Essay Sample on Psychologists Ways of Formulating Persuasive Messages

Introduction

A persuasive message refers to an approach through which one deliberately uses words, signs, pictures, and actions to convince another to take a certain action or to believe a certain principle. Persuasive messages are key in public relations and communication in general because of its ability to help in negotiations. Influence is very important in every aspect of life, and social psychologists have played a significant role in creating approaches through which one can improve and increase the persuasiveness of a message. A persuasive message should be able to convince a third party to adopt a new attitude or belief into their core belief system and behavior. Psychologists note that for a message to be persuasive one has to have good background knowledge of the audience. Good knowledge of the audience helps to identify the social need, words, and images that can be appealing to the audience. Another important point that can be used to increase the persuasiveness of a message is to assess the credibility of the message source as well as its ability to appeal to the self-interests of the audience.

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Most importantly, a persuasive message should be clear enough, and the timing and context can be used as a source of message persuasiveness. The timing and the context can be used as a form of creating message persuasiveness in that a message can be formulated when the respondent is in need or when certain words or phrases are more common or trending amongst the audience social sphere. Lastly, the content and structure of the message can be persuasive to the audience by using terms that show sincerity and honesty such as "please" and "kindly" which can be appealing to certain audiences. For instance, I have noted that most people are more willing to contribute to social work such as environmental cleaning when there is climate change news in the media. Environmental organizations use such timing and context to appeal to more people and persuade them to support their environmental protection initiatives.

Do Mast’s Points Align With the Author? Is He Using the Power of Persuasion Effectively?

Masts arguments are in alignment with most of the author`s principles of effective persuasion. The author is an expert of guns by being a former member of the armed forces which gives him the much needed persuasive credit to convince the public to buy his call for the ban of the AR-15 assault rifle that was used in the recent mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The background service in the military gives Mast authority to educate the audience on the dangers of civilian possession of the powerful AR-15.

Mast uses persuasion which is an important approach to neutralize the hostile opinions of the audience most of them who are against the ban of the AR-15 rifle from public use. Mast gives an example of an encounter between his 9-millimeter rifle and an offender using the AR-15 which is more formidable and dangerous to the community because it is meant to fight against combatant enemies based on the weapon firepower. Further, Mast gives the audience the different options and solutions that can be used to curb rogue firearm owners in the society.

Mast gives the audience a structured choice in which he argues on the importance of improved background check and proposes the raising of the age at which people can buy and own guns while ensuring the security apparatus such as the FBI are held accountable and responsible for providing security and identifying possible threats to schools. Mast structured opinion is a good choice that can be pursued to end public fear regarding the ownership of guns and their threat to the public.