Robert Cialdini is here to provide the secrets of persuasion and how to influence people. Ever wonder Why it is that a request stated in a certain way will be rejected, while a request that asks for the same favor in a slightly different fashion will be successful? Ever wonder what are the factors that cause one person to say yes to another person and which techniques are used to bring about such compliance? Well Cialdini is here to provide those answers
Lesson 1: Contrast
We often need to absorb, process, and act on information constantly in today’s world. When we need to make a decision, we often resort to using shortcuts in the decision-making process. One such shortcut is the contrast principle.
The contrast principle affects the way we see the difference between two things that are presented one after another. if the second item is different enough from the first, we will tend to see the difference more drastically than it is. This is what Cialdini calls a “weapon of influence”. Take this example: have you ever been shopping for clothes, selected a fairly expensive suit or dress, and then been persuaded to accessorize with a shirt, shoes, or bag? That’s the contrast principle. It is more profitable to present the most expensive item first, that way the other items are comparatively cheap.
Lesson 2: Reciprocation
The rule of reciprocation says that we should try to repay what another person has provided us. Cialdini suggests that one of the reasons reciprocation can be used so effectively as a device for gaining another’s compliance is its power. This is because, minus a feeling of indebtedness, it would have surely been refused.
Lesson 3: Top Lining
The weapon of top lining is easy to understand. First, make a larger request of me, one that I will most likely turn down. Then, after I have refused, make the smaller request that you were interested in all along. Most likely I’ll agree. This technique is common and you’ll see it all the time when you look out for it
Lesson 4: Consistency
Cialdini tells us that at the racetrack, just after placing a bet, people are much more confident of their horse’s chances of winning than they are immediately before laying down that bet. Nothing about the horse’s chances changes. it’s the same horse, on the same track, in the same field; but in the minds of those bettors, its prospects improve significantly once that ticket is purchased.
This weapon is consistent. Put simply, once we have made our choice, we feel pressure to behave consistently with that choice. Such consistency can also be exploited by those who would prefer that we don’t think too much in response to their requests for our compliance.