Mindless Persuasion

• Mindless persuasion means doing without thinking.
• Mindless persuasion can lead to bad decisions!
• Protect yourself from mindless persuasion.

In the first article you were introduced to the benefits of persuasion, and how people respond to persuasion. In this article, we will look at the second way people respond to persuasion.

Mindlessly Responding To Persuasion

The second way people respond to persuasion is mindlessly, or without critically analysing what was said.

This usually occurs when our minds become fixed on “automatic pilot” such as when we don’t have the time, motivation, ability to listen carefully or consider the information to be unimportant.

As a result, instead of relying on facts, logic and evidence to make our decision, we rely on our instincts or look for cues from other people or things around us.

For example, now it is election time again in America, candidates have been debating on TV with the aim of persuading the viewer to become a supporter of that candidate and to vote for them.

If you were in a thoughtful mode you would listen hard to all candidates, and make your mind up based on the issues they discussed and the evidence they provided.

Ultimately your decision will be formed after careful thought, and cross examination of the various candidates.

However, if you decided to invite some friends over for a drink, and were half watching the debate and half talking amongst yourselves, you would most likely be responding to the candidate’s persuasion in a mindless manner.

In this state, rather than relying on facts and evidence, you would make your judgment based on simple external cues around you.

In this situation these cues could include the attractiveness of the speaker, the reactions of your friends and the pleasure or pain associated with agreeing with what the candidate has said.

This is often called group think, whereby you tend to like or agree with what the majority of a group like and agree with. Rather than thinking independently for yourself.

Dangerous Persuasion

As you can see, this could turn out to be quite a dangerous situation. For if you are mindlessly persuaded you may end up electing someone who is bad for the country, even though at the time you thought they were the best choice.

Mindlessly reacting to persuasion therefore involves a lack of logical and critical analysis, and instead a reliance on external cues such as from the people or things that are around you.

When Do People Respond Mindlessly?

Generally speaking, mindless persuasion is more likely to occur when you are under pressure, rushed, in a hurry, have lots of simultaneous incoming information, distracted by other people/events or when you are “off guard”. For example, when you are under the influence of drugs, alcohol or fully trust another person.

Easy Persuasion

Mindless persuasion is therefore the easiest way to persuade someone, as by doing so, you bypass their logical mind.

This means they do not critically analyse what you are saying, and so are less likely to find faults or disagreements with your argument. In other words, they will do what you say, without really thinking about it.

However, if a person is given time to carefully think about what you have said and devote their full attention to your words, this will increase the likelihood that they may find faults or disagreements in your message, and so become less likely to be persuaded.

Protect Yourself From Persuasion         

Use this information to protect yourself from unwanted persuasion attempts.

Salespeople will often use “rush tactics” or “limited time offers” to evoke a mindless persuasion response in you.

Do not fall into this trap. Instead, take your time to critically analyse the situation, before making “snap decisions” which you may later regret.

It is also important to note that in this article I have been referring to persuasion in a very general sense. In reality there are many other factors which influence how persuasive your message will. These shall be examined more closely in upcoming articles.