THE ANATOMY OF INFLUENCE:

USING THE LATEST SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, DECISION-MAKING, AND PERSUASION RESEARCH TO

CREATE COOPERATIONBill O’Hanlon

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THESE INFLUENCE PRINCIPLES ARE BASED ON RECENT RESEARCH

Persuasion research

Social influence/social psychology research

Non-rational/non-conscious decision-making research

WE HAVE THE ILLUSION WE MAKE RATIONAL CONSCIOUS DECISIONS

During any given second, we consciously process only sixteen of the eleven million bits of information our senses pass on to our brains.

Nørretrander, Tor (1999).The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size. NY: Penguin.

THE 3 MAJOR PRINCIPLESOF INFLUENCE

SOCIAL FOLLOWING

CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES

LOSS AVOIDANCE

AND

How to use these principles in changework to reduce resistance and increase cooperation and results

INFLUENCE PRINCIPLE #1:SOCIAL INFLUENCE FACTORS

THREE LITTLE WORDS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

An informercial copywriter (Colleen Szot) changed the “call to action” from:

“Operators are standing by; please call now.”; to

“If operators are busy, please call again.”

Sales increased significantly; shattering a 20-year sales record

Why? Implied social demand; everyone is calling!

THE HOTEL RE-USE STUDIES

Social psychologists, led by Dr. Robert Cialdini, investigated how the percentage of re-using towels more than once per stay was influenced by messages about how others behaved

When a message was left saying it was good for the environment to re-use towels, a certain percentage of people re-used

When the message was changed to suggest that most people re-used towels in that hotel, re-use went up 26%; when it was more specific (most people who stayed in that particular room re-used) re-use increased 33%

Goldstein, Noah; Cialdini, R.B.; and Griskevicius, Vladas. (2008). “A room with a viewpoint: using social norms to motivate conservation in hotels,” Journal of Consumer Research, 13 (2), 214–20.

PETRIFIED FOREST STUDY

In an effort to reduce stealing of wood pieces from the Petrified Forest, officials put up a sign reading:

“Your heritage is being vandalized every day by theft losses of petrified wood of 14 tons a year, mostly a small piece at a time.”The study was suggested when a graduate student reported that his fiancée, who was usually scrupulously honest, read this sign and nudged him and whispered, “We’d better get ours now.”

PETRIFIED FOREST STUDY

Researchers specially marked wood pieces so they could measure theft on various trails.Then they created alternate signs:

“Many past visitors have removed petrified wood from the park, changing the natural state of the Petrified Forest.” This sign showed people picking up wood.“Please don’t remove wood from the park, in order to preserve the natural state of the Petrified Forest.” This one showed a lone person picking up wood with a red X superimposed.

PETRIFIED FOREST STUDYRESULTS

CONTROL (no sign) = 2.92% stolen

Social following sign = 7.92%

Lone wolf sign = 1.67%

SUBTLE SOCIAL MIMICRY

A researcher subtly mimicked half the subjects while asking them survey questions, then “accidentally” dropped some pens; those who had been mimicked were 2-3 times more likely to pick up the pens as those who hadn’t.

Van Baaren, Rick; Holland, Rob; Kawakami, Kerry; and van Knippenberg, Ad. (2004) “Mimicry and Prosocial Behavior,” Psychological Science, 15, 71-74.

VARIETIES OF SOCIAL MIMICRY

Motor mimicryFacial mimicryEmotional contagion

People diagnosed high on the autistic spectrum show less facial and yawning mimicry than others

Hermans, Erno J. ; van Wingen, Guido ; Bos, Peter A.; Putman, Peter; and van Honk, Jack. (2009)“Reduced spontaneous facial mimicry in women with autistic traits,” Biological Psychology, March/80(3): 348-353.Avikainen, S., Wohlschlager, A., Liuhanen, S., Hanninen, R., and Hari, R. (2003). “Impairedmirror-image imitation in Asperger and high-functioning autistic subjects,” Curr. Biol,73(4), 339-341.Dapretto, M., Davies, M. S., Pfeifer, J. H., Scott, A. A., Sigman, M., Bookheimer, S. Y., et al.(2006). “Understanding emotions in others: Mirror neuron dysfunction in children withautism spectrum disorders,” Nat. Neurosa., 9(1), 28-30.

TAKE-AWAY

You probably already mirror people naturally, but you might be able to improve your skill at gaining rapport if you attend to people more closely. Listen to and watch them as they speak and interact with you.

Be careful what emotion you convey; it can subtly influence people to feel a smilar emotion

TAKE CARE HOW YOU USE SOCIAL NORM MESSAGES

Women’s Voices, during the 2004 presidential campaign, sent out 1 million postcards with this message: “Four years ago, 22 million single women did not vote.”

Oops! Voter turnout for single women was especially low that year, even lower than in 2000.

CLINICAL USES OF SOCIAL FOLLOWING/NORMS

Include statements (if true) that indicate that a majority of clients/patients/people get benefit from something you would like your clients to do

“Studies have shown that most people get and feel better after they come to therapy.”

“Most people find this exercise/group/process helpful.”

YOUR TURN

How can you use this social following/social norms principle in your work?

How have you been inadvertently using social comparisons and norms ineffectively?

What is one small shift you can make in the way you work that reflects what you have learned or clarified in this section?

SIMILARITY

One experiment showed that people were more likely to do things (loan some money or sign a petition) for people who dressed/looked like them

Emswiller, T.; Deaux, K.; and Willits, J.E. (1971). “Similarity, sex, and requests for small favors,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 1:284-291.

Suedfield, P.; Bochner, S; and Matas, C. (1971). “Petitioner’s attire and petition signing by peace demonstrators: A field experiment,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 1:278-283.

TAKE AWAY

Find as many commonalities as you can with the people with whom you work and find a way of letting them know about those commonalities

PSYCHOTHERAPY OUTCOME RESEARCH

The quality of the therapeutic relationship and working alliance accounts for 30% of the positive results in psychotherapy

Hubble, M. A., Duncan, B. L., & Miller, S. D. (Eds.) (1999). The heart and soul of change: What works in therapy. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Lambert, M. J. (1992). “Psychotherapy outcome research: Implications for integrative and eclectic therapists.” In J. C. Norcross & M. R. Goldfried (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy Integration. (pp. 94-129). New York: Basic Books.

INFLUENCE PRINCIPLE #2:CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES

CONTEXT MATTERS

Walmart redesigned their shopping carts to be 20% bigger

Sales of big items, such as microwave ovens, went up 50% after the redesign

RECENCY

The Colonscopy Experiment

Redelmeier, D., and Kahneman, D. (1996). “Patients’ memories of painful medical treatments: Real-time and retrospective evaluations of two minimally invasive procedures,” Pain, 116:3-8.

TAKE AWAY

End sessions on a neutral or positive note; people are more likely to schedule another appointment

Give compliments

NON-CONSCIOUS INFLUENCES AND PRIMING

Exposing people to biased words and phrases and different contexts influences their subsequent performance, perceptions and decisions

Contexts influence people’s perceptions and decision-making much more than we think

CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES

• When Williams Sonoma added a high-end breadmaker to their line of products, sales of their previous high-end breadmaker nearly doubled (they had a low-end breadmaker as well).

• Point: People often go for “second best,” or the compromise choice

Simonson, I. (1993). “Get closer to your customers by understanding how they make their choices,” California Management Review, 35: 68-84.

TAKEAWAY

When introducing interventions and suggesting change, give three choices:

A challenging and demanding one that is ideal but unlikely for all but the most motivated clients

A slightly less challenging and demanding one

An easy one that will move them forward a little

CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES/ATTRIBUTION THEORY

The Pygmalion/Golem Effect: We often make people over (even influencing them to be smarter/dumber, more/less capable, better/worse behaved) when we expect them to be a certain way

The Chameleon Effect: Our environments influence how we behave, perceive and even how we are

The Placebo/Nocebo Effects: The effects of fake medicines or other interventions can have powerful positive or negative effects on physiology

ATTRIBUTION THEORY

• College freshmen experiencing difficulties • Told the experimental group that many

students had difficulties their first year and later did better.

• Showed them videos of seniors who related the same message

• Only 5% of the experimental group dropped out/grades rose an average of .34 points vs. 25% of the control group/grades declined by .05 points

Wilson, T. and Linville, P. (1982). “Improving academic performance of colllege freshmen: Attribution theory revisited,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42: 367-376.

CONTEXTUAL PRIMING AND SYMPTOMS OF AGING

The twenty year pretend experimentCompared with controls of the same age had more joint flexibility, increased dexterity and less arthritis in their hands. Their mental acuity had risen measurably, and they had improved gait and posture.

Langer, E. (2009). Counterclockwise: Mindful health and the power of possibilities. NY: Ballatine Books.

CONCEPTUAL PRIMING AND STEREOTYPES

Asian women were given math tasks.Before they did the math, they were “primed” into thinking about themselves as either Asian (they were asked if there were any languages other than English spoken by anyone in their extended family) or as women (they were asked whether they lived in a coed dorm)Those primed for Asian did significantly better in the math tasks (Asians are stereotyped as good in math) and those primed as women did poorly (females are stereotyped as not good in math).

Shih, M., Pittinsky, T. and Ambady, N. (1999). “Stereotype susceptibility: Identity salience and shifts in quantitative performance,” Psychological Science, 12(5): 385-390.Langer, E. (2009). Counterclockwise: Mindful health and the power of possibilities. NY: Ballatine Books.

CONCEPTUAL PRIMING AND SHIFTING PRIMING

Subjects were asked to solve anagrams. Expermiental subjects were given more aging-symptom connected anagrams (examples: felorguft--->forgetful; mlpi--->limp). The control group was given neutral, non-age-related words.Subjects who had been primed with the age-related words walked significantly more slowly to the elevator on the way out.In a follow-up study, subjects were asked to sort photos into “old” and “young” stacks. They also walked more slowly to the elevator after the task.But if subjects were told to sort the photos by gender, no such effect occured.

Bargh, J., Chen, M and Burrows, L. (1996). “Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(2):230-244.Djikic, M., Langer, E. and Stapleton, S. (2008). “Reducing stereotyping through mindfulness: Decreasing effects of stereotype-activated behavior,” Journal of Adult Development, 15:106-111.Langer, E. (2009). Counterclockwise: Mindful health and the power of possibilities. NY: Ballatine Books.

INTERSPERSAL

Milton Erickson’s method of non-verbally emphasizing certain words or phrases

Learn to rephrase problem words or phrases into solution/longing words or phrases

For example, if someone is dealing with chronic pain, you might say, “I know you’d really like to find a way to feel more comfortable.”

RESPONSE PRIMING

Milton Erickson’s “YES SET”

NO SET

NUMERICAL PRIMING

Advertisers for Alka-Seltzer suggested that instead of showing a hand dropping one tablet of Alka-Seltzer into a glass of water in the ad, the hand dropped two tablets

Sales doubled

ANCHORING

Whatever numbers or words are mentioned before something is asked will strongly influence the answer or response to that question or request

ANCHORING

The experimenter had students write down the last two digits of their social security numberThen they were asked whether they would pay that amount for several items that were to be auctionedThe social security numbers influenced what students bid; For example, for one item, students with the highest numbers bid highest (e.g. $56 average for the highest) and those with the lowest numbers bid the lowest ($16 average)

Ariely, D.; Loewenstein, G.; and Prelec, Drazen. (2003). “Coherent arbitrariness: Stable demand curves without stable preferences,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(1):73-105.

TAKE AWAY

You might suggest that many people successfully resolve their issues within 4 to 6 sessions (the research indicates this is true)

Or you might just mention some words or numbers you would like to anchor or prime for some therapeutic purpose before giving an intervention

THE PYGMALION EFFECT

THE PYGMALION EFFECT

When teachers expect students to do well and show intellectual growth, they do; when teachers do not have such expectations, performance and growth are not so encouraged and may in fact be discouraged in a variety of ways." - James Rehm

Rosenthal, Robert & Jacobson, Lenore. (1992). Pygmalion in the Classroom. New York: Irvington

THE MEMPHIS SCHOOL DISCTRICT EXPERIENCE

“Those are their locker numbers!”

THE POWER OF LABELS

Researchers interviewed a large number of potential voters and told 50% of them, based on their survey responses, that they were “above average citizens likely to vote and participate in political events.” The other half were told they were about average.

The ones who were labeled “above average” were 15% more likely to vote in an election held a week later and also saw themselves as better citizens.

Tybout, A.M. and Yalch, R.F. (1980). “The effect of experience: A matter of salience,” Journal of Consumer Research, 6:406-413.

THE POWER OF LABELS

The Israeli army’s “Commander Training” program experiment15 weeks later, the ones whom the trainers thought were high CP scored better (79.98 on average) than did the “regular” (65.18) or “unknown” (72.43).The trainers didn’t believe it

Eden, D. and Shani, A. (1982). “Pygmalion goes to Boot Camp: Expectancy, Leadership, and Trainee Performance,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 67:194-199.

105 trainees began the Israeli army’s rigorous “Commander Training” program Their trainers were told (falsely) that, based on psychological data, sociometric data from previous trainings, and ratings by previous commanders, various trainees either had a high, regular or unknown Command Potential (CP).When trainees were tested on their tactical and practical knowledge15 weeks later, the ones whom the trainers thought were high CP scored better (79.98 on average) than did the “regular” (65.18) or “unknown” (72.43).When their trainers were told of the ruse, they didn’t believe it, insisting that the “high” trainees were actually superior leader from the start.

THE POWER OF LABELS

Researchers told some schoolchildren that they seemed like the kind of students who “care about good handwriting.”

Those kids subsequently spent more of their free time practicing handwriting, even when they thought no one was watching them.

Cialdini, R.; Eisenberg, N.; Green, B.; Rhoads, K.; and Bator, R. (1998). “Undermining the undermining effect of reward on sustained interest,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28:249-263.

TWO WORDS: WARM OR COLD

Mr. _______ is a graduate student in the Department of Economics and Social Science here at MIT. He has had three semesters of teaching experience in psychology at another college. This is his first semester teach EC 70. He is 26 years old, a veteran, and married. People who know him consider him to be a very warm/rather cold person, industrious, critical, practical, and determined.

Reference: Kelley, H.H. (1950). “The warm-cold variable in first impressions of persons,” Journal of Personality, 18, 431-439.

REVISITING TWO WORDS: WARM OR COLD

The class got the same lecture, but at the end, when asked to rate the instructor for possible hiring as an instructor, the students who had read the description of a “very warm” person rated him as

“good-natured, considerate of others, informal, sociable, popular, humorous, and humane,”

while those who read that he was “rather cold” rated him as

“self-centered, formal, unsociable, unpopular, irritable, humorless, and ruthless.”

Reference: Kelley, H.H. (1950). “The warm-cold variable in first impressions of persons,” Journal of Personality, 18, 431-439.

INFLUENCE PRINCIPLE #3:LOSS AVERSION/AVOIDANCE

LOSS AVERSION/AVOIDANCE

People are very driven to avoid loss

Lost opportunities

Loss of freedom

LOSS AVERSION/AVOIDANCEProfessor holds an auction among MBA students for a $20 bill

Bids can start anywhere, but the rules say that the top bidder wins the $20 bill and the second highest bidder must also pay the amount he or she bid

The $20 bill has been sold to the highest bidder for more than $20 every time the auction is held; the highest bid was for $204

Bazerman, Max. (2002). Judgment in Managerial Decision Making. NY: John Wiley and Sons.

Shubik, Martin. (1971). “The Dollar Auction Game: A Paradox in noncooperative behavior and escalation,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, (15): 109-111.

TAKEAWAY

When introducing interventions and suggesting change, link lack of compliance with possible loss

E.g., “If you walk away from this marriage now and don’t give everything you’ve got, you may find yourself regretting it later.”

ONE APPLICATION

Drug and alcohol counselor (Bill Bowles) offers class for military personnel on recognizing and changing their addictions

He hands out a list at the end of the first class with the ten things they could lose if they continue their drug/alcohol problem behavior

Children, spouse, health, friends, money, career advancement, respect of others

He reports these tough military people are often in tears by the time they finish going over the list

NOW YOU KNOW AS MUCH ABOUT INFLUENCE AS ANY SLICK ADMAN

Go out and help people

with this knowledge

THANK YOU

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