This hefty book gives scientific background into the art of persuasion using real-life examples. Filled with fascinating case studies, running the gamut from supermarkets to Hitler and Manson, I recommend it to anyone interested in psychology or persuasion. I personally view it as one of the most important books I have ever read in terms of affecting change in my own thinking.
My Notes
Six Facts Professional Persuaders Have Learned About Modern Propaganda:
1. Ads that contain the words new, quick, easy, improved, now, suddenly, amazing, and introducing sell more products.
2. In supermarkets, merchandise placed on shelves at eye level sells best.
3. Ads that use animals, babies, or sex appeal are more likely to sell the product than those that use cartoon characters and historical figures.
4. Merchandise placed at the end ["end caps" in retail lingo] of the supermarket aisle or those near the checkout aisle ["cashwrap"] is more likely to be purchased.
5. Bundle pricing--for example, selling items at two for $1 instead of 50 cents each--often increases the customer's perception of product "value."
6. In solicitations and sales calls, asking the target "How are you feeling?" and then acknowledging the response can double the rate of compliance with the request.
Four Stratagems of Influence:
1. Pre-persuasion: take control of the situation and establish a favorable climate for your message; how the issue is structured and how the decision is framed.
2. Source credibility: communicator needs to establish a favorable image in the eyes of the audience (appear likable or authoritative or trustworthy or possessed of any other attribute that would facilitate persuasion).
3. Construct and deliver a message that focuses the target's attention on exactly what the communicator wants them to think about.
4. Effective influence controls the emotion of the target and follows a simple rule: Arouse an emotion and then offer the target a way of responding to that emotion that just happens to be the desired course of action. The target becomes preoccupied with dealing with the emotions, complying with the request in hopes of escaping a negative emotion or maintaining a positive one.
"It clearly illustrates a finding consistent with much research in psychology--that human memory is a constructive process."
*Advertising agencies typically receive 15% of media costs as their fee. So the more times an ad is run, the larger the billing.
**What the masses term truth is that information which is most familiar
A Fear Appeal is Most Effective When:
1. It scares the hell out of people. [Epidemics, anyone?]
2. It offers a specific recommendation for overcoming the fear-arousing threat. [Let us inject you with this--it might help.]
3. The recommended action is perceived as effective for reducing the threat. [Have authrotiy figures recommend it.]
4. The message recipient believes that he or she can perform the recommended action. [It's free! (If you ignore the fact the insurance companies pass the cost along to consumers via higher rates.]
"Any good con artist is going to use whatever [a victim] tells them about themselves against them."
-Fraudulent Telemarketer
Five Simple Rules of Thumb:
1. Be wary of those who attempt to create minimum groups and to define you as a member of a certain category.
2. Follow the old civil rights motto, "Keep your eye on the prize." Try linking your self-esteem to achieving an objective [ideally one that's totally within your control]...rather than maintaining a self-image.
3. Don't put all of your self-esteem eggs in one basket, one granfalloon--it might lead to fanaticism.
4. Look for common ground--goals that might be acceptable to both in- and out-group--as a means of reducing the importance of group boundaries.
5. Try to think of an out-group member as an individual, someone who may share more in common with you than you might have previously thought.
Recommendations for Generating Critical Discussion:
1. Do not accept the first answer you hear as the answer. Explore alternatives. Ask, "What else should be considered?" "What else might we do?"
2. Keep any discussion problem-centered and avoid looking for excuses or seeking to blame others for a problem.
3. Keep track of all suggestions for solving a problem or making sense of an issue so that each may be explored fully.
4. After gathering a number of suggestions for addressing an issue, then probing and evaluative questions can be asked. "How would that work out?" "Do I understand the issue or do I need to search out more info?"
5. Protect individuals from personal attacks and criticism, especially if they present minority or divergent viewpoints (after all, they may be right).
6. Make your objective one of understanding differences of opinion in the group and attempting to resolve them.
A Note on the "News":
*Reporters and editors tend to look for stories that (1) are new and timely, (2) involve conflict or scandal, (3) concern strange and unusual happenings, (4) happen to familiar or famous people, (5) are capable of being made dramatic or personal (6) are simple to convey in a short space or time, (7) contain visual elements, and (8) fit a theme that is currently prominent in the news or society.
[We can affect change by "voting with our eyeballs." That is, refusing to watch the trash outlets pass off as news. This will make the ad space they sell less valuable which, in reality, is what they care about most.]
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