Resource for Developing Persuasion Communication Systems: Key Variables, Techniques and Theories

Abstract Persuasion can be seen as a higher-level, abstract and complex cognitive process. Within the field of persuasion theory and research, there are a myriad of overlapping concepts and techniques which can lead to ambiguity and potential confusion in the choice of the most appropriate strategies. Persuasion communication is integral to areas including social psychology, marketing, health communications and political campaigning. Based on a review of persuasion theory and research, we collate and outline the most important variables to be collected when designing a persuasion model and the most commonly used models of persuasion. This paper also presents a taxonomy which outlines the landscape of persuasion techniques and which, along with presented examples, may assist in message tailoring and developing data-driven models of persuasive communication. We believe this paper can be a valuable resource to support researchers and practitioners in expediting and enhancing the process of data collection, selection of persuasion techniques and models of persuasive communication, and ultimately in the realisation of a more adequate and effective persuasion system.