[A Hybrid Theory and Data-driven Approach to Persuasion Detection with Large Language Models](https://aclanthology.org/2025.nlpsi-1.5.pdf)
[Gia Bao Hoang](/people/gia-bao-hoang/),
[Keith J Ransom](/people/keith-j-ransom/),
[Rachel Stephens](/people/rachel-stephens/),
[Carolyn Semmler](/people/carolyn-semmler/),
[Nicolas Fay](/people/nicolas-fay-2800/),
[Lewis Mitchell](/people/lewis-mitchell/)
Abstract
Traditional psychological models of belief revision focus on face-to-face interactions, but with the rise of social media, more effective models are needed to capture belief revision at scale, in this rich text-based online discourse. Here, we use a hybrid approach, utilizing large language models (LLMs) to develop a model that predicts successful persuasion using features derived from psychological experiments.Our approach leverages LLM generated ratings of features previously examined in the literature to build a random forest classification model that predicts whether a message will result in belief change. Of the eight features tested, epistemic emotion and willingness to share to share were the top-ranking predictors of belief change in the model. Our findings provide insights into the characteristics of persuasive messages and demonstrate how LLMs can enhance models of successful persuasion based on psychological theory. Given these insights, this work has broader applications in fields such as online influence detection and misinformation mitigation, as well as measuring the effectiveness of online narratives.
- Anthology ID:
- 2025.nlpsi-1.5
- Volume:
[Proceedings of the First Workshop on Integrating NLP and Psychology to Study Social Interactions (NLPSI) @ICWSM ’25](/volumes/2025.nlpsi-1/)- Month:
- June
- Year:
- 2025
- Address:
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Editors: Aswathy Velutharambath,Sofie Labat,Neele Falk,Flor Miriam Plaza-del-Arco,Roman Klinger,Véronique Hoste- Venues:
[NLPSI](/venues/nlpsi/)|[WS](/venues/ws/)- SIG:
- Publisher:
- Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (www.aaai.org)
- Note:
- Pages:
- 45–56
- Language:
- URL:
[https://aclanthology.org/2025.nlpsi-1.5/](https://aclanthology.org/2025.nlpsi-1.5/)- DOI:
[10.36190/2025.38](https://doi.org/10.36190/2025.38)- Cite (ACL):
- Gia Bao Hoang, Keith J Ransom, Rachel Stephens, Carolyn Semmler, Nicolas Fay, and Lewis Mitchell. 2025. A Hybrid Theory and Data-driven Approach to Persuasion Detection with Large Language Models. InProceedings of the First Workshop on Integrating NLP and Psychology to Study Social Interactions (NLPSI) @ICWSM ’25, pages 45–56, Copenhagen, Denmark. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (www.aaai.org). - Cite (Informal):
[A Hybrid Theory and Data-driven Approach to Persuasion Detection with Large Language Models](https://aclanthology.org/2025.nlpsi-1.5/)(Hoang et al., NLPSI 2025)- PDF:
[https://aclanthology.org/2025.nlpsi-1.5.pdf](https://aclanthology.org/2025.nlpsi-1.5.pdf)