persuasion Roleplaying is the single most powerful way to induce attitude change through vicarious experience. In essence, you are getting people to make up arguments against their own beliefs. Do you want to know just how powerful roleplaying is? One experiment used roleplaying to convince people to stop smoking. The subjects roleplayed cigarette smokers having xrays, receiving news of lung cancer, and coughing with emphysema. When compared with a control group of smokers, those who roleplayed this situation were more likely to have quit than those who passively learned about lung cancer.2 In another study, students were tested to see what types of persuasion techniques were most effective in delivering an antismoking message. One group was assigned to write, stage, and put on the presentation, while the other group was simply required to watch the presentation. As you might imagine, the group that was more involved in the presentation held more negative feelings about smoking than did the group that had just passively listened. During World War II, the U.S. government had to ration traditional meats such as beef, chicken, and pork. However, Americans tend to be very picky about the meats they eat and often do not accept meat substitutes. The Committee on Food Habits was charged with overcoming the shortages of popular foods. How could they overcome the aversion to eating other meats? Psychologist Kurt Lewin devised a program to persuade Americans to eat intestinal meats. Yes, your favorite-intestinal meats. He set up an experiment with two groups of housewives. In one group, the housewives were lectured on the benefits of eating intestinal meats. Members of the committee emphasized to them how making the switch would help the war effort. The housewives also heard fervent testimonials and received recipes. The second group of housewives was led in a group discussion about how they could persuade other housewives to eat intestinal meat. This group covered the same main topics as the other group. Of the group that was more involved in "roleplaying" and discussing the question of "how they would persuade and convince others to eat intestinal meats," 32 percent of the housewives went on to serve their families intestinal meats. This was compared to 3 percent of the first group.3 Asking for Advice Another way to get people to participate with you is to ask their opinions or advice. Simple phrases such as, "I need your help" "What is your opinion?" "What do you think about. .. ?" "How could I do this?" "How would you .do this?" "Do you think I am doing it right?" and "Do you have any ideas?" can immediately spark the interest of your listener. Watch how another person brightens up when you ask for his or her advice. For example, if you ask your neighbor, "Frank, how about helping me fix my fence?" he will probably tell you he is busy and has plans for the next twelve weekends. But suppose you said, "Frank, I have a challenge with this fence that I can't solve. persuasion