Book Summary: “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert B. Cialdini

The book talks about various psychological tactics used by compliance practitioners (salesman, waiters, card dealers, fund raisers etc.) to influence us into saying yes to something to which ideally we would have said no.
The author actually went and performed the roles of car salesman, waiter etc. to see the tactics in action.

All tactics used can be put in one of the six categories, each of which form basis of a chapter of the book.

Weapons of influence

Fixed action patterns, exploitability of shortcuts (fixed action patterns) and the power these lend to people who can use them form the components of automatic influence.

Fixed action patterns

Mother turkey looks for “cheep-cheep” sounds to recognize babies, anything making that sound (including stuffed look-alike of enemy polecat) will be given motherly treatment. A child look-alike not producing that sound will be treated with suspicion and sometimes even killed. These automatic fixed-pattern actions works well majority of the time. These actions usually work to our advantage and simplify our lives but the same trigger features can be used for duping us. In humans, just adding the word because, increases the chance of request being accepted (source). These fixed pattern actions are pretty prevalent in humans since in many cases, they are the most efficient form of behavior and in some cases, they are necessary. Such patterns reduce brain strain by allowing us to act without thinking in every situation.

1. Mailed out coupons providing no savings (due to printing errors) produced same customer response as one providing the discounts.
2. Photuris females mimic the mating signal of Photinus females to attract and eat their prey (Photinus males).
3. Two brothers were running a tailor shop, one would say higher price (42$) while the other would mishear it (22$) and the customer would rush to buy it for 24$ before the second brother would realize the apparent mistake. (source)

Contrast principle

Human perception sees things presented one of the other differently than when they are presented in isolation.

1. Presenting an inexpensive product first followed by an expensive one will cause it to look even more expensive – that is why cloth sellers will try to make the buyer buy the most expensive item on their list first.
2. Real estate companies have setup properties which are run down properties, they are shown to lower customers expectations so that, later when they see an actual house, they like it.
3. Automobile dealers wait for the new car’s price to be negotiated first before they suggest add-ons

Reciprocation (rule 1)

Rules – we should try to repay in kind, what another person has provided us.
There is general distaste for those who make no effort to give in return, we will often go to great lengths to avoid being considered one of them. The rule is so overpowering that even if we don’t like someone, we can end up complying with their request (while reciprocating their earlier wanted/unwanted favor to us).

1. Hare Krishna society members would forcefully give a flower to passerby before asking for donations.
2. Lyndon Johnson was able to get a lot of bills passed by calling in on favors he provided earlier to other elected representatives. Jimmy Carter failed because he had no such favors to call on.
3. Even a free sample can be engage a reciprocity rule since most people find it difficult to leave, without buying anything, after trying a free sample.
4. Amway agents would give BUG (a free collection of products) to potential customers to try for 1-3 days, customers who would have used the product, find it difficult not to purchase it later.
5. In world war I, a German soldier crossed the no-man’s land (to capture an enemy soldier) came across an unsuspecting enemy soldier eating, who offered his bread, this act forced the German soldier to return without capturing him.

The rules forces uninvited debt since we are expected to reciprocate for actions provided to us by others irrespective of whether we have asked for them or not.

1. American Veterans society increased its response rate from 18% to 35% by adding an unsolicited gift.
2. A woman allowing a man to buy her drinks (willingly or unwillingly) is judged sexually more available (by both men and women) to that man.

Reciprocal concession

One way to increase the chance of a request being accepted is to make a larger one skillfully (that will most likely be turned down) and then after refusal, make a second request as concession.
Its important that first request is not extreme enough to be considered unreasonable.

1. WaterGate burglary looks like a ridiculous idea to outsiders but it happened because G. Gordon Liddy made three different proposals, one by one and the each being a concession to previous, his last one got accepted because committee does not want to send him away with nothing.
2. If there is an expensive and a cheap model of a product, its better to advertise the expensive one first, selling down works better than selling up.

The act of agreeing to a concession produces positive feelings of greater responsibility and satisfaction with the arrangement (since we think we have brought that change).

How to say no

Its important to identify that we are being pulled into reciprocation for commercial reason. The act of mental redefinition in that case will tell us to avoid reciprocating in case, the original action was provided with a commercial intent.

Commitment and consistency (rule 2)

Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we have personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment.
Good personal consistency is highly valued in our culture.
Stubborn consistency also allows us to avoid thinking since once we have made up our mind, we don’t have to think about it again.

1. People soliciting for charity over phone first ask “How are you doing?” and once someone has publicly asserted that they are doing fine, its inconsistent and awkward to appear stingy later when asked for donation.
2. During Korean war, US PoW in camps run by Chinese communists were asked for small things like “US is not perfect”, “In communist country, unemployment is not an issue”, once they have made remarks along those lines, more were extracted out of them and to stay consistent, many went to the extent of becoming a collaborator.

Agreeing to small requests my appear inconsequential initially but once someone’s self-image has been altered, they become more exploitable to someone who wants to exploit the new image.
Even when people are told that someone was required to write an article in favor of an issue X, people assume that the write is pro-X.
Another extreme form of commitment is exploited in cases like fraternity houses, where a person has to go through a great deal of pain before attaining something, they value it more often than someone who attains it with a minimum effort.
We are most consistent in our commitment if we believe that we did it for our own purpose rather than an external pressure (an external rewards counts as external pressure). Therefore, its a bad idea to bribe children into doing something since they would never realize that their inner voice wants it.

How to say no

Ask yourself “Would I make the same choice again?” (had it not been for what I have said/extracted out of me by the compliance practitioner in near past).
If the answer is no, than don’t confabulate the reason for saying yes, just say no and move on.

Social proof (rule 3)

We view a behavior as more correct in a given situation to a degree that we see others performing it.
More the people doing it, more the rule works into making us believe that behaviour is correct.
We use behavior of people (specially those similar to us), to determine proper behavior for ourselves.

1. Canned laughter (laughing track) causes viewers to laugh longer and more often (and its more effective on poor jokes).
2. Bartenders tip their jars with few dollars initially to give impression that tipping is normal behavior.
3. Massacre of Jonestown – where people followed each other to drink poison and commit a mass suicide (they were in a new place and they just followed what fellow members did).
4. Kids learn more about their capabilities from other children than from adults.
5. Werther effect – after a front page suicide story, 58 extra unusual suicides occur in following month (airline crashes are more deadly in that time frame as well).

The devastating version of the same is “pluralistic ignorance effect” where in a group of strangers, no one reacts to the situation.
(If you are ever trapped in a situation where you need help than to avoid pluralistic ignorance effect, pick out a person from the group and assign a task to that individual).

How to say no

Recognize when the social proof is deliberately faked (eg. canned laughter).
Recognize where social proof is basically a snowballing (no one knows anything and everyone believes that everyone else knows something which they don’t).
In both of these cases, stop following the crowd.
The social proof autopilot is good in most cases but should be checked from time to time.

Liking (rule 4)

What causes liking?

1. Physical attractiveness – a halo effect occurs when one positive characteristic of a person dominates how that person is viewed by others. Physical attractiveness is often such characteristic. Further, we don’t even recognize that we are biasing our decision by someone’s looks. Studies have shown that handsome men have received lighter prison sentences. Attractive people have easier time persuading others. The only time it works against them is when others see them as direct competitor (usually in romantic context). Adults view aggressive acts as naughty by attractive kids. Teachers think attractive kids are more intelligent than unattractive ones.
2. Similarity – We like people who are similar to us. Car salesman look for cues of things (like golf or home state) with which they can relate and show themselves similar to customer. We prefer reverse image of our face (left switched to right and vice-versa) since we grew up looking ourselves in mirror while our friends prefer our true image.
3. Compliments – We are phenomenal suckers of flattery. Positive comments produce just as much liking for flatterer when they are untrue as they are true.
4. Contact and cooperation – Familiarity with someone (based on last name, appearance etc.) plays a role in our decision making. Familiarity produced by being in contact with someone produces greater liking, reverse happens if the experience is competitive or distasteful.
5. Conditioning and association – Someone who (is in a role where he) regularly provides negative news gets negative connotation attached and vice-versa. People do assume that we have the same personality traits as our friends. Men who see a car with young attractive model rated it as better (they later refused that model has any effect on their judgement). Thus, its important for advertiser to establish a positive connection (it being a logical connection is not necessary). Luncheon technique works because people become fonder of people and things they experienced while eating. We purposefully, manipulate visibility of our connections with winners  and losers, if our team win then “we won”, if our team loses then “they lost”. When our public image is damaged, we try to repair it by showing our ties to successful others (and avoiding unsuccessful others). These traits are more visible in people with poor self-concept. Some people strive to inflate their connection to people who succeeded, while some try to inflate the success of others they are visibly connected to.

Some more examples,

1. The strength of social bond is twice as likely to produce product purchase as is for the preference for the product itself (that’s what works for Tupperware).
2. Joe Girard used the liking rule to sell cars and became a Guinness record holder.

How to say no

Keep the feelings for requestor and request separate. If you like the requester, do not automatically like the request.

Authority (rule 5)

We obey authorities in a lot of cases mindlessly, we usually see an order form authority in isolation instead of seeing the situation as a whole.
We are as vulnerable to symbols of authority as to substance.

1. Titles – someone being introduced as a professor is seen taller by students than someone being introduced as graduate student.
2. Clothes and other outward appearances – Motorists wait for significantly longer before honking on a new luxury car than an old car (and people when asked underestimated the effect).

How to say no

Ask yourself, “is this authority truly an expert?”.
Think what does this expert stand to gain by my compliance (we are swayed more by experts we believe are impartial).

Scarcity (rule 6)

People seem to be motivated more by thought of losing something than by gaining something of equal value.
We know that things that are difficult to possess are usually better than things that are easy to possess, therefore, scarcity tells us that item should be better.
As opportunities become less available, we lose freedom, and we hate to lose freedom, we already have.
Freedom once granted will not be relinquished without fight, as KGB tried to take back freedoms granted to soviet citizens by Gorbachev, people retaliated.

Some more examples,

1. Young boys run for toys behind obstructions than the one lying in front of them.
2. Parent interference in romantic relation caused the partners to view each other more critically and report a greater number of negative behaviors but it also led to greater love and desire for marriage.
3. If you want to popularize certain views, its better to get them censored and then publicize the censorship.
4. We valued banned information as more valuable.
5. Revolutions happen more often when there are periods of improvement in economic and social conditions followed by sharp reversal in the same (“contrasting principle”)
6. Parents who enforce discipline inconsistently produce rebellious children (by allowing them the leeway on occasions and then taking it back).
7. The passion of an indifferent lover surges when a rival comes in.
8. ABC lost $2 million by bidding $3.3 million for single showing of The Poseidon Adventure because of scarcity created by bidding between rivals ABC, CBS and NBC (scarcity + rivalry is way more stronger than scarcity).

How to say no

The real is in experiencing something than possessing it.
The scarcity pushes us into buying things just for the sake of possessing them. Spend sometime thinking whether you are going after something because its scarce or is it because its really useful.