Synopses & Reviews
How Audiences Decide: A Cognitive Approach to Business Communication is a comprehensive introduction to persuasive communication in the context of business. It summarizes relevant theories and findings from the fields of cognitive science, social cognition, leadership, team cognition, psycholinguistics, and behavioral economics. By illuminating the thought processes of many different audiences, from consumers to Wall Street analysts to CEOs, it helps communicators better understand why audiences make the decisions they make and how to influence them. The book covers a broad range of communication techniques including those concerning persuasive speaking and writing, interviews and group meetings, content and style, typography and nonverbal behaviors, charts and images, rational arguments and emotional appeals and examines the empirical evidence supporting each of them.
Synopsis
How Audiences Decide: A Cognitive Approach to Business Communication draws on a vast research literature and summarizes relevant theories and findings from the fields of social cognition, consumer behavior, decision science, behavioral finance, affective science, cognitive science, and neuroscience. It delves into the hearts and minds of a breath-taking array of audiences: from Wall Street analysts to viewers of the evening news, from army officers to hospital patients, from venture capitalists to grocery shoppers, from CEOs to college admissions officers, from job recruiters to mock jurors. It surveys a broad range of communication techniquesa including those concerning speaking, writing, content, style, typography, nonverbal behaviors, charts, images, rational arguments, and emotional appealsa and examines the empirical evidence supporting each of them.