Body Language And Persuasion
We try to persuade others on a daily basis. For example, you may have asked your boss for a salary increment or you may have written request letters to extend your leave. Knowingly or unknowingly, we persuade others to get things done our way. If you are not aware of how you are being persuaded, there are high chances that you will be taken advantage of
Persuasion is defined as an active attempt by one person to change the other person’s attitudes, beliefs or emotions associated with some issue, concept or object. Why do people persuade? It helps us to obtain information regarding something, obtain permission, buying or selling something or for simply changing one’s personal habits. You can persuade people by asking them permission, by bargaining, invoking selfless concerns, moral principles, and even by physical force
It is believed that people think of everything very carefully. But to prove this wrong, researchers say that not all pieces of information we get are subjected to critical thinking and as humans we have a tendency to take an easy route, mostly we use certain “Heuristics” or “Rules of Thumb” to make a decision. Hence there are two ways of persuading others
The “Easy” Way
All the information passing through our head couldn’t be processed critically and hence certain “Heuristics” or “Shortcuts” are used to reach a decision. This is used by advertisers to persuade the customers. As customers, we focus on the celebrity endorsements in the advertisement rather than focusing on the quality and price of a product. For example, “What looks good is good heuristic” is used where we follow an attractive product or person that looks good without thinking about the other side of purchasing an item or accepting their demand
The “Direct” Way
The direct route of persuasion occurs when we can systematically process the information regarding something. For example, if you want to buy a brand-new mobile phone, the company provides you with direct information like battery backup, storage space, Picture quality etc that makes the you think more analytically
It’s not all about what you say, how you say also plays a major role in deciding whether the other person would be persuaded or not.
According to experts, 50-90 Percent of our conversations are usually nonverbal. Suppose you want a customer to buy your product and what if you are explaining the details to him without making eye contact? Of course, he would be sceptical about your statements.
Here are some of the body language aspects that can influence the process of persuasion
1. Posture
- Keeping your elbows away from the body and stretched out legs shows that the communicator has an open posture and research studies show that people being persuaded shifts their opinions for the people displaying an open body posture than to the ones displaying a closed posture, like crossing arms while talking
- The body posture of the recipient while being persuaded is equally important as the body language of the communicator. When we are lying down on a bed, we are in a comfortable posture that evokes positive feelings, making us more susceptible to persuasion.
- Vertical head movements are believed to produce positive favourable thoughts that a reclining posture can produce
- While a standing body posture is shown to create negative thoughts and an image of aggression and agitation when compared to the sitting or reclining postures.
Thus, the person who is standing is less likely persuaded than the ones who are in a comforting posture. Now you know the reason why the people to be persuaded are taken to cozy and comfortable places, don’t you?
2. Eye contact/ Gaze
- Direct gaze is considered to be one of the natural responses of humans by birth. It is shown that the gaze from an attractive person activates your brain centers that are responsible for pleasure and this is used widely by the advertisers especially by making the model look directly towards the viewer through the camera.
- Since most of the scenarios of persuasion, especially the ones that are personally relevant, occur in a context of disagreement and argument, a resistance to persuasion is made using counter-arguments and the need to appear dominant to the other person.
- Eye contact is believed to be an influential technique. However, direct eye gaze may activate motivated resistance to persuasion in the listeners since it brings out a sense of intimidation and dominance because of the observed associations between eye contact, dominance and intimidation
3. Use of Hands
- We use our hands to emphasize or illustrate a point.Studies on gesture perception have found that illustrators, used during speech, improve the recipient’s attention, accuracy of understanding as well as recognition and memory about the content described by the sender in her/his discourse. For example, when you are saying big, you stretch out your hands wide in front of you
- These gestures are perceived as more effective and make the speaker appear more composed and competent, as well as having a more effective style and conveying a more persuasive message.
- Absence of gestures from a speaker who is providing a message which is contrary to the receiver’s opinion is in general evaluated negatively. This could be due to the fact that in this case gestures do not interact with speech, so the perceiver pays attention only to the negative content of the message.
4. Facial expression
As we have mentioned above regarding the”Easy route” and “Direct route” to persuasion, where the person focuses on information that are non-content related
Suppose the recipient has a lack of motivation to process the information, he would definitely take the “Easy” route where he will focus on the non verbal cues like facial expressions
- Positive Emotions
Display of positive emotions like Happiness, Satisfaction, Amusement etc is associated with likeability, trustworthiness, and competence. Therefore, display of positive emotions can also have an indirect persuasive impact by contributing to other source effects that increase the tendency to concede
b. Negative Emotions
People tend to escape the negative emotions and henceforth, any time confronted with such a situation they try alternatives to get out with the least effort. Thus, if you are seeing a person with an angry face, an avoidance behaviour is activated in us.
Finally, the primary way to block persuasion is through forewarning; Our awareness of how and when are we going to be persuaded. Some common situations in persuasion include:- Media advertisements, posters etc used by marketing professionals to persuade a person in buying their product. Salespersons use persuasion skills to convert potential customers into loyal patrons of their brand Business owners use persuasion during business deals and negotiations Speeches, articles and videos of motivational speakers. Team managers use persuasion to motivate the team members to complete the task on or ahead of time.
However, maintaining a good body language does not always guarantee success, you should be also aware of the resistance strategies that the other person would use. Next time when you are persuading someone, focus on multiple aspects of their body language also while paying attention to the body language you use.
HOW CAN WE HELP
Enhance your persuasion techniques by understanding the nuances of body language. Our expertise can help you leverage these nonverbal cues to achieve your goals. If you are looking to upgrade your body language skills, check out our online pre recorded courses on various topics that come with lifetime access. Contact us at – 99309 41534 for professional insights.
Reference
- Chen, F. S., Minson, J. A., Schöne, M., & Heinrichs, M. (2013). In the Eye of the Beholder: Eye Contact Increases Resistance to Persuasion. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2254–2261.
- Chen, Frances & Minson, Julia & Schöne, Maren & Heinrichs, Markus. (2013). In the Eye of the Beholder. Psychological science. 24. 10.1177/0956797613491968.
- APA dictionary of Psychology
- Attitudes and Persuasion
- Social Psychology, Module 6- Persuasion
- Maricchiolo, Fridanna & Gnisci, Augusto & Bonaiuto, Marino & Ficca, Gianluca. (2009). Effects of different types of hand gestures in persuasive speech on receivers’ evaluations. LANGUAGE AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES. 24. 239-266. 10.1080/01690960802159929.
- Petty, Richard & Wells, Gary & Heesacker, Martin & Brock, Timothy & Cacioppo, John. (1983). The Effects of Recipient Posture on Persuasion: A Cognitive Response Analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 9. 209-222. 10.1177/0146167283092004.
- Stefano, J. (1977). Body Language and Persuasion. Litigation, 3(4), 31–55.
