Resistance and Persuasion is the first book to analyze the nature of resistance and demonstrate how it can be reduced, overcome, or used to promote persuasion. By examining resistance, and providing strategies for overcoming it, this new book generates insight into new facets of influence and persuasion. With contributions from the leaders in the field, this book presents original ideas and research that demonstrate how understanding resistance can improve persuasion, compliance, and social influence. Many of the authors present their research for the first time. Four faces of resistance are identified: reactance, distrust, scrutiny, and inertia. The concluding chapter summarizes the book's theoretical contributions and establishes a resistance-based research agenda for persuasion and attitude change. This new book helps to establish resistance as a legitimate sub-field of persuasion that is equal in force to influence. Resistance and Persuasion offers many new revelations about persuasion: *Acknowledging resistance helps to reduce it. *Raising reactance makes a strong message more persuasive. *Putting arguments into a narrative increases their influence. *Identifying illegitimate sources of information strengthens the influence of legitimate sources. *Looking ahead reduces resistance to persuasive attempts. This volume will appeal to researchers and students from a variety of disciplines including social, cognitive, and health psychology, communication, marketing, political science, journalism, and education.

This book will show you how anyone can be persuaded to do anything. Geoff Burch has written a book that will change almost everything you ever believed about business and selling. Combining the quick wit of a stand up comedian with the serious thoughtfulness of a psychoanalyst, he explains the value and power of persuasion - a verbal martial art that, if used correctly will always give you the outcome you desire in your business dealings. Resistance is Useless will show you how to: Change anyone's opinion on any subject. Transform a lynch mob into your most devout supporters. Avoid wasting thousands of pounds on customer care while your accounts department is threatening to pulp your customer's fingers with a hammer. Understand how a perfect product demonstration can get you hurled into the street by security. Sell tanks to Genghis khan. Readership: General Business, customer service and sales.

The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life, Revised and Expanded discusses how humans can find inspiration in their own lives to drive creative process. This book discusses that by understanding the concept of structure, we can reorder the structural make-up of our lives; this idea helps clear the way to the path of least resistance that will lead to the manifestation of our most deeply held desires. This text will be of great use to individuals who seek to use their own lives as the driving force of their creative process.

Visual messages are omnipresent in our daily life. They are constantly attempting to persuade us to buy, learn and act. Some are more successful than others in influencing our behavior and choices. What is the secret power of these messages? How do they succeed in changing our behavior? This book analyzes advertising beyond the persuasive power of the imagery itself. It explains the psychology behind 33 effective influence techniques in visual persuasion and how to apply them. The techniques range from influencing essentials to more obscure and insidious ones. The reader will gain deep insights into how visual means are constructed to influence behavior and decisionmaking on an unconscious level. All techniques are supported by rich visual references and additional information on the psychology of behavior change. This publication is not just an eye-opener for professionals and students in the communications and design field, but also for anybody who wants to understand how our behavior is influenced unconsciously by advertising, social campaigns and governmental messages. The book is co-authored by leading figures in social infl uence and visual persuasion. It is designed as an accessible modern reference book for creating and understanding persuasive visual imagery. It will open your eyes, we promise!

The contributions to this volume capture the thrill of current work on social influence, as well as providing a tutorial on the scientific and technical aspects of this research. The volume teaches the student to: Learn how to conduct lab, field and case research on social influence through example by leading researchers Find out about the latest discoveries including the status of research on social influence tactics, dissonance theory, conformity, and resistance to influence Discover how seemingly complex issues such as power, rumors, group and minority influence and norms can be investigated using the scientific method Apply knowledge to current influence campaigns to find out what works and what does not. The Science of Social Influence is the perfect core or complementary text for advanced undergraduate or graduate students in courses such as Attitudes and Attitude Change, Communications, Research Methods and, of course, Social Influence.

An authoritative survey of different contexts, methodologies, and theories of applied communication The field of Applied Communication Research (ACR) has made substantial progress over the past five decades in studying communication problems, and in making contributions to help solve them. Changes in society, human relationships, climate and the environment, and digital media have presented myriad contexts in which to apply communication theory. The Handbook of Applied Communication Research addresses a wide array of contemporary communication issues, their research implications in various contexts, and the challenges and opportunities for using communication to manage problems. This innovative work brings together the diverse perspectives of a team of notable international scholars from across disciplines. The Handbook of Applied Communication Research includes discussion and analysis spread across two comprehensive volumes. Volume one introduces ACR, explores what is possible in the field, and examines theoretical perspectives, organizational communication, risk and crisis communication, and media, data, design, and technology. The second volume focuses on real-world communication topics such as health and education communication, legal, ethical, and policy issues, and volunteerism, social justice, and communication activism. Each chapter addresses a specific issue or concern, and discusses the choices faced by participants in the communication process. This important contribution to communication research: Explores how various communication contexts are best approached Addresses balancing scientific findings with social and cultural issues Discusses how and to what extent media can mitigate the effects of adverse events Features original findings from ongoing research programs and original communication models and frameworks Presents the best available research and insights on where current research and best practices should move in the future A major addition to the body of knowledge in the field, The Handbook of Applied Communication Research is an invaluable work for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars.

This book examines the human proclivity to resist changing our beliefs. Drawing on psychological, neurological, and philosophical research, and integrating topics as wide ranging as emotion, cognition, social (and physical) context, and learning theory, Lao and Young explore why this resistance to change impedes our learning and progression. They also suggest that failure to adapt our beliefs to available and informed evidence can incur costs that may be seen in personal growth, politics, science, law, medicine, education, and business. Resistance to Belief Change explores the various manifestations of resistance, including overt, discursive, and especially inertial forms of resistance. As well as the influential factors that can impact upon them, the book also examines how the self-directed learner, as well as teachers, may structure the learning experience to overcome resistance and facilitate progressive and adaptive learning. Lao and Young find that the impediments to learning and resistance to change are far more prevalent and costly than previously suggested in research, and so this book will be of interest to a range of people in cognitive development, social psychology, and clinical and educational psychology.