Used since the times of the ancient Greeks, the art of persuasion has

“Your assignment is to write a persuasive essay and present it to the class in a week. You will be graded based on how convincing it is. Today we will be choosing topics,” announced Mr. Bowerbank, my 7th grade English teacher and ruler of classroom 110. My class simultaneously groaned at the prospect of work. I simply lifted my head with intrigue as it was already May and about time we had our first essay. He then proceeded to give examples of topics we could choose and gave us some time to think before we had to tell him our topic. My classmates were already rushing to tell the teacher their idea lest someone else steal it. That meant the usual abortion, death penalty, or drug use topics were out. I really couldn't think of anything and the teacher was slowly making his way through the remaining students like an executioner beheading criminals in a line. I have always thought that he would make a marvelous supervillain if he had a curly mustache, a tophat, and a cape. Eventually my name was called. I slowly dragged myself over to his desk. Even sitting down, he still seemed to tower over me. “What is your topic Cindy?” As usual in such desperate times, my mind turned to food. “Waffles are better than pancakes.” I figured that a waffle was just a differently shaped pancake with a nicer texture. “Hmm. Excellent topic. I look forward to your essay!” I survived to live yet another day.

Persuasion and force are the means used to shape a just society since they are the ways of getting people, individually or collectively, to accept an idea or perform an action. A just society, or rather one where justice prevails, is given great consideration and thought to ensure that all human beings get to live a happy and fulfilled life. To clarify, persuasion is the method in which someone is requested or asked to consider performing an action or accepting an idea using their personal reasoning. Force, however, is when someone is forcefully demanded or commanded to perform an action or accept an idea. Ultimately, I believe that persuasion is morally justified to be used in human relations, where it allows people to live in a society that promotes the basic liberties for all citizens, and gives them the freedom to pursue their social and economic equality. Force doesn’t support the idea of promoting basic liberties and respecting social and economic equality because it doesn’t permit an individual to make a choice for themselves, where that choice they are being forced to make might support the forcers freedom and liberties, and impede on their own,

Why spend money that is really needed for other things? Why live uncomfortably? Why be trapped in this hole called a home that belongs to another person? Why not live free and peacefully? When a person rents he or she usually throws away money that could be used to purchase something that belongs to them. Money is not easy to come by so why pay out hundreds toward something that is not benefit to the person paying it out. There is no good explanation for making a decision like this. The best option in a situation like this is to buy a house. Buying a house is a better option than renting an apartment.

For example, many people agree that shoplifting is wrong, because the effects from stealing from another cause more suffering than pleasure for all involved. Persuasion can be used to try and reason with the potential shoplifter so they change their mind and decide not to steal. However, persuasion

Social psychology is the understanding of an individual’s behavior in a social context. It is the scientific field that focuses on the nature and causes of that individual’s behavior in social situations. It looks at the human behavior that has been influenced by others and in the social context with which it occurred. Social psychology pays attention to how feelings, thoughts, beliefs, intentions, and goals are constructed and how these factors influence our behavior and interactions with others. This paper will examine the principles of social psychology and help us to