The Power to Persuade; March / April 2010; Scientific American Mind; by Kevin Dutton; 8 Page(s)

“Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero

I don’t know about you, but most of my attempts at persuasion end up going ’round in circles: impassioned, long-winded affairs that seem as if they’re working. But aren’t. This is why I’ve become fascinated with something I call “supersuasion,” a brand-new kind of influence that disables our cognitive security systems in seconds. Animals do it. Babies do it. But for reasons that I’ve been exploring, most of us grownups seem to find it difficult. With one or two exceptions, of course.