Sublime

Professor Robert Cialdini’s research in the field of influence and persuasion discovered that people can be primed to be more receptive to a message. Factors like reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking, and consensus make us more open to being persuaded.

STUDYING SOCIAL INFLUENCE

was precisely the cogency of his argument that drove them to sign up for the program on the spot. The spokesman put it best: “Well, I wasn’t going to put down any money tonight because I’m really quite broke right now; I was going to wait until the next meeting. But when your buddy started talking, I knew I’d better give them my money now, or I’d g

themselves with one or another of the levers of influence that exist in the social environment. To do so may take no more than one correctly chosen word that engages a strong psychological principle and launches one of our automatic behavior programs. Trust the human profiteers to learn quickly how to benefit from our tendency to respond mechanical

The latter pair were investigating Benjamin Franklin’s claim that he could easily turn an enemy into a friend with one simple act—asking them for a favor.

As human beings, we’re mightily swayed by how much we feel we have been respected. People comply with agreements if they feel they’ve been treated fairly and lash out if they don’t.

only about 10 percent of their sample follow something approximating this rule.