The power of self-persuasion.

Abstract

Self-persuasion is an indirect antecedents of interpersonal attraction which entails placing of people in situations where they are motivated to persuade themselves to change their own attitudes or behavior compared with traditional direct techniques of persuasion. The phenomenon of self-persuasion has the ability to affect long-term changes in attitudes and behavior. In this paper the author reviews the extent of his research on self-persuasion with emphasis on its significance to current societal problems. Theory of Cognitive Dissonance most commonly associated with self-persuasion is aroused when an action opposes the decent and rational self-concept of the individual. The power of self-persuasion was used as a fundamental part of a basic research program aimed to test derivations from the theory of cognitive dissonance. Among these programs include condom use water conservation interpersonal attraction and prejudice reduction. During the implementation of jigsaw experiment it was observed that not only clear and powerful results were produced but this has also led to an improvement of the lifestyles among the youth. In conclusion this article suggests that self-persuasion must be used to alter the negative attitudes and behavior among the population.