Page 111 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

104 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

with the simultaneity of diverse presentations of the same issue. The per-
suasiveness of a negative frame is evidently weakened in the context of a
positive-frame argument, but it rises considerably when the addressees’
anxiety is evoked. Thus, in competitive democracies, the persuasive ap-
peal of the argumentation of one political option, supporting behaviors
leading to serious social and economic consequences, must always be ana-
lyzed in the context of the counter-arguments of an opposing political
option. In factual political circumstances, the persuasiveness of argumen-
tation is always modified by counter-argumentation, which constitutes its
external context.
Chong and Druckman (2007b) discussed the analysis of this external
context—that is, of the influence of the mutual interaction of contrary ar-
guments on their persuasiveness levels in competitive democracies. They
demonstrated that the contrary arguments of opposing options modify the
influence of framing but do not eliminate it. The competitive context is
bound to stimulate a thoughtful examination of diverse methods of argu-
ing about a given issue and handling the problem of conflicts to which the
arguments often lead.
Let us illustrate this point with an example. Contemporary public opin-
ion pays great attention to environmental protection, which leads to the
claim that construction development in city centers should be considera-
bly reduced so as to protect the city’s green areas. This pro-ecological
stance can benefit from a strong argument that construction development
in city centers constrains free city space, and hence the remaining natural
areas should be protected. The same stance can also be built with the use
of weaker argumentation. For example, one could argue that a socially
involved community and active social communication is only possible
outside city centers. The counterarguments to this stance can be drawn in
a strong economic perspective by saying that any limitation on the devel-
opment of city centers will negatively influence housing prices, which will
make it more difficult for young families to find places to live. The weaker
counterargument could rely on showing that the complex legal regulations
meant to constrain the construction development of city centers will re-
quire an effort on the part of average citizens interested in investing in any
such construction activity to learn details in which they have no interest or
are not competent to understand.
Chong and Druckman (2007b) observed that displaying stronger argu-
mentation in the context of weaker counter-argumentation substantially
reinforces the persuasive appeal of the former. This leads to the so-called
backfire effect. Weak arguments reinforce counter-arguments, which func-
tion as the external context for the weak arguments. The research also