by Toni Macdonald

Created on: July 03, 2009   Last Updated: January 20, 2012

According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, persuasion is an act, process, or instance of persuading.  What, then is persuading?  What does it mean to persuade?  To persuade is to move a person to adopt a position, belief, or course of action.  Through this artful process, a person can move others to a certain state of thought.  The "art of persuasion" involves certain techniques and skills.  These skills and techniques are used in the effective crafting of a persuasive style.

It takes a certain form of crafting to convince a person to change position.  A decision has to be made as to how to persuade this person.  The persuader needs to decide how he will form his words in the most effective way.  He needs to know how these words will affect this person, whether through observation or a degree of research. 

It takes creativity to use the skills of observation, and acquired information, to effectively move a person to a particular train of thought.  To mold the words in such a way as to use them to their maximum emotional effect takes a great deal of creativity.  The words need to be visited and revisited, shaved down, honed, and polished. 

It is not only the words themselves, but the way in which they are presented that involves creativity.  There are a number of different media a person can choose to present his case.  Arguments may be presented in writing, orally, or through a creative display such as a video or a skit.  The medium chosen depends on individual preference and also on the most convincing method.  This method will be altered for different media.

There is a certain skill set involved in anything that takes a degree of effort.  A skill set is a specific set of skills used to accomplish a specific task.  Persuasion involves exercising a skill set to convince a person of the validity of a belief, position, or course of action. 

To convince a person to alter previous thoughts or beliefs and act accordingly requires a great deal of creativity.  This creativity is seen in the crafting of a presentation, formulation of words, and morphing of those words into reason.  It is also seen in the insight used to be able to begin to formulate a convincing persuasive style.   

With thought, insight, creativity, and the crafting of an argument, a person may effectively persuade another.  Some people are better at certain aspects of persuasion than others.  They may have natural abilities in composing thoughts, creatively arranging those thoughts, or they may have an innate insight.   These skills can always be improved upon and heightened. 

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