In this video,
we'll discuss the power of persuasion.
This will include a discussion on
different strategies you can use to be
more persuasive in the way you deliver
arguments and communicate generally,
the use of fear and how others process
and perceive what you're saying.
There's so many times in life where we
want people to do something, but we
aren't in position to simply order them
around,
even when we're in a leadership position
constantly ordering.
Subordinates around can create
resentment and disloyalty.
It's very helpful and often necessary to
get people to do what you want
through persuasion rather than power.
Persuasion has been studied for
thousands of years going back to the
ancient
Greeks and refined in multi-million
dollar ad campaigns.
It's an essential tool of corporations
looking to sell products.
Politicians looking to convince citizens
to vote for them.
Attorneys trying to get jurors to render
verdicts in their favor.
Parents trying to get their kids to eat
well. And in countless other situations,
it's very helpful for leaders to develop
skills that enable them to establish
useful partnerships with others
and maintain positive relationships with
employees.
Robert Cialdini, a psychologist and one
of the leading experts in the world on
persuasion,
recommends a number of approaches for
getting others to do what you want.
The first strategy is reciprocity,
followed by commitment and consistency,
social proof likability, and finally
authority.
First, reciprocity can be a highly useful
strategy.
If you do a small unsolicited favor for
someone, they'll be more likely to do
what you want.
For many years, Hari Krishnas and Eastern
religious sect
would raise money by approaching
strangers in a public place to give them
a gift, like a book or a flower.
If a person initially refused, they would
insist it was a gift.
Only after the gift was accepted would
they ask for a financial donation which
they often received.
People felt like they owed something to
the Krishnas and they resolved this debt
with money. Second, if you can get an
initial commitment from people,
they'll often behave in ways that are
highly consistent with that commitment.
Thus, commitment and consistency are
helpful persuasion strategies.
Small behaviors get followed by more
committed behaviors.
People are much more likely to vote for
candidates on election day
if you can get them to put a sign in
their yard supporting that candidate,
get people to make an initial commitment,
and they will often behave
in very consistent ways. Psychologist
Thomas Moriarty
did a compelling study on this related
to bystander intervention, where he
staged thefts on a public beach
and measured whether bystanders would
get involved in his experiment.
A person who was lying in a blanket near
others and listening to the radio
got up and went for a stroll on the
beach. Minutes later,
another person came by and stole the
radio. In 20 trials,
only four people who were lying next to
the blanket and radio got involved and
stopped the thief. However,
in another condition the person
listening to the radio
asked the person next to them to watch
my things before walking away.
In that case, in 19 out of 20 times,
people intervened with a thief
confronting him and chasing him down the
beach. People are more likely to do what
you want
if you make a small request first.
Third, we look to others for social proof.
That means that if you want someone to
do something,
put peer pressure on them show them what
the norm is.
That is what other people are doing, what
other businesses are doing,
and what other communities are doing.
People want to belong
and they often have considerable
difficulty violating social norms. Fourth,
it matters a lot who asks us to do
things.
For example, we're much more persuaded by
people we like.
There are two big components of
likability: physical appeal
and similarity. Typically, we like people
who are attractive.
It's a cliche. It's superficial, but it's
true.
Sex sells. That's true in advertising and
it's also true in interpersonal
interactions.
We tend to be more persuaded by
good-looking people.
Of course, not everyone is blessed with
six-pack abs, luscious hair and a
stunning face.
However, all's not lost because we also
tend to like people who are similar to
us.
Our friends and romantic partners are
often people we share key interests or
values with.
In commercials on tv, if an actor isn't
attractive, they're often trying to
portray someone who is hopefully
similar to you on some level. Cialdini
also focuses on the importance of
authority.
Certainly being in a position of
authority can make others have to do
what you want,
but it can also make them want to do
what you want.
People have a tendency to be deferential
to those in power, even if the power
isn't directly over them.
Similarly, we tend to be highly
influenced by credibility factors.
Credibility is made up of two factors:
trustworthiness and expertise.
Let's start with trustworthiness. If a
person seems trustworthy because of
their personality or because of their
role like a priest.
well they're often more persuasive. In
addition,
we tend to trust experts and individuals
who seem more like
experts, thus making them more persuasive.
Having formalized credentials such as a
PhD can be helpful on this front.
Also bringing in others who have
credentials to support your position
can be very effective.
Interestingly, the way you communicate
and deliver messages can make you seem
like more of an expert and make you more
credible.
And persuasive people who talk faster
are judged to be more knowledgeable
about a topic than people
who deliver the same message but talk
slower.
In terms of delivering a message, one
consideration is whether you should only
give your position or whether you should
start by explaining both sides of the
matter,
and then explain why your side is better.
That's known as delivering a one-sided
versus a two-sided appeal.
In a one-sided appeal, you give all the
benefits of your side,
and you don't acknowledge any
alternative positions.
In a two-sided appeal, you acknowledge
both sides of the issue,
but then you explain why your side is
better. So which should you go with?
In general, a two-sided appeal works best
if the person or group you're talking to
is either mixed in their opinion,
or is likely to oppose what you're
trying to persuade them to do.
When you use the two-sided appeal, you'll
appear less biased.
One-sided appeals work best only when
the person or people you're trying to
convince are already inclined to agree
with you,
or if there's overwhelming support, you
can offer for your position.
Sometimes, a two-sided approach is known
as using an inoculation strategy
inoculation works just like a shot where
you give people a weak dose of a virus,
so they're protected when they get hit
with a full-blown case of it.
From a persuasion standpoint, you give a
weak dose of what the alternative
position
that is. You give weak arguments for why
the opposite position is true
by hearing what your opponent will say.
In a weak form, people develop counter
arguments to resist the message,
and are more inclined to reject it and
accept what you're saying.
Another consideration within persuasion
is fear.
It's common for people to use fear
within their persuasive attempts
that is. They'll talk about all the bad
things that will happen to you,
if you don't do what they want you to do.
Is fear effective
or does it turn people off? A better
question is does it get them to tune out.
The answer to that is: it can.
When fear is used, it's important to not
be too extreme.
A campaign against drunk drivers can
effectively show mangled vehicles that
have been in a DUI accident,
but showing mangled victims could be too
much for most people,
causing them to disengage quickly. An
attorney can show a bloody knife that
was used as a murder weapon,
but large gruesome color photographs of
the victim after they had been brutally
stabbed
might be too much. You want to arouse
some fear,
but not too much. An emergency manager
wants to motivate people to take action.
If they don't evacuate before a
hurricane,
but it's likely ineffective to show
photos of people who
drowned in tidal surges or their bodies.
After trees fell
and crushed them. In addition, you need to
give people direction for fear-based
messages to be successful.
Telling someone a hurricane is coming or
you could be injured, killed, or cut off
from rescuers
isn't a good message. People need to know
how to act.
They need to know when and how to
evacuate where shelters are,
or the supplies they should stock up on.
An example of this
is one of the early public service
campaigns designed to reduce the spread
of AIDS.
Early messaging was simple. It was AIDS
kills.
It was simple and it was ineffective. The
rate of transmission wasn't slowed into
the messages and formed the public to
wear
condoms to reduce the spread of the
virus. If you want to persuade people
with fear,
tell them what to do with their fear.
Fear is aroused. People may pay close
attention to the message because they're
worried about something harmful
happening to them.
However, not all attempts at persuasion
will be things that people are heavily
involved in or care about.
So if someone isn't heavily invested in
what you're trying to persuade them of.
Does that mean that you won't be able to
convince them? Not necessarily.
You just need to think about the
approach that you use researchers.
Richard Petty and John Cassiopo,
along with Shelly Chaikin, have
identified two routes to persuasion.
These are called the peripheral and
central route when people are not
invested in an issue,
or when they are. But they're tired,
distracted, overworked or they can't
focus on what you're saying for whatever
reason.
They aren't able to think about the
strength of your arguments. So
strong arguments won't always win out,
but they'll look for other information
to help them decide if they should
accept a persuasive message.
As a result, they'll look for what are
called heuristic cues.
That's a fancy way of saying mental
shortcuts. Our beliefs about people, like
stereotypes, can be heuristic cues.
For example, thinking certain types of
people are more or less trustworthy,
because of who they are,
or looking at things like credentials,
educational background,
even their appearance. Remember,
attractiveness and similarity matter.
Are you good looking? Do you look the way
people expect an expert to look?
These cues which are sometimes fairly
superficial,
can be very powerful for an uninvolved
or distracted person.
So when people are using the peripheral
route to evaluate what you're saying.
Because they aren't heavily focused on
the message. They'll be convinced by
well-educated experts
and attractive or similar people. And
consequently discount the message from
people who aren't experts or who don't
have these appealing qualities.
On the other hand, when people are
directly affected by an issue,
like if it's something that may cost
them a lot of money or they're very
interested in something
and can focus on what you're saying. Then,
they'll set aside heuristic cues and
instead
focus on message strength. but you'll
need strong arguments to convince them
because they're not going to be
influenced by weak messages or go along
with someone just because they're good
looking/
Those factors are secondary for people
processing in a central route.
Because the central route of persuasion
is based on solid arguments.
People tend to be convinced of the
message for a long time, even permanently.
On the other hand, peripheral rap
persuasion tends to be more fleeting.
You can persuade someone for a short
period of time, but
it won't be difficult to change their
mind on the issue.
Ultimately, persuasion is a very useful
skill to have.
If you're persuasive, you can get others
to do what you want without using power,
which a lot of time you won't even have.
Persuasion can allow you or your
organization to be someone or something
that others like and want to follow or
connect to,
which is very valuable to leaders,
corporations and everyday people.
In summary, there are a number of
strategies to make your messaging and
communication more persuasive.
Remember the approaches Cialdini
described: reciprocity,
commitment, and consistency, social proof,
likability, and authority.
It's also important to consider
credibility factors, such as
trustworthiness and expertise,
as well as how you communicate your
position with one-sided or two-sided
appeals.
Leaders can use fear as a persuasion
strategy, but it's important to use
appropriate levels of fear and provide a
sense of direction in fear-based
messages.
Finally, keep in mind that in some
situations individuals will be more
persuaded by heuristic cues, such as
credentials. educational background.
attractiveness. and similarities.
rather than the content and reasons
you're giving to explain your argument
and position. Using persuasion to
carefully craft your arguments and your
communication overall
will be an invaluable tool for you as a
leader as well as
in other areas of your life.