Persuasion in "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"

I am writing this blog post for my Introduction to Persuasion class at Old Dominion University. The film I chose to analyze was “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. This movie has examples of persuasion all throughout it. Although “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” is a story that is completely made up, the artifacts and people themselves are persuasive to each other in different yet similar ways. The plot of the movie is for both main characters to use persuasion in order to get what they want. Andie Anderson, or Kate Hudson, is assigned to write a story for her magazine on “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. Ben Berry, or Matthew McConaughey, places a bet to show his co-workers that he is able to make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days. Both of the actors have no idea who the other one is or what their motives are.

At the beginning of the semester, we learned about different types of persuasion, such as pure vs. borderline (Lietzenmayer, 2016). Pure is a direct, clear cut type of persuasion and borderline persuasion is not as direct and based on what-if’s (Lietzenmayer, 2016). In this movie, borderline persuasion was used since the main characters were not up front about what they were doing and they both tried to hide what they were planning. Lots of what-if’s were used in this movie and both sides as well as both of the characters tried to not be direct with the other. An example of pure persuasion would be if Ben told Andie about the bet directly. The persuasion then, in that instance, would not have been as effective because Andie potentially could have pretended to be in love with Ben in order to help him. Andie could also have done the same thing with Ben, however, then her results would be skewed and her article would not have been authentic.

In module 3, we learned about consistency (Lietzenmayer, 2016). Consistency is needed for people in order to feel in a state of harmony with their behaviors, emotions, etc. (Lietzenmayer). By having the actor Andie Anderson change the way she acted and felt every minute as well as every second, created Ben to experience cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is when attitudes and emotions are not stable, therefore there is not harmony. (Lietzenmayer, 2016). This cognitive dissonance is connected to social judgment theory (Lietzenmayer, 2016). There are three latitudes on the continuum of social judgment theory which are acceptance, noncommitment, and rejection (Lietzenmayer, 2016). Ben Berry rejected Andie’s craziness at first and was in the latitude of rejection. However, when he realized that he really wanted to win the bet, he transitioned to the latitude of acceptance where he found the positions tolerable (Lietzenmayer, 2016).

Another example of how persuasion in the film is used is by looking at module 4, which explains credibility. Ben Berry, one of the main actors in this movie would be considered very credible. Ben is an advertising executive and described as a “ladies’ man”. He is familiar with sloganeering, brand personality as well as image-oriented advertising (Lietzenmayer, 2016). Ben’s job shows that he is would easier be able to persuade people to do what he wants since his career is primarily based on persuasion. For example, if Ben was some scientific research geek, his character would not have been as credible. His background and credibility shows that the persuasion will be more effective. Another example of credibility in this film would be the actual actors themselves. Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughy are well known to the public. Because they are the actors in the movie, this brings credibility into it.

The last example would be some of the traits and characteristics we learned in the latest module, module 5. Some of these traits and characteristics would be gender and intellect (Liezenmayer, 2016). The cross sex effect explains that men are persuaded by women and women are persuaded by men (Lietzenmayer, 2016). This makes sense in this movie since both characters are persuaded by each other even though each of them have different goals to reach in just 10 days. For the intellect aspect, it was once thought that intelligent people were easier to persuade (Lietzenmayer, 2016). However, now research is showing that it is easier to persuade less intelligent people (Lietzenmayer, 20,16). In this case, Andie Anderson would want to choose a man that is not as intelligent and only concerned with her looks which is what she tried to do.

This blog post and assignment has opened my eyes to the many different types of persuasion. Not only is persuasion in your everyday life, but it is shown in movies, TV shows, documentaries, plays and any other type of entertainment. This course has shown me there is so much more than just a simple love story or entertaining movie. Persuasion is everywhere and being aware of it as well as learning the different concepts can shape the way you see something as simple as a movie or your favorite television show. Persuasion is all around us. Even now, I am starting to see more and more persuasion by walking to class or driving to the grocery store. In the future, I will use the concepts I have learned in order to shape my decisions in a more constructive manner. Before this class, I only thought of persuasion being the commercials and advertisements that are trying to sell you something. However, now I see that there is so much more to it and I value the concepts I am learning in order to recognize persuasion more easily.

References: Lietzenmayer, A. (2016). Attitudes. Retrieved from http://ple1.odu.edu/courses/201520/comm333/modules/3/1/1