To the 6 principals add in lies, and urban myths along with fear.
Then consider emotional, social, cultural and generational intelligence and be SMART
https://bbc.com/future/article/20240918-influence-the-unseen-key-behind-powerful-persuasion
Influence: The unseen key behind powerful persuasion
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David Robson
Forty years ago, Bob Cialdini published a groundbreaking book on the power of influence. In our digital age, these rules may have become even more powerful.
One day Robert Cialdini was in his university dorm, when he answered the door to another resident who was selling subscriptions to Sports Illustrated magazine. “I was a starving student; I didn’t have a lot of discretionary income,” Cialdini recalls. “So I wasn’t going to buy his magazine.”
The guy was persistent, however. He told Cialdini that he would be missing out on a unique sale that would only last for that weekend. He emphasised the fact that the top pundits rated the magazine very highly. And he casually mentioned that he’d already sold a lot of subscriptions to the other dormmates. Cialdini soon gave in.
When the man had left, he leant back against the door and took stock of what had just happened. “I thought, ‘You spent your money, and it wasn’t because of the merits of the thing – it was the way he presented it,'” Cialdini recalls. “And I thought, ‘Isn’t that interesting? Isn’t that worth studying?'”
Cialdini’s curiosity would lead him to write Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, published in 1984. Melding academic research on behavioural science with apposite case studies and personal experience, it arguably created the mould for “smart thinking” authors such as Charles Duhigg, Adam Grant or James Clear. After numerous updated editions, his book has now sold more than seven million copies, according to his publishers.
On the book’s 40th anniversary, I sat down with Cialdini in a London hotel to discuss its conception and impact, and the ways that the psychology of persuasion has evolved in the decades since its first publication – and its implications for today’s fractured societies.
The six principles of persuasion
As part of his research, Cialdini had decided to spend time studying people he defined as “compliance professionals” – those in sales, marketing, recruitment and fundraising whose livelihoods depend on changing others’ opinions. In many cases, this would involve formal interviews. In others, he went “undercover” – applying for positions and then learning the tricks of the trade from his colleagues. “If you find your effect in the field, you know that it is powerful.”
I ask Cialdini which experience stands out, and he describes accompanying a stellar salesperson offering heat-triggered fire-alarms on door-to-door visits. On their trips, Cialdini’s mentor always brought a big book of sales material detailing the different products – but repeatedly left it in the car. Then, as the homeowners performed a safety test of their house, he would ask if he could borrow their keys so he could go to collect it and let himself back into the house. “It was the only thing that he did differently.”
After repeated questioning, the man eventually explained his reasoning. “He said, ‘Bob, who do you trust? You trust people who you will allow in and out of your house by themselves, and I wanted to be associated with that,'” Cialdini recalls. “And I remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh, wow, this guy understands human behaviour.'”
After three years of comparing these experiences with the published research, he identified six overarching principles that appeared to underline any persuasive campaign. They were:
- Scarcity
- Authority
- Social proof
- Liking
- Reciprocation
- Commitment and consistency
The student selling Sports Illustrated perfectly illustrates three of these principles. The time-limited sale created a sense of scarcity. That’s the feeling that we’re competing for a limited resource, and the fear that we might be about to lose an opportunity. The student also appealed to authority by citing all the experts who read the magazine. And he offered social proof – evidence that other people like us are taking the same action by describing how many of Cialdini’s dormmates had taken up the offer.
This is not simply a question of conformity, though that does play a part. “It shows that the action is valid, and demonstrates that it’s feasible to undertake,” says Cialdini. Today, we can see the importance of social proof in various arenas. We are more likely to download a song, for instance, if we have been told it’s popular with other listeners, and people were more likely to wear a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic if they saw others do the same.
Once we make a choice or take a stand, we encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to think and behave consistently with that commitment – Bob Cialdini
The liking principle – that we are more likely to agree to someone’s suggestions or demands if we warm to them personally – may seem self-evident, but a quick look at the invective of political debate suggests that many fail to put it into practice when trying to convince others of their opinions. In the first edition of his book, Cialdini pointed to studies of “Tupperware parties” – a business model in which a member of a community could earn a commission by hosting a gathering and then selling the kitchen containers. The research showed that the greater people’s social connection to the host, the more likely they were to buy a product – irrespective of its quality or features.
Reciprocation reflects the adage that “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”, but in Influence, Cialdini showed that very small favours can pay great dividends – as shown by the famous “Coca Cola” experiment, in which the psychologist Dennis Regan invited participants into the laboratory. Their task was to evaluate paintings. At one stage of the experiment, Joe, who was ostensibly another participant, but really a research assistant, left the lab for a minute. In some trials, he came back with two bottles of Coca Cola – one for himself and one for the (real) participant; in others, he returned with nothing.
After the experiment was allegedly over, Joe asked the participant whether they’d like to buy raffle tickets he was selling, and his prior behaviour had a large impact on their decisions. If Joe had shown that small act of generosity in purchasing the extra Coca Cola, they bought considerably more tickets. Crucially, this was true even if they had heard Joe acting rudely to someone at the start of the experiment. In this instance, reciprocation appeared to trump liking.
Finally, there’s commitment and consistency. Cialdini phrases it like this: “Once we make a choice or take a stand, we encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to think and behave consistently with that commitment.” Simply asking someone to say whether they are going to vote can increase the chances that they will cast a ballot, for instance, since a failure to do so would seem inconsistent and cause an uncomfortable feeling of “cognitive dissonance”.
The power of unity
In the updated editions of Influence, Cialdini has added a seventh principle – unity, the fact that people are “inclined to say yes to someone they consider one of them”. He says he was inspired, in part, by the increased tribalism he sees in society. “I always saw unity as an amplifier: if you had unity, then scarcity or social proof were going to be more powerful. But then I started to see that it had a force that was independent of any of the others.”
He points to one study of fundraising on a college campus, in which a young woman asks for contributions to a charity. “When she began her pitch with the sentence ‘I’m a student’ she increased her contributions by 450%.” And he is aware of its influence in his personal life. “A while ago, I read a newspaper article that looked at celebrities who had allegiances to the various NFL teams, and I learned that Justin Timberlake and Lil Wayne, were both avid Green Bay Packers fans,” he explains. “And I immediately became more favourable to their music, and wanted them to succeed in the future.”
I ask Cialdini if his studies of persuasion have armed him against manipulation from canny salesman. Does he still consider himself to be a “patsy”? He says that his reaction to other’s charm offences depends on the fidelity of the information they are conveying. “When it’s a trick, then I’m equipped to say no.” If the information is honest and well-sourced, however, “I’m more likely to say yes, since these principles can guide us correctly.”
He points out that it is perfectly rational to care if a product has been popular with other people, for instance – since that increases the chance it will have personal appeal. “And I would have been foolish not to know what the true authority consensus is about this pain reliever, or about this automobile, or about this subscription.”
Forge the kinds of connections that are traditionally associated with kinship or friendship – Bob Cialdini
This seems like an important distinction. Provided that we are using them honestly, then his principles are only directing us to give the most relevant information for someone making a decision. “You’ve simply been informed, or educated, into assent.” He argues that anyone who chooses to apply them dishonestly will soon have their comeuppance. “You’ll eventually be discovered as a cheat, and who will want to do business with you againPersuasive politics
In the decades following Influence’s publication, Cialdini’s advice has been highly valued by business leaders and politicians alike. He worked with both former US president Barack Obama and candidate Hillary Clinton, for instance, as part of a “dream team” of psychologists advising their presidential campaigns.
One of their suggested changes concerned the ways that the campaign declared its donations. Beforehand, they had given a round number of the total money received. Afterwards, they described the total number of people who had contributed. “That provides social proof. It tells you that there are a lot of other people who have decided to do this, and that this is something that I should pay attention to.”
He says that their services were not always welcomed by those close to the candidates. “The traditional campaign advisors were threatened by this information coming from the academic community, because they didn’t have access to it,” he claims. “And so they sometimes deflected some of that advice away.”
I ask Cialdini how we might promote a greater sense of unity in today’s polarised world. He has no quick fixes, but suggests that we might all make a greater effort to build bridges with those holding opposition opinions. “Forge the kinds of connections that are traditionally associated with kinship or friendship,” he suggests. You might invite a colleague to dinner, for instance – even if their worldview clashes with your own. “And you don’t treat them like guests. You treat them like family, you ask them to help set and clear the table.” Once again, this hinges on feelings of trust, and “that allows us to bridge those identity gaps”. You might expect fireworks to result from those conversations, but the psychological research suggests that we are often better at bonding with our political “enemies” than we believe.
Cialdini certainly makes it sound easy and achievable to apply these psychological principles in our day-to-day lives; I leave the interview feeling that I have a much better handle on the ways that I might improve my communication – and the strategies that others might employ to sway my thinking. Perhaps it’s his own powers of influence, but he has convinced me that the psychology of persuasion is even more relevant today than it was in 1984.
David Robson is the author of The Laws of Connection: The Scientific Secrets of Building a Strong Social Network. He is @d_a_robson on X and @davidarobson on Instagram and Threads.
