The 6 main techniques of persuasion – Psychology of Persuasion Course

Hello friends!

One of the greatest experts in persuasion is psychologist Robert B. Cialdini, professor of psychology and marketing at the University of Arizona, in the United States. His famous book “The Weapons of Persuasion” is one of the main books that we will use here in our Free Psychology of Persuasion Course. In this book, the author carried out several experimental researches in the so-called participatory observation that, according to him, happens when the researcher becomes a kind of spy.

In other words, to research the weapons of persuasion used by sales and marketing professionals, he went into the field and worked closely with these professionals, as an undercover psychologist, he had direct contact with encyclopedia sellers, advertising agencies, charities , real estate agents and dozens of other workers whose main function is to persuade the client, because without persuasion, they are unemployed.

During the years in which he carried out such experiments, Cialdini defended the thesis that there are 6 weapons of persuasion, which are:

1) Reciprocity

2) Consistency

3) Social approval

4) Affinity

5) Authority

6) Scarcity

We’ll look at each of these 6 weapons of persuasion in detail in the lessons that follow. But, right now, we are going to introduce what each of these characteristics means that can be present when we are going to convince or when we are convinced. These features of persuasion are used together or separately. The truth is that only one of these ways is enough to persuade.

Key persuasion techniques

In our busy modern world, time is increasingly rare and as Alfred Whitehead says: “Civilization advances by expanding the number of operations that we can perform without thinking about them”, which means that despite the growing access to information, when we we have to decide we can simplify the decision process by taking into account what has been useful to us in the past and choosing to buy a product, for example, in a matter of seconds, “without really thinking”.

1) Reciprocity

Reciprocity has been studied in depth by anthropology researchers such as Marcel Mauss and means, in short, that when we receive something, we must give something in return. It is easier to understand what reciprocity is through some examples:

If you go to the doctor, and he gives you a free sample of a drug that you will always need to use, that free sample – from the pharmaceutical industry’s point of view – is not free. After all, as we say in economics, “there is no free lunch”. The industry that manufactured the medicine gives the free sample because it knows reciprocity. The patient, upon receiving the free medicine, will be much more likely to buy the medicine later, instead of buying a generic or competitor’s medicine.

A famous website for online movies and series offers a free month to test the service, as it also knows reciprocity.

Both in the case of the medicine and in the case of the movie site, we are not talking about the intrinsic quality to buy. That is, the quality can remain the same, however, when using reciprocity – offering something free – the consumer will fall into the persuasion that he has to give something in return.

Of course, the possibility of choosing not to subscribe to the site or to buy a generic medicine remains. However, research proves that when using reciprocity, sales increase a lot.

2) Consistency

Coherence here means the tendency we have to maintain our identity, our image of who we are. In Cialdini’s book, we see a very clear example of how coherence affects future behavior and is also a persuasion technique. In a survey conducted in 1966 by Jonathan Freedman the following occurred:

“The researcher, pretending to be a volunteer, went from door to door in a residential area of ​​California making an absurd request to residents: permission for a public service billboard to be installed on the lawn of their homes. To get an idea of ​​the appearance of the billboard, the researcher showed a photo of an attractive house whose facade was almost completely covered by a huge billboard, not pretty, with the words: drive safely. Although the request was normally turned down by a large proportion of residents in the area (only 17% agreed), a specific group reacted favorably. In that group, 76% of people agreed with installing the billboard on the lawn.

The main reason for their surprising consent is linked to an event that had taken place two weeks earlier: the people in that group had made a small commitment to safety behind the wheel. A different “volunteer” had visited their homes and asked them to accept and display a small eight-centimeter square sign that read: drive safely.”

I mean, the 76% who agreed fell into the persuasion technique called coherence. Socially, we are raised with the appreciation that we have to be consistent, that is, we cannot constantly change our opinion and position. Upon assuming a small initial commitment, the residents – due to the need to show consistency – also accepted a much larger and even absurd request.

3) Social approval

Social approval is simple to observe in advertisements on TV and on websites as well. When a car industry insists on showing with all the letters that it is the best-selling car, the best-selling tablet or that everyone is using, they are using this form of persuasion.

In order not to think too much, we end up evaluating that a product or service is good when there is social approval. A professional is at his best when everyone is looking for his service and he has a busy schedule. A website is one of the best when hundreds of thousands of people have liked and approved.

4) Affinity

The principle of affinity is when the seller – or whoever is trying to persuade us – puts himself in a position of affinity with our position. It is similar to empathy, but has a special identifying factor.

For example, let’s say a person is overweight and is going to buy a pair of jeans and the salesperson who will provide the service is also overweight. When trying on some pieces, the salesperson shows a brand that she herself approves of, that she used herself and that looks great on her body. By affinity, the tendency for this brand to be sold is much greater.

5) Authority

Authority is easy to see and we usually don’t realize that it can be a weapon of persuasion against us. When, in an advertisement, a company that sells toothpaste puts a specialist in a certain area, dentistry, to say that he recommends that brand – and not the others (although this is only implied – marketing is using the weapon of authority.

We are also trained to trust authority. If the expert says so, it’s true. We don’t need to think and buy or agree!

6) Scarcity

And finally, the last technique we’ll study in our Free Persuasion Course is scarcity. Scarcity means that there is little quantity of the product or service. As it is about to end, we have to buy it fast. Better – for those who are selling – if the purchase has to be made immediately!

For those who got to experience the times of inflation and price freezes here in Brazil, you must remember the queues in supermarkets and the empty shelves. Deep down, it could not be a real scarcity, but the scarcity combined with the fact that the price could rise so much in the following week – and then cause the product to run out – that we had to buy.

The idea behind scarcity is simple and we see it thousands of times in our daily lives: “Buy it soon, it’s running out! They are the last units”…

Conclusion

In the next lessons, we will talk in detail about each of these weapons of persuasion that are constantly used by us (perhaps unconsciously) and against us.

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