Book Byte #50 "Influence" by Robert Cialdini
The Psychology of Persuasion
📣 Curious Quotes from the Author:
“A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor, we will be more successful if we provide a reason.”
“The rule says that we should try to repay what another person has provided us.”
“We resist the seductive luxury of registering and reacting to just a single (trigger) feature of the available information when an issue is important to us.”
“Embarrassment is a villain to be crushed.”
“We all fool ourselves from time to time in order to keep our thoughts and beliefs consistent with what we have already done or decided”
“The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.”
“There is a natural human tendency to dislike a person who brings us unpleasant information, even when that person did not cause the bad news. The simple association with it is enough to stimulate our dislike.”
“Often we don’t realize that our attitude toward something has been influenced by the number of times we have been exposed to it in the past.”
“Persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort.”
“The truly gifted negotiator, then, is one whose initial position is exaggerated enough to allow for a series of concessions that will yield a desirable final offer from the opponent, yet is not so outlandish as to be seen as illegitimate from the start.”
“Freedoms once granted will not be relinquished without a fight.”
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. —ALBERT EINSTEIN”
“Since 95 percent of the people are imitators and only 5 percent initiators, people are persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer.”
“The idea of potential loss plays a large role in human decision making. In fact, people seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by the thought of gaining something of equal value.”
📚 Cognition of the Book’s Big Idea:
In many situations, we humans prefer to avoid thinking about how we should respond by relying on predictable shortcuts to guide our actions. Compliance professionals, such as advertising, con artists, and salespeople, use these preprogrammed human impulses to elicit the response that is best for them rather than us.
They specifically use the principles of reciprocity, scarcity, consistency, social proof, like, and authority. Because we cannot stop using these shortcuts, which mainly benefit us, we must instead learn to defend ourselves against the manipulators who exploit them.
🛠️Fixing the Tech Industry
As Tech Industrialists, we love automation. In fact, we use automation so much in every aspect of Business that sometimes we become bad at sales relationships. We prefer to buy our food through an online pickup order or we prefer to buy software from a website and have it delivered to our email. The psychology behind those sales is very well-researched. Some of the people behind these video sales letters are very good at what they do.
A lot of us would say most sales are scams, well they are, especially when they don’t believe in why they are trying to sell to you. If it’s just a paycheck for them. But think about something you love buying. Magic the Gathering Cards? Old Video Games? You wouldn’t say they are a scam, right? Because you believe in the happiness they can bring you. Well awareness of the happiness that stuff can bring you is what they are actually selling. You don’t know what you don’t know, and if a program or a piece of software can help you get there? Then Why aren’t you buying it right now?
🤝Collaborate with others with this Social Media Prompt:
What is one thing you’ve purchased that cost over $1,000 that was priceless for you? Does someone else think you wasted your money buying that thing?
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