Differences between convincing and persuading

Social psychology is concerned with studying how people’s behaviors, feelings, and thoughts are influenced by the presence of others (Allport, 1985). Study how we influence each other and how far this influence reaches. We can link all this to the topic of this article: the differences between convincing and persuading.

Because? Because these two concepts refer to processes of social influence and, although they may seem synonymous, they are not. But why aren’t they exactly the same? What differentiates these terms? Let’s find out!

What does it mean to convince and persuade?

According to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), convince literally means ‘to incite, move someone with reasons to do something’ or to change opinions or behavior. He also adds ‘prove something in a way that rationally cannot be denied’.

Instead, persuade means ‘to induce, move, force someone with reasons to believe or do something’. As we see, they are very similar concepts, but in these definitions we can already see nuances that differentiate them. Furthermore, as we will see, persuasion is not achieved with reasons, as the RAE seems to indicate, but rather with other strategies. What differences between convincing and persuading do we find?

Differences between convincing and persuading

Both concepts have to do with making another person act, speak or think like us about something, or do it as we want. Thus, they are phenomena that have to do with a process of social influence.

When we convince someone, we are offering them arguments and reasons to think or act like us or to accept something. That is to say, the reasons are our tool. On the other hand, when we persuade, we get another person to agree to act in a certain way, or believe a certain statement, because of our arguments or something else.

But not so much through reason. It is because of that Persuading is more of an “art”, where factors such as “talk” intervene.beauty or grace when speaking (in some ways, being persuaded is something more irrational than being convinced).

Accept vs. believe

By convincing, we influence others to accept something that we defend. However, in persuasion, It is not so much about the other accepting something, but about believing in something..

Convincing is also persuading

Another key idea to understand the differences between convincing and persuading is that, He who convinces also persuades, but he who persuades does not always convince. That is, the person who is exercising a persuasion process on another is not always trying to convince him or her of something.

Reason vs. other strategies

So, persuade is broader than convince. Persuasion can be done by different means, or through different strategies, these being non-rational, such as: through deception, pressure, biases or fallacies, force, threats… (On the other hand, when we convince we use reason).

Let’s think about an example; advertising. It tries to persuade, many times, through images or messages. For example, to advertise a perfume, it appeals to a sophisticated, glamorous and sexy image, because it wants to make us feel that by using that perfume we will also be like that. However, they are not rational ideas or arguments. That is what persuasion consists of (on the other hand, when we try to convince, we normally use logical and rational arguments).

Argumentation vs. “play” with feelings

In short, the main difference between convincing and persuading It has to do with the strategies we use when exerting this influence on the other.. When we try to convince someone, we normally openly express our intention, defending the position we want the other to adopt with arguments.

Persuasion is more, bridging the differences, an exercise in seduction, in which not all strategies are used openly. On the other hand, in these cases it is common, to achieve the effect we want, that we use strategies that appeal to the emotional.

So, We refer to facts, evidence and logical reasoning to try to convince. And for what? So that the other person ends up agreeing with us. In this way, convincing is an argumentative strategy, which makes us connect the arguments, one with another, until reaching the conclusion. The purpose of this process is for the other to adopt our postulate.

Persuading: the use of glibness and word games

On the other hand, when we persuade, we lead someone to believe or think something, in a certain way, “playing” with their feelings and sensitivity. That is, we do not use rational arguments, as in the previous case, but rather we use rhetoric, glibness, word games and, if we also know the other person, more personal elements.

That is to say, here the influence is more “personalized” (and is not based on rational arguments). Furthermore, persuasion refers to a cultural framework and a system of common values, because we must understand the way of thinking of our interlocutor.

Same purpose, different path

Definitely: both convincing and persuading have the same objective, which is leading the interlocutor to adopt a certain behavior or point of view (which we “choose”). What varies in both concepts, that is, one of the most important differences between convincing and persuading, is the way to achieve this objective.

We convince when we resort to logical and scientific reasoning, which allows us to reach a greater number of interlocutors, with different profiles. Instead, When we persuade, we do so through strategies such as pressure or even manipulation (although these strategies do not always have to be “negative”, and that is why persuasion can be considered an “art”).

Besides, To persuade, we must know the person minimally that we have in front of us. Because? Because that allows us to “play” our cards based on their tastes, suggestion, sensitivity, feelings, etc., without having to resort to reason.

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