Emotional and Non-Emotional Persuasion Maria Miceli Fiorella de Rosis Isabella Poggi ISTC-CNR, Roma University of Bari University Roma Tre Humaine - WP8 Workshop Trento, November 17-18, 2005

Persuasion Persuasion is a case of Social influence Social influence (Conte & Castelfranchi 1995): the fact that P increases the likeliness for R to have / not to have the goal p Goal of social influence: P has the goal that R has the goal p In Persuasion, Persuader P has the goal that Recipient R has the goal p Ex.: P has the goal that R has the goal to vote P for president

Possible Criteria for a Definition of Persuasion Success: Persuading R may imply succeeding or not in influencing R; but we are interested in P’s persuasive strategies, independent of their effects; thus, by persuasion we mean a persuasive intention and attempt. P’s intentional stance: P should want that R has the goal p; P’s accidental influencing R is outside our notion of persuasion. (R does what P wants, but just because he accidentally decides to do what P is doing) Intended change of R’s mental state: For a persuasive attempt to occur, P should intentionally try to change R’s mental attitudes. (Ex. Persuading you to get out of the room vs. kicking you out) Communication: P should try to change R’s attitudes through communication (rather than, say, the mere creation of physical conditions). (Ex., Saying “Get out of the room” instead of starting smoking to have him get out) Non-Coercion: P should use communication to change R’s mental attitudes in a non- coercive way: R should intend to pursue goal p ‘freely’, i.e., independent of P’s exercising his power over R; at least, R should intend p not only because P wants her to do so. (your purse or your life is not persuasion) Manipulation: P may act either ‘in good faith’ or not: 1) both in his own interest and in the interest of R; 2) both deceiving and not deceiving R. Persuasion in our sense can be both manipulative and non-manipulative persuasion.

Persuasion in general P’s intention to modify, through communication, R’s beliefs or their strength, as a means for P’s goal to have R freely generate, activate, or increase the strength of, a certain goal, and, as a consequence, to produce an intention instrumental to it (and possibly to have R pursue this intention). Example: Generation of R ’ s intention: To lose weight Activation/generation/increased value of R ’ s goal: Being in good health Change of R ’ s beliefs (about her cholesterol level/her need to lose weight) P ’ s Communication: “ Your cholesterol level is high; maybe you are overweight ” P ’ s MIND

Goal hooking In order to have R intend goal p, P must “hook” goal p to some goal q that P assumes R already has of her own Hook = R believes that there is a means – end link between goal p and goal q

The goals of Persuasion (1) P has the goal w that R intend p P assumes that R has the goal q to be thin and pretty If P manages to convince R that p (to go on a diet) is a means to q (to be thin and pretty), then R will intend goal p R ’ s intention p: To go on a diet R ’ s goal q: Being thin and pretty R ’ s beliefs (about her look) P ’ s Communication: “ You are a bit too overweight to be pretty P ’ s goal w: R goes on a diet

The goals of Persuasion (2) P has the goal w that R is in good health P assumes that R has the goal q to be thin and pretty If P manages to convince R that p (to go on a diet) is a means to q (being thin and pretty), then R will intend goal p R ’ s intention p: To go on a diet R ’ s goal q: Being thin and pretty R ’ s beliefs (about her look) P ’ s Communication: “ You are a bit too overweight to be pretty P ’ s goal w: R is in good health

The goals of Persuasion (3) P has the goal w that R intend p P assumes that R has the goal q to have freedom If P manages to convince R that p (voting for P) is a means to q (to have freedom), then R will intend goal p R ’ s intention p: To vote for P R ’ s goal q: To have freedom R ’ s believes about freedom and P P ’ s Communication: “ If you want freedom, you must vote for me ” P ’ s goal w: P is elected Premier

Three links between Emotions and goals Emotions monitor and signal the destiny of goals: they signal the actual or possible achievement or thwarting of goals. (Ex. Shame signals the thwarting of the goal of image or self- image; indignation signals the thwarting of the goal of equity…) Emotions generate goals. Once an emotion has signalled the achievement or failure of a certain goal, usually some goal is generated that is generally functional to achieving or avoid thwarting that goal (Ex., the emotion of fear signals the presence of a possible danger, and generates the goal to avoid it)  Persuasion through arousal of emotions Emotions become goals. Agents may perform (or avoid performing) an action in order (not) to feel a certain emotion. (Ex. I give you a gift to feel the joy of making you happy; or do my own duty not to feel guilty).  Persuasion through appeal to expected emotions

Activation vs. Generation of goals Goal activation Goal generation An existing goal is included in the Agent’s ‘goal balance’, where its value can be compared to other goals, and the goal can be chosen against others for possible pursuit (give rise to an intention) A new regulatory state comes to be represented in the Agent’s mind as a means to some pre- existing goal (The means-end relationship may be either consciously planned and hence internally represented or unaware and external to R’s mind).

Beliefs and Emotions in goal activation and generation A belief can only activate a pre-existing goal, which in turn, in interaction with the belief, can generate a sub- goal. An emotion can directly generate a goal, without the Agent necessarily being aware of a means-end relationship between that goal and another pre- existing goal Ex., I learn that tomorrow there will be shortage of water. This belief activates my pre-existing goal to have water, which generates my goal to stock up on water as a means for it. Ex. the belief that John is more intelligent than I am arouses my envy towards John. This emotion may generate the goal that John suffers some harm. This goal is functional to my goal of not being less than John, but the means-end relation is not (necessarily) represented in my mind

Conditions for generating intentions by acting on Non-emotional goals Goal q (being in good health) is active for R R believes that p (going on a diet) is a means for q (being in good health) R believes that R can do p (objective possibility and subjective capacity of going on a diet) Goal q (=being in good health) is a highly valued goal for R R intends p (going on a diet) Your cholesterol level is high: a diet would do to lower it

Generating intentions by acting on Emotional goals Goal of feeling emotion e (pride) is active for R R believes that p (going on a diet) is a means for feeling e R believes that R can do p To feel emotion e (pride) is a highly valued goal for R R intends p (going on a diet) If you go on a diet, you will be proud of yourself

Emotional Persuasion Emotional persuasion is a sub-case of general persuasion. Its specificity lies in the means used: When using an ‘emotional’ strategy, P tries to generate, activate, strengthen R’s goals through the medium of either R’s emotions or R’s beliefs and goals about her emotions. Two possible ways: –Persuasion through arousal of emotions –Persuasion through appeal to expected emotions

Persuasion Through Arousal of Emotions P’s intention to modify R’s beliefs or their strength is a means for P’s super-goal to arouse an emotion in R, which in turn is a means for P’s further super-goal to generate a goal in R, and then an intention instrumental to it. Example: P says to R “How disgustingly fat you are!” to provoke R’s shame, which should generate R’s goal of not losing her face, and induce, as a means for it, her intention to go on a diet. Generation of R ’ s intention p: To go on a diet Elicitation of R ’ s emotion: SHAME Generation of R ’ s goal q: Not to lose face P ’ s message: “ How disgustingly fat you are! ” Change of R ’ s beliefs (about her shape/attractiveness)

Persuasion Through Appeal to Expected Emotions P’s intention to modify R’s beliefs or their strength is a means for P’s super-goal to activate or strengthen R’s goal of (not) feeling a certain emotion, and to induce in R an intention instrumental to this goal. Example : P says to R “If you are kind to John, you will not feel guilty” to activate R’s goal not to feel guilty, in order to induce in R the intention to be kind to John as a means for it. P ’ s message: “ If you are kind to John, you will not feel guilty ” Change of R ’ s beliefs (about the means-end relation between “ being kind ” and “ feeling guilty ” ) Activation of R ’ s goal q: Not to feel guilty Generation of R ’ s intention p: To be kind to John

Arousal of emotions vs. Appeal to expected emotions Appeal to expected emotions is ‘structurally’ not distinct from any other ‘argument from consequences’ or, in our terms, ‘intention generation by acting on pre-existing goals’. The only difference resides in the content of the goal on which P acts: feeling a certain emotion rather than having a certain state of the world true. Ex. : Compare “If you go on a diet, you will be in good health” with “If you go on a diet, you will be proud of yourself”. Persuasion through arousal of emotions works in a very different way: the aroused emotion (say, shame) can directly produce a certain goal (say, to save one’s face), independent of R’reasoning and planning about means-ends relationships.