Sunday, March 3, 2013

What Makes Us Say Yes?

Persuading people to bend to our whims is an important part of any relationship. What makes people more likely to say 'yes' to us? I covered this briefly in one of my older blogs. There are six universal principles of persuasion:

1. Reciprocity
2. Scarcity
3. Authority
4. Consistency
5. Liking
6. Consensus

Reciprocity means that if a person owes you something, they are more likely to reciprocate a favor. People do not like to be indebted to others.

Scarcity means that if an offer becomes scarce, people will want it more. So, tell people what they have to lose if they say 'no'.

Authority means that people will be persuaded more easily if the asker seems like a credible authority before asking the favor.

Consistency means asking for small favors first which primes the person for when you ask for bigger favors.

Liking means, simply, liking people, There are three factors: Cooperation, similarity, and complements.

Consensus means that people will look at the actions of others to make their own decisions.

So, we have many great ways to make people comply to us. Now, maybe we can all see when people and businesses try to persuade us!
Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw

1 comment:

  1. Does knowing why we say yes help us decide when to say yes? Does it even make a difference? These are the questions that haunt us.

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