THE ANATOMY OF INFLUENCE: USING THE LATEST SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, DECISION-MAKING, AND PERSUASION RESEARCH TO CREATE COOPERATION Bill O’Hanlon To get a free copy of these slides, visit: billohanlon.com Click FREE STUFF Then click SLIDES
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 PRINCIPLES OF 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 STUDY RESULTS 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 mimicry Facial mimicry Emotional 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). “Impaired mirror-image imitation in Asperger and high-functioning autistic subjects,” Curr. Bio l, 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 with autism 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.
Recommend
More recommend
