# Common Knowledge effect on Persuasion (1800w)



## kbsmith (Nov 3, 2015)

a. Introduction

Hi all. I am a marketing student at _____ University; I wrote this for an assignment (sophomore course). I feel I did not finish my argument with power and I am seeking examples or feedback to help me organize my thoughts. I try to read over it, but just get lost in how fun these ideas are to play with. Any advise is much appreciated.


Common Knowledge effect on Persuasion.

b. Preface

I sit in Starbucks at 6:30am in a costume; I am dressed as the Batman villain “the Joker”: that is, white face, black eye shadow, and a menacing red grin painted cross my cheeks. On the front of my stark white baseball cap, the word “LIAR” is written in lipstick. I have been awake for over 48 hours working tirelessly on schoolwork. Still drunk from the vodka I drank through the night, I flip through a folder full of printed articles colored yellow with highlights. As people talk nervously around me, the caffeine in my espresso keeps me alive – and sober. 

In sociology class, we are exploring the concept of the American family and the processes of socialization within American culture. I have been studying the phases of adult socialization and feral child phenomena. I am here – Starbucks – not because I want to be, but out of necessity. For one, it is Halloween day – my favorite time of the year warrants devotion; for two, I decided that my research into role development and interpersonal behavior could not do without such exhibitionism. I imagine the elder morning customers and youthful baristas think _me_ to be a feral child.

I begin my argument toward the power of appearance by asking this: when have you ever walked into a building and not noticed anybody else in that building? When have you ever entered into a restaurant and not been greeted by a hostess or a waiter? Have you never walked down a bustling street and been met with jugglers, storytellers, musicians, and other buskers? Well, then you, too, have experienced firsthand the power that appearances and situations hold over you.

*I. Identity*

As Walker and Lynn (2013) cite Stryker and Burke: “Identity salience is defined as the probability of enacting an identity in and across social situations.” In other words, a salient identity is one’s own understanding of oneself through the reactions of others: a person’s most reliable behaviors are determined through the processes of socialization. Presented with a situation, people will compare it with their previous experiences and act accordingly to their memories and learned behaviors. Joanne Finkelstein (2007), in her book _The Art of Self-Invention_, clearly states that: “Identity is considered a public display more than a private state of being.” Even Christopher Nolan’s Batman (2006) describes the phenomenon: “It’s not who you are on the inside, but what you do that defines you.”

Finkelstein goes on to argue that “psychology and appearance are intertwined” (p.17), and later again states that “psychology and visuality are closely linked” (p.21). Her main argument outlines the idea that appearance itself is a visual cue to one’s underlying psychology. She elaborates:



> The body is often the first visible sign we draw on to make judgments of one another. Its size and shape, facial expression and hand gesture are inscriptions of culture and history made into flesh…. We learn about our self through the reactions of others. We learn that the controlled body is a passport to sociability. (Finkelstein, 2007, p.31)


 
            Her main driving concept is that selective clothing, manners, and language are telling factors of a person’s inner thoughts. A person that is muscular or well toned is understood to be a physical person. A person with white teeth and clean, clear skin is understood to bathe often and properly. A person that wears an outfit most likely feels some relationship with that chosen attire; in this way, one spends time taming the physical appearance in order to fit appearance norms.

*II. Role*

Walker and Lynn (2013) also touch on one of the forefront theories of sociology in their research – symbolic interactionism; they say: “…symbolic interactionist thought (Mead 1934) invokes the self as a mediating factor between role expectations and individual behavior.” In other words, it is the self that decides not to shave or to bathe in the morning. One makes mental accommodations for any conflict experienced between one’s inner desires and the perceived expectations of others. Roles, therefore, represent patterns between those perceived expectations and the actual outcome. Role expectations can include any normalized, expected, even trained behavior, and can be as simple or complex as the role of “hostess” at a restaurant or the role of “priest” in a cult.

As a role occurs, one internalizes information about interactions or events in an attempt to make sense of the experience – to determine the expectations of a given role and then “decide” upon an action. Russell and Schau (2013) describe these dynamics of self-interpretation as “accommodating,” “self-understanding,” and “transcending.” According to their research, accommodating for the identities of others results in greater self-understanding and, eventually, _transcendence_ as time provides an objective view of events from afar (Russell and Schau 2013). They go on to say that: “through these processes, events are reframed into a larger context and perspective so that the meaning of the situation is changed even though the situation’s content itself cannot change.” In other words, events or memories are reinterpreted again and again over time to create the most useful version of those events in the mind and growth of the individual.

However, as Erich Fromm (1955) writes about the dissipation of culture in his book _Sane Society_, he discusses the increasing separation of individual identities from the cultural norms that surround them. According to his research, which ties to Emile Durkheim’s industrial _anomie_, society naturally alienates its citizens as its cultural traditions lose their inherent meaning or value over time. Fromm (1955) states, that in these cases of learned madness: “the individual, free from all genuine social bonds, finds himself abandoned, isolated, and demoralized.” He refuses, or is not able to change according to people’s desires. For the person who cannot find reason in maintaining appearances or meeting role expectations, “Society becomes a disorganized dust [cloud] of individuals” (p. 217). In this, the alienated person lacks true, motivating purpose, but predictably follows very similar behavior patterns to the herd, as per his accepted role (or salient identity). TO change the context within a person and to give to them a role to play is to tell them _who_ and _what_ they are to be (Milgram, 1960; Zimbardo, 1980).

*III. Socialization*

Familial ties work toward preventing individual alienation by offering situations, or contexts, within which to better understand one’s specific role in society. These supportive social structures are most often dubbed “social capital.” As prominent management scholar Charles Ehin (2013) writes: “social capital is based on altruistic and interdependent relationships formed by people over time.” It is built on reliability and mutual understanding. According to Ehin, over time, familiarity becomes a bonding mechanism between people. 

For instance, one determines their role, or salient identity through developed social capital of friendships, family relations, and proximity to others. Further, one may receive a new job based solely on social capital built up through previous job experiences or through formal education or both. Ehin (2013) goes on to state that social capital “is the lifeblood of tightly knit informal networks, which are a key source for information, influential connections, and friendships needed by all of us for meaningful existence.” In this, he argues that the shared role meanings and appearances between people are a vital source of happiness for those people.

On the other hand, Paletz, Lynn, and Miron-Spektor (2014) define threat as: “the perception of an impending loss or cost to an individual”; Because relationships are based on shared meanings, any changes in appearance or situation pose a cognitive threat to one’s salient identity, or role clarity. These changes do occur, though, and have lasting effect on individuals. The death of a loved one forces loss accommodation, self-understanding, and transcendence (Russell and Schau, 2013) as an individual copes with the loss of self that occurs when a role that supports that self is removed. 

*IV. APPEARANCE*

These changes can also be less apparent and affecting than death. Any interaction between individuals is potential threat to one’s role identity. Ehin (2013) explains this fluid relationship between shifting roles as “constantly trying to maintain dynamic equilibrium with the social contexts we happen to be immersed in.” In intercultural communications, we recognize that any foreign encounter is internalized as representation of both common and opposing values on the part of all individuals engaged. In other words, to know the part is to begin to know the whole. Any future encounter is informed by all previous encounters.

Finkelstein (2007) also hints at these constantly shifting variables of identity when she describes the influence of a person’s dress: “If I choose to disguise myself – if I cross-dress or wear distinctive clothes, am I as I am on the surface, or as I am behind the look?... or if I wear a Stetson hat and pretend to be a millionaire cowboy… is my identity changed? The answer may well be yes” (p. 24). The answer _is _yes; this is not to say that every millionaire cowboy in a Stetson hat is the same person. It is, however, to say that wearing the outfit and pretending to be the character will enrich one’s social understanding by way of new interactions with others – by use and recognition of social capital.

In other words, changing context, dress, mannerisms, and language also changes the information received from others in social encounters: effectively assigning new meaning to the entire exchange. However, the extent to which one has previously known others limits the opacity of these changes. What’s more, Xie and Luan’s (2014) research demonstrates that individuals more readily accept ideas by those deemed credible to give their opinion: specifically, those that hold a certain degree of social capital in the mind of the individual. Basically, all persuasion is limited to the combined expression and perception of the issue at hand.

To continue the billionaire cowboy example, one would receive much more attention at a strip club if he wore a white cowboy hat and golden watch, opposed to no hat and no watch. Strippers would equate the outfit to previously learned stereotypes of other strip club customers and assume maximum profit from such a customer. But would any hat receive the same reaction? An Indian headdress might inspire laughter or a more silly response, to similar result. Does more clothing then warrant more attention? I imagine a young Lolita, and the strippers themselves, would argue otherwise. The treatment received from scantily clad women might encourage confidence and new behaviors from that individual cowboy: expanding on both his identity and his overall socialization.


----------



## ppsage (Nov 3, 2015)

I don't think you are doing yourself any favors by having this really short paper cut to pieces with citations and quotes. They leave it disjointed and distracted. I'd suggest writing the whole thing in your own words, as if you were the boy genius who thought it all up on his own, and then going back through and at appropriate places put a little number that refers to an end-note where you say something like see for example whosis in whattheywrotye where the say blahblahblah. As you say yourself, the interesting thing is the ideas, get your sources out of your readers hair, so they can think about the ideas. Sources are to be referred to if the reader wants to explore further, they're not some kind of slap-stick to keep hitting people with when they're trying to concentrate. pp


----------



## kbsmith (Nov 3, 2015)

Hey sage thank you! I will def take that advice. It can be difficult to do because my teachers are pretty on top of people about APA citation. Part of the paper is proving I know how to properly cite different sources in a number of ways. Otherwise, I totally agree... putting things into my own words makes for a much smoother reading experience ! I especially like the footnotes suggestion.
Thanks pp!


----------



## ppsage (Nov 3, 2015)

All you gotta do is ask your perfessor to recommend an article about something, hopefully one they published but whatever, by some perfessor. The text of it will not be cut up by APA citations, I guarantee it; it wouldn't be published. It will have end-notes to credit sources.


----------

