Anatomy of a Persuasion Schema: Targets, Goals, and Strategies

We conducted three studies to examine Schank and Abelson's (1977) assumptions about a "persuade package" (a persuasion schema), conceptualized as a standard set of methods and a related set of goals for influencing a target individual. The data supported the general form but not the specific content of their assumptions. In Study 1, participants reported whom they persuaded, who persuaded them in their everyday lives, and what kinds of things people persuaded other people, friends, fathers, and enemies to do. Although goals associated with the persuasion schema constituted a small finite set, that set was larger than that suggested by Schank and Abelson. Moreover, both the nature and frequency of the goals generated by subjects were similar for all targets, although the data suggest that people do not normally persuade enemies. In Study 2, participants listed all the ways in which people can persuade others to achieve each of nine goals generated in Study 1. Again, although a standard set of methods was identified, methods additional to those suggested by Schank and Abelson were generated. In Study 3, participants rank ordered the list of methods identified in Study 2 in terms of their sequence of use. As we expected, the rank ordering proceeded from asking, self-oriented methods, dyad-oriented methods, appeal to principles, and negative tactics. The order of use proposed by Schank and Abelson was not upheld. The studies were proposed and are discussed in the context of the need to characterize knowledge relevant to everyday social interactions.