PART THREE
ANALYZING CHARACTER IN PERSUASION
CHAPTER I
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSUASION
The first act of practically every human being is to cry. This cry, unconscious though it may be, is an eager, insistent demand for attention, an appeal to the minds and the feelings of others, an attempt to persuade others to act. Life itself and all that makes life worth living depends upon the effectiveness of that cry.
From the moment of birth, therefore, you are dependent upon your power to persuade for the provision of all your necessities, the satisfaction of all your desires, and the realization of all your ambitions. The human race produces but few Robinson Crusoes, and even these must have their Fridays. In infancy and early life we persuade our parents to supply our necessities and grant us our privileges and luxuries. Most of us are wise enough to appeal to the powerful sentiments of parental duty, parental love, and parental pride, and, therefore, persuasion is not difficult. As we grow older, we persuade our teachers that we understand our lessons. We persuade our playmates to yield to us a share in their sports, and we persuade our enemies in the boy and girl world to respect us and not to persecute us. As we grow older, we persuade our husbands or our wives to marry us. We persuade our children to grow up in the way they should. We persuade our employers to give us an opportunity to work and to pay us wages. We persuade our neighbors to yield us respect and social privileges. We persuade our servants to render loyalty and efficient service. We persuade dealers to sell us reliable goods at reasonable prices. We persuade our friends to accept our hospitality, to join our clubs, our lodges, and to come and live in our suburbs.
POWER TO PERSUADE ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS
If we enter some profession, we find ourselves constantly faced by the need of persuading our clients and patients,
witnesses, judges, juries, opposing counsel and court officers, our congregations and executive boards of our churches and schools, individual members of our parishes, our partners and assistants, and, in fact, people above us, below us, and all around us. The farmer must sell his produce, the manufacturer his manufactured article, the railroad its transportation service, wholesale and retail distributors their merchandise. Politics consists almost wholly in persuasion. A congressman must persuade first his party leaders and perhaps his competitor in the party; then the voters at the primaries; then the voters at the election; then the speaker of the House; then the members of his committee; then the President and many executives in the administration; then, perhaps, the House itself in assembly; then, in turn, his constituents and, perhaps, the entire nation.