Reddit reviews Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade

Not OP, but doing research on persuasion and white supremacy. I can share my hypotheses with with you based on my research. I would say the first and most important thing is to figure out is your dad's motivation.

• Does he truly believe whites are superior?
  
• Does he want segregation?
  
• Does he feel like whites are getting shafted by laws and social policies, e.g. affirmative action?
  
  
  If it's either of the first two, your task will be trickier, but not impossible. I would suggest asking a series of "why" and "how" questions. "Did something happen that made you feel you were treated unfairly? Were other people also treated that way? Why do you think they treated you like that? Was it in response to something? Does it still happen? What did you do in response? Why did you do it? How effective do you think your reaction was?"
  
  
  Show genuine curiosity. Tell him you want to understand his philosophy better, that you want to get to know him better, or whatever you need to say to get him to open up. DO NOT tell him you are asking him these questions because you want to get him out of the Klan, or he is likely to shut down and get angry. Do not get emotional. If you feel yourself getting upset (which is TOTALLY FINE), excuse yourself, do something you enjoy, and sleep on it. Keep in mind that being effective is more important than being right, and that this process will be difficult, and you won't be effective if you don't take care of yourself first.
  
  
  Once you know his motivation, you can start presenting him with examples and evidence. Keep these principles in mind.
  
  
• 1. The most effective persuasion happens when people don't know they are being persuaded.
     
• 2. Talk about micro examples, not macro ideas. Don't talk about lynchings in general, talk about a specific example like this. Don't call it a lynching.
     
• 3. Talk about concrete policies like Redlining. Don't send him the article. Do your own research and explain the policy to him.
     
• 4. Present the evidence, and let him come to his own conclusions based on the evidence. For example, you don't need to say that Redlining created segregation. If you tell him how it worked, he will likely come to that conclusion on his own.
     
• 5. Do not label him. Do not call him a racist because that will likely piss him off and paint you as the enemy. Do not call him a Klansman because that reinforces his identity as a group member, and will make it harder for him to leave.
     
• 6. This may be obvious, but don't use anything that can be considered a liberal buzzword. For the love of god, don't mention white privilege.
     
     Maybe OP u/shamethrowaway77 can comment on the veracity of some of these techniques. I sincerely hope they work for you. Feel free to PM me if you want me to point you in the direction of other articles or books with more info.
     
     Also, Robert Cialdini has a great book called Pre-suasion, where he talks about setting the stage for effectively persuading people. It's written for a non-academic audience and is entertaining, and explains how to apply persuasive principles in real life.
     
     
     EDIT: Wow, my first reddit gold! Thank you, kind stranger, and thank you for the upvotes. Y'all are motivating me to put my best effort toward making a contribution to this field of research.

JK: A brand-new book by psychologist Robert Cialdini (https://www.amazon.com/Pre-Suasion-Revolutionary-Way-Influence-Persuade-ebook/dp/B01C36E2YS) looks to general principles of persuasion - from business, psychology, politics, and other fields. Cialdini argues that effective persuasion is less about “altering a listener’s attitudes, beliefs, or experiences” than changing a listener’s “state of mind”.

There is certainly a lot of research in political science that demonstrates the effectiveness of emotional appeals. For example, see Ted Brader’s work (http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo3640346.html).

Enthusiasm, for example, tends to reinforce individuals’ pre-existing opinions while anxiety has somewhat of the opposite effect, moving individuals to reevaluate their options. In Samara’s work, she finds that threat can drive individuals to support policies that actually counteract their own party, when those preferences line up with the individual’s other identity groups (http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jnd260/pub/Klar%202013.pdf).
Emotions can be an effective way to persuade.

Sure: https://www.amazon.com/Pre-Suasion-Revolutionary-Way-Influence-Persuade-ebook/dp/B01C36E2YS/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?crid=2ED8U2IQM661T&keywords=persuasion&qid=1550174785&s=gateway&sprefix=Pre+su&sr=8-8

His other book, Influence, the Psychology of Persuasion is a great read as well.

Is this what you're referring to? Linking it for anyone interested.

Ugh, this should be higher up the list. Not sales specifically, but the skills translate frictionlessly and also useful in life. In this same category I would put

• Word Hero by Jay Heinrichs as well.
  
• Verbal Judo by George Thompson
  
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
  
• Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for but you might check it out:
Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini.


https://www.amazon.com/Pre-Suasion-Revolutionary-Way-Influence-Persuade-ebook/dp/B01C36E2YS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473175602&sr=1-1&keywords=pre-suasion#nav-subnav

There are quite a few classic novels I have not read. When I was in grade school, I was much more interested in non-fiction books. I didn't read much fiction in college either, and the computer has dominated my free time for the last 15 years.

Earlier this year I bought an e-book reader to try and make book reading a hobby. Introducing a new toy to the mix has spurred my interest, but the only two "classics" I've read thus far are Sense and Sensibility and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Right now I'm reading a non-fiction book called Pre-Suasion.