The questions that he wants to find answer are, one, what makes a person to say yes to another? two, which techniques most effectively use these factors to bring about such compliance?
After a detailed research that lasted three years, the author and his team were able to identify six techniques that the compliance professionals use to get to 'yes'. Author calls them "Weapons of Influence". The six techniques are:
- Reciprocation: The old give and take.... and take
- Commitment and consistency: Hobgoblins of the mind
- Social Proof: Truths are us
- Liking: The friendly thief
- Authority: Directed deference
- Scarcity: The rule of the few
Dr.Cialdini realizes that the best way to get to 'Yes' is provide answer to the question 'Whats in it for me?", the good old self-interest. This is something everyone knows and he has skipped that one and go on to discuss other techniques that are widely used.
Each of these techniques have a potential to create mindless, automatic willingness to say 'Yes' without thinking. In the age of the internet, when people are bombarded with information that they cannot handle, people choose these techniques to simplify the decision making process. A nefarious compliance professional (salespeople?) who knows these techniques can use them to manipulate their subjects.
Automatic responses to stimuli are common in animal kingdom. A mother turkey responds automatically to a specific sound made by chicks. The reaction is the same even if a stuffed polecat, the arch enemy of turkey, makes a recorded 'cheap - cheap' sound made by the chicks. These automated reactions are known as 'fixed action patters' - these steps occur in the same fashion and same sequence all the time. Ethnologists also find that there are some 'Triggers', specific features known as trigger features, that prompt the fixed action patterns.
There are two aspects to these patterns. One, they work most of the time. And two, even human beings are not immune to these automated behaviours. For example if we ask someone to do something, we will be more successful if we give a reason. In fact it was not even the actual reason that mattered. It was the use of a trigger word 'because' that mattered. For example the request, 'Can I use the printer now because I have to go somewhere?' and 'Can I use the printer now because I want to print some copies' both elicited similar positive responses.
Fascinating, isn't it.?
There are three aspects to the techniques being discussed in this book. One is the nearly mechanical way in which these techniques (author uses the word 'Weapons') can be activated, two, the way in which those who know how to use them can exploit the innocent and three, the ease with which the tools of automatic influence work. All that is required is to trigger the stores of influence that exist in the situation and channel it in the right direction. In this way, it is almost like Jujitsu, a Japanese martial art that use the speed and moment of the opponent against themselves without the artist expending a single muscle !!
This is illustrated by Contrast Principle, which affects the relative way in which we see the difference between two things presented one after another. If the second item is fairly different than the first, we tend to see it 'more' different than the first. Salesperson uses this principle when they show the highly expensive item followed by moderately expensive one. Real estate agents use it when they show us a bad house followed by an average house...
The average house look phenomenal.
The rest of the book discussed each of the six rules of influence. Each rule is broadly introduced and then the author goes deeper into the characteristics that make the rule powerful. The next part of the chapter gives pointers on how we can identify and overcome the pernicious effects of the rule and each chapter closes with a field report from a reader of the book.
The first technique of influence is the Rule of Reciprocation. It refers to our need to reciprocate in kind to a favor given to us. By this rule, we are obligated to reciprocate. This rule is pervasive across societies and spans cultures, time and sometimes even acute self-interest. The rule is overpowering. It produces 'Yes' response which would have been rejected in normal circumstances. A person can trigger a reciprocity by doing uninvited favours. This is like forcing a debt on another person. You see this working companies send unsolicited gifts to customers. In gift giving 'there is an obligation to give, an obligation to receive and an obligation to repay'. It is the obligation to receive that makes it easy to exploit. It reduces our choice of people from whom we wish to receive.
Another aspect of the reciprocity rule is that it can trigger unfair exchanges.
Reciprocal concession is another aspect of rule of reciprocation. We have an obligation to make concessions to someone who has made concessions for us. The concession brought about by this rule is socially beneficial since the party that initiates the concession (who gives in first) knows that their gesture will be reciprocated. There is a technique called rejection-then-retreat which manipulates the concession process. You place a large initial request that you know the respondent will reject. Once it is rejected place a request which is 'smaller' than the initial one. This technique has an astonishing success rate. Note that the 'smaller' request need not be 'small'. It can be large, but the criteria is it should be smaller than the original one.
Another aspect of the rejection-then-retreat is that it spurs the creation of future commitments. Subjects who rejected a 100 dollar initial donation and paid the concession donation of 10 dollars were willing to register for future donations, whereas those who were asked only for 10 dollar donation did not agree to future commitment. It appears that the relief of having to pay less at the initial request has created relief and potential for further contributions later. One fascinating aspect of studies on this strategy was that the subjects felt responsible for the solution and they also were satisfied with the final solution.
That is not very surprising. Reject-then-retreat approach gives the subjects a sense of control over the process.
The next rule is Commitment and Consistency. In simple terms it refers to our need to behave consistently with our commitments. It is our need to keep our thoughts and beliefs consistent with what we have done or decided to do. The reason why consistency is highly valued is because it is associated with virtues like integrity, rationality and honesty. One advantage of consistency is that it removes the need for analyzing our subsequent decisions. Another reason why we are consistent is that it removes the need for accepting harsh realities.
The key factor is commitment. Once you commit to something, you are under pressure to behave consistently with the commitment. The examples in this chapter are fascinating. For example the question "How are you doing today?" forcing the customers to answer with "Good" or "I am fine" produced commitment as against the statement "I hope you are fine today". There are many fascinating examples of how Chinese government manipulated American POWs to commit to views favorable to the communist regime.
The foot-in-the-door technique used by sales persons is a form of receiving a small commitment with a view to larger commitments later. Even very trivial requests for support can get us to commit to big and uncomfortable decisions. The flip-side of this principle is that through small commitments, you can manipulate people's self-image. You can turn an individual to a 'Public Servant', a prospect to a 'Customer' or a prisoner to a 'collaborator'. That is scary.
Not all commitments alter a person's self-image. For a commitment to do that it has to meet certain criteria. Getting the person to write down the commitment is one such. Writing down a commitment become a recorded document and the individual will find it very difficult to go against it later. This is the internal pressure. In addition, the record will become public and the people perceive that you adhere to the view that you have documented. This creates a significant external pressure to adhere. (The second part was expressed vividly in the Malayalam movie Kireedam.
In addition to writing down, the other characteristics that make a commitment alter the self image are public acceptance, extra effort required, if the commitment is made as a mental choice rather than if a commitment was made to attain a valuable outcome etc.
The last one is especially interesting. If you own your commitment, you are likely to work in consonance with the commitment. There are many reasons for this. One, it is generalized. If you think that you are a public spirited person, you are likely to behave consistently in a variety of situations. Two, such changes grow their own legs, meaning, he will generate new reasons to behave consistently with the commitment. Even if the original reason for the commitment is taken away, the new reasons will ensure consistency.
How to say no to this technique? Author says listen to your gut and decide.
In my opinion, consistency to one's commitment is the most powerful of all the techniques of influence mentioned in this book.
As per the principle of social proof one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct. This works when we are uncertain about the course of action, or when the situation is ambiguous we are likely to look at others to determine the course of action. One fascinating aspect is that in uncertain situation everyone is looking at others to see what to do next. This phenomenon is called 'Pluralistic Ignorance'.
Another aspect of social proof is familiarity. We tend to act like others when they are similar to us.
This chapter is very difficult since all the examples are very disturbing. Be it the examples of Werther effect or the tragic happenings at People's Temple of Reverend Jim Jones at Jonestown Guyana where large number of people committed suicide, all of them show how potent can the Social Proof be as a weapon of influence. It is a 'Weapon' in the real sense of the term.
How to say no to Social Proof. Just be aware that this phenomenon exist. Do not peg yourself to anything.
Principle of Liking is self-evident. You tend to say Yes to those whom you like. What are the traits you look for to like people? Some of them are Physical Attractiveness, Similarity (many sales people are taught to 'mirror' the customer), Compliments (even when they are obvious lies), Familiarity (one way to like a song is to listen to it multiple times), Working together to solve critical challenges and Associating oneself with good news (You like messengers of good news)...
The way to handle this is to focus on the needs and not be influenced by the salesperson.
Ever since the Nazi concentration camps of WW2 and a couple of high profile airline crashes, Authority as a technique of influence has been much studied. One of the reasons it is powerful is that it brings order to chaos and is generally beneficial. In addition, all the religions profess respect to authority - parents, king, teachers, elders - that it becomes a habit in many cultures. Problem is when the instructions are visibly illegal. That is where resisting authority becomes tough.
Another complexity is that we are subconsciously malleable to 'Symbols of Authority' rather than authority itself. Some of the symbols are Titles, Clothes, Trappings (a Limo or a Lamborghini etc).
How to say no to this? Ask two questions. One, is this a genuine authority? and two, do they get to gain anything from our response? If answer to anyone of them is not to your liking then be careful, ask for more proof etc.
The final technique of influence is Scarcity and the associated urgency. This works on the loss aversion tendency of human beings. People hate losing something. By creating artificial scarcity, they can be manipulated to go for the scarce item. There are two reasons why scarcity is powerful. One, our behaviour in scarcity is generally correct. Second reason is the Psychological Reactance Theory, which says that when something becomes scares our freedom to own it is diminished and hence we desire it more.
One fascinating aspect of scarcity is that we assign additional qualities to the items that are scarce, probably to justify our need for possession. There are two conditions where scarcity works effectively. One is when the item is moving from abundance to scarcity. It has been observed that most of the revolutions are led by people who were exposed to their freedoms and not by people who never had freedoms. Also not only that we demand items that are scarce, we want them more when there is a competition for that item.
How to say no to the urge of acting based on Scarcity? First is to realize that the joy of scarcity is in possessing the item and not in using it. So decide if you genuinely want that item.
Why are these techniques successful?
One, when we are faced with a decision, very often we only look at few of the information and use these techniques to make the decision
Two, these cues are generally very reliable.
Three, we use these lone cues when we don't have the inclination, the time or the resources to undertake a thorough analysis of the situation.
Four, the last decade has seen an information explosion which finds us left behind. So we are forced to depend on these shortcuts.
Five, we are exposed to too many stimuli. We travel more, we change more, we have shorter relationships with many people and we have an array of options to choose from. In the light of this our only option (to maintain our sanity) is to ignore these cues and depend on tried and trusted approaches.
In summary, these techniques help us to preserve our cognitive energies (and our sanity!) for dealing with the increasingly information - laden, decision-overloaded environment.
That is it. We come to the end of this review. A couple of additional points are in order.
This book was a part of a troika of books that I purchased based on an article I read in Entrepreneur.com All the three books turned out to be real gems. I am a better person having read them. It was fascinating to read how the principles listed in this book are used by marketing people as described by Joe Sugarman in his book Triggers.
Very enjoyable read....Thank you Dr.Cialdini for this book.
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