Profile for Persuasion: The LDS Missionary

Main characteristics and values: 

Me (right) as a missionary in Germany on my last day.

Many if not all of the people in this class are familiar with the missionary of the church. Several of us have gone on missions ourselves. those who have done so note that there are keen differences in the everyday culture of missionary life in comparison to ours. When someone mentions the word missionary, we all automatically think of a pair of young men in suits, white shirts and ties. They are all very focused on the spiritual nature of things. Their main desire during their two years of service is to serve people that they meet from all walks of life and invite them to make changes so that they can find salvation through Jesus Christ. Missionaries always seek for the good things of life and avoid worldly matters in order to maintain focus and a strong connection with God. Many missionaries serve in foreign countries and must deal with the stress of learning a new language and culture during this time.


Likely/unlikely to persuade:

Because missionaries try to be so serving to others, they would react very positively if they were offered opportunities to help people. They would also be attracted to things that are related to the LDS church. It would be ineffective to convince Missionaries to try to have them do things that would distract from their mission.

Test case- attending a play:

A Missionary would normally avoid attending a play as that would be something typically considered as something that does not pertain to the mission. However, if it contained elements of gospel doctrine, or it was used as a way to help people or teach them about the gospel. I actually did a fireside like that on my own mission. And it was effective!

Arrangement is everything

My mission president once called one of my companions a “silver tongued serpent”. This particular companion was very skilled at using words to get things done the way he wanted. Sometimes it was a good way, sometimes not so much. He would follow the same arrangement that ancient Greeks employed, namely:

1)      Introduction

2)      Statement of Facts

3)      Division

4)      Proof

5)      Refutation

6)      Conclusion

As I read through Gorgia’s “Encomium of Helen” I saw this same pattern. For Gorgia’s, the arrangement is something like

1)      Helen is not to be blamed

2)      Stating who Helen was

3)      It was either by the wishes of Fortune and plans of the gods and decrees of Necessity she did what she did, OR abducted by force, OR persuaded by speeches, OR conquered by Love

4)      If it was the Gods will, then she had no choice she needed to follow.

 If it was force, then she is a victim, not an inciter, and received injustice, not caused it.
 If by a convincing speech then surely she cannot be blamed because speech has such great persuasive power that we cannot help but follow, for better or worse.
 If it came as a result of Love either it came from the Gods so she couldn’t resist or it came as a result of her mortal condition so she can’t be blamed because of her genetics.

5)      Surely it was one of these, how could it be anything else?

6)      I have shown that Helen is innocent.

He’s got me convinced. The same arrangement has worked on me before. That companion from my mission is the reason I am not a psychology major. His argument was arranged like this:

1)      Psychology isn’t a good major.

2)      If you want to support a family comfortably with a psychology major you need to get an advanced degree.

3)      You need to do more school for that major then another one. Also you need to have a certain personality type to make it in that field.

4)      The money to support a family simply isn’t really there.

5)      You have failed at talking to people for free, how will you do it for a job? Also, look at the stats.

6)      Psychology isn’t for you.

Needless to say, I’m not a psychology major.