Persuasion and evidence

Names and abbreviations on this page

FTC — Federal Trade Commission. A United States agency addressing consumer protection and competition.

Start with the claim

Persuasion tries to affect a judgment or action. It can contain sound information, selective information or unsupported assertions. Identify the specific statement being made before judging the speaker’s confidence, presentation or popularity. An explanation of what might happen differs from evidence that it has happened, and both differ from a recommendation about what you should do.

Attention and transparency

Research by Pennycook and Rand found that accuracy reminders improved discernment in sharing decisions across a set of experiments. That supports pausing to consider accuracy; it does not make an individual message true. Separately, FTC guidance explains why consumers need to recognize advertising as advertising. Payment or sponsorship can be relevant context without automatically making every claim false. [1] [2]

An everyday example

Illustration: A video praises an expensive course and invites immediate enrollment. First locate the actual promise: a skill, a certificate or a job outcome. Then look for evidence matching that promise, the provider’s terms and any disclosed commercial relationship. A satisfied customer’s account can describe one experience while leaving typical outcomes unanswered.

A useful reflection

Write the claim in one sentence. Ask what source directly supports it, what remains uncertain, who benefits from the action and whether the deadline is real. If evidence is missing, waiting or choosing a smaller commitment may be reasonable. This approach supports understanding and voluntary judgment; it is not a recipe for steering someone else toward a predetermined conclusion. Connect it with framing to inspect how the same facts are presented.

Related learning

Bias and framing

Belonging and social influence

Planning, lobbying, collusion & evidence

Transparency, oversight & accountability

External Resources