Presenting more arguments in a persuasion attempt leads to perceptions that the persuader has expertise.

Presenting more arguments can also lead the target to believe the persuader has ulterior motives.

The implication is that the situation and the target govern when to use more or fewer persuasive arguments.

You are trying to convince someone — your friend, a client, your spouse — to take some action or change their belief, and you have lots of supporting arguments to make. Should you simply pile on all of the arguments in favor of your position? Or, would the other person think that you were “trying too hard” and be turned off by all of your arguments?

More traditional research suggests that having more arguments makes you more persuasive. A very recent study, however, suggests that it’s more complicated than that. While using more arguments in a persuasion attempt may make you look more like an expert,........

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