Why People Resist Persusion

I found this video very interesting. I liked the examples given in the video of the cigarettes and not wearing seatbelt so I will focus on them mostly. People have known for years and years that smoking is extremely unhealthy and bad for your body. However, millions of people smoke, knowing that it is going to harm them in the future. Why do they do this? There could be many reasons for this.  There is always peer pressure.  This is why many children and teenagers start smoking.  It is hard to turn down a cigarette if you are the only one in your group of friends that is not smoking. Once a person starts smoking, it is extremely hard to quit. This is one reason why people smoke even though they know it is very dangerous.

Another example in the video of things people are persuaded to do even though they know it isn't in their best interest is the seatbelt example.  People know that wearing seat belt saves lives.  They have heard many stories, but for some reason, they don't follow through when it comes to them wearing a seat belt.  I have heard people say that they have heard of a time that a person died because they were wearing a seatbelt and they were stuck in a car and couldn't get out after a wreck and it caused their death.  While this might be true, people need to realize that this particular thing won't happen nearly as often as a death because a person wasn't wearing a seat belt.  It is sad to think that people like the 18 year old Dixie High School student, Drex Taylor isn't still alive because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.  The article said that Taylor Carlton always wore a seat belt, but wasn't wearing one the night of that accident.  Was it because she was tired and forgot to put it on? Was it because she was with someone who didn't wear a seat belt either?  No one knows, but one thing is certain, that accident could have had different results if they would have been wearing their seat belts. 

In the video, Professor Young talks about the emotional appeal, but what about the counter emotional appeal? The emotional desire to fit in or to be liked by your peers sometimes seems more important than doing what you know is the right thing.