1. Persuasive Interview: The Persuadee
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2. Chapter Summary
• Client – Counselor
Relationship
• Listening Skill
• Empathy and Silence
• Be a Responsible
Participant
• Be an Informed
Participant
• Be an Active Participant
• Summary

3. Client-Counselor Relationship
• Establishing Rapport with the client
– Gaining trust
• Observation of the client
– Especially of non-verbal behavior
• Self-Disclosure (revealing personal information)
– Can be useful for normalizing experiences with the
client

4. Client-Counselor Relationship
• Using Open-Closed Ended Questions
– Open-ended questions warrant explanations
– Closed-ended questions warrant “yes” or “no” responses
• Echoing, Restatement, Summarizing
– Can provide more information about the client’s thoughts
and feelings
– Shows the client you are listening
• Continuation
– Encouraging a client to follow a certain course of
discussion

5. Listening Skills
• Helps to Build Trust and Shows
Understanding
• Encourages the Client to Reflect
on What He or She Has Said
• Ensures That You Are on Track
and Facilitates Gathering
Information

6. Effective Listening Involves
• Calm Yourself down
• Stop Talking and Don't Interrupt
• Show Interest
• Don't Jump to Conclusions or Ask
Questions
• Actively Listen
• Concentrate on Feelings
• Concentrate on Content
• Maintain Appropriate Eye Contact
• Have an Open Body Posture
• Be Sensitive Personal Space

7. Empathy and Silence
Emphaty
• Rogers’ “To Perceive the Internal Frame of Reference of Another as
if One Were the Person, but Without Ever Losing the ‘as if’
Condition”
• Carkhuff Scale Measures Empathy & Operationalizes Rogers’
Definition
• The Carkhuff Scale
1-----------2------------3-----------4----------5
1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5
Silence
• Gives Counselor and Client Opportunity to Formulate Response
• Silence (Pause Time) Varies as a Function of Culture

8. Be a Responsible
Participant
• Both parties share ethical responsibilities
• Be honest
• Be fair
• Be skeptical
• Be thoughtful and deliberate in judgment
• Be open-minded
• Be responsive

9. Be an Informed Participant
• Psychological Strategies
– Standard/Learned Principles: We may act
automatically during persuasive interviews
– Contrast Principle: Look for real differences
– Rule of Reciprocation: We feel obligated to return
favors
– Reciprocal Concessions: One concession deserves
another, or not
– Rejection then Retreat strategy: Persuaders may
ask for a lot and settle for less

10. Be an Informed Participant
• Language Strategies
– Seek the meaning of symbols
1. Framing and Reframing
– The use of language to frame or construct the way we see people,
places, things, and objects.
2. Appealing to people
– For many, majority rules
– Persuaders use the bandwagon tactic when they urge others to
follow the crowd.
3. Simplifying the Complex
4. Dodging the Issue

11. Be an Informed Participant
• Logical Strategies
– The ways persuaders attempt to reason with us:
1. Reasoning from example or generalization
2. Reasoning from cause-to-effect
3. Reasoning from fact or hypothesis
4. Reasoning from sign
5. Reasoning from analogy or comparison
6. Reasoning from accepted belief, assumption, or
proposition
7. Reasoning from condition
8. Reasoning from two choices

12. Be an Informed
Participant
• Evidence
– Assess the reliability and expertise of sources.
– Insist on both quantity and quality of evidence.

13. Be an Active Participant
• The Opening
– Be an active and critical player in the interview.
– Play an active role in the opening because it
initiates the persuasive process.

14. Be an Active Participant
• Creating a Need or Desire
– Ask questions, challenge arguments, and demand
solid evidence.

15. Be an Active Participant
• Establishing Criteria
– Criteria enable you to weigh evidence.

16. Be an Active Participant
• Presenting the Solution
– Be sure the solution meets the need and is the
best available

17. Be an Active Participant
• The Closing
– Take your time when making a final decision

18. Summary
• Good persuasive interviews involve the
interviewee as responsible, informed, critical, and
active participant who plays a central role.
• It is a mutual activity in which both parties play
active and critical roles.
• Interviews are a chance for the interviewee to act
ethically, listen critically, raise important
objections, and recognize common tactics for
what they are.

19. Resources
• Stewart, Interviewing Principles and Practices
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All
rights reserved.
• The Helping Interview : Skills, Process and
Case Management © 2009 The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.