Some brain hacks that a neuroscientist or a psychologist knows that most people dont

The Psychology of Persuasion

Everyone has to engage in some form of persuasion throughout most of their life. Whether you are deciding with friends where to eat lunch or convincing a boss you deserve a promotion, you can always benefit from knowing the secrets of persuasion.

In Dr. Robert Cialdini's bestselling book "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,"he summarizes an array of social science studies and contributes a few of his own in order to better understand how people make decisions.

What he found was:

• Behavior is heavily influenced by unconscious psychological factors
• These psychological factors can be identified and utilized
• If used correctly, people have no idea that they are being manipulated

The purpose of his book was not to teach people how to manipulate others, but instead how to safeguard themselves against sales & marketing tactics. However you choose to use the below information is up to you.

"The 6 Principles of Persuasion"

Reciprocity

Free samples. Have you ever seen free samples being handed out in grocery stores or while walking down the street? Rest assured they aren't doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. Studies have shown a dramatic increase in efficacy of marketing tactics if they are preceded by a "gift" which triggers a natural feeling of debt in the target.

• In 1985, in the midst of a bloody civil war and a horrible famine, Ethiopia sent thousands of dollars in aid to Mexico after an earthquake. Why such a profound reaction? Because 50 years earlier, Mexico helped Ethiopia diplomatically when they were invaded by Italy.
• The Hare Krishnu religion exploded in popularity in the 60s and 70s, and there isevidence that at least part of their success was due to the practice of offering strangers flowers before asking for donations or time.

Consistency

An amazingly powerful concept. People will go to extraordinary lengths without even realizing it, just to remain consistent with their past actions and beliefs. This is related to the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance. This principle is especially significant if past behavior is public or written down, in which case it can't be denied. (This is why New Years' goals are followed through much more when broadcast online and shared extensively.)

• A study was done that found the vast majority of people, unsurprisingly, are not willing to allow a large, ugly sign saying "Drive Safely" to be put in their front yard. However, if you approach these people a few weeks prior and first ask them to do something much smaller (e.g. bumper stick or doormat), they will be significantly more likely to accept the large sign when you come back later.
• People who are given "cancer awareness" buttons for a week are many times more likely to donate to cancer afterwards. Why? A piece of their identity is now wrapped up in "cancer awareness" and to remain consistent with this, they must donate.
• Around Christmas time, toy stores will deliberately run out of stock of certain items. But you promised your child you would buy a certain present! What do you do? You buy a bunch of other products to compensate. Then a few weeks later, the toy stores get "resupplied" and your kid notices the toy at the store, and you end up buying it anyways. You need to remain consistent with your recent decision to buy lots of toys for your child, and also your original promise you couldn't keep.
• American POWs in Vietnam betrayed secrets of the United States without being tortured. Why would they do this? An amazing psychological tactic. The Chinese would sponsor writing contests, where prize winners would get small rewards (food, water, etc). At first the requests were relatively benign- such as "Is the United States perfect?" Soon, they were asked to expand on some of the flaws in the United States. They they sat in groups and discussed their reasons. Then they recorded anti-American speeches. All of this was voluntary, and slowly began to change part of their identity. To remain consistent with each small step, they eventually were willing to give away large amounts of information.

Social Proof

Why are there those silly laugh tracks on sit com TV shows? Because they work! People are extremely susceptible to the opinions of others, even when obviously false.

• People in this study by Solomon Asch were given a picture of three lines, and asked to identify the line most similar in length to another test line. The answer was always obvious. What's the catch? Well each room had 1 naive participant, and a number of confederates who were working with the study. The image would be passed along the room, where each confederate would purposefully give the obviously wrong answer. 75% of the time, when the image got to the participant, the answers of the others proved too powerful to ignore and he would conform, also giving the obviously wrong answer.
• Another study by Stanley Milgram (soon to be talked about in the next section), Leonard Bickman, and Lawrence Berkowitz found something amazing. They put 15 men on a street corner, instructed merely to stand there and look up at the sky. Within moments, up to 80% of nearby pedestrians also stopped and began looking up at the sky. Demonstrating social proof- in that many of them assumed that nobody would look up at the sky without a good reason.

Authority

In the aftermath of World War II and the atrocities committed by many seemingly normal Nazi commanders, greater attention was focused on the nature of authority in influencing people's behavior. It turns out, authority is one of the most powerful effects yet discovered.

• Stanley Milgram conducted the infamous social psychology studies that bear his name (Milgram Experiment) in the early 1960s. He found that 65% of apparently normal people would give electric shocks of increasing power up to the point of death, when encouraged and directed to by an imposing authority figure (the experimenter). This shocked the psychological community, who had predicted less than 1% would go to such a level.
• Numerous studies have discovered that men and women dressed in professional attire (doctor's lab coat, business suit, etc) are able to command the obedience of others to a surprising degree. For example, if a man in a suit begins to jaywalk then nearby pedestrians are significantly more likely to accompany him than if he were dressed normally.
• Security professionals have demonstrated consistently that social hackers are able to gain entrance to any number of "private" facilities merely by acting and behaving as if they belong there. For example, if you dress in the uniform of a bank officer and stand in front of an apparently broken ATM, you will likely see a 90% success rate in asking people to hand over their money.

Liking

We all know that we are more likely to respond to a request from somebody we like than from somebody we dislike. But how much further does this feeling go? Apparently, a lot further!

• It turns out that there are a lot of subtle things to influence our degree of "liking" for other individuals. One of the most important is similarity- in other words, we like those who seem like us. A 2005 study found that people are more than twice as likely to fill out surveys and return them if the person making the request as a similar sounding name.
• Association is a major component. Why do beer and car commercials feature models in skimpy outfits? Because we implicitly draw associations between the model (who we like) and the product (she likes the car, so we like the car).
• Physical attractiveness- the halo effect at work. It turns out that we are likely to assign a host of other positive attributes to people we find physically attractive. Ever wonder why "good guys" in movies are typically handsome and the "bad guys" usually portrayed as disgusting?

Scarcity

One of the most fundamental attributes of persuasion, salespeople have been using the concept of scarcity for a very long time (ever hear or see the phrase "limited time only")? This one is also of interest to the relatively new field of behavioral economics.

• Cialdini mentions a study that found that children reach for toys 3x faster when obstructed by a barrier, compared to when they can easily reach them.
• The Romeo and Juliet effect uses the principle of scarcity to explain why teenagers fall in love with each other despite parental obstruction. The answer is simple: from Romeo's perspective, Juliet becomes scarce and more difficult to obtain. For that reason, he wants her more.
• The basic principle is that people are more scared of "losing something" than "gaining something." If you think you are about to miss out on an opportunity, especially if competition is involved, you want it much more.