Persuasion and Social Influence
Researchers have long been interested in identifying factors that might explain the success or failure of persuasive attempts. Academic study of persuasion dates back to at least ancient Greece, as Aristotle (among others) wrote about the persuasive power of various message features. This early research evolved into a field of inquiry known as rhetorical studies or rhetoric, which focuses on determining the available methods of persuasion in any situation. Social scientific study of persuasion, the focus of the present bibliography, developed in the early 1900s. This line of inquiry was initiated by experimentalists interested in message effects, a program that received additional financial support from the US military during World War I and World War II. Driven by researchers from a variety of fields, the social scientific study of persuasion is now a foundational component of advertising, marketing, psychology, communication, and public health (just to name a few). Despite the context of study, contemporary research in this domain focuses on both theory building as well as application of that theory.