Influence by Dr. Robert Ciadini

Review Notes

6 Principles of Influence 1.  Reciprocity

People tend to return a favor, thus the pervasiveness of free samples in marketing.

2.  Commitment and Consistency If people commit, orally or in writing, to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment because of establishing that idea or goal as being congruent with their self-image. Even if the original incentive or motivation is removed after they have already agreed, they will continue to honor the agreement. CialSocial Proof

3.  Social Proof People will do things that they see other people are doing.

4.  Authority People will tend to obey authority figures, even if they are asked to perform objectionable acts.

5.  Liking People are easily persuaded by other people that they like.

6.  Scarcity Perceived scarcity will generate demand. For example, saying offers are available for a "limited time only" encourages sales.

© 2014 Idea Notion Development Inc. 2

Rule 1 – Reciprocation •  The reciprocity rule says that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has

provided us. The rule demands that one sort of action be reciprocated with a similar sort of action. A favor is to be met with another favor; it is not to be met with neglect, and certainly not with attack.

•  The nature of the reciprocity rule is such that a gift so unwanted that it was jettisoned at the first opportunity had nonetheless been effective and exploitable. •  The receiving end doesn’t need to want the gift, yet will still have the same effect. •  One reason concerns the unpleasant character of the feeling of indebtedness. Most of us find it highly disagreeable to

be in a state of obligation. It weighs heavily n us and demands to be removed.

•  A consequence of the rule is an obligation to make a concession to someone who has made a concession to us.


Rule 1 – Reciprocation •  Rejection-then-retreat strategy

•  Always show a bigger price tag first •  After being exposed to the price of the large item, the price of the less expensive one appears smaller by comparison.

Psychologically for us, if the second item is fairly different from the first, we will tend to see it as more different than it actually is.

•  Victim reactions actually occur less frequently when this strategyis used •  People feel more responsible and satisfied when they are the subject of this strategy

•  Good cop/bad cop strategy •  As the good cop has conducted a nice gesture and a favor to the prospect

•  The percentage of successful door-to-door sales increases impressively when the sales operator is able to mention the name of a familiar person who “recommended” the sales visit. •  This is because they feel that the familiar person has done them a favor by recommending and they feel obligated to

return the favor by purchasing the product.


Rule 2 – Commitment and Consistency •  It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

•  Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment. •  Inside: pressure to bring self-image into line with action •  Outside: a tendency to adjust this image according to the way others perceive us

•  People want to be (and look) consistent and the same.

•  Get people to make a commitment (that is, to take a stand, to go on record), then you will have set the stage for the automatic and ill-considered consistency with this commitment. •  Get people to write things down or in emails


Rule 2 – Commitment and Consistency • People have a natural tendency to think that a statement reflects the

true attitude of the person who made it. What is surprising is that they continue to think so even when they know that the person did not freely choose to make the statement.

• What those around us think is true of us is enormously important in determining what we ourselves think is true.

• The more effort that goes into a commitment, the greater is its ability to influence the attitudes of the person who made it.


Rule 2 – Commitment and Consistency • Social scientists have determined that we accept inner responsibility

for a behavior when we think we have chosen to perform it in the absence of strong outside pressures. External pressure may et us to perform a certain action, but it won’t get us to accept inner responsibility for the act. Consequently, we won’t feel committed to it. The same is true for a strong threat; it may motivate immediate compliance, but it is unlikely to produce long-term commitment.

• The first sort of signal to compliance tricks is easy to recognize. It occurs right in the pit of our stomachs when we realize we are trapped into complying with a request we know we don’t want to perform.


Rule 3 – Social Proof: The Truths Are Us • Where we all think alike, no one thinks very much.

• The principle of social proof states that one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct. The principle of social proof works best when the proof is provided by the actions of a lot of people. The principle operates most powerfully when we are observing the behavior of people just like us.

• The greater the number of people who find any idea correct, the more the idea will be correct.


Rule 3 – Social Proof: The Truths Are Us •  In general, when we are unsure of ourselves, when the situation is unclear or

ambiguous, when uncertainty reigns, we are more likely to look to and accept the actions of others as correct. In the process, however, we are likely to overlook a subtle but important fact. Those people are probably examining the social evidence, too.

•  At emergency situations, with several potential helpers around, the personal responsibility of each individual is reduced in which each person decides that since nobody is concerned, nothing is wrong. •  The remedy would be to isolate one individual from the crowd: Stare, speak, and point directly at

that person and no one else: “You sir, in the blue jacket, I need help.” •  The best strategy when in need of emergency help is to reduce the uncertainties of those around

you concerning your condition and their responsibilities.


Rule 4 – Liking: The Friendly Thief • We like people who are similar to us. We most prefer to say YES to the

requests of someone we know and like.

• Becoming familiar with something or someone through repeated contact doesn’t necessarily cause greater liking. In fact, continued exposure to a person or object under unpleasant conditions such as frustration, conflict, or competition leads to less liking.

• When success resulted from mutual efforts, it became difficult to maintain feelings of hostility toward those who had been teammates in the triumph.


Rule 4 – Liking: The Friendly Thief •  If you can’t change your face, then at least be neat and well-dressed.

•  A halo effect occurs when one positive characteristic of a person dominates the way that person is viewed by others. Physical attractiveness is such a characteristic.

•  To increase liking and compliance •  Find and claim that you have similar backgrounds and interests. •  Provide information that you fancy them •  Offer compliments as most people have an automatic positive reaction

•  Our vigilance should be directed not toward the things that may produce undue liking for a compliance practitioner, but toward the fact that undue liking has been produced.

•  The time to react protectively is when we feel ourselves liking the practitioner more than we should under the circumstances.


Rule 4 – Liking: The Friendly Thief •  The simple association with unpleasantness is enough to stimulate our

dislike. •  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. •  Humans become founder of the people and things they experienced while they were eating. •  Should purposefully manipulate the visibility of our connections with winners and losers in order to

make ourselves look good to anyone who could view these connections.

•  It’s not when we have a strong feeling of recognized personal accomplishment that we will seek to bask in reflected glory. Instead, it will be when prestige (both public and private) is low that we will be intent upon using the successes of associated others to help restore image.


Rule 5 – Authority: Directed Deference • To influence, the appearance of authority is enough.

•  Market yourself as the expert, then work towards becoming that expert

• Titles are simultaneously the most difficult and easiest symbols of authority to acquire. •  Use appropriate titles to different people at different occasions. Use a bigger title when facing

someone with less knowledge or lower ranks, and use a smaller title when dealing with higher status and higher authority.

•  Finely styled and expensive clothes carry and aura of status and position, as do trappings such as jewelry and cars. •  Like it or not, dress well is part of psychology as well and it will help with your sale.


Rule 5 – Authority: Directed Deference • When in a click, whirr mode, we are often as vulnerable to the symbols

of authority as to the substance.

• Removing the elements of surprise, heightened awareness of authority power, and a recognition of how easily authority symbols can be faked can help protect against approach to situations involving authority-influence attempts. •  Is this authority truly an expert? •  How truthful can we expect the expert to be here?


Rule 6 – Scarcity: The Rule of the Few •  People seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by the

thought of gaining something of equal value. •  Show people what they will miss out when not using your products or services. For instance, say “you will lose the

opportunity to earn a trip” as opposed to just “you will earn a trip.”

•  The joy is not in experiencing a scarce commodity but in possessing it. It is important that we not confuse the two. •  Make sure that the commodity can be produced and delivered.

•  The drop from abundance to scarcity produced a decidedly more positive reaction to the commodity than did constant scarcity. •  Let people know that x amount of the commodity has been sold in the past x days, resulting in a backorder situation.

Repeat this from time to time as promotional tactics.


Rule 6 – Scarcity: The Rule of the Few •  Whenever free choice is limited or threatened, the need to retain our freedoms makes us desire

them (as well as the goods and services associated with them) significantly more than previously. So when increasing scarcity—or anything else—interferes with our prior access to some item, we will react against the interference by wanting and trying to possess the item more than before. •  The end of some promotion could be a form of such interference.

•  People will find a piece of information more persuasive if they think they can’t get it elsewhere, even if it’s not limited or threatened. •  Build on exclusivity and make promotional offers not publicly available.

•  Not only do we want the same item more when it is scarce, we want it most when we are in competition for it. •  Company with a focus in a specific industry can build up this advantage, showing each what its competitors are using.


Rule 6 – Scarcity: The Rule of the Few •  Knowing the causes and workings of scarcity pressures may not be sufficient to protect us from

them because knowing is a cognitive thing, and cognitive processes are suppressed by our emotional reaction to scarcity.

•  Rather than relying on a considered, cognitive analysis of the entire situation, we might simply tune ourselves to the internal, visceral sweep for our warning. By learning to flag the experience of heightening arousal in a compliance situation, we can alert ourselves to the possibility of scarcity tactics there and to the need for caution. After all, merely recognizing that we ought to move carefully doesn’t tell us the direction in which to move; it only provides the necessary context for a thoughtful decision.

•  Whenever we confront the scarcity pressures surrounding some item, we must also confront the question of what it is we want from the item. As soon as we feel the tide of emotional arousal that flows from scarcity influences, we should use that rise in arousal as a signal to stop short.


Rule 6 – Scarcity: The Rule of the Few •  Very often in making a decision about someone or something, we don’t use all the relevant

information; we use, instead, only a single, highly representative piece of the total.

•  Despite the susceptibility to stupid decisions that accompanies a reliance on a single feature of the available data, the pace of modern life demands that we frequently use this shortcut.

•  Social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity so often and so automatically come in making our compliance decisions.

•  With the sophisticated mental apparatus we have used to build world eminence as a species, we have created an environment so complex, fast-paced, and information-laden that we must increasingly deal with it in the fashion of the animals we long ago transcended.


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Influence by Dr. Robert Ciadini

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