Robert Cialdini - Science Of Persuasion

[Music] researchers have been studying the factors that influenced us to say yes to the requests of others for over 60 years and there can be no doubt that there's a science to how we are persuaded and a lot of this science is surprising when making a decision it would be nice to think that people consider all the available information in order to guide their thinking but the reality is very often different in the increasingly overloaded lives we lead more than ever we need shortcuts or rules of thumb to guide our decision-making my own research has

identified just six of these shortcuts as universals that guide human behavior they are reciprocity scarcity Authority consistency liking and consensus understanding these shortcuts and employing them in an ethical manner can significantly increase the chances that someone will be persuaded by your request let's take a closer look at each in turn so the first universal principle of influence is reciprocity simply put people are obliged to give back to others the form of behavior gift or service that they have received first if a friend invites you to their party there's an obligation for you to invite them

to a future party you are hosting if a colleague does you a favor then you owe that colleague a favor and in the context of a social obligation people are more likely to say yes to those that they owe one of the best demonstrations of the principle of reciprocation comes from a series of studies conducted in restaurants so the last time you visit a restaurant there's a good chance of the waiter or waitress will have given you a gift probably about the same time that they bring your bill and the cure perhaps or a fortune

cookie or perhaps a simple mint so here's the question does the giving of a mint have any influence over how much tip you're going to leave them most people will say no but that mint can make a surprising difference in the study giving diners a single mint at the end of their meal typically increase tips by a found 3% interestingly if the gift is doubled and two mints are provided tips don't double they quadruple a 14% increase in tips but perhaps most interestingly of all is the fact that if the waiter provides one mints starts

to walk away from the table but pauses turns back and says for you nice people here's an extra mint tips go through the roof a 23% increase influenced not by what was given but how it was given so the key to using the principle of reciprocation is to be the first to give and to ensure that what you give is personalized and unexpected the second universal principle of persuasion is scarcity simply put people want more of those things they can have less of when British Airways announced in 2003 that they would no longer be operating

the twice-daily London New York Concorde flight because it had become uncanonical to run sales the very next day took off notice that nothing had changed about the Concorde itself it certainly didn't fly any faster the service didn't suddenly get better and the airfare didn't drop it had simply become a scarce resource and as a result people wanted it more so when it comes to effectively persuading others using the scarcity principle the science is clear it's not enough simply to tell people about the benefits they'll gain if they choose your products and services you'll also need

to point out what is unique about your proposition and what they stand to lose if they fail to consider your proposal our third principle of influence is the principle of Authority the idea that people follow the lead of credible knowledgeable experts physiotherapists for example are able to persuade more of their patients to comply with recommended exercise programs if they display their medical diplomas on the walls of their consulting rooms people are more likely to give change for a parking meter to a complete stranger if that requester wears a uniform rather than casual clothes what the

science is telling us is that it's important to signal to others what makes you a credible knowledgeable authority before you make your influence attempt of course this can present problems you can hardly go around telling potential customers how brilliant you are but you can certainly arrange for someone to do it for you and surprisingly the science tells us that it doesn't seem to matter if the person who introduces you is not only connected to you but also likely to prosper from the introduction themselves one group of real estate agents were able to increase both the

number of property appraisals and the number of subsequent contracts that they wrote by arranging for reception staff who answered customer inquiries to first mention their colleagues credentials and expertise so customers interested in letting a property were told lettings let me connect you with Sandra who has over 15 years experience letting properties in this area customers who wanted more information about selling properties were told speak to Peter our head of sales he has over 20 years experience selling properties I'll put you through now the impact of this expert introduction led to a 20% rise in the

number of appointments and a 15% increase in the number of signed contracts not bad for a small change in formed from persuasion science that was both ethical and costless to implement the next principle is consistency people like to be consistent with the things they have previously said or done consistency is activated by looking for and asking for small initial commitments that can be made in one famous set of studies researchers found rather unsurprisingly that very few people would be willing to erect an unsightly wooden board on their front lawn to support a Drive Safely campaign

in their neighborhood however in a similar neighborhood close by four times as many home owners indicated that they would be willing to erect this unsightly billboard why because 10 days previously they had agreed to place a small postcard in the from the window of their home that signaled their support for a drive safely campaign that small card was the initial commitment that led to a 400% increase in a much bigger but still consistent change so when seeking to influence using the consistency principle the detective of influence looks for voluntary active and public commitments and ideally

gets those commitments in writing for example one recent study reduced missed appointments at health centers by 18 percent simply by asking the patient's rather than the staff to write down appointment details on the future appointment card the fifth principle is the principle of liking people prefer to say yes to those that they like but what causes one person to like another persuasion science tells us that there are three important factors we like people who are similar to us we like people who pay us compliments and we like people who cooperate with us towards mutual goals

as more and more of the interactions that we are having take place online it might be worth asking whether these factors can be employed effectively in let's say online negotiations in a series of negotiation studies carried out between MBA students at two well-known business schools some groups were told time is money get straight down to business in this group around 55 percent were able to come to an agreement a second group however we're told before you begin negotiating exchange and personal information with each other identify a similarity you share in common then begin negotiating in

this group 90 percent of them were able to come to successful and agreeable outcomes that were typically worth 18 percent more to both parties so to harness this powerful principle of liking be sure to look for areas of similarity that you share with others and genuine compliments you could give before you get down to business the final principle is consensus especially when they are uncertain people will look to the actions and behaviors of others to determine their own you may have noticed that hotels often place a small card in bathrooms that attempt to persuade guests

to reuse their towels and linen most do this by drawing a guest attention to the benefits that reuse can have on environmental protection it turns out that this is a pretty effective strategy leading to around 35 percent compliance but could there be an even more effective way well it turns out that about 75 percent of people who check into a hotel for four nights or longer will reuse their towels at some point during their stay so what would happen if we took a lesson from the principle of consensus and simply included that information on the

cards and said that 75 percent of our guests reuse their towels at some time during their stay so please do so as well it turns out that when we do this towel reuse Rises by 26% now imagine the next time you stay in a hotel you saw one of these signs you picked it up and you read the following message 75 percent of people who have stayed in this room have reused their towel what would you think well here's what you might think I hope they're not the same towels and like most people you probably

think that this sign will have no influence on your behavior whatsoever but it turns out that changing just a few words on a sign - honestly point out what comparable previous guests have done was the single most effective message leading to a 33 percent increase in reuse so the science is telling us that rather than relying on our own ability to persuade others we can point to what many others are already doing especially many similar others so there we have it 6 scientifically validated principles of persuasion that provide for small practical often costless changes that

can lead to big differences in your ability to influence and persuade others in an entirely ethical way they are the secrets from the science of persuasion [Music]