Influence Summary

6 WEAPONS of Influencing People :

1. RECIPROCITY
2. CONSISTENCY
3. SOCIAL PROOF
4. LIKING
5. AUTHORITY
6. SCARCITY

• When someone gives us something, we feel obliged to repay them back. It’s for this reason that people are more likely to say “Yes” to your request when you first give them a small gift or perform a small favour (People will be nice if you’re nice to them).
• Something as small as a pen has been shown to influence people well beyond its monetary value.
• For example, according to the American Disabled Veterans organisation, mailing out a simple appeal for donations produces an 18% success rate; but, enclosing a small gift--personalized address labels--boosts the success rate to 35%.

• It is quite simple, our nearly obsessive desire to be and to appear consistent with what we have already done (Commitment).

Toy Companies Strategy:

• Advertise one kind of a toy. Parents promise their kids they will buy it for them
• Before Christmas they don’t offer it, saying sold out. Buying some other toy.
• In Jan and Feb when it was previously quiet, they release it. Parents already made their commitments now have to buy it.

"Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert Cialdini is a fascinating book that explores the science of influence and how people can use various techniques to persuade and influence others. The book provides insights into the different factors that influence people's decisions, including social proof, authority, and scarcity.

People feel obliged to repay others who have done them a favor.

Offer value without expecting anything in return to initiate the principle of reciprocity.

People feel pressure to act consistently with their beliefs and commitments.

Encourage small commitments that lead to bigger commitments.

• When you do something nice, people feel like they should return the favor.
• Example: A free sample makes someone more likely to buy.

• People want their actions to match their promises.
• Example: If someone agrees to a small favor, they’re more likely to agree to a bigger one later.

Fixed action patterns

Such patterns reduce brain strain by allowing us to act without thinking in every situation.

This can also be used for duping us.

• Reciprocation
• Commitment and consistency
• Social proof
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity

Contrast principle

We perceive things which are presented one after the other differently than those shown in isolation.

i.e. Cloth sellers will try to make the buyer buy the most expensive item on their list first.

We try to repay in kind, what another person has provided us.

Creating an uninvited debt.

i.e. Most people find it difficult to leave without buying anything after trying a free sample.

Reciprocal concession

i.e. First make a request that will most likely be turned down, next make a second request as a concession.

We feel more responsible and satisfied after agreeing to a concession.

Once we have made up our minds, we don’t have to think about it again.

We are more consistent in our commitment if we believe that we did it for our purpose rather than external pressure.

Ask yourself, “Would I make the same choice again?”

We’re living in an increasingly complex environment, so we rely on stereotypes, rule of thumbs, and heuristics to classify things based on some key features, and then responding without much thinking.

This automatic behavior is what can be influenced using certain way.

This is done to save mental energy, especially for things that won’t affect our life so much. We will think more critically only when it’s personal.

If we see something that is fairly different from the first one we saw earlier, we tend to see it more different than it actually is.

If we buy a car, then buying car accessories feels cheaper than it is cause we have just made such a big purchase.

Showing someone unattractive options before showing the real one can make it much more attractive than it is.

The rule states that we are more likely to say yes to someone we know or like. This is called as the liking or friendship pressure.

People are well aware of the liking and friendship pressure, some people do not mind; others do but are not sure how to avoid it.

It is not necessary for the friend to be present in person for the compliance to happen, often just mentioning the name of a friend is enough.

The essence of the jigsaw route to learning is to require that students work together to master the material scheduled for an upcoming examination.

This is accomplished by forming students into cooperating teams and giving each student only one part of the information—one piece of the puzzle—necessary to pass the test. Under this system, the students must take turns teaching and helping one another. Everyone needs everyone else to do well.

Working on tasks that could be accomplished only conjointly, the students develop cooperation and become allies rather than enemies.

There is a natural human tendency to dislike a person who brings us unpleasant information, even when that person did not cause the bad news. The simple association with it is enough to stimulate our dislike

This book is organized around these six principles also referred to as weapons of influence

1. Consistency

2. Reciprocation 

3. Social Proof

4. Authority

5. Liking 

6. Scarcity 

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler - Albert Einstein

A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.

The Give and Take, Take, Take: give a little something to get something bigger and better in return, later, as people feel obliged to return initial favors.

The Rejection-Then-Retreat tactic is used to convince people to accept an offer by first making a much more outrageous one, which they refuse, feeling emotionally compelled to accept the second, more reasonable one.

People want to appear consistent in their actions, but “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

The “low-ball” and “foot-in-the-door” techniques are used to get us to spend more by making us agree to an initially reasonable deal, followed by slowly spiking up the prices. Our subconscious desire of consistency pushes us to see the deal through, even though the price has risen to something we would not have initially accepted.

Safety in numbers: argumentum ad populum, social proof, or our belief that what the masses are doing must be correct and what we should be doing, too.

This is true especially when uncertainty is at play. We are more inclined to follow the lead of a similar individual to us more so than a dissimilar one. The “Werther” effect describes the influence the behavior of others has on us.

The majority of compliance tactics fall in to six basic categories:

1. Reciprocation
2. Consistency
3. Social Proof
4. Liking
5. Authority
6. Scarcity

These "weapons of influence" are based on psychological principles we have been subjected to and learned to accept from an early point in our lives. They can produce an automatic and mindless compliance from us and thus, when exploited, have great power.

"We should try to repay what another person has provided for us."

• The Rule Is Overpowering: there is no relationship between the liking of the requestor and the decision to comply with the request.
• The Rule Enforces Uninvited Debts: it is not required to have asked for what is received in order to feel obligated to repay.
• The Rule Can Trigger Unfair Exchanges: the combination of internal discomfort (a feeling of obligation) and the possibility of external shame (being called a "moocher") may result in being willing to agree to an unequal exchange.

"Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment."

A commitment is most powerful when it is:

• Active: actions (writing it down) speak louder than words (saying it aloud).
• Public: due to a drive to look like a consistent person, viewed as a positive personality trait.
• Effortful: the more effort goes in to it, the greater its ability to influence.
• Made in the absence of outside pressures: such as threats or rewards.