Advanced Code of Influence

Book 6

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Table of Contents

BOOK 6: PERSUASION ............................................................................................................................. 3

The Ivory Throne: Human Persuasion ...................................................................................................... 3

Figuring Out Which Route a Person Will Take ........................................................................................ 6

Exploring the Peripheral Route ............................................................................................................... 17

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BOOK 6: PERSUASION

The Ivory Throne: Human Persuasion

Persuasion can be considered as one of the great

ivory thrones of influence because with

persuasion, you can convince a person to

change his mind and adapt your view.

Persuasion generally comes from without than

from within. Understanding how persuasion

works is like finding the key to the human mind.

To understand what goes on in the human mind

when you are trying to persuade someone is like

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discovering the roadmap to mastering

persuasion.

There are many theories regarding persuasion

but at the very root of these theories is the fact

that people generally have two ways of

processing information from the outside world:

the central route and the peripheral route.

With the central route, a person who is receiving

the stimulus or information will act like a naïve

scientist. He will carefully think about the input

and he will make a decision based on his

theories.

With the peripheral route, the person receiving

the information or stimulus will not pursue the

critical path. Instead, he will choose to take a

thin slice of the stimulus so he can compare it

with whatever readily available information he

has in his memory. In this regard, a person

becomes a cognitive miser yet again.

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What‟s the difference between the naïve

scientist and the cognitive miser when it comes

to persuasion? There is a big difference!

The naïve scientist will pay close attention not

only to the message itself but also to the way it

was delivered, etc. The naïve scientist is also

interested in the why and how of the message.

The cognitive miser on the other hand, will do

the direct opposite. Instead of paying close

attention to the actual message, cognitive misers

will be more interested in receiving small cues

that will tell them whether or not the message is

worth considering or not.

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Figuring Out Which Route a Person Will

Take

We now know that there are two possible routes

when it comes processing persuasive

information – the peripheral route and the

central route.

Earlier in our exploration of heuristics, we

discovered that there are common factors that

affect a person‟s decision to become a cognitive

miser instead of being naïve scientist.

While these factors (like lack of time) can be

used to determine whether a person will use

heuristics or critical analysis, there are other

factors that come into play. These factors are:

- Speech rate

- Mood

- Involvement

- Individual difference

- Humor

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Speech rate has a major effect on how a person

processes persuasive information. You know

why?

Because if a person cannot follow what you are

saying, he will not become a naïve scientist and

in the process, he will choose to ignore most of

the content of your message in favor of cues that

will allow him to analyze only „thin slices‟ of

the whole message.

Usually, a person who is unable to follow a

speedy persuasive message will only take note

of the number of arguments present and make a

decision based on this number.

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Happy person

Persuasive message

Peripheral route

Unhappy person

Persuasive message

Central route

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Mood, surprisingly, also has a determining role

in persuasion. Let us zero in on two important

moods – the happy mood and the unhappy

mood.

When you‟re happy, you feel light, carefree and

you feel like you are on top of the world. You

will feel like there is nothing in this world (or

the Universe) that can bring you down because

you are so happy at the moment.

Now take this mindset and imagine yourself in a

situation where another person is trying to

persuade you to do something.

Will you stop and analyze what the other person

is saying to you? Or will you just barely follow

what the other person is saying and just say yes?

The answer of course, is usually the latter.

Happy people tend to choose the peripheral

route in processing persuasive messages.

Inversely, unhappy people are more critical. By

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„unhappy‟ we refer to individuals who feel sad,

depressed, worried, scared, angry, anxious, etc.

A person who is presently experiencing any

negative emotion should be considered an

unhappy person.

I am placing emphasis on this important

distinction because unhappy people tend to

become critical of persuasive messages because

deep down, they are aware that something is not

right with their lives.

Deep down, unhappy people are on the alert

because something is not balanced and this

incongruence between their reality and their

needs and expectations will awaken the naïve

scientist in unhappy people.

I am not saying that you need to make your

audience unhappy before you can convince

them to do something.

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What I am saying here is that if you find yourself

in the presence of a happy person, there is a

bigger chance of being able to persuade that

person because he will most likely take the

peripheral route.

That means all you have to worry about at that

point in time would be to relay your message

well and provide sound arguments so the other

person will agree more quickly (since he is a

cognitive miser at the moment and he is using

heuristics instead of critical processing).

Now when you are looking at the involvement

factor you are actually looking at the impact of

the persuasive message to the other person‟s

self-concept. To illustrate this point, evaluate

the two statements below:

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Statement # 1: I have something that might

improve your business in two to three years.

Statement # 2: Do you want to retire a

millionaire? How about mansion in Beverly

Hills? An island getaway all to yourself and that

special someone? I have the key – and I can

give it to you right now if you want it.

After reading the two statements, which

statement do you think has a more palpable

impact to another person‟s self-concept?

Let‟s analyze the two statements. The first

statement has a forward-thinking angle that

emphasizes that a business will become stable

with whatever is being offered in a few years.

The second statement opens with a question

(this creates instant interest in the audience

because it relates directly to one of basic needs,

which is financial stability and of course, the

survival needs) and also offers tantalizing

potential realities to the audience.

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After presenting all of the goodies, the statement

ends with an open-ended sentence that creates a

two-fold impression on the other person. The

other person has two choices. His first choice is

he can take the „key‟ and live the millionaire‟s

lifestyle, as promised by the statement. The

second choice is he can choose not to take the

key and he will gain nothing.

Notice that all of the components of the second

statement focus on genuine needs and desires of

people.

With a touch of extravagance, a persuasive

fantasy is created and the audience is presented

with a tantalizing opportunity to rise above the

rest in terms of financial security. And yet, we

should remember, the statement isn‟t even real

to begin with.

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What‟s real to the audience is the fantasy and

emotions that it invokes instantly – and so the

audience will automatically focus on the second

statement more than the first statement because

there is much more at stake in the second

statement than the first statement.

Now let us talk about the fourth factor, which

are individual differences. This factor is fairly

straightforward: people are different, right?

Some people prefer taking the central route

(critical thinking) while some people are more

likely to stick with the „default‟ route, which is

the peripheral (auto-pilot) route.

So in essence, some people are naïve scientists

most of the time while some feel that they are

better off being cognitive misers because they

can save their cognitive resources for more

important times. Naïve scientists have a higher

need for cognition while cognitive misers have a

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lower cognition requirement to get through their

days.

It is also worthwhile to note that people who

self-monitor more frequently are more likely to

take the critical route in processing persuasive

messages.

Self-monitoring is simply the degree at which a

person is concerned with what other people are

think about himself. If you are the kind who

doesn‟t really care about what other people

think, then you are most likely a cognitive miser

most of the time.

Cognitive need of cognitive

misers

Cognitive need of naive

scientists

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And finally, we have the humor factor. The

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “humor”

as: something that is or is designed to be

comical or amusing. Let‟s face it – we like

dropping jokes every now and then.

Laughing makes people feel good and we know

for a fact that humor can be a powerful tool

when you are trying to communicate to critical

individuals. So be careful when you are trying

to influence people with your words because the

wrong kind of humor can elicit the wrong type

of response from people.

If you want your audience to have critical

response to your message (i.e. you want them to

really think about the benefits that you are

offering to them) you have to craft related

humorous items so a more critical response is

triggered.

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If you simply want to put your audience at ease,

then you are better off with non-related humor.

That is, you need to drop jokes and humorous

anecdotes that do not relate to the topic/s that

you are presently tackling. Non-related humor

does not trigger the usage of the central route.

Exploring the Peripheral Route

To people like marketers and advertisers, there

is a hidden wish for people to just stick to their

“gut feel” (or peripheral route). The reason for

this is quite simple. With the peripheral route, a

person is more likely to respond to cues or

signals.

These signals can be given out or expressed in

such a manner that the other person will be led

to believe in something or the other person can

be convinced to do something after the

persuasive message has been conveyed.

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One of the most powerful peripheral cues that

you can use is similarity. Similarity to your

audience can be expressed in many, many ways.

I‟ll leave you to figure out how to create the

similarities, but I‟m going to give you some

major clues:

- Appearance

- Values

- Attitudes

- Social group

- Social categories

If you can utilize some or all of these forms of

similarity, you can be sure that your persuasive

message would have a much larger impact on

people because you are showing them that you

are not only persuasive but you share direct

similarities with them.

By expressing similarities to your audience, you

are giving them a direct message that you are

not foreign/alien and therefore, you should be

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trusted because you share a commonality with

each and every one of them.

Though this approach may sound old (and I‟m

not going to hide the fact that it is one of

foundational principles in disciplines like

marketing) it does work and it will continue to

work because you are tapping into the

primordial region of someone‟s mind when you

use a peripheral cue like similarity. People are

hardwired to accept similarity as a sign that the

other person can be trusted.

The second peripheral cue that you should pay

attention is attractiveness. Now don‟t get me

wrong: I know that everyone is unique and there

is no real standard of beauty that can be

followed each and every time.

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However, it is also true that people who come

close to standards of attractiveness tend to be

more persuasive than those who do not make an

effort to make themselves look good.

So if you are always out in the field, you have to

do something about the way you look. You have

to exert effort to look really good so people

would be drawn to your message and they

would respond more readily to you because you

are attractive. Attractiveness, though it is a

physical trait, is reflected not only by your bone

structure but also how you dress yourself, how

you carry yourself in public, etc.

The third peripheral cue that you should never

forget is credibility. To be a credible person,

you have to show people that you are unbiased

in your views and you are some that should be

trusted by others.

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One easy way of appearing to be a credible

person is by showcasing your knowledge of a

particular topic. So if you are trying to sell a

water filtration system to a company, you will

appear more credible if you can answer all of

the client‟s questions and you also have the

initiative to volunteer information to your client.

Now, I know that for some of you, it is very

difficult to appear as an expert because there

will always be older and more seasoned

competition around you. Don‟t worry about

them.

Just do your homework and do your best to

present information the way an expert would –

with no hesitation and with utmost conviction.

Even if the other person is not persuaded by

your arguments right now it is possible that you

will be able to persuade that person at a later

date.

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Why am I saying this? Well, social

psychologists have identified a peculiar

tendency in people when it comes to so-called

credible sources.

It appears that over time, a person‟s conviction

that he should only listen to one source alone

decays and eventually, that person will choose

to listen to other sources as long as the other

sources are providing clear information and

sound arguments.