Principles of Persuasion: Robert Cialdini

Important Things to conside

-no offer of exclusive information, no exhortation to act now or miss the opportunity forever should be made unless it's genuine -everything said should and must be ethical -dishonest or high pressure tactics work only in the short term

Liking

-can be created through similarity and praise 1) Similarity: >draws people together >Ex: people will stand physically closer to each other if they have find that they have similar political and social beliefs during a conversation 2) Praise >charms and disarms >has the capability of fixing a damaged relationship >can include giving compliments and pointing out a person's achievements

Reciprocity

-giving back the favor -Ex: Salvation Army was obtaining 18% response rate for its fundraising letter. It then began to enclose a small gift along with the letter, which generated a 35% response rate -people were inclined to reciprocate when given a small gift

Consistency

-most people, once they take a stand or go on record in favor of a position, prefer to stick to it -EX: an apartment complex were asked to sign a petition to build a new recreational center. A few weeks later they were asked to make a small donation for the recreation center. Those who signed the petition were 92% had donated money -if a person feel obligated to live up to their commitments because those commitments were active, public, and voluntary -start with small favors and work your way up to bigger ones

Social Proof

-persuasion can be extremely effective when it comes from peers -influence is often best exerted horizontally rather than vertically (ex: boss to a employee is less effective than from an employee to another employee) -EX: if a person is trying to get their neighbor to sign a petition, the neighbor will be more inclined to sign if he/she sees the paper filled

Authority

-showing evidence of some form of expertise, inclines people to be more persuaded -Ex: a therapist was asked to display all the awards and diplomas which then yielded a 34% exercise compliance >people were informed into compliance

Scarcity

-studies show that items and opportunities are seen to be more valuable as they become less available -EX: a heating company told half of its clients that if they failed to insulate their home, they would save a certain amount of money each day while the other half was told the amount of money they would lose if they failed to act. >those who were told about the potential money loss, were more inclined to insulate their homes

Six Principles of Persuasion

1) Liking 2) Reciprocity 3) Social Proof 4) Consistency 5) Authority 6) Scarcity