Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini why should I read it?
Pre-Suasion Is the perfect book, for those of use who need to better understand how to set the stage for being as influential as possible without compromising character of coming off as a sleaze bag.
Robert Cialdini, is a professor of Psychology at Arizona State, and I have also reviewed his previous book influence. So he is an expert in the field and this book while not a needed update, definitely sheds more light on the subject of influence.
Everyone operates off of the what in it for me mentality
The thoughts that drive us are the same emotions used against us by clever marketers.
Pleasurable thoughts and emotions are tied, to fast food commercials with the sole intent of getting you to stop by their restaurants,
By connecting emotions with happiness for example is a two edge sword. If you are hungry you’ll eat here, and if you are sad you’ll eat here to feel happy again.
Leveraging basic human tendencies is pre-suasion in action
Consider the question:
Are you unhappy?
Most people instantly, will search for reasons they are unhappy.
Now if instead I asked you if you are happy.
You would then search for the reasons you are happy.
Recruiters and sales man, use the unhappy question against you to guide you through the sale.
You are more likely to consider:
Are you happy with your current service provider?
Because it requires you to think a little more.
Now if they ask you are you happy with your current service provider?
Unless you’ve recently had a bad experience with your service provider, you’ll say yes and keep it moving.
We look for hits, not misses, not many of us would even bother to look deeper than the surface question.
We would answer based off of the question we are asked.
Diverted attention
Pre-suasion comes in many different forms, think of the media for example.
When there is a political scandal, they down play the politician as an idiot to take away from the scandal.
Or they make some celebrity or terrorist organization the bigger topic until the scandal blows over.
This is whats known as diverted attention. The Late show with Steven Colbert, has a million Donald Trump bits.
But by making him seem like a bumbling idiot we downplay his role in society.
I’m not saying Steven Colbert is doing that or purpose or that Donald Trump isn’t an idiot, but it does deflect from whats really going on.
Money isn’t everything
How often have you did something kind for someone, and they offered to pay you?
Chances are most of us turn it down, because our intentions wasn’t to gain money for whatever favor we did.
We did it simply to be kind.
However most people rely on money being the primary driver in peoples decisions, and why that may be the case for some, it is not the case for all.
We give improper credit to the wrong influencers
We often credit the CEO’s of large companies with that companies success, when in actuality they are just the face of the company.
Do you think the average CEO is still hands on in the R&D lab or writing every single line of code if any code? The answer is no, but we see them as revolutionary, and all they are, is the face of that company.
Word Choice determines our decisions
Your friends are more likely to get you to read a book, or to learn about a new subject, or check out a movie, that actually reading a review on it.
Why is that?
Simply put your friends and family know the right trigger words to prompt you to action.
Summary
In terms of pre-suasion and influence. Priming and timing is everything.
Setting the stage and allowing people to make their own decisions is a much better way of influencing people, than being sneak or underhanded.
This book is a simple read with practical advice.
I would recommend it you you are just getting started or need a quick brush up on human behavior.
I also recommend Influence By Robert Cialdini as well
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