The Power of Persuasion

Influence is a super power. Imagine being able to influence anyone at your will. And to be able to use your influence in any situation. Believe it or not, the power of influence is more common than we thought, as found by research done on factors that lead us to ‘yes’ to certain people or things. Have you ever gone through certain situations that have made you think – why did I say yes to this, again?

When one makes a decision, we may think that they generally tend to take all available information into consideration to guide their thinking. But, given the overbearing lives we lead with a large amount of information to take in all the time, we tend to employ certain shortcuts to make decisions. And the chances are high that the shortcuts are influenced by some underlying principles of persuasion. 

Robert Cialdini’s Influence has had a major impact on research of persuasion tactics. Understanding these principles can help us see how very minutely we are influenced to make decisions; along with ethically employing them in our lives to persuade others. Six of these principles as noted by Cialdini are listed below:

• Reciprocity

The most basic principle of persuasion is simply you giving that which you hope to receive. A common example of this is stores that give a lot of freebies. That is, you go to the store and they give you a lot of stuff to try on and use (say, a sweets shop), in hope that you end up buying their product at the end. A feeling of obligation is induced in you, as a customer, where since you feel the need to give back in the form of buying a product in lieu of the service of freebies that you received first. It’s the same as there being an obligation for you to invite a friend to your party if they invited you to theirs before- even if you may not be close. It’s the factor of social obligation that makes people more likely to say yes.

• Consistency

That is, people tend to comply to do things that are consistent with things that they have said or done previously. An example of consistency could be a 101-interview hack- an interviewee who very overtly describes how their goals and priorities align with the organization’s will be more memorable for the interviewer. Cialdini states three important factors in consistency- public, active and voluntary commitments. By public, he states that a commitment needs to be made in front of a witness, to add accountability. Active means a statement that is written or actually said to others, because actively committing makes it easier to follow through. And finally, the commitment needs to be made voluntarily, without anyone forcing.

Thus, it will be difficult to say no to an interviewee who shows how their goals and priorities have been consistent and aligns with the company’s; because they publicly, actively and voluntarily made a commitment- thus signifying a high chance of them following through.

• Social Proof

Most of us tend to rely on certain social cues from other on how to act, think and feel in uncertain social situations. In some situations, its not just any people, it’s our friends that we rely on- since we believe that we are similar to them. But when are friends are not around, we tend to look at others for social cues. For example, when in an emergency where you do not know what to feel and do, you tend to look at how others around you are dealing with the situation. Or say that you are in a food joint in a place where you are a tourist. This is where signs like ‘most popular food’ come into play, where since you do not know what you eat, you just go with what is popular i.e. what others like.

• Liking

It’s a no brainer that you hang around with people who like you and who you perceive as friends. By this principle, the idea is that you tend to say ‘yes’ to people who you like. What makes you like another person? It can be a number of reasons, but factors like mutual goals, shared interests and compliment us are common. We all have gone through situations where we may be a bit skeptical about how we feel about a circumstance but just go along with what our friends say because well, they are our friends and we like them, and since they are our friends we obviously are similar in many ways.

• Authority

The basic idea is that you tend to go to or are influenced by someone who is credible or an expert. Listening to authority or going with what authoritative figures say because they ‘know best’ is something that has been ingrained in us since childhood. Ever wonder why doctors and other experts have their credentials displayed in their consulting rooms? It shows their professionalism and expertise, which in turn persuades their patients to pay heed to their recommended treatment.

• Scarcity

We tend to value things that are scarce in nature. Its simple supply and demand- more scare things are, the more valuable they become. This principle is often used by stores that make ‘limited offers,’ ‘one-time offers,’ where either the product may be something of value and is now available to buy, or the price of a product may be drastically reduced (a sale) which pushes you to buy. Either way, a sense of scarcity is created leading to consumers like you and me to immediately go shopping!

Along with providing these 6 principles of persuasion, Cialdini importantly notes that is vital that these principles be used with good intentions in mind, with the influence being genuine in leading others to make the best decisions- for themselves and others around them.

References

Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. Harper Collins College Publishers.