eTextbook 978-0205912964 Persuasion:

Social Influence and Compliance

Gaining, 5e by Robert H Gass
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Probing and Deception Detection 276
Eliciting Cues to Deception: Puttin’ the
Squeeze On 277
Contextual Knowledge and Deception
Detection: What’s the Sitch? 278
Summary 278
CHAPTER 13 Motivational Appeals 284
Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation 285
Emotional Marketing 285
Logical and Emotional Appeals: A Fuzzy
Distinction 286
Fear Appeals: If You Don’t Stop Doing That, You’ll Go
Blind 287
Fear Level or Intensity: The Goosebump
Factor 287
The Extended Parallel Process Model: There’s
Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself 288
Appeals to Pity and Guilt: Woe Is Me,
Shame on You 289
Humorous Appeals: Stop Me If You’ve
Heard This One 292
Humor as an Indirect Form of Influence: All
Kidding Aside 293
Humor and Credibility: Laugh, Clown, Laugh
Self-Disparaging Humor: LOLing at Yourself
But Is Humor Persuasive? 294
Maximizing Humor’s Potential 294
Pride and Patriotism: Turning Red, White, and Blue
into Green 295
For Mature Audiences: Sex Appeals 296
How Sex Sells 296
Caveats and Cautions 297
Warmth Appeals: Straight from the Heart 298
Ingratiation: Polishing the Apple 299
Mixed Emotions: Other Appeals and Combinations of
Appeals 301
Summary 302
CHAPTER 14 Visual Persuasion 308
Image Is Everything 309
Overlooked and Under-Appreciated 309
The Power of Images 310
How Images Persuade 310
Iconicity: Bearing a Resemblance 311
Indexicality: Seeing Is Believing 311
Contents vii
Syntactic Indeterminacy: Don’t Look for Logic in
Images 312
Art as Persuasion: Mona Lisa Made Me Do It 313
The Paintbrush Is Mightier Than the
Sword 313
Activist Art: I Must Protest 314
Awareness Through Interpretation 315
Awareness Through Participation 315
Cinematic Persuasion: Sex, Drugs, and
Popcorn 317
Acting Out: How Movies Persuade 318
Exporting Values Abroad 318
Promoting Popular Culture 318
Modeling Behavior: Social Proof 319
Cultivation Theory: It’s a Mean Scary
World 319
Viewer Identification 319
Perpetuating Stereotypes 320
Images in Advertising: And Now a Word from Our
Sponsors 321
Visual Extravaganzas: Now You’ve Got My
Attention! 321
Anti-Ads: You Can’t Fool Me 321
Image-Oriented Advertising: Materialism as
Happiness 322
Shock Ads: Edgy Images as Persuasion 324
293 Photojournalism as Persuasion: The Camera
294 Does Lie 325
Playing Tricks with the Camera: Photographic
Deception 325
Summary 327
CHAPTER 15 Esoteric Forms of
Persuasion 331
Color as Persuasion: The Grass Is Always
Greener 332
Color Coded at Birth: Dyed in the Wool 332
Colorful Associations: A Blonde Walks
Into a Bar ... 332
Seeing Red 333
Color and Branding: Big Blue, Red Bull, and Pink
(Victoria’s Secret) 333
Color Lines: Not Black or White 333
Colorism: Who Is the Fairest of Them All? 334
Color Complex: Is Beauty Only Skin
Deep? 334
Color and Emotion: Mood Indigo 335
Color and Behavior: Hue Made Me Do It 335
The Color-Aggression Link:
Men In Black 336
Red Cars and Traffic Tickets? Not
So Fast 336
 viii Contents
Subliminal Influence: Hidden Messages or
Hokum? 337
The Laboratory vs. the Real World 337
What Is and Isn’t Subliminal 337
Subliminal Advertising: Much Ado About
Nothing 337
Embedded Images 338
Proof of Existence Is Not Proof of
Effectiveness 338
Subliminal Priming: That Rings a Bell 338
Importance of a Prior Need or Drive 339
Not So Fast: Limitations of Subliminal
Priming 339
Subaudible Messages: The Power of Suggestion
Backward Masking and Reverse Speech: The Devil
Made Me Do It 340
What Advertisers Really Do 340
Neurolinguistic Programming: The Emperor’s New
Clothes 341
Music as Persuasion 342
Music as a Central and Peripheral Cue 342
Music in Advertising and Sales 343
Music and Branding: Like a Rock ... 343
Mere Exposure Effect: Hearing Is
Believing 343
Music as a Mnemonic Device 343
Background Music: Shop Till You Drop 344
Music Videos and Persuasion: Is Hip-Hop
Harmful? 344
Weaponizing Music: What a Buzz Kill 345
Cautions: Face the Music 345
Aroma and Persuasion 346
Perfume: Romance in a Bottle 346
Love Stinks 346
Ambient Aromas: Something Special
in the Air 347
Aromas and Moods: Am I Blue? 348
Aromas and Task Performance: Smell that
Productivity 348
Ambient Aromas and Consumer
Behavior 348
Caveats and Qualifications 348
Summary 349
CHAPTER 16 The Ethics of Persuasion 357
Is Persuasion in General Unethical? 358
The Motives Color the Means 359
Ethics, Culture, and the Issue of Central versus
Peripheral Processing 360
Ethical Questions That Can’t Be Answered through the
Study of Persuasion 360
339
Our Approach: Characteristics of Ethical
Influence 362
Ethics and Our Model of
Persuasion 363
Intentionality 363
Conscious Awareness 363
Free Choice/Free Will 363
Language and Symbolic Action 364
Persuaders as Lovers 364
Bunglers, Smugglers, and Sleuths 365
Ethical Issues Arising from Previous
Chapters 365
Ethics and Credibility 366
Ethics and Communicator
Characteristics 367
Ethics and Deception 368
Ethics of Using Threats as
a Compliance-Gaining
Strategy 369
Ethics and Fear Appeals 370
Ethics and Emotional Appeals 372
Ethics and Ingratiation 373
Ethics and Visual Persuasion 373
Ethics and Subliminal Influence 374
Summary 375
Name Index 378
Subject Index 385
 P R E FA C E

W
ith each edition of this text, we have marveled at how much new research
there is on the subject of persuasion. In the last edition, we highlighted the
ascent of new and emerging media such as the blogosphere, Facebook,
Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube. We underscored their role in viral marketing or
word-of-mouth influence. Since the last edition, social media have kept the world
abreast of developments in the Arab Spring movement. YouTube has become more
than a collection of cat videos. It now functions as an important source for video
journalism, bringing eyewitness accounts and raw footage of events from around
the world. Digital activism now allows people to affiliate with causes online.
Hashtag activism allows people to promote causes in 140 characters or less. The
blogosphere functions as the online equivalent of tabloids, often dictating trending
topics, and occasionally getting the story right. Websites such as Cause.com and
DoSomething.org allow ordinary people to launch causes and promote change.
The transformational role of social media as a form of influence is updated in
the pages that follow. Social media, however are not the whole story. There are
grass roots movements, such as the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, that rely on
“old-fashioned” strategies, such as sit-ins, protest marches, and civil disobedience.
Moreover, traditional persuasion in the form of advertising, marketing, and politi-
cal campaigning continues to thrive. Mainstream persuaders have stepped up their
game by embracing strategies such as authenticity or genuineness in their brand-
ing or cause-related marketing to show they really care. They have begun to rely
on sentiment tracking to follow consumers, voters, and others on social media in
nearly real time. The TED conference, or Ted Talks, merges “old-school” presenta-
tions with new technology, offering a venue for sharing and promoting big ideas
through lectures, demonstrations, and art performances.
As always, we view persuasion not only as an altogether intriguing and mostly
desirable form of activity but also as an indispensable feature of human interac-
tion. We hope you will catch our enthusiasm for this field of study and come away
with a better understanding of how persuasion functions, an improved knowledge
of ways to maximize your own persuasive efforts, and a greater ability to resist
influence attempts, especially unscrupulous influence attempts, by others.

ix
x Preface

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to everyone at Allyn & Bacon/Pearson
Education for their unwavering support throughout all five editions of this text.
They are a skilled, talented group. We are extremely grateful to Karon Bowers,
who gave us our first shot at publishing a text way back when. We tip our hats
to Melissa Mashburn and Megan Hermida for taking over the reins for the
fifth edition. They guided us skillfully through the labyrinth of requirements for
obtaining permissions for all the photos, cartoons, and other graphics included in
the text. We also want to thank Chitra Ganesan for painstakingly proof-reading
and copyediting drafts of all the chapters. She and her team went the extra mile to
accommodate all our revisions.
Both authors are extremely grateful to the graduate and undergraduate
students who offered numerous illustrations of real-life examples of persuasion. In
particular, we are grateful to Jonathan Gibbs and Jonathan Shipley for their help
collecting materials and to Taylor Halversen for her excellent work on Box 12.3.
Every time we think we have taught the brightest group of students ever, another
sharp group comes along. Both authors also want to thank the many instructors
using our book who have sent us comments and suggestions for this edition, as
well as the many short-course participants who have offered ideas and insights
leading up to this edition.
The following supplementary materials are available for Persuasion, Social
Influence, and Compliance Gaining 5/e: Prepared by the authors, each chapter of
the instructor’s manual/test bank contains key terms, a chapter summary, exercises,
weblinks, multiple-choice questions, and essay questions. The MyTest Computer-
ized Test Bank is a flexible, online test-generating program containing all questions
found in the test bank section of the instructor’s manual/test bank. The Power-
Point presentation, also prepared by the authors, provides a basis for your lectures
with PowerPoint slides to accompany each chapter of the book. All materials
are available at www.pearsonhighered.com/irc. Contact your local Pearson
representative to request access.
 CHAPTER

Why Study
Persuasion?
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Aims and Goals 2 Four Benefits of Studying
Persuasion Is Not a Dirty Word 3
Persuasion Is Our Friend 4
The Pervasiveness of Persuasion: You
Can Run but You Can’t Hide 4
Word of Mouth: What’s The Buzz? 4
Social Media: Rise of the Machines 5
Tipping Points 6
Gamification: Farmville as a Cash Cow 7
Persuasion in the Sciences 9
Persuasion in the Arts 9
Other Not-So-Obvious Contexts for
Persuasion 10
Weird Persuasion 10
Persuasion in Interpersonal Settings 11
Persuasion 11
The Instrumental Function: Be All That
You Can Be 12
The Knowledge and Awareness Function:
Inquiring Minds Want to Know 12
The Defensive Function: Duck and
Cover 13
The Debunking Function: Puh-Shaw 15
Two Criticisms of Persuasion 15
Does Learning about Persuasion Foster
Manipulation? 15
Are Persuasion Findings Too Inconsistent
or Confusing? 18
Ethical Concerns about the Use of
Persuasion 18

One of the authors was enjoying a day at the beach with his family. As he sat in
a folding chair, lost in a good book, he could hear the cries of seagulls overhead
and the pounding of the surf. Nothing was bothering him. He was oblivious to the
world around him. Or so he thought. As he reflected more on the situation, how-
ever, he became aware that he was being bombarded by persuasive messages on all
sides. A boom box was playing a few yards away. During commercial breaks, vari-
ous ads tried to convince him to subscribe to a wireless phone service, switch auto
insurance companies, and try a new bacon cheeseburger. A nearby sign warned
that no alcohol, glass objects, or smoking were permitted on the beach. A plastic
bag in which a nearby family’s children had brought their beach toys advertised
Wal-Mart on its side. The family picnic cooler proudly displayed its manufacturer,
Igloo, as well.

1
2 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?

And that was only the beginning. A plane flew overhead, trailing a banner
that advertised a collect calling service. The lifeguard’s tower displayed a Hurley
logo. The lifeguard’s truck, a specially equipped Toyota, announced that it was the
“official emergency vehicle” of “Surf City USA,” a moniker that is trademarked by
the city of Huntington Beach, California. Oh, the indignity of being rescued by an
unofficial vehicle!
There were oral influence attempts too. His son tried to lure him into the
water by saying, “Come on, it’s not that cold.” But he knew better. His son always
said that, no matter how cold the water was. “Would you mind keeping an eye on
our things?” the family next to the author’s asked. I guess our family looks trust-
worthy, the author thought. His wife asked him, “Do you want to walk down to
the pier? They have frozen bananas.” She knew he would be unable to resist the
temptation.
And those were only the overt persuasive messages. A host of more subtle
messages also competed for the author’s attention. A few yards away, a woman
was applying sun block to her neck and shoulders. The author decided he’d better
do the same. Had she nonverbally influenced him to do likewise? Nearby a young
couple was soaking up the sun. Both were wearing hats with the Nike “swoosh”
logo. Were they “advertising” that brand? A young man with a boogie board ran
by, headed for the water. His head was shaved, his faced was heavily pierced, and
he sported a goodly number of tattoos. Did his appearance advocate a particular
set of values or tastes? Was he a billboard for an “alternative” lifestyle? Every male
head on the beach turned in unison as a trio of bikini-clad women walked by.
Were the males “persuaded” to turn their heads or was this simply an involuntary
reflex? Two tan, muscular males were tossing a Frisbee back and forth. Both had
six-pack abs. The author made a mental note to do more sit-ups. There seemed to
be as many persuasive messages, or potentially persuasive messages, as there were
shells on the beach.
The preceding examples raise two important issues. First, persuasion is per-
vasive. We are surrounded by influence attempts, both explicit and implicit, no
matter where we are. Second, it is difficult to say with any certainty what is and
is not “persuasion.” Where should we draw the line between persuasion and other
forms of communication? We address the first of these issues in this chapter. Here
we examine the pervasive nature of persuasion and offer a rationale for learn-
ing more about its workings. In the next chapter, we tackle the issue of what
constitutes persuasion and related terms such as social influence and compliance
gaining.

AIMS AND GOALS

This is a book about persuasion. Its aims are academic and practical. On the aca-
demic side, we examine how and why persuasion functions the way it does. In so
doing, we identify some of the most recent theories and findings by persuasion
researchers. On the practical side, we illustrate these theories and findings with a
host of real-life examples. We also offer useful advice on how to become a more
effective persuader and how to resist influence attempts, especially unethical influ-
ence attempts, by others.
 Persuasion Is Not a Dirty Word 3

If learning how to persuade others and avoid being persuaded seems a bit
manipulative, remember, we don’t live in a society populated with unicorns and
rainbows. The real world is brimming with persuaders. You can avoid learning
about persuasion, perhaps, but you can’t avoid persuasion itself.
Besides, we can’t tell you everything there is to know about persuasion.
Nobody knows all there is to know about this subject. One of the points we stress
throughout this book is that people aren’t that easy to persuade. Human beings
are complex. They aren’t that malleable. They can be stubborn, unpredictable, and
intractable, despite the best efforts of persuaders.
Persuasion is still as much an “art” as it is a “science.” Human nature is
too complicated, and our understanding of persuasion too limited, to predict in
advance which influence attempts will succeed and which will fail. Think how
often you flip the channel when a commercial costing millions of dollars to pro-
duce and air appears on television. As one advertising executive put it, “half the
money I spend on advertising is wasted…but I don’t know which half” (cited in
Berger, 2011, p. 1). Think how many candidates for public office have spent for-
tunes campaigning, only to lose their elections. Or think how difficult it is for
the federal government to convince people to stop smoking, practice safe sex, or
buckle up.
The science of persuasion is still in its infancy. Despite P. T. Barnum’s axiom
that “there’s a sucker born every minute,” people are uncannily perceptive at times.
It is tempting to believe that if one only knew the right button to push, one could
persuade anybody. More often than not, though, there are multiple buttons to push,
in the right combination, and the sequence is constantly changing. Even so, persua-
sion is not entirely a matter of luck. Much is known about persuasion. Persuasion
has been scientifically studied since the 1940s.1 Written texts on persuasion date
back to ancient Greece.2 A number of strategies and techniques have been identi-
fied and their effectiveness or ineffectiveness documented. Persuaders are a long
way from achieving an Orwellian nightmare of thought control, but a good deal is
known about how to capture people’s hearts and minds. Before proceeding further,
we want to address a common negative stereotype about persuasion.

PERSUASION IS NOT A DIRTY WORD

The study of persuasion has gotten some bad publicity over the years. Everyone
seems to agree that the subject is fascinating, but some are reluctant to embrace
a field of study that conjures up images of manipulation, deceit, or brainwashing.
There is, after all, a sinister side to persuasion. Adolph Hitler, Charles Manson,
Jim Jones, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite, and Osama bin Laden, were all
accomplished persuaders—much to the detriment of their followers.3 We, however,
do not think of persuasion as the ugly stepsister in the family of human com-
munication. Rather, we find the study of persuasion to be enormously intriguing.
Persuasion is the backbone of many of our communicative endeavors. We can’t
resist the urge to learn more about how and why it works. Part of our fascination
stems from the fact that persuasion is, on occasion, used for unsavory ends. It is
therefore all the more important that researchers learn as much as they can about
the strategies and tactics of unethical persuaders.
4 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?

PERSUASION IS OUR FRIEND

Persuasion isn’t merely a tool used by con artists, chiselers, charlatans, cheats,
connivers, and cult leaders. Nobel Peace Prize recipients and Pulitzer Prize–
winning journalists are also persuaders. In fact, most “professional” persuaders
are engaged in socially acceptable, if not downright respectable, careers. They
include advertising executives, campaign managers, celebrity endorsers, clergy,
congresspersons, diplomats, infomercial spokespersons, lawyers, lobbyists, media-
tors, media pundits, motivational speakers, political cartoonists, press secretaries,
public relations experts, radio talk show hosts, recruiters, salespersons, senators,
social activists, and syndicated columnists, to name just a few.
Let’s focus on the positive side of persuasion for a moment. Persuasion helps
forge peace agreements between nations. Persuasion helps open up closed societ-
ies. Persuasion is crucial to the fundraising efforts of charities and philanthropic
organizations. Persuasion convinces motorists to buckle up when driving or refrain
from driving when they’ve had a few too many. Persuasion is used to convince a
substance-abusing family member to seek professional help. Persuasion is how the
coach of an underdog team inspires the players to give it their all. Persuasion is a
tool used by parents to urge children not to accept rides from strangers or to allow
anyone to touch them inappropriately. In short, persuasion is the cornerstone of a
number of positive, prosocial endeavors. Very little of the good that we see in the
world could be accomplished without persuasion.
Persuasion, then, is a powerful and often prosocial force. Having highlighted
the positive side of persuasion, we address the question of why the study of per-
suasion is so valuable. The next section, therefore, offers a justification for the
study of social influence.

THE PERVASIVENESS OF PERSUASION:

YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE
We’ve already mentioned one of the primary reasons for learning about this
subject: Persuasion is a central feature of every sphere of human communication.
We can’t avoid it. We can’t make it go away. Like Elvis impersonators in Las Vegas,
persuasion is here to stay. Various estimates suggest that the average person is
exposed to anywhere from 300 to 3,000 messages per day.4 Persuasion is part and
parcel of the “people professions” and is ever present in our daily interactions with
friends, family, and coworkers. There are more ways to persuade than ever before.
You can give a TED talk to promote your big idea, engage in hashtag activism,
advocating a cause by tweeting, or promote change through a website such as
www.dosomething.org.

Word of Mouth: What’s The Buzz?

Nowadays, it is hard to avoid “buzz.” You may even be doing some of the
buzzing yourself. According to some estimates, the average American comments
on specific products and services 60 times per week (Moore, 2010). So ubiqui-
tous is word of mouth (WOM) that it generates 3.3 billion messages per day
 The Pervasiveness of Persuasion: You Can Run but You Can’t Hide 5

Persuasion is everywhere—even in the womb!

Baby Blues © 2001 Baby Blues Partnership. King Features Syndicate. Reprinted with special permission.

(Berger & Schwartz, 2011). So why all the buzz about this strategy? Consumers
have grown cynical. They no longer trust traditional advertising. They place more
trust in friends than in Madison Avenue. As a result, a message that is spread via
social networks can be highly effective. Like tossing a rock into a pond, the ripples
of influence spread among social circles.
Because buzz marketing relies on friendships to spread the word, it is essential
that it be perceived as genuine (Salzman, Matathia, & O’Reilly, 2003). WOM suc-
ceeds when it seems authentic rather than manufactured, spontaneous rather than
choreographed, and peer driven rather than corporate-sponsored. WOM enjoys
several advantages over traditional advertising and marketing techniques. It oper-
ates largely through interpersonal channels (face to face, cellphone, email, IM,
texting), lending it an air of authenticity. It is inexpensive compared to traditional
media. And it is self-perpetuating. Moreover, buzz is more effective than main-
stream media at reaching younger audiences.

Social Media: Rise of the Machines

Perhaps nowhere is the omnipresence of social influence more apparent than in
new media. Some people seem to spend their every waking moment texting, tweet-
ing, blogging, or posting their views on all matter of subjects large and small. New
media aren’t just entertaining diversions, they are important mediums for influ-
ence. When we friend someone on Facebook or follow someone on Twitter, it is a
result of influence. Roughly one in five microblogs, for example, mentions a spe-
cific brand (Jansen, Zhang, Sobel, & Chowdury, 2009).
Social media is so important that companies now specialize in sentiment track-
ing, a process of monitoring and measuring social media to gauge the public’s
mood in nearly real time. Software can track how a person, brand, or issue is
trending based not only on the number of tweets generated but also on how favor-
able, neutral, or negative those tweets are (Benady, 2012; Leonhardt, 2011). The
software recognizes words related to feelings, emotions, and opinions and uses
them to take the public’s pulse on an issue.
6 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?

In addition to its marketing potential, Twitter has transformed the political

landscape, 140 characters at a time. Social media even played a role in the
Arab Spring movement. As Savir (2012) noted, “the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya,
and Yemen would not have taken place without young people communicating and
speaking their minds on Facebook and other social media” (p. 24). Indeed, a Tunisian
blogger, Lina Ben Mhenni, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize (Cambie, 2012).

Tipping Points
Key concepts and principles associated with buzz marketing were laid out by
Malcolm Gladwell in his bestseller, The Tipping Point (2000). Gladwell likens WOM
to a virus through which a message is spread until the whole society is “infected.” Based
on what he calls “the law of the few,” a small number of influential people can generate
a groundswell of support for an idea, brand, or phenomenon. Once a message gains a
certain amount of momentum, it reaches a tipping point and becomes “contagious.”
In order to reach the tipping point, however, a number of things have to happen.

Über Influencers First, the right kinds of people must be involved. Gladwell
identifies three types of people who are essential to the process. Mavens possess
specialized expertise. They are in the know. They may be celebrity chefs, fashionis-
tas, fitness gurus, tech geeks, or wine snobs. Mavens needn’t be rich or famous, but
they must be ahead of the curve. They are the early adopters, or what some call
alpha consumers, the ones who hear about ideas and try out gadgets first. “One
American in ten,” Keller and Barry (2003) maintain, “tells the other nine how to
vote, where to eat, and what to buy” (p. 1).
In addition to mavens, Gladwell states that connectors are also essential.
Based on the viral metaphor, they are carriers. They have large social networks.
When connectors learn from mavens what the “next big thing” is, they spread
the word. Since social circles tend to be overlapping, forwarding messages spreads
them increasingly outward from their epicenter.
The last type Gladwell identifies is salespeople. They receive the message from
a connector and then talk it up within their own circle of friends. Salespeople tell
their friends, “You must see this movie,” “You’ve got to try this restaurant,” or
“You gotta read this book.”

Orchestrating the Next Big Thing In addition to having the right kinds of people,
some additional conditions must be satisfied for an idea to go viral. Context is criti-
cal. The idea must come along at the right time and place. Social networking sites,
for example, wouldn’t have been possible before there was widespread access to
the Internet. An idea also must possess stickiness, which means that it is inherently
attractive. Without some sort of natural appeal, people won’t gravitate toward the
idea or pass it along (Heath & Heath, 2008). The yellow Livestrong bracelets asso-
ciated with the Lance Armstrong Foundation had stickiness. They offered a simple,
convenient way for people to display their support for the fight against cancer. Scal-
ability is another requirement: It must be easy to ramp up production of the idea,
product, or message to meet demand. Effortless transfer is yet another ingredient
in the recipe for an effective viral campaign. A viral campaign has to leverage free
 The Pervasiveness of Persuasion: You Can Run but You Can’t Hide 7

media. Ideas that can be spread by forwarding an email, including an attachment, or

embedding a link are easy to disseminate. The more time, effort, or money it takes to
spread the word, the less likely the idea will go viral.
An example of a successful viral video was Volkswagen’s “Darth Vader kid”
commercial, which received more than 50 million hits on YouTube. In the video, a
kid, dressed in a Darth Vader costume, believes he has summoned “the Force” to
start a Volkswagen Passat’s engine. In fact, the kid’s father started the car via key-
less ignition. The kid’s startled reaction is adorable. There are no guarantees, how-
ever. For every success story like Volkswagen’s spot, there is a litany of failures.
Viral marketing holds considerable potential, but it is a hit-or-miss strategy, with
far more misses than hits.

Infectious or Inexplicable? Despite the popularity of viral persuasion, the phe-

nomenon itself isn’t that predictable or easy to manufacture. Evidence for the
effectiveness of tipping points is largely anecdotal. Many messages go viral, but
few are planned, deliberate efforts to persuade. Orchestrating a viral campaign can
be difficult. There is no guarantee an idea will gain traction.
The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMM) offers advice for
conducting viral campaigns. The very concept of viral marketing, however, is some-
thing of an oxymoron. A viral campaign is planned to appear unplanned. It is con-
trived to seem genuine. As consumers grow wise to the strategy, it will become less
effective. There are also ethical questions about using friends as shills. The FTC
now requires that any online endorsement in which the endorser is compensated
must be disclosed (Sprague & Wells, 2010). Not only is traditional persuasion,
such as advertising and marketing, becoming less obvious, persuasion also plays
an important role in a variety of not-so-obvious contexts as well. We examine three
such contexts in the following sections: gamification, the sciences, and the arts.

Gamification: Farmville as a Cash Cow

Parents have known for decades that one way to get infants to eat their vegeta-
bles is by turning mealtime into a game. “Here comes the airplane,” the parent
says with each spoonful of strained peas. A modernized version of this approach,
known as gamification, is being used to stimulate consumer interest and involve-
ment (McGonigal, 2011). Gamification applies videogame methods to other con-
texts to increase consumer engagement. People like to play games. They enjoy the
competition. Why else would they spend hours on end playing Angry Birds, Farm-
ville, or Words With Friends? Games are entertaining, challenging, and rewarding.
Transforming a mundane task into a game can make it more fun and exciting.
Games also can be used as a form of influence. For example, to encourage peo-
ple to take the stairs rather than the escalator, a project sponsored by Volkswagen
involved the redesign of a staircase to look like a piano keyboard. With each step
a person took, a corresponding note sounded. As a result, 66 percent more peo-
ple took the stairs than previously (www.thefuntheory.com). As another example,
Nike+ gamified the activity of running thanks to a shoe sensor that allows runners
to post information about their running regimens, including distance, time, and
calories burned. Runners are able to socialize and compete with each other using
8 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?

Persuasive messages must struggle to cut through the background of media clutter.
Reprinted with permission: http://www.andysinger.com.

downloadable apps (Are you game? 2011). Through points, badges, leaderboards,
and other incentives, gamification keeps people coming back for more. This
approach has been used to enhance education, improve workplace productivity,
increase voter turnout, and promote awareness and participation in social causes.
Gamification is not without its critics, however. Ian Bogost (2011), a professor
and expert in videogames as cultural artifacts, cautioned that “‘exploitationware’
is a more accurate name for gamification’s true purpose” (para. 12). Critics charge
 The Pervasiveness of Persuasion: You Can Run but You Can’t Hide 9

that earning badges and points trivializes activities such as learning, working, exer-
cising, or participating in social causes.

Persuasion in the Sciences

You may not think of them this way, but scientists are persuaders (Glassner, 2011).
The ongoing debate about climate change illustrates the persuasive challenge facing
climatologists. Despite widespread agreement among evolutionary biologists that
evolution is a fact rather than a theory, there is a continuing social controversy over
the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public school curriculums. Even
in fields such as chemistry, mathematics, or physics—the so-called hard sciences—
persuasion plays a major role.5 Scientists often have to convince others that their
research possesses scientific merit and social value. They also have to argue for the
superiority of their theories over rival theories. In this respect, Thomas Kuhn (1970)
argues that all scientists employ “techniques of persuasion in their efforts to establish
the superiority of their own paradigms over those of their rivals” (p. 151). Similarly,
Mitroff (1974) comments that “the notion of the purely objective, uncommitted
scientist [is] naïve. …The best scientist…not only has points of view but also defends
them with gusto” (p. 120). Scientists must do more than conduct experiments and
report their results. They also must persuade other scientists, funding agencies, and
the public at large of the merits of their work.

Persuasion in the Arts

Another not-so-obvious context for persuasion is the arts. Not all art is created “for
art’s sake.” Art serves more than an aesthetic or decorative function. Artists have
strong opinions and they lend expression to their opinions in and through their work.
Consider film as an art form, for example. Movies such as Dead Poets Society, Life
Is Beautiful, and Schindler’s List demonstrate the power of the camera to increase
awareness, change attitudes, alter beliefs, and shape opinions. Other art forms have
the capability to persuade as well. Playwrights, painters, muralists, sculptors, photog-
raphers, and dancers give voice to their political and social views through their art.
Think about painting for a moment. Many of the famous works hanging in
museums were created out of a sense of social conscience. Using images rather
than words, artists comment on social conditions, criticize society, and attempt
to transform the social order. We examine this issue in more detail in Chapter 14,
but for now let’s consider one particular work of art, Pablo Picasso’s Guernica.
Through this painting, Picasso offered a moral indictment of war and man’s
inhumanity to man. The painting features people and animals, the victims of the
indiscriminant bombing of a Basque town during the Spanish Civil War, in vari-
ous states of agony, torment, and grief. As Von Blum (1976) notes, “the purpose
of the painting is frankly propagandistic. The artist’s intent was to point out the
inhuman character of Franco’s fascist rebellion” (p. 92). Picasso wasn’t trying to
paint a “pretty” picture. He was making a moral statement. The painting has been
dubbed by one art historian “the highest achievement in modernist political paint-
ing” (Clark, 1997, p. 39). Not only Picasso, but also many other artists express
persuasive points of view in and through their art.
10 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?

Other Not-So-Obvious Contexts for Persuasion

Persuasion operates in a variety of other contexts, some of which are not so obvi-
ous. We highlight a few here as illustrations. Social scientists have studied bumper
stickers as a form of political expression and as an unobtrusive means of measur-
ing attitudes (Endersby & Towle, 1996; Sechrest & Belew, 1983). Scholars have
examined the effects of intercessory prayer (offered for the benefit of another
person) on recovery from illness (Frank & Frank, 1991; Hodge, 2007). Studies
have examined the military’s use of social influence (Cialdini, 2011; King, 2010).
Other researchers have focused on 12-step programs, such as Alcoholics Anony-
mous, and other support groups as forms of self-help and group influence (Kassel
& Wagner, 1993). One scholar has written about compliance-gaining tactics found
in dramatic plays, such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (Kip-
nis, 2001). One of the authors investigated various styles and strategies of panhan-
dling to see which ones proved most effective (Robinson, Seiter, & Acharya, 1992).

Weird Persuasion
Sometimes persuasion is downright weird. A case in point is the town of Dish,
Texas, formerly known as Clark, Texas. Its citizens agreed to rename their town as
part of an endorsement deal with Dish Network. In return, Dish Network agreed
to provide all 125 residents free satellite TV service for 10 years. The main oppo-
nent of the idea, not surprisingly, was one Mr. Clark, after whom the town was
originally named.
Why would Dish Network and the town’s citizens agree to such a deal? In a
word, buzz. The strangeness of the transaction generated free publicity. The mayor
of the town said the new name would attract more customers. One wonders where
a small town should draw the line. Could there be a Viagra, Virginia, or a Depends,
Delaware, in the not-too-distant future?
Yet another example of weird persuasion occurred in Mansfield, Nottingham-
shire, U.K. The citizens wanted to stop rowdy teens from loitering at an underpass
at night. Their solution was to install street lights with a bright pink hue. Why pink,
you ask? Pink light highlights acne. Teens with blemishes didn’t want to be seen with
bright, glowing acne. The plan worked: The teens moved on (Spotty Teens, 2009).
Scholars sometimes investigate quirky aspects of persuasion, too. Did you know
that participants in a study who consumed caffeine were more easily persuaded than
participants who had no caffeine (Martin, Hamilton, McKimmie, Terry, & Martin,
2007)? Now you do. As long as the participants were motivated to pay attention
to the message, caffeine consumption increased agreement. Other researchers found
that mixed-handed people were more persuadable and more gullible than purely
left- or right-handed people (Christman, Henning, Geers, Propper, & Niebauer,
2008). And Briñol & Petty (2003) discovered that asking people to nod their heads
up and down (as if in agreement) made them more agreeable than shaking their
heads back and forth (as if in disagreement). What is the point of such research, you
ask? Such studies illustrate both the complexities and subtle nuances of persuasion.
Persuasion, then, can be found in obvious and not-so-obvious places. Before
concluding this section, we examine one additional context in which persuasion
occurs: the interpersonal arena.
 Four Benefits of Studying Persuasion 11

Persuasion in Interpersonal Settings

The extent of influence exerted in the interpersonal arena should not be under-
estimated. Although we may think of Madison Avenue as all-powerful, face-to-
face influence is far more successful. Despite all the money spent on traditional
advertising and the increasing amounts being spent on new media, most influ-
ence attempts still take place in face-to-face settings. Ninety percent of word of
mouth recommendations, for example, take place offline (Moore, 2011). On a
daily basis we are bombarded with persuasive requests in the interpersonal arena.
Your brother wants you to hurry up and get out of the bathroom. A homeless per-
son asks if you can spare some change. Your parents try to talk you out of getting
a tongue stud. Or worse yet, your significant other uses the “F” word to redefine
your relationship: that’s right; she or he just wants to be “friends.” Aaahhh! Natu-
rally, we persuade back as well, targeting others with our own entreaties, plead-
ings, and requests for favors.
Why is interpersonal influence so much more effective? Because it seems more
genuine and less conspicuous. Consider the following scenario:
The bait: Your friend calls up and says, “Hey, what are you doing Friday night?”
The nibble: Anticipating an invitation to go somewhere, you reply, “Nothing
much, why?”
You’re hooked and reeled in: “Well, I wonder if you could help me move
into my new apartment then?”
At least when you watch a television commercial you know the sponsor is after
something from the outset. In interpersonal encounters, others’ motives may be
less transparent. Most communication scholars agree that if you have a choice of
mediums for persuasion, you should choose the interpersonal arena. Our advice:
Next time you want to turn in a paper late, talk to your professor in person!
From our discussion thus far, it should be apparent that persuasion functions
as a pervasive force in virtually every facet of human communication. Kenneth
Burke (1945, 1950, 1966), among others, has written that humans are, by their
very nature, symbol-using beings. One vital aspect of human symbolicity involves
the tendency to persuade others. We are symbol users, and one of the principal
functions of symbol usage is persuasion.
The recognition that social influence is an essential, pervasive feature of
human symbolic action provides the strongest possible justification for the study of
persuasion. Persuasion is one of the major underlying impulses for human communi-
cation. By way of analogy, one can’t understand how an automobile works without
taking a look under the hood. Similarly, one can’t understand how human com-
munication functions without examining one of its primary motives—persuasion.

FOUR BENEFITS OF STUDYING PERSUASION

Given that persuasion is an inevitable fact of life, we offer four primary benefits
of learning about persuasion. We refer to these as the instrumental function, the
knowledge and awareness function, the defensive function, and the debunking
function. We examine each of these in turn.
12 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?

The Instrumental Function: Be All That You Can Be

One good reason for learning about persuasion is so you can become a more effec-
tive persuader yourself. We refer to this as the instrumental function of persuasion,
because persuasion serves as an instrument, or a means to an end. We view the abil-
ity to persuade others as an important aspect of communication competence. Com-
munication competence involves acting in ways that are perceived as effective and
appropriate (Spitzberg & Cupach, 1984). Competent communicators possess the
skills needed to achieve their objectives in fitting ways for the particular situation.
A competent persuader needs to know how to analyze an audience in order
to adapt the message to the audience’s frame of reference. She or he needs to be
able to identify which strategies are appropriate and which will enjoy the greatest
likelihood of success. A competent persuader also must know how to organize and
arrange a persuasive message for maximum benefit. These are only some of the
abilities required for successful persuasion.
But achieving the desired outcome is only one facet of communication compe-
tence. How one goes about persuading also matters. A competent persuader needs
to be viewed as persuading in acceptable, appropriate ways. This means a per-
suader must be aware of social and cultural norms governing the persuasive situ-
ation. For example, a parent who publicly berates his or her child during a soccer
match may be seen by other parents as engaging in boorish behavior.
We are confident that by learning more about persuasion you will become a
more effective and appropriate persuader. Of course, not every influence attempt
will succeed. By applying the principles and processes presented in this text, and
by adhering to the ethical guidelines we offer, you should be able to improve your
competence as a persuader.

The Knowledge and Awareness Function: Inquiring Minds

Want to Know
Another good reason for learning about persuasion is because it will enhance
your knowledge and awareness of a variety of persuasive processes. Knowledge
is power, as the saying goes. There is value in learning more about how persua-
sion operates. You may not plan on going into advertising for a living, but simply
knowing how branding operates is worthwhile in and of itself. You may not plan
on joining a cult (who does?), but learning more about what makes persons sus-
ceptible to cult conversion is worthwhile nonetheless. Simply from the standpoint
of an observer, learning about these topics can be fascinating.
An additional benefit of learning about how persuasion functions concerns
overcoming habitual persuasion. Many people rely on habitual forms of persuasion,
regardless of whether they are effective. They get comfortable with a few strategies
and tactics that they use over and over again. A good deal of our communication
behavior is “mindless,” as opposed to mindful, meaning we don’t pay much atten-
tion to how we communicate (Langer, 1978, 1989a, 1989b). Sometimes persuasion
operates this way. Just as runners, swimmers, and other athletes need to learn to
adjust their breathing in response to different situations, persuaders—to maximize
their effectiveness—need to learn to adapt their methods to different audiences and
situations. Persuasion isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” form of communication.
 Four Benefits of Studying Persuasion 13

The Defensive Function: Duck and Cover

A third reason for learning about how persuasion operates is vital in our view:
The study of persuasion serves a defensive function. By studying how and why
influence attempts succeed or fail, you can become a more discerning consumer
of persuasive messages, unlike the hapless fellow depicted in the accompanying
cartoon. If you know how persuasion works, you are less likely to be taken in. It
is worth noting that people tend to underestimate the influence of advertising on
themselves and overestimate its effects on others, a phenomenon known as the
third-person effect (Davidson, 1983; Jensen & Collins, 2008). Thus, you may be
more defenseless than you realize.
Throughout this text, we expose a number of persuasive tactics used in retail
sales, advertising, and marketing campaigns. For example, we have found in our
classes that after students are given a behind-the-scenes look at how car sales-
people are taught to sell, several students usually acknowledge, “Oh yeah, they
did that to me.” Admittedly, a huckster could also take advantage of the advice we
offer in this book. We think it is far more likely, however, that the typical student
reader will use our advice and suggestions as weapons against unethical influence
attempts. Box 1.1, for example, offers advice on how to recognize various pro-
paganda ploys. In later chapters of this book, we warn you about common ploys
used by all manner of persuaders, from cult leaders to panhandlers to funeral
home directors.

A little persuasive acumen just might save you from yourself.

© Lee Lorenz/The New Yorker Collection/www.cartoonbank.com.
14 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?
BOX 1.1 | Persuasion versus Propaganda and Indoctrination
What are propaganda and indoctrination and how
do they differ from persuasion? To a large extent, it
is a matter of perspective. People tend to label their
own messages as persuasion and the other guy’s as
propaganda. The same applies to indoctrination: We
tend to think that our government educates its citizens,
but foreign governments, especially those we dislike,
indoctrinate their citizens. Understood in this way,
propaganda and indoctrination are largely pejorative
terms used to describe persuasive messages or positions
with which people disagree. Gun control advocates
claim the NRA uses propaganda to thwart legislation
that would place restrictions on gun sales. Opponents
of school prayer think that requiring students to
recite a prayer in class constitutes a form of religious
indoctrination. When accused of propagandizing, the
common defense is to state that one was only engaged
in an education or information campaign. Thus, whether
a given attempt at influence, such as the D.A.R.E.
campaign, is persuasion, propaganda, or indoctrination
is largely in the eye of the beholder.
Definitions of propaganda are many and varied,
but we happen to think Pratkanis and Aronson’s
(1991) definition does a good job of capturing the
essence of the term:
Propaganda was originally defined as the dissemination
of biased ideas and opinions, often through the use of lies
and deception . …The word propaganda has since evolved
to mean mass “suggestion” or influence through the
manipulation of symbols and the psychology of the individual.
Propaganda is the communication of a point of view with the
ultimate goal of having the recipient come to “voluntarily”
accept the position as if it were his or her own. (p. 9)
Different scholars have offered different views on
the nature and characteristics of propaganda (see
Ellul, 1973; Jowett & O’Donnell, 1986; Smith, 1989).
However, there are some essential characteristics on
which most scholars agree. These are as follows:
◾ Propaganda has a strong ideological bent. Most
scholars agree that propaganda does not serve a
purely informational function. Propaganda typically
embodies a strong bias, such as that of a “left-wing”
or “right-wing” agenda. The campaign of People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to
promote animal rights would fall into this category.
Propagandists aren’t trying to be neutral or
objective. They are working a specific agenda.
◾ Propaganda is institutional in nature. Most
scholars agree that propaganda is practiced
by organized groups, whether they happen
to be government agencies, political lobbies,
private corporations, religious groups, or social
movements. For instance, the Anti-Defamation
League is an organization founded to prevent
libeling and slandering of Jewish people. Although
individuals might use propaganda too (a parent
might tell a child, “Santa only brings presents
for good girls and boys”), the term usually is
associated with institutional efforts to persuade.
◾ Propaganda involves mass persuasion. Most scholars
agree that propaganda targets a mass audience
and relies on mass media to persuade. Propaganda
is aimed at large numbers of people and, as such,
relies on mass communication (TV, radio, posters,
billboards, email, mass mailings, etc.) to reach its
audience. Thus, gossip that was shared by one office
worker with another at the water cooler wouldn’t
constitute propaganda, but a corporate rumor that
was circulated via email would.
◾ Propaganda tends to rely on ethically suspect
methods of influence. Propagandists tend to put
results first and ethics second. This characteristic
is probably the one that laypersons most closely
associate with propaganda and the one that gives
it its negative connotation.
What are some of the questionable tactics used by
propagandists? The Institute for Propaganda Analysis,
which was founded in 1937, identified seven basic
propaganda techniques, which still exist today (Miller,
1937). These include the plain folks appeal (“I’m one
of you”), testimonials (“I saw the aliens, sure as I’m
standing here”), the bandwagon effect (everybody’s
doing it), card-stacking (presenting only one side of
the story), transfer (positive or negative associations,
such as guilt by association), glittering generalities
(idealistic or loaded language, such as “freedom,”
“empowering,” “family values”), and name calling
(“racist,” “tree hugger,” “femi-Nazi”).
 Two Criticisms of Persuasion 15

The Debunking Function: Puh-Shaw

A fourth reason for studying persuasion is that it serves a debunking function. The
study of human influence can aid in dispelling various “common sense” assump-
tions and “homespun” notions about persuasion. Traditional wisdom isn’t always
right, and it’s worth knowing when it’s wrong. Some individuals cling tenaciously
to folk wisdom about persuasive practices that are known by researchers to be
patently false. For example, many people believe that subliminal messages are
highly effective and operate in a manner similar to that of post-hypnotic sugges-
tion. This belief is pure poppycock, as we point out in Chapter 15.
Of considerable importance, then, are empirical findings that are counterin-
tuitive in nature—that is, they go against the grain of common sense. By learning
about research findings on persuasion, the reader can learn to ferret out the true
from the false, the fact from the fiction.
We hope you’ll agree, based on the foregoing discussion, that there are quite
a few good reasons for studying persuasion. We hope we’ve persuaded you that
the study of persuasion can be a prosocial endeavor. That brings us back to an
earlier point, however: Not all persuaders are scrupulous. At this juncture, then, it
seems appropriate that we address two common criticisms related to the study of
persuasion.

TWO CRITICISMS OF PERSUASION

Does Learning about Persuasion Foster Manipulation?
We’ve already touched on one of the common criticisms of studying persuasion;
the notion that it fosters a manipulative approach to communication. We address
ethical concerns surrounding the study and practice of persuasion more specifi-
cally in Chapter 16. For the time being, however, a few general arguments can
be offered in response to this concern. First, our principal focus in this text is on
the means of persuasion (e.g., how persuasion functions). We view the means of
persuasion not so much as moral or immoral, but rather as amoral, or ethically
neutral. In this respect, persuasion can be likened to a tool, such as a hammer. Like
any other tool, persuasion can be put to good or bad use. If this sounds like a cop-
out, read what Aristotle had to say on this same point in his Rhetoric:
If it is urged that an abuse of the rhetorical faculty can work great mischief, the
same charge can be brought against all good things (save virtue itself), and espe-
cially against the most useful things such as strength, health, wealth, and military
skill. Rightly employed, they work the greatest blessings; and wrongly employed,
they work the greatest harm. (1355b)
Related to this idea is the fact that tools can be used in good or bad ways,
depending on their user. We believe that first and foremost, a persuader’s motives
determine whether a given influence attempt is good or bad, right or wrong, ethi-
cal or unethical. We maintain that the moral quality of a persuasive act is derived
primarily from the ends a persuader seeks, and only secondarily from the means
the persuader employs. It isn’t so much what strategies and tactics a persuader uses
as why he or she uses them.
16 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?

To illustrate, suppose you asked us whether the use of “fear appeals” is ethi-
cally justified. We would have to say, it depends. If a fear appeal were being used
to warn sexually active teens of the risks of HIV infection from unprotected sex,
we would tend to say the appeal was justified. If a fear appeal were being used
by a terrorist who threatened to kill a hostage every hour until his demands were
met, we would say the appeal was unjustified. In each case, the motives of the per-
suader would “color” the use of the fear appeal. Consistent with our tool analogy,
fear appeals, like other persuasive strategies, can be used for good or bad ends.
A second response to this criticism was highlighted earlier. The study of per-
suasion performs a defensive function insofar as it educates people to become
more discriminating consumers of persuasive messages. For instance, we believe
our “Tips on Buying a New or Used Car” (see Box 1.2) are useful to any potential

BOX 1.2 | Tips on Buying a New or Used Car

Given the current state of the economy and the
economic fix in which car dealers find themselves,
buying a car nowadays is easier than before. Car
dealers are eager to sell cars. Nevertheless, car
salespersons, especially used car salespersons, have a
bad reputation. We’ve met some honest, upstanding
sellers. We’ve also met some shady operators. Because
a car is a major purchase, one would be well advised
to err on the side of caution when negotiating with a
car salesperson.Caveat emptor, as the saying goes: Let
the buyer beware.
1. Be wary. Remember, buying a car is a ritual in
which the car dealer has the upper hand. This is
the prototype for high-pressure sales. They are
professionals. They sell cars every day. You are an
amateur. Who do you think has more experience
with persuasion in this setting?
2. Do your homework before you go visit a car dealer.
Read up on the makes and models in which you’re
interested. Find out about performance criteria,
standard features, and options before setting foot
on a car lot. Consumer Reports sells an excellent
paperback that compares used cars on reliability,
safety, and other criteria based on data from actual
owners. Research shows that doing your homework
can save you money (Seiter & Seiter, 2005).
3. Keep a poker face. If the salesperson knows you
are eager or excited about the car purchase, he or
she will smell blood. Once the salesperson knows
you are emotionally attached to a particular car,
you’ll wind up paying more.
4. Take a calculator with you. Car salespersons like
to pretend that the prices of things are entirely
up to the calculator (“Hey, let’s see how the
numbers shake out”). The implication is that the
numbers aren’t negotiable or flexible. Everything
is negotiable! Do your own figuring to see if the
numbers “shake out” the same way. If not, ask why.
5. Once you are on the car lot, dealers will try to keep
you there. They may put you in a cubicle, holding you
“hostage” during the negotiations. Their psychological
strategy is to wear you down. After hours of haggling,
you’ll become mentally drained and more likely to
give in. They may ask for the keys to your trade-in,
presumably to look it over and determine its value.
Once they have your keys, you can’t leave.
6. The car salesperson will want to avoid talking
about the total price of the car, opting instead
to discuss the monthly payment you can afford.
You, however, should focus on four things: (a) the
total purchase price, (b) the finance period, (c) the
interest rate, and (d) the monthly payment. Don’t
discuss the monthly payment unless you are clear
on the finance period involved (a 3-year loan,
4-year loan, 5-year loan, etc.). If you admit you
can afford $300 per month, the salesperson may
simply switch to a longer finance period—say,
4 years, instead of 3, thereby adding thousands of
dollars to the total purchase price.

BOX 1.2 | Continued
7. During the negotiations, the salesperson may
leave the room a number of times to talk with
the “sales manager.” This is all choreographed.
The salesperson can’t agree to anything without
checking with this mysterious figure, so the person
with whom you are negotiating really can’t
commit to anything. You, however, will be asked to
commit to a lot of things. Don’t!
8. The salesperson will act like he or she is your best
friend, even though you just met. The salesperson
will look for ways to identify with you or ingratiate
himself or herself to you to establish camaraderie
(“You like fly fishing? That makes two of us.”
“Whaddya-know, my granddaughter is named ‘Fifi’
too!”). During the negotiations, the salesperson
will pretend he or she is on your side and is
willing to go out on a limb for you (“Well, my
sales manager may kick my butt for even taking
him this offer, but hey, I like you!”). Remember
these two are working as a team, against you.
Don’t be confused for a moment about where the
salesperson’s loyalties reside.
9. The car salesperson will do all kinds of things to
get you to make a commitment to buy (“What
would it take to get you to buy this car? Just tell
me, whudda-I-godda-do to get you in this car?”).
Often the salesperson will ask you to write down
any amount you’re offering on a slip of paper or
an offer sheet, even though it isn’t legally binding
(it does increase your psychological commitment,
however). The car dealer wants you to sit in the
car, take it for a test spin, smell the upholstery,
because then you will become psychologically
committed to owning the car.
10.If you get close to a deal, or alternatively, if a
deal seems to be coming apart, don’t be surprised
if another salesperson comes in to take over the
negotiations. Often a “closer” is sent in (sort of like
a relief pitcher in baseball) to complete the sale.
11.Beware of “loss leaders” (advertised specials at
absurdly low prices). These are come-ons designed
to get you onto the lot. Once there, however, you’ll
be subjected to the “old switcheroo.” You’ll find
there is/was only one car at that price. You will
Two Criticisms of Persuasion 17
probably be told, “Sorry, it’s already sold…but I
can make you a honey of a deal on…”
12.The sale isn’t over simply because you’ve agreed
on a price! You still have to deal with the dreaded
“finance person.” You’ll be given the impression
that you’re simply seeing the finance person to
sign documents and process paperwork. Don’t let
down your guard. The finance person will try to add
on thousands of dollars in the form of extended
warranties, antitheft systems, and protective coatings.
13.The interest rate is just as important as the price
of the car. Shop around for a car loan from a bank
or credit union before you shop for a car. The rates
may be lower and you can find out exactly how
much you qualify for in advance.
14.Shop around for prices on options such as stereos
before you go to a car dealer. People often bargain
well on the purchase price, then give up everything
they’ve gained by failing to bargain on the price of
extras. The price of everything is negotiable!
15.Don’t let the salesperson know in advance that you
have a trade-in. Any bargaining gains you make on the
purchase price of the new car will just be deducted
from the trade-in value of your used car. Sell the
used car on your own if at all possible. If that’s not
possible, you can always mention your trade-in after
you’ve negotiated the price of the new car.
16.Don’t get a lemon. Buying a used car can be
particularly risky. One of the authors bought a used
sports car on eBay. How did he know from a mere
picture and description whether the car was in good
shape? He ran a CARFAX history on the car, easily
available online (see www.carfax.com), which revealed
that the car had had only one previous owner; had
never been stolen, totaled, or repossessed; had correct
odometer readings; and had passed a smog check
each year when the vehicle registration was renewed.
Since the car was coming from another state, the
author went one step further and hired an independent
mechanic to perform a “prepurchase inspection” on
the car, at a cost of about $150. We strongly suggest
you do the same for any used car. After all, how much
can the average consumer tell about a car from
looking under the hood and kicking the tires?
18 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?

car buyer who wants to avoid being manipulated at a car lot. By increasing your
awareness of the ploys of would-be persuaders, this text performs a watchdog
function. You can use the information contained herein to arm yourself against the
tactics of unscrupulous persuaders.
A third response that bears mentioning is that in denouncing the study of
persuasion, antimanipulation types are also attempting to persuade. The message
that persuasion is manipulative or exploitative is itself a persuasive appeal that
advocates a position regarding the “proper” study of communication. When one
group claims to know best how human communication should be studied, they
are, in fact, standing on the persuasion soapbox themselves.

Are Persuasion Findings Too Inconsistent or Confusing?

An additional complaint is that the study of persuasion has led to findings that are
overly qualified, or contradictory in nature. Empirical investigations of persuasion, it is
argued, have not yielded clear and consistent generalizations. There is no “E = MC2,”
no “second law of thermodynamics,” no universal when it comes to persuasion.
First, the complaint that persuasion isn’t worth studying because the findings are
often inconclusive or contradictory makes little sense. Quite the opposite: We believe
that persuasion warrants study precisely because it is so elusive. Underlying this crit-
icism is the expectation that reality is, or should be, simple and uncomplicated. Like
it or not, understanding reality is hard work. As we’ve already noted, human beings
are complex creatures who rarely respond to messages for one and only one reason.
Actually, we find this to be a redeeming feature of humanity. We rejoice in the fact
that we aren’t an altogether gullible, predictable, or controllable species.
A second response to this criticism is simply that persuasion research has
revealed a number of significant, relevant generalizations. You’ll find many such
generalizations throughout this book. Newer techniques of statistical analysis, such
as meta-analysis,6 have made it possible to reconcile some of the previous incon-
sistencies in the literature. In this text, we identify a number of noteworthy, albeit
qualified, generalizations that are based on the most recent meta-analyses available.
You’ll notice in this book that we’ve drawn on the people in the trenches them-
selves to learn how persuasion works in particular contexts and settings. We’ve
talked to used car salespersons, funeral home operators, retail clothing clerks,
advertising firms, former cult members, door-to-door salespersons, and telemarket-
ers to find out—from the horse’s mouth, so to speak—how persuasion operates.

ETHICAL CONCERNS ABOUT THE USE OF PERSUASION

We would be remiss if we concluded this chapter without emphasizing the impor-
tance of ethics in the persuasion process. We wish to underscore the point that
the use of persuasion is fraught with ethical concerns. We raise a number of such
concerns in Box 1.3 for you to ponder. Our position is that in learning how to
become a more effective persuader, you should strive to be an ethical persuader
as well. In the final chapter, we address a number of ethical questions related to
various strategies and techniques of persuasion discussed throughout the text. We
wait until the final chapter to fully examine ethical concerns for two reasons: First,
 Summary 19

BOX 1.3 | Ethical or Unethical Persuasion? You Decide

Instructions: For each of the following scenarios, that the faithful cast their ballots for another
indicate how ethical or unethical you perceive the candidate. Is this ethical persuasion?
persuader or the persuasive strategy to be, based on 6. A persuader sincerely believes in the arguments
a five-point scale (with 1 being “highly ethical” and 5 she is presenting, but the facts and information
being “highly unethical”). she cites are incorrect and outdated. Is this
ethical persuasion?
1. A student pretends to cry in a professor’s office
7. Parents use a fear appeal to convince their child
in an attempt to coax the professor into giving
to clean her room. “Santa doesn’t bring presents
her a makeup exam. Is this ethical persuasion?
to children with dirty rooms,” they warn. Is this
2. A persuader advances an argument he doesn’t
ethical persuasion?
believe in but that he thinks will be convincing
8. A children’s cereal states on the box, “High in
to his listeners. The argument isn’t untrue or
the vitamins kids need!” but doesn’t mention
invalid; it just happens to be one with which the
that the cereal is high in sugar, too. Is this ethical
persuader himself does not agree. Is this ethical
persuasion?
persuasion?
9. A newlywed husband is upset that his wife wants
3. A car salesperson emphasizes that the model of car
to go to a dance club with some of her single
a customer is considering has “more horsepower
friends for drinks. “If you go,” he warns, “I’m
and better mileage than the competition.” The
going to a strip club with some of my friends.” Is
salesperson fails to mention that the car has worse
this ethical persuasion?
reliability and a worse safety record than the
10. A political campaign runs a series of negative
competition. Is this ethical persuasion?
attack ads against an opponent, not because
4. A skilled attorney successfully defends a client
the campaign manager prefers to but because
she knows to be guilty. Is this ethical persuasion?
voter surveys show that negative ads will work,
5. A minister tells his congregation that a vote for
whereas ads that take the political “high road”
a particular candidate is “a vote for the Devil
won’t. Is this ethical persuasion?
incarnate” and that the scriptures demand

until you’ve learned more about persuasion, you may not fully appreciate all of
the ethical issues that are involved. Second, after you’ve studied the full scope of
persuasion as we present it in this text, you’ll be in a much better position to place
these ethical questions in perspective.

SUMMARY
We hope that we’ve convinced you of the ubiquity of persuasion in human inter-
action. The capacity to persuade is one of the defining features of humankind.
This fact provides the strongest possible reason for studying persuasion. Given
that learning about persuasion serves an instrumental function, a knowledge and
awareness function, a defensive function, and a debunking function, we believe
there is ample justification for studying this topic. Finally, rejoinders to two cur-
rent criticisms of the study of persuasion were offered. Hopefully, a persuasive case
has been made for learning about persuasion.
One other thing: Did we mention that learning about persuasion can also be fun?
20 C H A P TE R 1 Why Study Persuasion?

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NOTES
1. The scientific study of persuasion dates back to the 1940s and 1950s, when Carl
Hovland founded the Yale Attitude Research Program as part of the war effort. The
government wanted to know how to counter enemy propaganda that could affect the
morale of troops and how susceptible POWs were to brainwashing.
2. Aristotle’s work Rhetoric is one such text that has survived the test of time. Written in
the fourth century B.C., Aristotle’s work has had a lasting influence on our understand-
ing of persuasion. Many of his insights and observations are considered valid even today.
3. Note that with the exception of Hitler, these charismatic leaders enjoyed a limited fol-
lowing. The rest of us weren’t taken in by their claims, suggesting that people, in general,
aren’t that gullible after all.
4. Rosseli, Skelly, and Mackie (1995) state, “even by conservative estimates, the average
person is exposed to 300–400 persuasive messages a day from the mass media alone”
(p. 163). Kurtz (1997) claims that the average TV viewer watches more than 150 com-
mercials a day, including promos for upcoming shows, and more than 1,000 in a typical
week (cited in Berger, 2011, p. 7). Dupont (1999) states that we live “in a world where
we are potentially exposed to 3,000 advertising messages per day” (p. 14). Jones (2004)
pegs the number of advertising messages at 300 to 1,500 every day, but indicates that
some estimates are as high as 3,000 per day—a number Jones labels fanciful (p. 12).
Without saying who says so, Berger (2011) reports that “some estimate that we are ex-
posed to 15,000 commercial messages each day” (p. 101).
We are suspicious of such estimates, however, because they may simply represent
“unknowable” statistics. At the very least, estimates of the number of persuasive mes-
sages to which the average person is exposed involve extrapolations, and the criteria
upon which the extrapolations are based aren’t always provided. What’s more, the esti-
mates often contradict one another. By way of illustration, Berger (2011) maintains that
“advertisers spend around $800 per person in the United States on advertising” (p. 101),
whereas Dupont (1999) claims, “In the U.S., close to $400 for every man, woman, and
child are invested in advertising each year” (p. 8). Which, if either, estimate is correct?
5. We don’t have sufficient space to devote to this topic here, but suffice it to say that
the traditional notion of scientific realism is under siege from the antirealism camp (see
Kourany, 1998). The antirealists argue that science is neither purely objective nor impar-
tial but heavily value laden (see also Laudan, 1984; Longino, 1990).
6. Meta-analysis refers to a statistical technique that allows a researcher to combine the
results of many separate investigations and examine them as if they were one big super
study. A meta-analysis is capable of revealing trends across a number of studies and re-
solving apparent inconsistencies among studies.
 CHAPTER

What Constitutes
Persuasion?
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Pure versus Borderline Cases of The Context for Persuasion 32
Persuasion 25
A Working Definition of
Limiting Criteria for Defining Persuasion 33
Persuasion 26
So What Isn’t Persuasion? 34
Intentionality 26
Effects 27
Dual Processes of Persuasion 35
Free Will and Conscious Awareness 28
Symbolic Action 30 The Elaboration Likelihood Model of
Interpersonal versus Intrapersonal 31 Persuasion 36
The Heuristic Systematic Model of
A Model of the Scope of Persuasion 38
Persuasion 31 The Unimodel of Persuasion 39

What is persuasion? How broad or narrow is the concept? Is persuasion a subset

of human communication in general, much like baseball is a subset of sports? Or
is persuasion an element found in all human communication in the same way that
coordination plays a role in every sport? Not surprisingly, different authors view
the concept of persuasion in different ways and have, therefore, adopted different
definitions of the term. In this chapter, we explore some of the ways persuasion has
been defined. We offer our own rather broad-based, far-reaching conceptualiza-
tion of persuasion based on five limiting criteria. We also present our own model
of what persuasion is (Gass & Seiter, 1997, 2000, 2004) and examine three addi-
tional models (Chaiken, 1979, 1987; Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Petty & Cacioppo,
1986a, 1986b; Kruglanksi & Thompson, 1998a, 1999b) of how persuasion
functions.
You may have encountered some unusual uses of the term persuasion. For
example, we have a friend in the construction industry who refers to his sledge-
hammer as his “persuader.” He tends to err on the side of cutting a 2 × 4 board
too long, rather than too short, and then “persuading” it into place. As another
example, you may recall seeing an old gangster movie in which a mob boss orders
23
24 C H A P TE R 2 What Constitutes Persuasion?

BOX 2.1 | What Constitutes Persuasion?

1. Muffin notices a grubby-looking weirdo in one of
the front seats of the bus she is boarding. She opts
for a seat toward the rear of the bus. Did the man
“persuade” her to sit elsewhere?
2. Benny Bigot is the principal speaker at a park rally
to recruit more members to the American Nazi
party. Many of the people who hear Benny are so
turned off by his speech that they are more anti-
Nazi than they were before they attended the rally.
Did Benny “persuade” them?
3. During a dramatic pause in his lecture for his
3-hour night class, Professor Hohum hears a
student’s stomach growling. The professor then
decides it would be a good time for the class
to take a break. Did the student “persuade”
Professor Hohum?
4. Babbs is standing at a street corner, watching
passersby. The first three people she sees are wearing
sweatshirts with political and/or social slogans
emblazoned across the front. The fourth person to
pass by is wearing a plain white T-shirt. Are the first
three people “persuading” Babbs? Is the fourth?
5. Sheldon makes a new year’s resolution to go on
a diet. To remind himself not to snack, he sticks
a picture of a male model with “six pack” abs
on his refrigerator. Later, when he has an ice
cream craving, he sees the picture and decides to
have an apple instead. Did Sheldon “persuade”
himself?
6. Bubba is at the supermarket, pondering which of
two brands of beer to purchase. After studying
both brands attentively, he opts for an imported
brand. Unbeknownst to him, another shopper
observed his deliberations. That shopper then walks
over to the display and selects the same brand. Did
“persuasion” take place?
7. Trudy is an impressionable freshperson who is in
a jam. She has just realized a term paper is due
in her philosophy class. Desperate, she asks Rex,
who is the captain of the debate squad, if he will
help her. Rex offers to give her an “A” paper he
submitted when he had the same class 2 years
prior if Trudy will sleep with him. Is Rex using
“persuasion”?

his henchman to take somebody out back “for a little gentle persuasion,” meaning
a beating. Although we don’t normally associate persuasion with pounding lumber
or pummeling people, even in ordinary usage the term does have a wide variety of
meanings. Consider each of the hypothetical situations in Box 2.1, “What Consti-
tutes Persuasion?” Which of these scenarios do you consider to be persuasion?
Adding to the difficulty of defining persuasion is the fact that persuasion also
goes by a variety of other names. Some of its aliases include terms such as advis-
ing, brainwashing, coercion, compliance gaining, convincing, education, indoctri-
nation, influence, manipulation, and propaganda. Of course, whether these terms
are considered pseudonyms for persuasion, or simply related terms, depends on
one’s definition of persuasion.
Defining a concept is analogous to building a fence. A fence is designed to
keep some things in and other things out. In the same way, a definition encom-
passes some elements or aspects of a concept while excluding others. Which “spe-
cies” of human communication is to be found inside the “barnyard” of persuasion
depends on the size and shape of the fence a particular author builds. Fortunately,
the differences in various definitions can be clarified, if not resolved, by focusing
on two key considerations. We turn to these next.
Another random document with
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 DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
 FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
 Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
 The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

 This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
 “We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
 Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
 BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

 FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

 LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
 Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

 BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN