Psychological Persuasion Techniques

Persuasion techniques are strategies that can help you convince people to see things your way. Marketers often use these tactics to get people to buy their products or sign up for their services.

It's not uncommon for people to see or hear hundreds of advertisements each day on websites, television programs, podcasts, and social media. Such messages can vary in their effectiveness, but changes are good that they are employing some type of psychological persuasion technique to try to get you to buy something.

Persuasion Techniques in Daily Life

Persuasion is not just something that is useful to marketers and salesmen, however. Learning how to utilize these techniques in daily life can help you become a better negotiator and make it more likely that you will get what you want, whether you are trying to convince your kids to eat their vegetables or persuade your boss to give you that raise.

Key Persuasion Techniques

The ultimate goal of persuasion is to convince the target to internalize the persuasive argument and adopt this new attitude as a part of their core belief system.

The following are just a few of the highly effective persuasion techniques. Other methods include the use of rewards, punishments, positive or negative expertise, and many others.

Create a Need

One method of persuasion involves creating a need or appealing to a previously existing need. This type of persuasion appeals to a person's fundamental needs for shelter, love, self-esteem, and self-actualization.

Marketers often use this strategy to sell their products. Consider, for example, how many advertisements suggest that people need to purchase a particular product in order to be happy, safe, loved, or admired.

Appeal to Social Needs

Another very effective persuasive method appeals to the need to be popular, prestigious, or similar to others, often referred to as social proof. Television commercials provide many examples of this type of persuasion, where viewers are encouraged to purchase items to be like everyone else or be like a well-known or well-respected person.

Television advertisements are a significant source of exposure to persuasion considering that the average American watches between 2.79 hours per day.

Social media advertising relies on appealing to these social needs. Online influencers create images that depict appealing and aspirational imagery. People then feel persuaded to purchase the items they hope will give them the same look or lifestyle.

Use Loaded Words and Images

Persuasion also often makes use of loaded words and images. Loaded words and evocative images can create emotional responses that go beyond what the literal meaning.

Advertisers are well aware of the power of positive words, which is why so many advertisers utilize phrases such as "New and Improved" or "All Natural."

Get Your Foot in the Door

Another approach that is often effective in getting people to comply with a request is known as the "foot-in-the-door" technique. This persuasion strategy involves getting a person to agree to a small request, like asking them to purchase a small item, followed by making a much larger request.

By getting the person to agree to the small initial favor, the requester already has their "foot in the door," so to speak. We are then more likely to comply with the larger request.

For example, a neighbor asks you to babysit their two children for an hour or two. Once you agree to the smaller request, they then ask if you can just babysit the kids for the rest of the day.

This is a great example of what psychologists refer to as the rule of commitment, and marketers often use this strategy to encourage consumers to buy products and services.

Go Big and Then Small

This approach is the opposite of the foot-in-the-door approach. A salesperson will begin by making a large, often unrealistic request. The individual responds by refusing, figuratively slamming the door on the sale.

The salesperson responds by making a much smaller request, which often comes off as conciliatory. People often feel obligated to respond to these offers. Since they refused that initial request, people often feel compelled to help the salesperson by accepting the smaller request.

Utilize the Power of Reciprocity

When people do you a favor, you probably feel an almost overwhelming obligation to return the favor in kind. This is known as the norm of reciprocity, a social obligation to do something for someone else because they first did something for you.

Create an Anchor Point

The anchoring bias is a subtle cognitive bias that can have a powerful influence on negotiations and decisions. When trying to arrive at a decision, the first offer has the tendency to become an anchoring point for all future negotiations.

So, if you are trying to negotiate a pay increase, being the first person to suggest a number, especially if that number is a bit high, can help influence the future negotiations in your favor. That first number will become the starting point.

Limit Your Availability

Psychologist Robert Cialdini is famous for the six principles of influence. One of the key principles he identified is known as scarcity or limiting the availability of something. Cialdini suggests that things become more attractive when they are scarce or limited.

People are more likely to buy something if they learn that it is the last one or that the sale will be ending soon.

An artist, for example, might only make a limited run of a particular print. Since there are only a few prints available for sale, people might be more likely to make a purchase before they are gone.

Recognizing the Effects of Persuasion Techniques

The examples above are just a few of the many persuasion techniques described by social psychologists. Look for examples of persuasion in your daily experience.

An interesting experiment is to view a half-hour of a random television program and note every instance of persuasive advertising. You might be surprised by the sheer amount of persuasive techniques used in such a brief period of time.

How People Resist Persuasion Techniques

It is also important to remember that persuasion isn't always effective. In many cases, we tend to resist influence, particularly if we are worried that we are being deceived or are reluctant to change.

Counter-Arguments

We may contest the message and provide opposing arguments. Sometimes, this involves contesting the message, such as finding facts or counterarguments that present opposing information. In other cases, we might try to discredit the source of the information.

Avoidance

In other cases, we may simply try to avoid the message. Examples can include muting advertisements on tv commercials or installing ad blockers when browsing online. It isn't unusual to physically avoid such messages. We might avoid shopping centers or other places where we are likely to encounter salespeople.

Bias

Certain types of bias can also contribute to persuasion resistance. For example, many people now recognize the serious health risks of smoking, the optimism bias often leads them to think that these hazards are not likely to affect them.