İnstitute of Graduate Studies - lisansustu@gelisim.edu.tr

Public Relations And Publicity (Master) (Non Thesis)








 A Conversation on “Persuasive Communication” was Held with Professor Sevimece Karadoğan Doruk


Prof. Sevimece Karadoğan Doruk from Istanbul University Faculty of Communication met with our students at the talk titled "Persuasive Communication" organized by the Public Relations and Publicity Department of Istanbul Gelişim University. The conversation, moderated by Asst. Prof. Sezgin Savaş, was held on Thursday, March 25, 2021, between 14:00 and 15:00.


Karadoğan Doruk, who specializes in communication and persuasion, started her words by stating that many definitions have been made regarding persuasion and that each definition can complement each other. “Communication and persuasion are intertwined concepts, but if a coercive distinction is made, it differs in terms of“ intention ”. There is not always intention in communication; but persuasion always involves intention. All communication processes are also necessary in persuasion processes. Persuasion is the communication process carried out to enable the target audience to change their attitudes and behaviors in the desired direction, based on their own consent. There are also psychological factors in the process. " she defined the concept of persuasion.

Stating that communication is everywhere in our daily life and we are the target of persuasion, Karadoğan Doruk said, “The people around us and the institutions try to convince us in some way. Most of the time we do not notice, we do not pay attention. Some are very successful and some are unsuccessful. " she explained what is required for successful persuasion by making her testimony.

Karadoğan Doruk said that in order for persuasion to be successful, the source must first be successful. She emphasized that anyone should attract attention in order to be able to persuade them successfully on any subject. She explained that many features such as reliability, physical characteristics, tone of voice, verbal and non-verbal communication skills, expertise, and sociodemographic characteristics are determinants in the persuasion process and what these features mean. In persuasion, she stated that the message should be properly coded and with the right tool, understandable, and the communication parties should have the same meaning. She also emphasized the importance of knowing who the target audience is and target audience analysis to create attitude and behavior change. “The aim is to create a change of attitude and behavior in the target audience. The target audience can be individuals or a community. The persuasion strategies for the individual and the persuasion strategies for the community differ. Because individual psychology and mass psychology are separate things. Individual and mass behaviors are different. For example, in mass psychology, the individual acts with the collective subconscious. " she stated that the target audience is of great importance. “Persuasion is the subject of social psychology; It is linked to philosophy, sociology, psychology. " Karadoğan Doruk added that these disciplines were used in the analysis of the target audience.

Stating that the personality, character, needs, expectations, motivations and mental processes of the target audience should be determined, Karadoğan Doruk said, “Everyone's personality is different from each other. With the analysis, the future behaviors of the individuals constituting the target audience are predicted. "With the determinations, how it will be appropriate to present the message and how the target audience will react to the messages can be determined in advance."

“Personality is the visible face. It occurs first in the family; The foundations are laid in communicating with our dependents. Hereditary and environmental factors such as family, friend environment and work environment are effective in its formation. By the age of seven, almost 80 percent of personality is formed. The people around the individual cannot make much change on the individual's personality; Karadoğan Doruk stated that they can reveal their talents more. She said that the family is at the core of the circle, and towards the outer circles there are various circles such as school friends and colleagues.

Stating that an individual exhibits behaviors appropriate to his personality, Karadoğan Doruk explained with examples that personality theories are looked at in persuasion and that personality theories give ideas on this subject. "Personality according to Freud; It is formed by the combination of id, ego and superego. As Turks society, we care about "what the people say". We have a collectivism rather than individualism, and therefore the superego is more dominant in Turks society. So dignity, positive image, etc. for persuasion. Statements about gaining profit can be used. On the contrary, messages towards the id are also transmitted to individuals whose id is dominant. Adler also speaks of superiority and inferiority complexes. From the point of view of persuasion, it can be analyzed what is lacking and acting in line with the Adlerian perspective. Jung's concept of "collective subconscious" is also one of the very important concepts in persuasion. People in a society have subconscious contents that were inherited hundreds of years ago. There is something like this in Turks: Let's say we bought a jacket from the store, we ask our wife to our mother. Why do we ask someone else about something we like? This situation points to our collective subconscious. Another example is our fear of earthquakes… After the 1999 earthquake, people lived in containers or tents for a long time and Turkish society easily adapted to this situation because it is a nomadic society. The use of masks is another example: According to a study, Europeans use masks more comfortably than Turks. Because Turks express themselves by using their gestures and gestures more ”and she examined the relationship between persuasion and personality theories.
 
Referring to the theories of Maslow and Alderfer, Karadoğan Doruk also emphasized the importance of needs in terms of persuasion. “Maslow talks about the concepts of deprivation and attraction: He argues that whatever is deprived, the individual needs it. He doesn't take action for something he doesn't feel the need for. It takes action in case of need and pays more attention to the elements to fulfill its needs. Man is constantly in search of balance. The deprivation part in Maslow points to our state of imbalance. "It is said that the worst decision is better than indecision". In this so-called imbalance, there is a balancing of the imbalance. Publication of the survey results before the elections is prohibited. Because the undecided mass tends to prefer what the general does. It provides balance in this way. İmanacı succeeds when he determines that they will catch the imbalance and correct the imbalance. " she said.
 
Karadoğan Doruk says that it is difficult to convince an individual in a balanced position; she stated that more effort is needed. It is easier to convince an individual who is out of balance; she stated that the target audience would be more inclined towards the path and method that the persuader would show.
 
Karadoğan Doruk emphasized that there have been many studies on persuasion and that there are too many books about persuasion when looking at bookstores, and that these books are for personal development rather than academic resources, and stated that some basic sources are used in these books. She gave an example of Aristotle's work named Rhetoric and historical studies with the theme of Hedonism (hedonism) and explained these studies. She explained the importance of communicators' thinking within the framework of personality theories.
 
Karadoğan Doruk, who also conveyed various tactics such as small requests tactic, opening the door tactic, and closing the door tactic, said, “The essence of tactics is that personality, needs, etc. We see that there are elements. In order to be successful in persuasion, it is necessary to create a separate key for each individual. " she finished her speech.
 
Karadoğan Doruk answered questions from the participants. The conversation ended after Savaş's and the participants expressed their thanks.