Changing someone's opinion may be one of the most important and biggest challenges of social interaction. However, there are certain tactics individuals can employ when trying to convince others to agree with them.
It is hard to determine the exact process of persuasion, because it is difficult to pinpoint how someone's opinions are formed and whether and how they may shift. However, researchers at Cornell University were able to identify several essential elements of winning an argument by analyzing two years' worth of conversations on ChangeMyView, an active community on Reddit where users present the opinions and reasoning about a topic and invite others to contest them. As part of the exercise, the individual who first poses the idea acknowledges when and if the ensuing discussions change their original views.
According to the study, persuasive arguments are characterized by certain interaction dynamics, such as participant entry-order and the degree of back-and-forth exchange. Additionally, by comparing similar counterarguments to the same opinions, the researchers found that language factors also play an essential role.
The most successful arguers on ChangeMyView made calm, rational arguments. Here are three other characteristics of effective persuasion, according to the report.
1. Strong support translates to credibility. The more people who argued on behalf of a certain position, the more likely it was that opponents would change their opinion.
2. Dialogue is most effective when it is kept short. Back-and-forth dialogue was effective to some degree, but if the conversation went on for too long, the likelihood that people would change their viewpoints declined dramatically. After five rounds, the chance of one side changing their opinion was virtually nonexistent.
3. Specific evidence is valuable. Effective arguments cited outside sources and specific examples. They also used different language than the original post.