Block #3 - Others use direct and subtle methods to influence our behavior Flashcards
Central route to persuasion
Persuasion that employs direct, relevant, logical messages. This method assumes that the audience is motivated, will think carefully about what is presented, and will react based on your arguments. The central route is intended to produce an enduring agreement. For example, you might vote for a particular political candidate after hearing her speak and finding her logic and proposed policies convincing.
Fixed action patterns (FAPs)
Sequences of behavior that occur in exactly the same fashion, in exactly the same order, every time they are elicited.
- Cialdini (2008) compares it to a prerecorded tape that is turned on and, once it is, always plays to its finish.
- There is the feeding tape, the territorial tape, the migration tape, the nesting tape, the aggressive tape—each sequence ready to be played when a situation calls for it.
Foot in the door
Obtaining a small, initial commitment. A person begins with a very small request; secures an agreement; then makes a separate larger request.
Jonathan Friedman and Scott Frazier tested the impact of this technique in a series
of field experiments. One experiment and experimenter pretending to be employed by
consumer organization, telephone to large number of female homework homemakers and
Palo Alto, California, and asked if they would be willing to answer some questions
about household products. Those who consented were then asked a few quick and
innocuous questions, and thanks for their assistance. Three days later, the
experimenter called back and made a considerable, almost outrageous request. He
asked the women if they would allow a handful of men into their homes for two hours
to rummage through their drawers and cupboards and closets so they could take an
inventory of the household products. The foot-in-the-door technique proved to be
very effective when the participants were confronted with only the very intrusive
request, twenty-two percent complied. Yet the rate of agreement among those who had
been surveyed earlier more than doubled to 53%. This basic result has now been
repeated over and over and over again. People are more likely to donate time,
money, food, blood, and the use of their home and other resources once they’ve been
induced to go along with a small initial request. Although the effect is not always
as dramatic as that obtained in this study, it does appear in a wide variety of
circumstances and it increases compliance rates on average by about 13%. T
Gradually escalating commitments
A pattern of small, progressively escalating demands is less likely to be rejected than a single large demand made all at once.
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts that enable people to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently.
Peripheral route to persuasion
Persuasion that relies on superficial cues that have little to do with logic. The peripheral approach is the salesman’s way of thinking. It requires a target who isn’t thinking carefully about what you are saying. It requires low effort from the target and often exploits rule-of-thumb heuristics that trigger mindless reactions.
- The peripheral route relies on psychological techniques.
- Advertisements, for example, may show celebrities, cute animals, beautiful scenery, or provocative sexual images that have nothing to do with the product.
- The peripheral approach is also common in the darkest of persuasion programs, such as those of dictators and cult leaders.
- The effectiveness of peripheral persuasion relies on our frequent reliance on these sorts of fixed action patterns and trigger features. These mindless, rules-of-thumb are generally effective shortcuts for coping with the overload of information we all must confront. They serve as heuristics—mental shortcuts– that enable us to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently. They also, however, make us vulnerable to uninvited exploitation through the peripheral route of persuasion.
Psychological reactance
A reaction to people, rules, requirements, or offerings that are perceived to limit freedoms.
The most effective way to circumvent psychological reactance is to first get a foot in the door and then escalate the demands so gradually that there is seemingly nothing to react against.
Social proof
The mental shortcut based on the assumption that, if everyone is doing it, it must be right.
- People are particularly susceptible to social proof (a) when they are feeling uncertain, and (b) if the people in the comparison group seem to be similar to ourselves. As P.T. Barnum once said, “Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.”
- social cues are presented with such specificity that it is as if a puppeteer is manipulating the target—for example, the laugh tracks on situation comedies that instruct one not only when to laugh but how to laugh. Studies find these techniques work. Fuller and Skeehy-Skeffington (1974), for example, found that audiences laughed longer and more when a laugh track accompanied the show than when it did not, even though respondents knew the laughs they heard were connived by a technician from old tapes that had nothing to do with the show they were watching.
The norm of reciprocity
The normative pressure to repay, in equitable value, what another person has given to us. Dictates that we treat others as they have treated us.
- this norm leads us to feel obligated to repay for acts of kindness, even when unsolicited
- relatively short-lived
Gouldner (1960), in his seminal study of the reciprocity rule, found it appears in every culture. It lays the basis for virtually every type of social relationship, from the legalities of business arrangements to the subtle exchanges within a romance. A salesperson may offer free gifts, concessions, or their valuable time in order to get us to do something for them in return. For example, if a colleague helps you when you’re busy with a project, you might feel obliged to support her ideas for improving team processes. You might decide to buy more from a supplier if they have offered you an aggressive discount. Or, you might give money to a charity fundraiser who has given you a flower in the street (Cialdini, 2008; Levine, 2003).
The rule of scarcity
People tend to perceive things as more attractive when their availability is limited, or when they stand to lose the opportunity to acquire them on favorable terms.
The triad of trust
We are most vulnerable to persuasion when the source is perceived as an authority, as honest and likable.
- Honesty is the moral dimension of trustworthiness; An established brand name helps us cut through this volume of information. It signals we are in safe territory. “The real suggestion to convey,” advertising leader Theodore MacManus observed in 1910, “is that the man manufacturing the product is an honest man, and the product is an honest product, to be preferred above all others”
- Various studies have shown we perceive attractive people as smarter, kinder, stronger, more successful, more socially skilled, better poised, better adjusted, more exciting, more nurturing, and, most important, of higher moral character. All of this is based on no other information than their physical appearance.
Trigger features
Specific, sometimes minute, aspects of a situation that activate fixed action patterns.
- The on/off switch may actually be controlled by a specific, minute detail of the situation—maybe a sound or shape or patch of color. These are the hot buttons of the biological world—what Cialdini refers to as “trigger features” and biologists call “releasers.”
Manipulating the perception of trustworthiness
Testimonials and Endorsement
- This technique employs someone who people already trust to testify about the product or message being sold.
- Celebrity endorsements are a frequent feature in commercials aimed at children. The practice has aroused considerable ethical concern.
Presenting the Message as Education
- The message may be framed as objective information. Salespeople, for example, may try to convey the impression they are less interested in selling a product than helping you make the best decision; “I’m not a salesperson. I’m a product consultant. I don’t give prices or negotiate with you.”
Word of Mouth
- Surveys show we turn to people around us for many decisions. A 1995 poll found that 70% of Americans rely on personal advice when selecting a new doctor.
- Persuasion professionals may exploit these tendencies; e.g., logging into chat rooms
The Maven
- involve peers face-to-face. Rather than over-investing in formal advertising, businesses and organizations may plant seeds at the grassroots level hoping that consumers themselves will then spread the word to each other, e.g., Software companies, for example, give advance copies of new computer programs to professors they hope will recommend it to students and colleagues. Pharmaceutical companies regularly provide travel expenses and speaking fees to researchers willing to lecture to health professionals about the virtues of their drugs.
What does it mean when someone is a “maven?’
There is a Yiddish word, maven, which refers to a person who’s an expert or a connoisseur, as in a friend who knows where to get the best price on a sofa or the co-worker you can turn to for advice about where to buy a computer. They (a) know a lot of people, (b) communicate a great deal with people, (c) are more likely than others to be asked for their opinions, and (d) enjoy spreading the word about what they know and think. Most important of all, they are trusted. As a result, mavens are often targeted by persuasion professionals to help spread their message.
Persuasion techniques in total
Testimonials & Endorsements (most common)
Presenting the Message as Education (most common)
“Word of Mouth” (most common)
The Maven (most common)
“Free Gifts” & Reciprocity
Social Proof
Getting a Foot-in-the-Door
A Door-in-the-Face
“And That’s Not All”
The Sunk Cost Trap
Scarcity & Psychological Reactance
Two Routes to Persuasion
Elaboration Likelihood Model (dual-process model)
1. Central Route
- think carefully about the message
- influenced by its strength and quality
2. Peripheral Route
- do not think carefully about the message
- influenced by superficial cues/heuristics
- based on reputation, well-spoken, writes well = assume they must be correct
- assume info must be correct if t has a long list of arguments, statistics, or endorsements
- familiar, elicits cheers from an audience
Three factors determine route:
1. source
2. message
3. audience
- Interaction b/w Source & Message
- Personal relevance, if it is relevant, you will have high involvement and therefore follow the central route
- If it is not relevant, you will have low involvement and therefore follow the peripheral route
Effective speakers are determined by:
- Credibility
- competence: speakers ability or expertise
- trustworthiness: willing to report what they know truthfully and without compromise
- goodwill: a source who seems to care about and takes a genuine interest in the receiver; “I hear where you are coming from,” “I can relate to that,” “I sympathize with how you feel.” - Likeability
- similarity to the members of the audience
- physical attractiveness; seen through Chaiken (1979)s study; In a field setting, each of 68 physically attractive or unattractive male and female communicator Ss (undergraduates) delivered a persuasive message to 2 undergraduate target Ss of each sex. Results indicate that attractive (vs unattractive) communicators induced significantly greater persuasion on both a verbal and behavioral measure of target agreement. In addition, female targets indicated greater agreement than male targets. Data gathered from communicator Ss during an earlier laboratory session indicate that physically attractive and unattractive communicators differed with respect to several communication skills and other attributes relevant to communicator persuasiveness, including GPA, Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, and several measures of self-evaluation. These findings suggest that attractive individuals may be more persuasive than unattractive persons partly because they possess characteristics that dispose them to be more effective communicators.
- attractive = 41% of time got signature
- unattractive = 32% of time got signature
Language of Requests
The phrasing of the requests can lead to compliance;
Langer & colleagues (1978): butting in line for a xerox machine; two variations of request:
- “May I use the Xerox machine?”
- “May I use the Xerox machine because I am in a rush?”
- “May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?”
social impact theory (latane)
Social influence depends on three factors:
- the strength of the source (status, or relationship to the target)
- the immediacy of the source to the target in time and space (proximity)
- the number of sources
Resistance to social influence occurs when the social impact is divided among many strong and distant targets.
