What are weapons of influence?
- everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler
- persuasion = influencing others
- people are vulnerable to influence & persuaded by simple things
What is the anchoring effect in persuasion?
- cognitive bias that an individual’s judgement or decision is influenced by a specific reference point
- e.g. a customer is more likely to buy a new car if the price has gone down from the original one (anchor)
Why are people persuaded by a simple thing?
- individuals are likely to rely on heuristics for judgment
- everyday decisions are not seen as generally important, so are influenced by peripheral cues
–> heuristics trigger automatic responses
What are heuristics?
mental shortcuts or simple rules that people use to make quick judgments and decisions
What are the 6 principles of persuasion?
▪ Reciprocation
▪ Liking
▪ Social Proof
▪ Authority
▪ Scarcity
▪ Commitment and Consistency
What is reciprocation?
- Give and take –> individual feels obligated to return a favor once they’ve received from someone else
- Universal rule of cooperation –> fundamental building block of society and is a social norm/subjective norm (TPB
–> violating it leads to seperation from social group (psychological burden) - e.g. free samples, political corruption, birthday gifts
- nearly automatic, one-time transaction, more effective when long-term transactions are expected
How can reciprocation be used in persuasion?
rejection-then-retreat technique
1. large request (expecting rejection)
2. rejection from target (target now primed to accept next request for reciprocation)
3. provide smaller request (which is the original intended request)
What is liking?
- physical attractiveness (naturally assign favorable traits to physically attractive people as a heuristic)
- similarity (sharing commonalities)
- compliment (evoke positive feeling and fulfil psycholgical need)
How can liking work in persuasion?
- contact & cooperation (effective with no prior attitude –> familiary then increases liking)
- association or conditioning (classical conditioning –> create liking by associating with positive stimulus)
- e.g. world leaders follow country’s customs when they visit
What is social proof?
- imitate the actions of the “many”
- hueristics or peripheral cues –> fulfil subconcious psycholgical need for certainty, descriptive norm
- effective in high uncertainty
How can social proof be used in persuasion?
UNCERTAINTY
- use social proof to seek appropriate actions in uncertain situations, imitate others’ behavior
COMFORMITY
- use social rpoof to conform group norms and actions, fulfill the need of social acceptance
basically: people do what’s popular
e.g. reviews on restaurants, award-winning things, number sold
What is scarcity?
- rule of the few –> when people’s needs are not satisfied due to reare supply
- less opportunities = loss of freedoms –> encourages more immediate action to avoid loss
- availability –> high competition, popular demand, unavailable is seen as valuable
e.g. limited and flash sales
What is the theory of psychological reactance?
- when freedom seems to be limited = an individual takes action to retain freedom
- fulfill human psychological need for free choice –> if its restricted, they feel motivated to act immeiately
- more effective when external factors restrict one’s free choice (e.g. unavailability due to popularity
What is commitment and consistency?
commitment –> individuals makes a decion or takes actions, becomes their basis for consistency
consistency –> human psychological need for consistency (cognitive dissonance theory), motivates individuals to take actions that are consistent with previous commitment
Why are people inspired to maintain commitment and consistency?
A. Positive Self-Image: consistency is seen as positive
B. Public Commitment: social expectation, when someone commits to something they’re expected to keep it (social pressure)
What is the Foot-In-The-Door Technique?
- Suggest a small request
- Target accepts (=commitment)
- Provide larger request (intended request)
- Target will likely accept (= consistency)
relates to commitment and consistency
What do heuristics rely on?
Relies on basic needs or motives:
Reciprocation
Homophily (Similarity)
Certainty
Consistency
Freedom of choice
Compliance gaining = change behavior as intended
How can one defend against the 6 principles of persuasion?
THOUGHTFUL THINKING (don’t rely on heuristics)
- cognitive sophistication
- look at the context
- review the content rather than relying solely on the messenger
SEEK EVIDENCE
