How to Persuade an Opposing Side

In most cases, people make decisions that are hinged on certain factors. Among the those considerations include political and religious affiliations. What this means is that it is hard to persuade people whose thinking is driven by certain political or religious perspectives. However, by reading the articles provided in this case, one notices that persuasion can happen one when evokes certain emotional and psychological positions. In the article, “The Simple Psychological Trick to Political Persuasion” by Olga Khazan demonstrates how one can persuade the opposite side towards a particular subject.

Emotions create some sense of sympathy and as such, it becomes easy for people to forget their political and religious affiliations. Khazan in the article gives an example where President Trump supporters are likely to be sympathetic to refugees from Syria especially when the issue touches on children. Children are helpless, and therefore Trump’s supporters are likely to forget their differences and support Syrian refugees to seek asylum in America. The example, in this case, shows how people are likely to set aside the staunch political or religious philosophies with the intention of discouraging human suffering.

Another method of persuading an opposing side is by using logic. In the article, Khazan cites a case where the Americans are supposed to reflect on how they will feel if it were them who were experiencing the situation in Syria. Considerably, in this case, it dwells on reason. Human beings fear pain, and as such, they are likely to seek safety when they are in danger. When Americans think about such an example, they will be ready to support Syrian refugees.

Work Cited

Khazan, Olga. “The Simple Trick To Getting People To Support Refugees, Immigrants, And Obamacare.” The Atlantic, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/02/the-simple-psychological-trick-to-political-persuasion/515181/. Accessed 4 Oct 2018.