CAL Movie Class

Game Change—Part II

Class Goals

Discourse Focus: Persuasion vs. Manipulation

Warm-up

Last class you were asked about persuasion and manipulation: in which type of
discourse they are present and what the difference between them, if any, is. Share
your conclusions with your classmates.

Activity 1 Persuasion vs. Manipulation

A. Take a look at the following descriptions and definitions and relate them either to
persuasion or to manipulation.

a) It is about getting people to do what you want through subversive manners that
lack truth. So instead of giving people facts, you may make up or imply facts. You
don’t care how you get your result as long as you get it, which means you are less
concerned about the facts as well as with the integrity of the process.
( ) Persuasion ( ) Manipulation
b) This is more honest. When you do it, you are simply presenting your product,
service, or argument in the best possible light. You don’t need to lie, omit details, or
intimidate the other person. It is truthful—the facts presented are real.
( ) Persuasion ( ) Manipulation
c) You focus solely on yourself. You are not serving another person, but rather
targeting someone to achieve your own ends.
( ) Persuasion ( ) Manipulation
d) You serve the other person. You will sell a product, a service, or idea that you
genuinely believe will add value to the other person’s life.
( ) Persuasion ( ) Manipulation
e) It relies mostly on fact.
( ) Persuasion ( ) Manipulation
f) It relies mostly on emotions and it might even twist facts.
( ) Persuasion ( ) Manipulation

CAL - MOVIE CLASS | 1

B. Read the following paragraph and debate it with your classmates.
Persuasion and manipulation are both methods of convincing people to do something for
you or change their thinking to match yours. However, they follow very different styles—
persuasion does so by presenting facts in a positive light and showing how they benefit the
user, while manipulation does so by leaving information out, playing with emotions, and
unethically convincing someone about something. Persuasion and manipulation are not
binary states; it is possible to have one with shades of the other.
Extracted from: http://www.ehow.com/info_8406088_difference-between-
persuasion-manipulation.html#ixzz33U0S8Vh6

a) What do you understand by the statement, “Persuasion and manipulation are not
binary states; it is possible to have one with shades of the other”?

b) By reading the following line, “I think you should go for it, it’ll certainly be a once-
in-a-lifetime experience,” you cannot tell if the speaker is being persuasive or
manipulative. Why not?

c) Think of two possible dialogues with the line “I think you should go for it, it’ll
certainly be a once-in-a-lifetime experience” in which there is persuasion and
manipulation.

Activity 2 Reading Comprehension

A. Jonathan Files is author of two books. Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel
for Brilliance and Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You
Love. Read the following text posted on his blog:
CAL - MOVIE CLASS | 2
“Over a period of years, or honestly decades, I’ve spent a huge amount of time, energy,
and money studying the human condition, human nature, and the way that we process
arguments and facts. Putting it in another way, I’ve invested a lot in understanding the
psychology of persuasion and learning how to present facts and interactions in a manner
that will be more likely to persuade somebody to my point of view. (...)
Last week I had the great pleasure of presenting ‘writing that moves people to action’ as
part of an online conference on writing. During the hour or so that I was speaking, I shared
a number of principals of persuasion—tools and techniques to take the psychology of
persuasion and translate it to print. (...) The last fifteen minutes of that presentation were
reserved for Q&A and (...) somebody asked an interesting question, one that I’ve been
asked a whole bunch of times in the past…‘Aren’t you just teaching us how to manipulate
people in print?’ It’s a fascinating question. The way I answered that question during this
call, and the way I’ve answered it in the past, is that the difference between persuasion and
manipulation lies largely in underlying intent and desire to create genuine benefit.
Understanding how people form opinions, arguments, and present and integrate facts into
their mental models is mission‑critical in your ability to convince anybody to buy into an
idea and then act on that idea. That’s the essence of persuasion. (…)
Manipulation implies persuasion with the intent to fool, control, or contrive the person on
the other side of the conversation into doing something, believing something, or buying
into something that leaves them either harmed or without benefit. (…)
So for example, let’s say I was selling somebody a car and I had all of my tools of persuasion
and strategies. That person walked into my dealership and it was apparent, with a family of
six kids, that they were looking for and genuinely needed a family-sized, affordable vehicle.
But then, I leveraged all of my persuasive abilities to convince the parent that he shouldn’t
be buying a minivan, but rather a two-seater convertible to reclaim his youth, and by doing
so, teach his children how important it is to stay true to their youthful ideals, knowing full
well that I would make twice the commission on that car and it was completely unsuitable
for them. That’s manipulation.
Now, what if that same parent came into my dealership with the same six kids and
said to me, ‘Man, I just want to blow some cash. I should buy a six-seater. I know it’s
completely irrational and I really can’t justify this, but I’m just jonesing for the two-seater
convertible’? And what if I then I used my persuasive abilities to slowly and methodically
lay out a conversation and a set of facts that led this parent to understand the genuine
benefit of purchasing the more affordable and suitable family car? That’s persuasion, not
manipulation.
Because I used the same set of skills to convince somebody to do something that I
genuinely believed was in their best interest, instead of convincing them to do something
that I was pretty sure was not in their best interest—and very likely was being less than
truthful with at least part of what I was talking about.
In the end, persuasion strategies, tools, and an understanding of how to present facts,
arguments, and interactions in a way that’s more likely to get somebody on the other
side of the conversation to buy into your point of view is simply about persuasion. It’s the
underlying intent, the net benefit, and the veracity with which you bring this toolbox to life
that creates the difference between persuasion and manipulation.”
Complete text available at:

CAL - MOVIE CLASS | 3

B. Debate the following questions with your classmates.

a) According to the text, do strategy and technique change when you are being
persuasive or manipulative?

b) How does the author state the difference between persuasion and manipulation?

c) Do you agree with the author’s point of view regarding the differences and
similarities of persuasion and manipulation?

d) Do you think it is possible to protect yourself from being manipulated? If so, how?

e) How would you link the topics discussed to our everyday life? In which situations
are we on the verge of being persuaded or manipulated? What about political
campaigns? Do they rely on persuasion or manipulation?

Activity 3 Opinion Masqueraded as Facts

A. Watch the scenes from Game Change and do the following activities:
Scene 1

a) What did Steve tell Palin when she asked him about the lack of McCain-Palin signs
in Alaska and requested a poll to check her approval rating there?

b) In your opinion,was Steve’s attitude persuasive or manipulative? Why?

CAL - MOVIE CLASS | 4

 c) What did Steve do when he realized Palin had poor knowledge about domestic
and foreign policy?

d) In your opinion, was Steve’s attitude persuasive or manipulative? Why?

Scene 2

e) In this scene, how would classify Steve’s attitude towards Palin? Do you think he is
trying to persuade or to manipulate her?

f) What about Steve’s attitude towards the audience and their potential voters? Is he
trying to persuade or to manipulate voters?

Scene 3

g) Considering Palin’s and McCain’s speeches in which they clearly attack their
opponent, Obama, do you believe they were persuasive or manipulative? Why?

h) Do you think they were comfortable by giving such speeches? Why (not)?

Activity 4 Quotes from Last Century

It is been said that elections are not won by the best candidate, but by the best
campaigns. Is that so? Take a look at the following quotes regarding politics from more
than one century ago! What is your opinion about them? Share it with your classmates.

CAL - MOVIE CLASS | 5

“A fool and his money are soon elected.”
Will Rogers (1879–1935).  merican comedian, pre-candidate in
A
American presidential elections in 1928.

“We would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate.”
Frank McKinney Hubbard (1868–1930). American cartoonist, humorist, and journalist
better known by his pen name “Kin”
Hubbard.

“You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.”

Harry S. Truman (1884–1972). The 33rd President of the United States of
America (1945–1953).

Follow-up

It’s been said that not being interested in politics is the best way to be politically
manipulated. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Write a text on this topic
telling your opinion and using narration to support your point of view.

CAL - MOVIE CLASS | 6