Tiffani Douglas
Case Study Paper
Persuasion Theory
December 10, 2010
Brief summary of Screwtape Letters:
Chapter One
 Discusses the importance of impressing “real life” upon humans—keep them grounded in the ordinary and skeptical of the supernatural

Two extremes—atheism and magician—are the ideal
 Don’t present an argument—this will get him thinking about the counterargument, best strategy is to just confuse him
Chapter Two
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Foster misconceptions about Church—Screwtape draws a distinction between the Church of history and the modern church gathering

Disappointments in life and dependency on emotions are efficient strategies
 Keep him in a state of smugness and pride about being “converted”—don’t let him think humble thoughts
Chapter Three
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Give him thoughts of self-contemplation and focused on trying to be “holy” and “good”
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Keep the mother and son constantly irritated by small annoyances
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Create double standard—demanding from the mother what the son is not willing to do himself
Chapter Four
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Addresses prayer, suggests keeping it self-centered
 Capitalize on man’s vague and distant perception of God and the fact that we are really not attuned to the supernatural
Chapter Five

Persuasion Theory and Screwtape Letters:
Consistency theory
—highlight potential inconsistencies in receiver’s attitudes. If you can demonstrate that some of the attitudes held by your receivers are incompatible, you may motivate them to change their attitude in the direction you are advocating.” (60)
 “successful persuasion isn’t so much a matter of shifting receiver’s attitudes over to your position as it is a matter of adapting your message to the attitudes of your audience” (59)
Examples in Screwtape Letters :
 “How much better for us if all humans died in costly nursing homes amid doctors who lie, nurses who lie, friends who lie, as we have trained them, promising life to the dying, encouraging the belief that sickness excuses every indulgence” (23)

o Here Lewis is pointing out the inconsistency of the belief that to die in old age at a nursing home is the best way to die. He asserts that the belief in dying in this manner is not fulfilling but rather fuel for indulgence, justification of lies, and false promises
 “There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the
Enemy. He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them.” (25) – part of Ch. 6
Fear appeals —the relationship between fear intensity and persuasion is generally positive and linear. That is, greater fear tends to produce greater persuasion. (272)
 “The more fear that is aroused, the more vulnerable receivers feel, and the more likely it is that they will be persuaded”
 “the trick is to use fear appeals that include workable, practical remedies, thereby triggering danger control which, in turn, leads to constructive responses” o Response efficacy—the person most perceive that an effective response is available
Examples in Screwtape Letters :
 “Keep everything hazy in his mind now, and you will have all eternity wherein to amuse yourself by producing in him the peculiar kind of clarity which Hell affords” (7)
 “If, on the other hand, by steady and cool-headed application here and now you can finally secure his soul, he will then be yours forever—a brim-full living chalice of despair and horror and astonishment which you can raise to your lips as often as you please”
(22) o Use of fear appeal—these devils can manipulate you if you let them. The fear appeal is especially effective in the way Lewis uses language—“amuse yourself”,
“brim-full living chalice of despair”. Lewis seems to be playing on the human repulsion of being puppets and jerked on a string o Another note—haven’t gotten there yet, but I’d like to work in response efficacy.
At some points in the letters, Lewis overtly discloses exactly what bothers
Screwtape about Wormwood’s “patient”
Language expectancy theory —“assumes that we have expectations about what types of language are normal to use when trying to persuade other people…when persuaders violate our expectations concerning normal language, those violations can either help or hurt the effectiveness of the persuasive message, depending on whether the violations are perceived in a positive or negative way” (153)
Examples in Screwtape Letters :

Beginning of Chapter 2: “I note with grave displeasure that your patient has become a
Christian. Do not indulge the hope that you will escape the usual penalties; indeed, in your better moments, I trust you would hardly even wish to do so. In the meantime we must make the best of the situation. There is no need to despair; hundreds of these

adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the Enemy's camp and are now with us” (5) o Here Lewis violates our expectancies of language in a number of ways. He refers to the man Wormwood is seeking to seduce as a “patient” and makes an implication about a system of justice among the devils. “Enemy’s camp” is another loaded phrase—it reveals the nature of the opposition between heaven and hell o This use of the Language Expectancy Theory is effective because it forces the reader to think differently about how devils relate to us—we are “patients” who
“sojourn in the Enemy’s camp” but can be “reclaimed” o Another interesting note about the Letters in general is the tone: it is very formal and intellectual, implying that Screwtape knows what he is talking about. This persuades the reader that the supernatural is a force to be reckoned with.
Counterattitudinal advocacy —involves having a person create and present a message that is at odds with his or her existing attitudes, (63)
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Cognitive dissonance theory?