One of my favorite places to learn about psychological theories is Dave Straker’s Changing Minds website. This website is full of theories written in layman’s terms.
These psychological theories are organized neatly into specific categories and clusters for easy reference. One of those categories is persuasion, and Straker lists that deal with how to influence others.
Here is a brief snapshot of each of the ten theories, many of which might sound familiar to you. This is either because you’ve employed them in the past or because you’ve had others tell you about them.
Here is a short video setting the stage for an explanation of influence.
Information manipulation theory
This theory involves a persuasive person deliberately breaking one of the four conversational maxims. These are the four:
Quantity: Information is complete and full.
Quality: Information is truthful and accurate.
Relation: Information is relevant to the conversation.
Manner: Information is expressed in an easy-to-understand way. Its non-verbal actions support the tone of the statement.
Amplification hypothesis
When you express with certainty a particular attitude, that attitude hardens. The opposite is true as well. That is expressing uncertainty softens the attitude.
Conversion theory
The minority in a group can have a disproportionate effect on influencing those in the majority. Typically, those in the majority who are most susceptible are the ones who may have joined. This may be due to the fact that it was easy to do so. Or perhaps is was because there were no alternatives. And consistent, confident minority voices are most effective.
Sleeper effect
Persuasive messages tend to decrease in persuasiveness over time. The exception are messages from low-credibility sources.
Messages that start out with low persuasion gain persuasion as our minds slowly disassociate the source from the material. An example is a presumably sleazy car salesman and his advice on what car is best.
Priming
You can be influenced by stimuli that affect how you perceive short-term thoughts and actions. Here’s a smart example of Changing Minds:
A stage magician says ‘try’ and ‘cycle’ in separate sentences in priming a person to think later of the word ‘tricycle.’
Reciprocity norm
A common social norm, reciprocity involves our obligation to return favors done by others.
Scarcity principle
You want what is in short supply. This desire increases as you anticipate the regret you might have if you miss out by not acting fast enough.
Social influence
We are influenced strongly by others based on how we perceive our relationship to the influencer.
For example, social proof on web copy is persuasive if the testimonials and recommendations are from authoritative sources, big brands, or peers.
Psychological theories … Yale attitude change approach
This approach, based on multiple years of research at Yale University, found some factors in persuasive speech. These included being a credible, attractive speaker. Consider when it’s important to first or go last, and the ideal demographics to target.
Ultimate terms
Certain words carry more power than others. This theory breaks persuasive words into three categories:
God terms: those words that carry blessings or demand obedience/sacrifice. e.g., progress, value
Devil terms: those terms that are despised and evoke disgust. e.g., fascist, pedophile
Charismatic terms: those terms that are intangible, less observable than either God or Devil terms. e.g., freedom, contribution
Shane Parrish of Farnam Street reads a lot of books—up to 14 each month.
For him it means something when he picks Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion as one of the most important books he’s read.
In the book, Cialdini outlines six principles of persuasion. Most of these will likely sound a bit familiar based on our previous discussion on psychology.
About the Six Principles
The Six Principles of Influence (also known as the Six Weapons of Influence) were created by Robert Cialdini, Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University. He published them in his respected 1984 book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.”
Cialdini identified the six principles through experimental studies, and by immersing himself in the world of what he called “compliance professionals”. These included salespeople, fund-raisers, recruiters, advertisers, marketers, and so on. These are people skilled in the art of convincing and influencing others.
The six principles are as follows:
Reciprocity
As humans, we aim to return favors, pay back debts, and treat others as they treat us. According to the idea of reciprocity, this can lead us to feel obliged to offer concessions or discounts to others if they have offered them to us. This is because we’re uncomfortable with feeling indebted to them.
For example, if a colleague helps you when you’re busy with a project, you might feel obliged to support her ideas for improving team processes. You might decide to buy more from a supplier if they have offered you an aggressive discount. Or, you might give money to a charity fundraiser who has given you a flower in the street.
Scarcity
This principle says that things are more attractive when their availability is limited. Or it says we stand to lose the opportunity to acquire them on favorable terms.
For instance, we might buy something immediately if we’re told that it’s the last one. Or we’re told that a special offer will soon expire.
Visual Website Optimizer wrote an extensive post on all the different ways you can use scarcity to increase e-commerce sales. Have you noticed that Amazon tells people there are only a certain number of products left? That’s scarcity at play.
Commitment (and consistency)
Cialdini says that we have a deep desire to be consistent. For this reason, once we’ve committed to something, we’re then more inclined to go through with it.
For instance, you’d probably be more likely to support a colleague’s project proposal if you had initially shown interest.
Personally, consistency is the one I find myself most susceptible to. I identify with how Parrish describes the effect:
“If you ask people to state their priorities and goals and then align your proposals with that in mind, you make it harder for people to say no.”
That hit home for me. Parrish connects this to the Ikea effect, the way you love your IKEA furniture because you’re invested in it from building it yourself.
Liking
Cialdini says that we’re more likely to be influenced by people we like. Likability comes in many forms. One form is when people might be similar or familiar to us. Or, they might give us compliments. Or we may just simply trust them.
Companies that use sales agents from within the community employ this principle with huge success. People are more likely to buy from people like themselves. Or from friends, and from people they know and respect.
One way people exploit this is to find ways to make themselves like you. Do you like golf? Me too. Do you like football? Me too. Although often these are genuine, occasionally they’re not.
Liking is similar enough to the consistency that it bears pointing out the difference. Someone might say, “Do you like having more visitors to your blog?” They aren’t necessarily looking for a connection with you (as in Liking) but rather they’re seeking Consistency.
Of course you’ll say yes. In theory, you’ll have a harder time backing off that statement when you are pitched a product or service later.
Social proof
This principle relies on people’s sense of “safety in numbers.”
For example, we’re more likely to work late if others in our team are doing the same. Or to put a tip in a jar if it already contains money. Or to eat in a restaurant if it’s busy. Here, we’re assuming that if lots of other people are doing something, then it must be OK.
We’re particularly susceptible to this principle when we’re feeling uncertain. In this case, we’re even more likely to be influenced if the people we see seem to be similar to us. That’s why commercials often use moms, not celebrities, to advertise household products.
People will more likely say yes when they see other people doing it too. Social proof is not all bad. It’s one of the main ways we learn in life.
Authority
We feel a sense of duty or obligation to people in positions of authority. This is why advertisers of pharmaceutical products employ doctors to front their campaigns. It is also why most of us will do most things that our manager requests.
Job titles, uniforms, and even accessories like cars or gadgets can lend an air of authority. They persuade us to accept what these people say.
Something as simple as informing your audience of your credentials before you speak, for example, increases the odds you will persuade the audience.
Noah Kagan does this for the each guest post he publishes at OK Dork. He writes a quick intro on how he made the connection with the guest writer and all the amazing credentials the guest writer has.
