Past research has uncovered actions that would seem to undermine but in fact frequently enhance persuasion. For example, expressing doubt about one’s view or presenting arguments against it would seem to weaken one’s case, but can sometimes promote it. We propose a framework for understanding these findings. We posit that these actions constitute acts of receptiveness—behaviors that signal openness to new information and opposing viewpoints. We review four classes of acts of receptiveness: conveying uncertainty, acknowledging mistakes, highlighting drawbacks, and asking questions. We identify conditions under which and mechanisms through which these actions boost persuasion. Acts of receptiveness appear to be more persuasive when they come from expert or high-status sources, rather than non-expert or low-status sources, and to operate through two primary mechanisms: increased involvement and enhanced source perceptions. Following a review of this work, we delineate potentially novel acts of receptiveness and outline directions for future research.

过去的研究发现了看似会削弱但实际上经常增强说服力的行为。例如，对某人的观点表示怀疑或提出反对它的论据似乎会削弱某人的观点，但有时会促进其观点。我们提出了一个框架来理解这些发现。我们假定这些行为构成了接受行为——表示对新信息和反对观点持开放态度的行为。我们回顾了四类接受行为：传达不确定性、承认错误、突出缺点和提出问题。我们确定了这些行动增强说服力的条件和机制。当接受行为来自专家或地位高的来源而不是非专家或地位低的来源时，接受行为似乎更有说服力，并且通过两个主要机制起作用：增加参与度和增强来源感知。在对这项工作进行回顾之后，我们描绘了潜在的新接受行为并概述了未来研究的方向。