Post on 06-Jun-2020
transcript
Advanced Code of Influence
Book 6
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Table of Contents
BOOK 6: PERSUASION ............................................................................................................................. 3
The Ivory Throne: Human Persuasion ...................................................................................................... 3
Figuring Out Which Route a Person Will Take ........................................................................................ 6
Exploring the Peripheral Route ............................................................................................................... 17
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BOOK 6: PERSUASION
The Ivory Throne: Human Persuasion
Persuasion can be considered as one of the great
ivory thrones of influence because with
persuasion, you can convince a person to
change his mind and adapt your view.
Persuasion generally comes from without than
from within. Understanding how persuasion
works is like finding the key to the human mind.
To understand what goes on in the human mind
when you are trying to persuade someone is like
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discovering the roadmap to mastering
persuasion.
There are many theories regarding persuasion
but at the very root of these theories is the fact
that people generally have two ways of
processing information from the outside world:
the central route and the peripheral route.
With the central route, a person who is receiving
the stimulus or information will act like a naïve
scientist. He will carefully think about the input
and he will make a decision based on his
theories.
With the peripheral route, the person receiving
the information or stimulus will not pursue the
critical path. Instead, he will choose to take a
thin slice of the stimulus so he can compare it
with whatever readily available information he
has in his memory. In this regard, a person
becomes a cognitive miser yet again.
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What‟s the difference between the naïve
scientist and the cognitive miser when it comes
to persuasion? There is a big difference!
The naïve scientist will pay close attention not
only to the message itself but also to the way it
was delivered, etc. The naïve scientist is also
interested in the why and how of the message.
The cognitive miser on the other hand, will do
the direct opposite. Instead of paying close
attention to the actual message, cognitive misers
will be more interested in receiving small cues
that will tell them whether or not the message is
worth considering or not.
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Figuring Out Which Route a Person Will
Take
We now know that there are two possible routes
when it comes processing persuasive
information – the peripheral route and the
central route.
Earlier in our exploration of heuristics, we
discovered that there are common factors that
affect a person‟s decision to become a cognitive
miser instead of being naïve scientist.
While these factors (like lack of time) can be
used to determine whether a person will use
heuristics or critical analysis, there are other
factors that come into play. These factors are:
- Speech rate
- Mood
- Involvement
- Individual difference
- Humor
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Speech rate has a major effect on how a person
processes persuasive information. You know
why?
Because if a person cannot follow what you are
saying, he will not become a naïve scientist and
in the process, he will choose to ignore most of
the content of your message in favor of cues that
will allow him to analyze only „thin slices‟ of
the whole message.
Usually, a person who is unable to follow a
speedy persuasive message will only take note
of the number of arguments present and make a
decision based on this number.
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Happy person
Persuasive message
Peripheral route
Unhappy person
Persuasive message
Central route
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Mood, surprisingly, also has a determining role
in persuasion. Let us zero in on two important
moods – the happy mood and the unhappy
mood.
When you‟re happy, you feel light, carefree and
you feel like you are on top of the world. You
will feel like there is nothing in this world (or
the Universe) that can bring you down because
you are so happy at the moment.
Now take this mindset and imagine yourself in a
situation where another person is trying to
persuade you to do something.
Will you stop and analyze what the other person
is saying to you? Or will you just barely follow
what the other person is saying and just say yes?
The answer of course, is usually the latter.
Happy people tend to choose the peripheral
route in processing persuasive messages.
Inversely, unhappy people are more critical. By
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„unhappy‟ we refer to individuals who feel sad,
depressed, worried, scared, angry, anxious, etc.
A person who is presently experiencing any
negative emotion should be considered an
unhappy person.
I am placing emphasis on this important
distinction because unhappy people tend to
become critical of persuasive messages because
deep down, they are aware that something is not
right with their lives.
Deep down, unhappy people are on the alert
because something is not balanced and this
incongruence between their reality and their
needs and expectations will awaken the naïve
scientist in unhappy people.
I am not saying that you need to make your
audience unhappy before you can convince
them to do something.
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What I am saying here is that if you find yourself
in the presence of a happy person, there is a
bigger chance of being able to persuade that
person because he will most likely take the
peripheral route.
That means all you have to worry about at that
point in time would be to relay your message
well and provide sound arguments so the other
person will agree more quickly (since he is a
cognitive miser at the moment and he is using
heuristics instead of critical processing).
Now when you are looking at the involvement
factor you are actually looking at the impact of
the persuasive message to the other person‟s
self-concept. To illustrate this point, evaluate
the two statements below:
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Statement # 1: I have something that might
improve your business in two to three years.
Statement # 2: Do you want to retire a
millionaire? How about mansion in Beverly
Hills? An island getaway all to yourself and that
special someone? I have the key – and I can
give it to you right now if you want it.
After reading the two statements, which
statement do you think has a more palpable
impact to another person‟s self-concept?
Let‟s analyze the two statements. The first
statement has a forward-thinking angle that
emphasizes that a business will become stable
with whatever is being offered in a few years.
The second statement opens with a question
(this creates instant interest in the audience
because it relates directly to one of basic needs,
which is financial stability and of course, the
survival needs) and also offers tantalizing
potential realities to the audience.
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After presenting all of the goodies, the statement
ends with an open-ended sentence that creates a
two-fold impression on the other person. The
other person has two choices. His first choice is
he can take the „key‟ and live the millionaire‟s
lifestyle, as promised by the statement. The
second choice is he can choose not to take the
key and he will gain nothing.
Notice that all of the components of the second
statement focus on genuine needs and desires of
people.
With a touch of extravagance, a persuasive
fantasy is created and the audience is presented
with a tantalizing opportunity to rise above the
rest in terms of financial security. And yet, we
should remember, the statement isn‟t even real
to begin with.
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What‟s real to the audience is the fantasy and
emotions that it invokes instantly – and so the
audience will automatically focus on the second
statement more than the first statement because
there is much more at stake in the second
statement than the first statement.
Now let us talk about the fourth factor, which
are individual differences. This factor is fairly
straightforward: people are different, right?
Some people prefer taking the central route
(critical thinking) while some people are more
likely to stick with the „default‟ route, which is
the peripheral (auto-pilot) route.
So in essence, some people are naïve scientists
most of the time while some feel that they are
better off being cognitive misers because they
can save their cognitive resources for more
important times. Naïve scientists have a higher
need for cognition while cognitive misers have a
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lower cognition requirement to get through their
days.
It is also worthwhile to note that people who
self-monitor more frequently are more likely to
take the critical route in processing persuasive
messages.
Self-monitoring is simply the degree at which a
person is concerned with what other people are
think about himself. If you are the kind who
doesn‟t really care about what other people
think, then you are most likely a cognitive miser
most of the time.
Cognitive need of cognitive
misers
Cognitive need of naive
scientists
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And finally, we have the humor factor. The
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “humor”
as: something that is or is designed to be
comical or amusing. Let‟s face it – we like
dropping jokes every now and then.
Laughing makes people feel good and we know
for a fact that humor can be a powerful tool
when you are trying to communicate to critical
individuals. So be careful when you are trying
to influence people with your words because the
wrong kind of humor can elicit the wrong type
of response from people.
If you want your audience to have critical
response to your message (i.e. you want them to
really think about the benefits that you are
offering to them) you have to craft related
humorous items so a more critical response is
triggered.
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If you simply want to put your audience at ease,
then you are better off with non-related humor.
That is, you need to drop jokes and humorous
anecdotes that do not relate to the topic/s that
you are presently tackling. Non-related humor
does not trigger the usage of the central route.
Exploring the Peripheral Route
To people like marketers and advertisers, there
is a hidden wish for people to just stick to their
“gut feel” (or peripheral route). The reason for
this is quite simple. With the peripheral route, a
person is more likely to respond to cues or
signals.
These signals can be given out or expressed in
such a manner that the other person will be led
to believe in something or the other person can
be convinced to do something after the
persuasive message has been conveyed.
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One of the most powerful peripheral cues that
you can use is similarity. Similarity to your
audience can be expressed in many, many ways.
I‟ll leave you to figure out how to create the
similarities, but I‟m going to give you some
major clues:
- Appearance
- Values
- Attitudes
- Social group
- Social categories
If you can utilize some or all of these forms of
similarity, you can be sure that your persuasive
message would have a much larger impact on
people because you are showing them that you
are not only persuasive but you share direct
similarities with them.
By expressing similarities to your audience, you
are giving them a direct message that you are
not foreign/alien and therefore, you should be
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trusted because you share a commonality with
each and every one of them.
Though this approach may sound old (and I‟m
not going to hide the fact that it is one of
foundational principles in disciplines like
marketing) it does work and it will continue to
work because you are tapping into the
primordial region of someone‟s mind when you
use a peripheral cue like similarity. People are
hardwired to accept similarity as a sign that the
other person can be trusted.
The second peripheral cue that you should pay
attention is attractiveness. Now don‟t get me
wrong: I know that everyone is unique and there
is no real standard of beauty that can be
followed each and every time.
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However, it is also true that people who come
close to standards of attractiveness tend to be
more persuasive than those who do not make an
effort to make themselves look good.
So if you are always out in the field, you have to
do something about the way you look. You have
to exert effort to look really good so people
would be drawn to your message and they
would respond more readily to you because you
are attractive. Attractiveness, though it is a
physical trait, is reflected not only by your bone
structure but also how you dress yourself, how
you carry yourself in public, etc.
The third peripheral cue that you should never
forget is credibility. To be a credible person,
you have to show people that you are unbiased
in your views and you are some that should be
trusted by others.
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One easy way of appearing to be a credible
person is by showcasing your knowledge of a
particular topic. So if you are trying to sell a
water filtration system to a company, you will
appear more credible if you can answer all of
the client‟s questions and you also have the
initiative to volunteer information to your client.
Now, I know that for some of you, it is very
difficult to appear as an expert because there
will always be older and more seasoned
competition around you. Don‟t worry about
them.
Just do your homework and do your best to
present information the way an expert would –
with no hesitation and with utmost conviction.
Even if the other person is not persuaded by
your arguments right now it is possible that you
will be able to persuade that person at a later
date.
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Why am I saying this? Well, social
psychologists have identified a peculiar
tendency in people when it comes to so-called
credible sources.
It appears that over time, a person‟s conviction
that he should only listen to one source alone
decays and eventually, that person will choose
to listen to other sources as long as the other
sources are providing clear information and
sound arguments.