No matter how obvious a point may be, there are two sides to every argument and we all know it.
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Getting steamrolled or trying to steamroll someone else isn’t fun and it doesn’t work. There’s almost always another viewpoint for most decisions. We know it’s there and we need to acknowledge it.
Instinctively, we want to gloss over, or even conceal alternatives. We fear undermining our point of view by talking about options. But actually, it can help our case.
As a matter of fact, the balanced, well-rounded argument can be the most persuasive method for gaining support for a cause, idea, product or service.
Jeremy Dean writes about this issue and some interesting evidence at Psyblog:
Over the years psychologists have compared one-sided and two-sided arguments to see which are the most persuasive in different contexts. Daniel O’Keefe at the University of Illinois collected together the results of 107 different studies on sidedness and persuasion conducted over 50 years which, between them, recruited 20,111 participants (O’Keefe, 1999, Communication Yearbook, 22, pp. 209-249).
What he found across different types of persuasive messages and with varied audiences, was that two-sided arguments are more persuasive than their one-sided equivalents.
The balanced argument, in general, is the smartest way to go. Address alternatives when discussing your causes, ideas, products or services. Discuss possible pitfalls. Don’t over-emphasize them or go borrowing trouble, but get them out on the table.
People aren’t blind to their options. Show them you’re not either. Show them you’ve investigated the possibilities and thought through them as well.
It’s fair, fun, and more persuasive in the long run.
Have a great week.
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