Question

What elements in a message are most persuasive? Emotion, data or other factors? Why?

Answer 1

Answer

The most persuasive element in the message is emotion. To convince the recipient of the message, our message is required to include fact, logic, reason and emotion. These factors must be linked together in a chain to form a coherent statement or argument. Emotional content of your message is very important to move the recipients emotionally(angry or pleased) and persuade them to your viewpoint. Emotions such as love, desire, pride, fear and concern are the fuel that makes us want to achieve something. So, for successful communication, we cannot isolate emotions from the data in the message. But emotional messages are far less acceptable in negative messages.

Emotional expressions significantly affect the message receiver's emotional intensity and hence acceptance of the message. Now a days, brands are also using emotional advertising to get people to buy their products. Emotions constitute the foundation on which decisions are made. Emotional awareness, or the ability to understand feelings, will help you succeed when communicating with other people. If you are emotionally aware, you will communicate better. Undoubtedly, arguments and reasons in the message should be strong and persuasive, so that recipients believe what they are hearing is not superficial flattery. A logical message with no appeal to emotion doesn't create a strong enough response in the recipient. An effective persuader will create a proper balance between logic and emotion in order to create the perfect persuasive message. Emotions leads to change more quickly than logic does. Hence, for persuasion, your message should focus on emotions while maintaining a balance between logic and feelings.