Page 115 - Today’s Business Communication; A How-to Guide for the Modern Professional

104 TODAY’S BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

as well as maintain a good relationship with him or her. Further, if you
are sending a transmittal memo with a quarterly earnings report to the
C-level managers, you are attempting to influence those senior executives
in such a way as they can trust the accuracy of your numbers.
Since the days of the Classical Greek and Roman scholars, people
have been interested in the most effective ways to persuade and influence
others. Therefore, there is no surprise that scholars today are still study-
ing the topics, while practitioners employ various techniques to influence
or persuade. Before we delve into theory and techniques, let’s spend a
moment reflecting on the meaning of persuasion and influence. In this
chapter, you’ll notice that we use influence and persuasion interchange-
ably, but that approach lacks a certain amount of precision.
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary provides this definition of influ-
ence: the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible
ways� It gives the following definition for persuasion: the act or process
or an instance of persuading; and, finally, defines persuasion as to move by
argument, entreaty, or expostulation to a belief, position or course of action�
You can see that influence and persuasion are related much as a mother is
related to her child.
While we mentioned the Classical Greeks and Romans who stud-
ied persuasion, we won’t spend time rehashing ancient history. How-
ever, one contemporary model of persuasion comes to us from Petty and
Cacioppo’s Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). The reason we men-
1
tion this model is, in part, because it has been broadly and frequently
used in empirical research studies across several disciplines, including
communication and psychology.
At its most basic, the ELM demonstrates (see Figure 8.1) that there
are two routes to persuasion through argumentation: central and periph-
eral. The central route requires substantial cognitive processing, what we
might call careful thought. You could think of it as a more data-driven
approach. A strong argument, backed up with strong evidence—numbers
for example—should lead to a stronger persuasive effect. The peripheral
route requires less cognitive, careful thought. You might think of it as
an emotionally driven approach. A beautiful person, presenting a weak
argument—without any evidence for example—should lead to a weaker
persuasive effect. Believe it or not, research indicates that beautiful people