Book Summary — Influence

🎨 Impressions

This is a great book. It can be easily related. Many examples are given. It can be used as an influence tool directly or used to avoid being tricked by an influence tool.

📒 Summary + Notes

⚔️ Weapon of influence

• Influencing tactics can be grouped into 6 categories: Reciprocation, Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Liking, Authority, and Scarcity.
• Each category is governed by a fundamental psychological principle that directs human behavior.
• Each tactic will try to make people say yes without thinking first.
• Animals will have fixed-action patterns that will behave automatically and in the same order when there is a trigger feature.
• The fixed-action patterns are necessary for us to live in a complicated environment. They work very well most of the time.
• However, you can be tricked by using these automatic reactions.

🎁 Reciprocation

Give and Take…and Take

• The rule of reciprocation is “we should repay what another person has provided us.”.
• The chance that people will do what we wish will greatly increase when we provide them with a small favor prior to the request.
• The favor can be small and even unwanted. It still has an effect.
• We usually give back more than we have received due to internal discomfort and the possibility of external shame.
• More subtle way, we make a concession to someone who has made a concession to us.
• The rejection-then-retreat technique: First, you make a large request that is likely to be rejected. Then, after being refused, make the smaller request that you are really interested in all along.
• The victim of the rejection-then-retreat technique will likely agree to further requests as well.
• The reasons why the rejection-then-retreat technique is powerful: perceptual contrast, responsibility for concession, and satisfaction with the final agreement.
• Examples: free sample marketing, Trying to sell an expensive product first and trying to sell a cheaper product later.
• How to avoid this technic?
  Try to identify whether the request is a compliance device or a favor. If we know that it is just a compliance device, the reciprocation rule will have no effect.

⏩ Commitment and Consistency

Do as we used to commit

• We are nearly obsessed to be consistent with what we have already done due to social norms.
• After we made a choice, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to behave consistently with that commitment.
• The influence technic using consistency has a concept like this If I can get you to make a commitment, you will tend to behave in ways that are consistent with that commitment even if that action is not well-considered.
• The “How are you feeling” technique is asking “How are you?” and after you say that you are fine, they will ask you a favor that you may find awkward to refuse.
• The foot-in-the-door technique starts with a little request in order to gain eventual compliance with related larger requests.
• When you set a goal and write it down or record it, it will feel like you make a commitment and you will likely follow that goal. The effect will be even greater if you publicize it.
• Persons who go through a greater deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly.
• Commitments will be effective in changing behavior when they are active, public, effortful, and chosen without outside pressure.
• How to avoid this technic?
  We have to realize when such consistency is likely to lead to a poor choice. The signal is when we realize we are trapped in complying with a request we don’t want to perform.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Social Proof

The truths are what most people think

• We may determine what is correct by finding out what other people think is correct.
• Social proof is powerful in an uncertain situation and when we are observing the behavior of people just like us.
• A successful way to sell a product to ordinary customers is to demonstrate that other ordinary people use and like it.
• Pluralistic ignorance is an event that an entire group of people does nothing under unexpected circumstances because they see other people do nothing. Its effect is the strongest among strangers.
• Examples: canned laughter, putting money in a tip jar, Werther effect
• How to avoid this technic?
  Recognize when the data are in error. We need to make a conscious decision to be alert to counterfeit social evidence.

❤️ Liking

Like, so say yes

• We tend to say yes to someone we know and like.
• Just mentioning the friend’s name is enough.
• This technic can be used by first getting us to like them.
• The factors that can make you “like” someone: physical attractiveness, similarity, compliment, contact and cooperation, and association with a positive thing/person.
• A halo effect occurs when one positive characteristic of a person dominates the way that person is viewed by others. “good-looking equals good”
• Praise doesn’t have to be accurate to make people like it.
• People tend to dislike a person who brings us unpleasant information, even when that person didn’t cause the bad news.
• The luncheon technique tells that people tend to like the people or things they experienced while they are eating.
• How to avoid this technic?
  React protectively when we feel that we like a person more than we should under the circumstances. Separating the requester and the request.

👑 Authority

Obey the authority person

• People usually obey people with high authority.
• A multilayered authority allows the development of a sophisticated social structure.
• We are trained from birth that obedience to proper authority is right and disobedience is wrong.
• The authority can make people ignore other reasons.
• We are often as vulnerable to the symbol of authority as to the substance.
• The symbols of authority: title, clothes
• People underestimate the effect of authority influence.
• How to avoid this technic?
  Heighten awareness of authority power. Ask yourself 2 questions: “Is this authority truly an expert?” and “How truthful can we expect the expert to be here?”

💧 Scarcity

It is rare, so it is valuable

• Things seem more valuable when their availability is limited.
• People seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by getting something of equal value.
• People hate to lose the freedom they already have.
• The “limited-number” tactic: Inform customers that a certain product is in short supply that cannot be guaranteed to last long.
• The “deadline” tactic: Customers have limited time to accept the offer.
• We tend to believe in information more when that information is limited in time or place.
• We value more those things that have recently become less available to us than those things that have always been scarce.
• How to avoid this technic?
  Flag the experience of heightening arousal in a scarcity situation and think more carefully. We need to recall that scarce cookies don’t taste any better.