Influence by Robert Cialdini

Ralph Waldo Emerson on consistency

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Isaac Asimov on reactions to contests

"All things being equal, you root for your own sex, your own culture, your own locality ...and what you want to prove is that you are better than the other person. Whomever you root for represents you; and when he wins, you win."

Michael Faraday on Consistency

"Consistency is approved, sometimes more than being right."

Leonardo da Vinci on Resistance

"It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end."

GK Chersterton on Scarcity

"The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost."

Sir Joshua Reynolds on Avoiding Thinking

"There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking."

Walter Lippmann on thinking

"Where all think alike, no one thinks very much."

double duty of coupons

1. save us money, 2. reduce brain strain

Percentage of cardiac arrests in hospital attributed to doctor error by Harvard Study

10%

Deference to nice cars

According to the findings of a study done in the San Francisco Bay area, owners of prestige autos receive a special kind of deference from us. The experimenters discovered that motorists would wait significantly longer before honking their horns at a new, luxury car stopped in front of a green traffic light than at an older, economy model. The motorists had little patience with the economy-car driver: Nearly all sounded their horns, and the majority of these did so more than once; two simply rammed into his rear bumper. So intimidating was the aura of the prestige automobile, however, that 50 percent of the motorists waited respectfully behind it, never touching their horns, until it drove on.

How to use the heart of hearts

Accumulating psychological evidence indicates that we experience our feelings toward something a split second before we can intellectualize about it. Cialdini reckons this is the feeling from the heart of hearts and that it is a pure basic feeling. If we train ourselves to be attentive to it, we should register it ever so slightly before our cognitive apparatus engages. Sara could ask herself a variety of questions but one being "would I make the same choice again?" At that point, she should trust the first flash of feeling in response to that question. Oddly connected to my coin technique and other questions I ask myself: e.g. whether to stay with Jenny, if her feelings weren't a concern, would I rather be single right now? Initial feeling was that of release.

Freedman and Fraser Findings

Agreeing to even trivial requests, can change our perceptions of ourselves. e.g. Citizens who signed insignificant beautification petition, began to see themselves as public-spirited citizens who acted on their civic principles. They later complied to have seemingly unrelated signs put in their yards "drive safely." Influence concealed within small gestures. turn citizens to public servants, prospects to customers, prisoners to collaborators And once you have a man's self image where you want it, he should comply naturally with a whole range of requests consistent with that vie of himself.

\overestimate the size of more valuable coins, cards and currency

And adults are just as guilty of such distortions. In one study, college students drew cards that had monetary values printed on them ranging from $3.00 to -$3.00; they won or lost the amount shown on the cards they picked. Afterward, they were asked to rate the size of each card. Even though all cards were exactly the same size, those that had the more extreme values—positive or negative—were seen as physically larger. Thus it is not necessarily the pleasantness of a thing that makes it seem bigger to us, it is its importance.

Consistency - Survey Technique

As part of a survey, S.J. Sherman called residents to ask if they'd be willing to spend 3 hours collecting money for the American Cancer Society. Many said they would. 700% increase in volunteers when a representative of ACS called a few days later.

Day Trip to the Zoo Rejection then Retreat Example

Asked college students to commit to 2 hrs per week as a counselor to juv delinquent as opposed to asking flat out for the smaller favor: one off day trip to zoo.(50% accepted vs. 17% when asked outright)

How do people feel about commitments made after "low ball" technique?

Because of the justifications and beliefs they have built up, they have ownership and generally feel satisfied with a poor decision.

The Werther Effect

From Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther," where the hero commits suicide. The book sparked a series of emulative suicides across Europe and was consequentially banned in several countries. David Phillips, a sociologist at UCSD, studied the modern effect via examining suicide statistics between 1947 and 1968 and showed that immediately following a front-page suicide story, the suicide rate increases dramatically in the georgraphical areas where the story has been publicized. These people decide how they should act based on how some other troubled person has acted. He found that within two months after every front page suicide, an average of 58 more people than usual killed themselves. The more publicity given the first suicide, the grater the number of later suicides. Phillips found that the average number of people killed in a fatal commercial airliner crash is more than three times greater if the crash happened one week after a front-page suicide story than if it happened a week before. Victims of fatal car wrecks that follow front-page suicide stories die four times more quickly than normal. When the newspaper detailed the suicide of a young persion, young drivers then piled their cars into trees, poles and embankments with fatal results, but when the news story concerned an older person's suicide, older drivers died in such crashes. When black heavyweight fighter loses a match, the homicide rate for the next 10 days rises significantly for young black men, but not white men. Same is true for whites.

Reason for existence of reciprocal concessions

It is in the interest of any human group to have its members working together toward the achievement of common goals. However in many social interactions the participants begin with requirements and demands that are unacceptable to one another. Thus the society must arrange to have these initial incompatible desires set aside for the sake of socially beneficial cooperation.

The last man reputed to know everything there was to know in the world

John Stuart Mill, d 1873.

Commitment and Consistency

Just after placing a be, people are much more confident of their horse's chances of winning than they are immediately before laying down that bet. It is our obsessive desire to be and to appear consistent with what we've already done. When we have made a choice or taken a stand we encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to behave consistently with that commitment. Person whose beliefs, words and deeds don't match may be seen as indecisive, confused, two-faced or even mentally ill. Conversely, a high degree of consistency is normally associated with personal and intellectual strength. Also offers a mental shortcut, saves mental resources. How to engage - get them to go on record. e.g. neighbor Sara and deadbeat boyfriend Tim. Beach, "please watch my things" 19/20 opposed to 4/20 resisted thief - Thomas Moriarty. Toy makers, short supply of highly advertised desirable toy before Christmas, cause parents to promise that toy, only deliver placeholder, then make good on promise when desired toy is available. Prominent theorists: Leon Festinger, Fritz Hieder and Theodore Newcomb view desire for consistency as a central motivator of our behavior.

Doomsday cults

Montanists of 2nd century Turkey, Anabaptists of 16th century Holland, the Sabbataists of 17th century Izmir, Millerites of 19th century America

Boy's Camp Experiment

Muzafer Sherif wanted to investigate intergroup dynamics and the logic of the cooperative approach. Splitting campers off into two groups (residence cabins) with different mascots was enough to create dynamic of rivalry. rivalry and ill will increased when competitive activities were purposely introduced. Then the researcher constructed situations where competition would have harmed everyone's interest and cooperation was necessary for mutual benefit. More intergroup friendships, cooperation, generosity and benevolence.

Boiler Room Operation's Three Stages

Opening call: recipient simply asked to receive the literature. 2nd call: involves sales pitch, great profits to be made, but it is no longer possible to invest 3rd call: offers recipient a chance to get in on the deal with a great sense of urgency. The aim is to get someone to buy quickly without thinking too much about it.

S. Brian Willson

Sep 1, 1987 A Vietnam vet, protested US shipments of military equipment to Nicaragua by laying on railroad tracks outside of Concord, CA Naval Weapons Station. Notified Navy and railroad officials of the protest 3 days before. Civilian crew who had been given orders not to stop, never even slowed the train, despite being able to see the protesters 600 ft ahead. Mr. Willson wasn't able to free himself in time and had both legs severed below the knee. Navy medical corpsmen refused to treat him or allow him to be taken to the hospital in their ambulance, onlookers inc Mr. Willson's wife and son were left to staunch the flow of blood for 45 min until a private ambulance arrived. Mr. Willson doesn't blame crew because they were following orders. THE CREW FILED SUIT AGAINST HIM REQUESTING PUNITIVE DAMAGES FOR THE "HUMILIATION, MENTAL ANGUISH, AND PHYSICAL STRESS" they suffered because he hadn't allowed them to carry out their orders without cutting off his legs.

Second more perverse attraction of mechanical consistency

The harsh consequences of hard, cognitive work: There are certain disturbing thing we simply would rather not realize. Automatic consistency can supply a safe hiding place from those troubling realizations; impervious to the sieges of reason.

Scarcity of information in the court room

a) when driver said he had liability insurance, jurors awarded victim an average of $4,000 more than when he didn't ($37k vs $33k). b) when driver said he was insured AND the judge ruled the evidence as inadmissible, on average the jury awarded $46k, or $13k more.

Advantages of systems of authority

allows development of sophisticated structures for resource production, trade, defense, expansion, and social control that would otherwise be impossible. Authority figures appear to adults as employers, judges and government leaders because their positions speak of superior access to information and power.

indebtedness

a unique adaptive mechanism of human beings allowing for the division of labor (making it possible for experts to develop), and the creation of interdependencies that bind individuals together into highly efficient units.

Prestigious titles lead to height distortions

a visiting lecturer introduced to a class as a student, a demonstrator, a lecturer, and senior-lecturer, a professor. with each level of distinction is perceived height was 1/2" taller.

How compliance practitioners use cooperation

always attempting to establish how they are working for the same goals, we must pull together for mutual benefit, they are our "teammates" The reason "good cop, bad cop" works is because the suspect thinks someone is on their side, working for them.

Reciprocal concessions

another way to employ reciprocity rule: comply with a request. More subtle than providing that person with a favor. Boy with $5 tickets to Boy Scouts Circus, or $1 raffle tickets. The general rule - says that a person who acts in a certain toward us is entitled to a similar return action, ie make a concession to someone who has conceded to us.

Principles of likability

attractiveness, similarity, compliments, familiarity (similar name, repeat visits), conversely repeated exposure to a person under unpleasant conditions leads to less liking

claquing

begun in 1820 by Paris opera house habitués Sauton and Porcher. Operated under the title L'Assurance des Succès Dramatiques, they would attend operas and operate as a sort of laugh track. Evolved to the point where people specialized in things like crying, encore chanting, infectious laughers

"throwing a lowball"

car salesman offer an impossibly, good price, $400 lower than competitors. Not genuine though. The price is suggested only to get the buyer to decide to buy it. Then a number of subsequent activities get the buyer to increase his sense of commitment to the car. Even letting the customer drive the car around for a day. THEN some sort of error makes that deal impossible: "didn't factor in the A/C" "For only the extra $400, the car can be had." which doesn't seem like much in comparison to the $10-30k deal. Variation: overestimating trade in value of owner's car. Last minute correction after comitted. e.g. Car sales, neighbor Sarah, Energy (gas) saving citizens with ad in the paper.

reinforcement contingencies

cause-and-effect relationships between the performance of specific behaviors and specific consequences

The 6 Principles

consistency, reciprocation, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity

Beef sales double whammy, scarcity of beef, but also scarcity of knowledge about the scarcity of beef

customers warned about future scarcity of beef, bought twice as much those warned and told via "exclusive information" purchased 6x the amount standard customers did

jigsaw route to learning

developed by Elliot Aronson and his colleagues in Texas and California, required students to divide up learning load and teach each other what they had learned so everyone had complete understanding. Students became allies rather than enemies. Remember that competition and cooperation both have their place.

"commodity theory" analysis of persuasion

developed by psychologists Timothy Brock and Howard Fromkin: information viewed as scarce will be perceived as more valuable but also more persuasive.

pluralistic ignorance

each person decides that since no one is concerned, nothing is wrong.

Kennesaw, Georgia gun law example

enacted a law requiring every adult to own gun and ammo under penalty of 6 mo in jail and $200 fine. 3-4 weeks after, sales were booming but to visitors. Only those whose freedom had not been restricted were inclined to follow it.

canned laughter

experiments have found that the use of canned laughter causes an audience to laugh for longer and more often when humorous material is presented and to rate that material as funnier.

Virginia Slims Cigarette Campaign's Use of Reactance

targets teenage females. Implies that young women should no longer feel bound by dated, chauvinistic constraints on independence, and freedom to smoke

Correlation between highly publicized suicides and fatal car/plane crashes

fatal crashes increase dramatically only in areas where the suicide has been highly publicized. Newspaper stories reporting on suicide victims who died alone produce an increase in the frequency of single-fatality wrecks only, whereas stories reporting suicide plus murder incidents, produce an increase in multiple fatality wrecks only. The Werther Effect

Framing in Terms of Scarcity

homeowners told how much money they could lose from inadequate insulation are more likely to insulate their homes than those told how much money they could save. Pamphlets urging young women to check for breast cancer through self-examinations are significantly more successful if they state their case in terms of what stands to be lost (e.g., "You can lose several potential health benefits by failing to spend only five minutes each month doing breast self-examination") rather than gained (e.g., "You can gain several potential health benefits by spending only five minutes each month doing breast self-examination"). ...Thus a stamp carrying a three-eyed likeness of George Washington is anatomically incorrect, aesthetically unappealing, and yet highly sought after. There is instructive irony here: Imperfections that would otherwise make for rubbish make for prized possessions when they bring along an abiding scarcity. Selling appliances: salesman creates scarcity by saying he just sold the model to another couple. Introduces that there may be another in the back. In accord with the scarcity principle, the customers are asked to commit to buying the appliance when it looks least available—and therefore most desirable.

When is social proof most effective?

in general, when we are unsure of ourselves; when the situation is unclear or ambiguous. We will use that actions of others, especially those we identify as similar to us, to determine what behavior is appropriate for us.

indebtedness sequence

in some techniques exploiting indebtedness, it can be made to appear like all steps were free will when in reality all of the genuinely free choices are the solicitor's.

Response to banning information

increased desire to have it, and more favorable attitude toward that information. e.g. censorship of material is likely to make material more desirable but also make those affect view themselves as the type who would value that material.

How to say no to someone influential

keep feelings separate about the requester and the request

reciprocation

leading with a gift, so that target feels obliged,

Long-term relationship with victim of rejection-then-retreat strategy

more likely to fulfill obligation and volunteer to perform further requests. Requester's concession is heart of the procedure. Target's concession causes them to feel greater responsibility for AND satisfaction with the arrangement. This set of side effects causes target to greater rate of fulfillment and further compliance. (dividing money experiment: targets felt more responsible for deal they had to haggle, and are more likely to live up to the contract as a result, secondly, they are more satisfied with a final arrangement that they felt responsible for. People who are satisfied with a given arrangement are more likely to be willing to agree to further such arrangements. Zoo ex. 85% showed up opposed to 50%)

James C. Davies findings on scarcity and revolutions

most likely to find revolutions where a period of improving economic and social conditions is followed by a short, sharp reversal in those conditions. gathered persuasive evidence for his novel thesis from a range of revolutions, revolts, and internal wars, including the French, Russian, and Egyptian revolutions as well as such domestic uprisings as Dorr's Rebellion in nineteenth-century Rhode Island, the American Civil War, and the urban black riots of the 1960s. In each case, a time of increasing well-being preceded a tight cluster of reversals that burst into violence. Freedoms once granted will not be relinquished without a fight

Rejection-then-retreat

one of the most pervasively influential compliance tactics available. make larger initial request, then concession/reciprocity and perceptual contrast make second offer nearly undeniable. First request has to be believable. The truly gifted negotiator then is one whose initial position is exaggerated enough to allow for a series of reciprocal 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. (e.g. boy scout, Liddy in Watergate, billiard dealer advertising $3,000 table, selling more than when advertising $329, $1,000 vs $500)

consistency and hung juries

one study showed with experimental juries, hung juries were significantly more frequent when the jurors had to express their opinions with a visible show of hands rather than by a secret ballot

Professor Stanley Milgrim's Experiment

ostensibly to study effects of pain and punishment on learning but was really to see how punisher would respond to authority. Punisher willing to deliver as much pain as available. Deep seated sense of duty to authority within us all. 100% of punishers (called teachers) delivered shock when only fellow subject who demanded it.

advantage of written testament

people believe those are actual thoughts of author even when they know was forced. Social and personal pressures of identity and consistency then bind the author to be consistent with written statements

the magic act

people learn about other's through the actions of others. They also learn about themselves this way. Chinese altered POW's actions first, which led to POW's altered self-perception.

Explain presence of initiation and hazing in societies

persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain, tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with minimum effort. These experiences actually function to make the initiate value membership and perceive it as more beneficial than it is.

foot-in-the-door technique

persuasive technique involving making a small request before making a bigger one. People change self-definition, and once a person's self-image is altered, all sorts of subtle advantages become available. e.g. chinese with american POW, drive safe campaign signs

"you get what you pay for"

reasoning shortcut that equates price to value/quality. Betting the odds. May be the most rational assessment possible

optimal conditions for scarcity

scarcity perceived to be created by demand and that we are in direct competition for the object. emotional arousal is great enough to cloud judgement the joy is not in experiencing a scarce commodity but in possessing it

Mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana

strawberry-flavored poison caused them to die, convulsing within 4 minutes 910 people probably so effective because, charismatic leader, community had transplanted from San Francisco to Jonestown into completely foreign population so were isolated in a threatening (jungle) environment. Didn't rely on his own leadership. Used a sort of "mechanical advantage" with believing membership to persuade all. Similar to JW - gov body - DO - CO - elders - MS - pub - rest. Thus most effective leaders know how to arrange group conditions to maximize how social proof works in their favor.

luncheon technique

studied in 1930s by Gregory Razin (early translator of Ivan Pavlov's work), subjects became fonder of the people and things they experienced while they were eating Pavlov had discovered besides salivation, one of the responses to food was a good and favorable feeling

What is the valuable mechanism making personal commitment so effective?

the ability of the personal commitment to build its own support system. A support system of new justifications for the commitment. Often these justifications provide so many strong legs for the commitment to stand on that when the original reason is pulled away, the commitment still stands easily.

definition of the "heart of hearts"

the one place where we cannot fool ourselves

Contests

the self is at stake. we want our affiliated sports team to win and prove our own superiority (personal note: stock market)

Drive behind name dropping, identifying with teams, celebrities

tragic view of accomplishment deriving from outside the self. Some inflate their connections with those who are successful. Some inflate the successes of those to whom they are connected.

"benefactor-before-beggar" strategy

tricky because initiated by obligation to receive which makes it hard not to comply with the whole transaction which obliges target to return favor. Can be designed to trigger unfair exchanges. One important reason it works is the unpleasant feeling of "indebtedness."

Examples of people manipulating social proof

tv producers - canned laughter, bartenders - salt tip jar, church ushers salt collection baskets, evangelical preachers seed their audience with ringers. Billy Graham team was infiltrated by Arizona State researchers and they found that by the time he gets to town, he'll have as many as 6,000 people to come forth and create the impression of spontaneous crowds forming. advertiser, fastest selling/growing

automatic compliance

unthinking compliance as a result of lack of resources to adequately assess proposition/choices. British Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead recognized this necessity as civilization advances ; "civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them."

How do you promote long term desired behavior in children?

use a reason that will initially produce the desired behavior and will at the same time allow the child to take personal responsibility for that behavior, thus the less external pressure such a reason contains, the better

Hunting technique of the Blackfeet, Cree, Snake and Crow Native American Tribes

use herd mentality to lead buffalo off a cliff

contrast principle

virtually undetectable. show expensive option first, then all other purchases seem small (suit then accessories, expensive cars, setup properties)

How scarcity works

we know that generally things that are difficult to possess are typically better than those that are easy to possess. So we use a shortcut equating availability to quality. 2nd mechanism is reactance, we react to the prospect of losing the freedom to choose that option so in order to preserve freedom we react and try to possess that item more. The shoots of this exist extensively in the social environment. Child psychologists trace it back to the terrible twos where children first recognize themselves as individuals: identifiable, singular and separate. With autonomy comes a concept of freedom. The tendency to fight for every liberty and against every restriction might be best understood as a quest for information. By testing severely the limits of their freedoms (and coincidentally, the patience of their parents), the children are discovering where in their worlds they can expect to be controlled and where they can expect to be in control. As we will see later, the wise parent provides highly consistent information. Later reactant period is teenage where transition from child to adult with attendant rights and duties. Parental interference as the main force in Romeo and Juliet's love. The twin suicide, the ultimate assertion of free will. Romeo and Juliet effect affirmed by study of 140 couples in Colorado. Commitment strengthened with interference from parents and vice versa.

When are commitments most effective at changing a person's self image?

when they are active, public and effortful but the fourth reason is more powerful than all three: when it appears that it is their own inner choice/responsibility - they have ownership.

Findings by Harvard Sociologist, Ellen Langer

when we ask for a favor, more successful if we use the word "because"

At what point do we accept inner responsibility for a behavior?

when we think we have chosen to behave that way in the absence of strong external pressures.