ART OF PERSUASION

I always wanted to invite

Olympic Medalist Chanu Saikhom Mirabai...

to our campus..BUT she being persuaded by whole world.. Presently ..my chances were miniscule... But Thanx to being a student of psychology I was honoured by her presence in our campus...

Why are some people able to persuade better than others?  Why your spouse advises you to drink slowly in a party or when a friend asks you to set her/him up, the message source (spouse/friend) are trying to get you to do something.

Persuasion can be a difficult task. Convincing a person, or a group of people, to comply with a request, or to agree with you on a particular viewpoint, can be a formidable challenge. 

There are various techniques and some of the most used ones are.... 

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

Foot-in-the-door: start with a small request and build to a larger request.

You ask your user for something small first that they will most likely say yes to, then ask for something larger (the actual action you want them to take) at a later time. 

A politician might ask people in attendance at a rally to wear a pin to promote his campaign. Later, he might ask them for a campaign donation. 

A group of women may agree to a short health survey, and later agree to breast cancer screening. 

A group of website visitors may agree to give used clothes to a disaster relief charity, and later be asked for money. 

Door in the Face

You ask someone for something big that they will most likely say “No” to, followed by a smaller, more reasonable request (the actual action you want them to take). Guilt and self-presentation help explain why this is effective: The other person has already said “No” once, and won’t want to say “No” twice.

For example, say shruti wants to go for a film in the evening and she’ll be home by 9 pm. She knows that her parents won’t like her staying out so late. So she asks her parents whether she can be home by 12 am which is immediately refused. She then follows that up by requesting for a 9 pm slot and is granted... 

The beauty of this phenomenon is seen in the fact that the persuader’s intention is to get the second request fulfilled all along, but because the other person will refuse it on the spot if presented as is, he/she adds a ridiculously improbable request. As anticipated, the request is refused and when the second request is made, it is granted much more easily, thus the persuader gets what he/she had wanted all along.

Disrupt then Reframe

You ask your user for something in a confusing or strange way the first time around. You immediately follow-up by re-framing your request or giving your user a reason to say “Yes”.

Example: Recently went to MAX store with vidula  ... While making payment the biling clerk was persuading customers by saying that if you make purchases worth Rs 2500 you will get rs 500 worth free coupon which can be utilized after one week...I was amazed that except for one customer 7 ppl initially tried to reason but later fell for trap..without reading fine lines..

Dump and Chase

You ask for something and your friend says “No”. You respond by asking “Why not?”, repeating your request in a slightly different way. Urgency and guilt are at play here: You’ve created a sense of obligation by asking “Why not” and the repetition of your request can make it seem more important, more urgent.

Example: Your friend may refuse to go on date with you. That’s where social media...calls...n physical interaction come into play. Repeated offer in form of persuasion will help to stem away the concern of your friend n prompt her/him to agree for date....

There are so many persuasion techniques but the game is always about first understanding oneself capabilities n then exploring it vis a vis the person whom you are trying to influence...

Its a game which we all play day in and out...so enjoy it