ABSTRACT
Scholars in the communication discipline have always understood that people should say different sorts of things in different situations, even assuming that the same primary goal is in force. We request favors from friends differently than we ask strangers, we comfort loved ones differently than a therapist counsels a client, and we persuade a child differently than a political candidate addresses a nominating convention. This chapter is concerned with interpersonal persuasion-the ways in which we try to get another person to comply with our wishes. Here, too, we would expect that we would approach a romantic intimate differently than a supervisor, that we would phrase things differently under stress, and that the history of our relationship with the other person would make a difference in our choice of communication and persuasive strategies.
