The Importance Of Trust In PersuasionÂ
- Trust is very important in persuasion.
- Make sure you have integrity!
- What makes you trustworthy?
One of the key factors involved in being a successful persuader is that you must be believable, and to be believable, you must first be credible.
For example, if a homeless person tried to persuade you to take some pills that would improve your health, would you take them? Most likely you would not.
However, if a Doctor tried to persuade you to take some pills for your health, there is a good chance you would take them. Why? Because you perceive his claims to be believable, because you also perceive him as a doctor to be credible.
Credibility therefore rests on two pillars: trust and expertise. With these two factors your ability to persuade, or be persuaded, drastically increases.
Trust
When a person lacks integrity (doesn’t do what they say they will do) eventually we learn to discount everything they say. After all, how can you trust a liar?
Because we don’t like to trust liars, we often listen to another person whilst mentally asking ourselves if this person can be trusted.
In ancient times people had a good word for this, sincerus. Sincerus, which today we know as the word “sincere” literally means without wax.
This originated from unethical pillar carvers who used wax to mask their mistakes, or to hide flaws in the marble they were carving.
It was only after many years of weathering did the wax fall out and reveal the deception of the carver, who was since long gone. Thus a sincere person was without wax, or un-camouflaged.
What Makes A Person Trustworthy?Â
There are many factors which will influence how trustworthy we perceive a person to be. Some of these include:
- How long we have known that person.
- The person’s reputation.
- Experiences with that person in the past.
- Information about that person obtained from other people.
- Any ulterior motives they may have.
As you can see, a successful persuader must be seen as trustworthy. People are naturally suspicious of other people, especially if they do not know that person.
Because of this suspicion, you may find that people will try to test you during your attempts at persuasion. For example, they will try to reveal bias in your information or discover what you personally stand to gain (ulterior motives).
If a person thinks your message is heavily biased, then they will probably carefully analyze what you are saying, and most likely dismiss it. A good example of this could include cigarette makers telling you smoking does not cause cancer.
This may seem believable, until you realize that they have a lot to gain by selling cigarettes and therefore personally benefit by promoting cigarettes in a favorable light.
As a result, anything they say will be seen as being biased and untrustworthy information, and most likely be rejected. So to become a successful persuader, you must always work hard to appear unbiased and trustworthy.
In the next article, we shall take a look at some possible ways of increasing your perceived level of trustworthiness with the aim of becoming a more persuasive person.
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