Article Analysis: How Certainty Transforms Persuasion

Introduction
Certainty, or lack of it, completely shapes our behavior. It is the catalyst that transforms attitudes into action thus, the greater certainty we have in a belief, regardless of its accuracy, the greater its influence will be on what we do (Bondy Consulting, 2015). However, from the perspective of the salesperson it is strongly based on influence strategy in the corporate market.
This report deals with the essential concepts and the practice of certainty and persuasion based on the various arguments that are presented in these two academic articles.
Key Terms Certainty: The Certainty is defined as the state of being without doubt of one’s belief which can shape people thoughts, decisions, attitudes, and behaviors.

Certainty being such a powerful tool of persuasion can be organized into categories based on how people make evaluations or appraisals (formulated based on relevancy, completeness, legitimacy and accuracy). The writer argues that’s there are four levers of certainty and they are as follows:
• Consensus: When a person is not sure how to act or what to do, they tend to look at other people to see how they respond. It is well known fact that people tends to follow the majority. This is known as consensus. It can be applied in the organizational and interpersonal settings for instance when rallying a team around an idea.
• Repetition: People feel more confident about their opinion when it is repeatedly expressed by someone else. This repetition helps people to be more certain about their opinion and thus, they are willing to promote, defend and act on it.
• Ease: People become more certain of things when an idea easily comes in mind. In a study done by Zak with Carlos Falces, Pablo Brinol and Richard Petty it is found that people were more confident when facing an easy task compared to the hard

This article is valid for small retail shops specifically from India. Validity
Recommendations

The author from article 1 points out very strong point regarding how certainty transforms persuasion. However, there are some limitations to these strategies when implementing them in real life. Also when repetition is used too much it can have an adverse impact and can even lead strong disagreement. Similarly, the defense can go either way if they felt the slightest of doubt.
Likewise, in article 2 the author is very specific about the target. He has tried to fill the gap that had been created due to lack of research on the small retail shop which shares a very large portion of Indian market. I assume there are more to research in this area and the article could have conducted some practical test to enhance the report.
Conclusion
This assignment has given me the opportunity to study two powerful articles and each article stands strong when conveying their message on their perspective target. Both articles have given a new insight to certainty and persuasion. The first article highlights the four lever of certainty to enhance the persuasion and the other highlights the influence strategies that help salesperson in small retail