Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast.

Today's podcast has been edited and adapted from The Psychology of Persuasion by William McPherson, published in 1920.

Humanity has been described as a reasoning animal, and everyone likes to think that the

description applies to them. In reality, we do not usually act rationally in the sense that

we first carefully calculate the means to realize our objectives, and only then act.

Even when we do make such calculations, the fundamental source of our actions is always some

instinct or emotion that we seek to satisfy. To say this is to say nothing derogatory about human nature.

Indeed, as we all know, to act on impulse is often much more respectable than to act from reasoned

calculation. If much of the wrongdoing of the world may be attributed to the uncontrolled working of selfish

impulses, it should also be remembered that impulse is the source of art and science and of many of the best things in life.

Impulse is one of the non-rational elements in our nature, but this does not imply that it is

necessarily irrational or that it works against reason.

Persuasion is fundamentally a non-rational process, dominated much more by the emotional and impulsive

part of our nature than by the rational.

But this does not mean that persuasion is, of necessity, irrational.

The starting point of all persuasion, of ourselves or others, is a belief or wish.

Holding a certain belief or desiring that a certain course of action shall be pursued, we set

out to justify our belief and the conduct that it implies.

Thus, before a professional speaker begins a speech, he or she, whose aim is persuasion,

has already present in their mind a belief or wish, fully formed, from which all their arguments and appeals

flow.

When we persuade ourselves, it also is true that the belief or wish we seek to confirm

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