The Power of Persuasion

AlexisKai writes "The Ten-Second Review: Robert Levine's The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold is an engaging, highly readable survey of the sophisticated methods of persuasion we encounter in various situations. From television to telemarketing and from self-deception to suicide cults, Levine takes a hard look at all the ways we attempt to persuade each other - and how and why they work (or don't). Robert Levine is a professor of psychology at Cal State Fresno; his previous books include The Geography of Time, about the differences in the perception of time and its passage in various cultures and cities around the world." For those with a longer attention span, AlexisKai's review continues below.

The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold
author	Robert Levine
pages	278
publisher	John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
rating	8
reviewer	Colin Cannell
ISBN	0471266345
summary	An engaging, highly readable survey of the sophisticated methods of persuasion we encounter in various situations. From television to telemarketing and from self-deception to suicide cults, Levine takes a hard look at all the ways we attempt to persuade each other - and how and why they work (or don't).

The book is quite balanced in its approach and unusual in that it looks at the art of persuasion through the lens of psychological field research. Levine doesn't merely muse about the vagaries of the mind; he gets out there and investigates it. He takes a job selling knives from a "multi-level marketing" company. He interviews former car salesmen, entrepreneurs, and marketing directors. His students conduct experimental bake sales.

The Power of Persuasion is at its most interesting when it shows how human behavior frequently travels outside the lines of economic theory. Chapter 6, "The Hot Button," details the situations in which we're likely to do something irrational, like buy the most expensive of four very similar-looking toasters, because a decision-making shortcut in our brain has been tripped (in this case, we equate higher price with higher quality despite there being little evidence for that).

The Power of Persuasion covers a certain amount of ground that has already been covered by such books as Robert Steiner's Don't Get Taken and Gerald Zaltman's How Customers Think. What I liked about this particular book's approach is that it takes a position between the two previously mentioned: for the most part it neither condemns the act of persuasion nor celebrates it. Levine is usually content simply to observe how persuasion is done and occasionally marvel at the way, say, a door-to-door salesman often has greater insight into the human brain than a psychologist.

Levine's writing style is fairly consistent throughout the book. In each chapter, he takes a particular theme or area of the art of persuasion and breaks it down to show what psychological and cultural forces are at work. He does this through well-reasoned arguments interspersed with amusing anecdotes, factoids, and citations of interesting studies and statistics.

For example, in the first chapter, "The Illusion of Invulnerability," he uses the metaphor of Garrison Keillor's fictional Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above-average, to describe how people consistently underestimate the extent to which they are personally influenced by advertising and the likelihood that they would fall for deceptive claims and scams. He punctuates this with a story of how he was preparing a university course on the use of mind control in social psychology and became so wrapped up in his thoughts about totalitarian governments and secret police that a man claiming to be a chimney sweep was able to hoodwink him out of $250. After this, he said, he realized that "it's the people we're unprepared for who present the greatest threat. The fast-talking salesman puts us on alert. But the nice guys, the friendly thieves who sell beneath the threshold of our awareness, put us at their mercy."

The following chapters deal with other facets of persuasion, including:

• The illusion of authority, i.e. "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV."
• The use of generosity or kindness to create a sense of obligation.
• Contrasting what you're selling with something very similar or very different to create a "false dilemma" in the buyer.
• Moving from "Yes, I'll look at your brochure" to "Yes, I'll sign over my life savings to you" through a series of "gradually escalating commitments."
• One of my favorite chapters, and one that I identified with personally, is "$2 + $2 = $5," which takes a look at "The Ten Rules of Framing." Just like the lottery is "a tax on people who are bad at math," the rules of framing take advantage of the way we perceive numbers emotionally to subtly influence us toward decisions that don't necessarily make logical or financial sense.

Rule #1, for example, is "Separate Gains." Levine cites studies showing that people would prefer to win a $50 prize and a $25 prize rather than a single $75 prize. "This is because we respond less to the cumulative total of the gains than the fact that it is a gain," says Levine. "Every gain brings pleasure." This is why you always see Sports Illustrated offering you a "free" book, video, or football helmet mug, even though most of us would be better off if they would forget the video and just lower their subscription price. "The company wants you to file the gift in your unexpected windfall account," Levine writes, "where its perceived value is psychologically inflated, rather than mentally bunching it together with the other products into one big purchase."

In fact, I found a number of "hey, someone else wonders about that too" topics in The Power of Persuasion, such as the idea of the JND, or Just Noticeable Difference. This is the idea that you can quantify how much something can be changed before people notice that it has done so.If our product costs $5.49, and we raise the price to $5.59, will customers care? What about $5.99? Levine looks at how the JND is different at different price points and in different circumstances.

There are a few problems with the book:

• It includes some minor factual errors, such as the paragraphs in which Levine discusses the ad campaign that introduced "Infinity," which he describes as Toyota's luxury car brand. (I assume he means Infiniti, which is actually Nissan's luxury marque).
• The penultimate chapter is entirely devoted to an analysis of Jim Jones and the cult of Jonestown, whose members committed mass suicide in 1978. The analysis is interesting, and someone who hasn't studied Jonestown will find a good introduction here, but I wasn't convinced it deserved a chapter to itself. Levine's rationale appears to be that Jonestown represents the logical extreme, the "dark end of the dark side of persuasion," and there but for the grace of God go we, etc.
• The last chapter, "The Art of Resistance," turns toward the advocacy that I was so relieved not to find in the rest of the book. It contains advice on "asking disconfirming questions," avoiding groupthink, and being sure to practice "persuasion with integrity." This advice is very intelligent and well-founded, but most Slashdot readers will probably find themselves being told things they already know.

I would strongly recommend The Power of Persuasion to anyone whose job involves selling, who has ever wondered why in the world they bought that sweater/car/time-share, who lives in a capitalist economy, or who is just looking to fill a few hours with a fascinating book. It's an insightful, scientific look at a force that permeates the existence of anyone who has to interact with other people but that we rarely take the time to examine.

Besides being a cracking good read, it's fully footnoted, indexed, and so stuffed with information as to make a worthy addition to anyone's reference library. The next time you wonder what possessed you to pay $50 for a medallion commemorating the series finale of Friends, you'll know where to turn.

---

You can purchase The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

*waves hand in front of face*

This is not the book you want to read.

la di da

Well, I'm sold.

Great (better?) book on influence/persuasion

One of the canonical books on the subject which I read and greatly enjoyed is "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Dr. Robert Cialdini -- it breaks down (scientifically) six major principles of influence.

It's pretty cool -- after reading it you'll be able to read into (or see through) a lot of marketing/sales techniques that you see out in the real world (and won't be fooled by them -- or conversely, can use them for your own business or personal goals.)

Amazon link (not a referrer link) [amazon.com]

Check it out.. the book rocks.

-fren

Re:Great (better?) book on influence/persuasion

I've read many books on this subject is by far the best, and most readable. It ends up giving a very good overview of the entire field of social psychology as it currently stands.

Cialdini's six "weapons of influence" are:

• reciprocity
• scarcity
• authority
• commitment
• liking
• social proof

Best Pursuasion

I often find that the best way to pursuade someone is to call them an insensitive clod, or a dolt, or something equally as curt and dimeaning for not seeing my point of view.

sick mind

Maybe I just have a sick mind, but I parsed the story title as "The Power of Perversion" I feel like a dirty old man now...

Speaking of Methods of Persuasion

"From television to telemarketing and from self-deception to suicide cults, Levine takes a hard look at all the ways we attempt to persuade each other [...]."

Hmmmm. I wonder where Slashdot moderation fits in that spectrum....

If he understands it so well

Why isn't this #1 on the best seller list?

The Real Measure

The real measure of how good this book is, I think, is whether or not the author persuaded you (the reader) to believe his points. ;)

Cool! But the most important part is...

...where's the chapter on convincing hot young babes to go out with the geek set?

Re:Cool! But the most important part is...

Right after the chapter telling us geeks to brush our teeth, shower at least once a month, and not drool while talking to them.

You have to check this out...

But seriously, if you want that question answered, don't look in this book. Instead check out doubleyourdating.com and sign up for the free newsletter. Just reading the free content that comes through a couple times a week can be very eye-opening, especially in "the geek set" the members of which are probably amongst the most likely to fail over things like being too nice. Check it out, you have nothing to lose other than time spent reading.

Curious about what type of site this might be, I took a look at it and found it immediately asking for my email address. Being inquisitive, I checked the terms of service [doubleyourdating.com] and found the following gem (emphasis mine, and down-cased to bypass shout-filter):

4. you understand that by entering your name and email address on the entry page that you are subscribing to a free, no obligation "dating tips" email newsletter. this newsletter is offered as a free service by david deangelo and doubleyourdating.com, and no purchase is necessary. on occasion,

subscribers have had trouble removing themselves from this free newsletter. if you have trouble subscribing or removing, you may contact us at [e-mail] for personal attention. by entering this website, you agree that you wish to be subscribed to this newsletter, and that you will make no threats, and take no additional action against david deangelo or doubleyourdating.com in the event you are unhappy that you subscribed or are not able to remove yourself from this free mailing list, and you agree that the small inconvenience of receiving this unwanted newsletter will cause you no personal, emotional, or financial harm whatsoever. you further agree that if you take any action against david deangelo or doubleyourdating.com other than requesting from us directly to be removed, including reporting or complaining to spamcop.net or any other similar policing entity, reporting or complaining to our isp or hosting company, or any other company that we are affiliated, partnered, or do business with, or make any threats of any kind, that you are violating this agreement and are willfully inflicting irreparable damage upon david deangelo and doubleyourdating.com. in the event that you violate the above terms, you agree to immediately pay david deangelo $1,000.00 in cash and cease all violations, or risk further legal action and personal financial loss.

So to summarize, the site admits that it ignores requests for removal from the mailing list, and demands $1000 cash from any user who complains about this fact to anybody? Wow sign me up!!! Or, rather, go fuck yourself, David Deangelo, and take your email harvesting spam shit elsewhere!

Tiny speech changes make big difference

As pointed out on the Howard Stern show this morning, tiny changes in speech can make a big difference in the perception of the audience, like between "friends" and "friend" (group vs. individual).
On that note, friend, I'd like to ask you to visit my artist interview [fulcrumgallery.com]. See? It works!

A-doo-doo-doo, A-daa-daa-daa

Sting said it best already...
"Poets, preists, and politicians
Have words to thank for their positions."

Re:A-doo-doo-doo, A-daa-daa-daa

He said it even better when he said "They all seem like game show hosts to me".

Concentrate on the Sound of my Voice...

You will RTFA... You will RTFA...

Vacation timeshare sales pitches

A primo example of the "feeling of obligation" sales pitch that the author mentions is those vacation timeshare sales pitches that promise a free or discounted event ticket.

They're really common in Las Vegas and in the Orlando area. They have booths set up in hotels and in small buildings located in the parking lots of plazas in commercial districts.

They give you a nice little breakfast buffet at a nearby resort, and tell you that they'll only take 90 minutes of your time, and there's no obligation.

Four hours later you're signing one document after another, agreeing to pay thousands and thousands of dollars over the next ten years for something that's not worth jack squat, and then you go and get your stupid theme park tickets.

Stay away from those things, and if you do go to one, don't buy into it. You can buy them second-hand MUCH cheaper from someone else who got suckered. When they start trying to close the deal, you say, "Nope, not signing anything. Give me my discounted park passes now, please." If they hem and haw, and say that the deal they're offering is only good if you sign right there and then, you have to say, "Then I guess that's my loss. I'll take my discounted park passes now, please."

Don't let the mind control kick in.

And if you do sign up, you've got ten days to cancel, at least in Florida. But it's much easier to just not get suckered in the first place.

Re:Vacation timeshare sales pitches

I heard one of those pitches once too. And what threw a red flag for me was: "This deal is only good today. Once you walk out that door, I can't legally offer you a price this low again." First of all... against the law to offer me a discount price after I leave? Secondly, the time limit and pressure shows that the salesman doesn't want you to have time to think things over. WHOOP WHOOOP Sirens should be going off in your head!

After an hour long tour (which was actually enjoyable) and listening to the sales pitch, I started to feel a tiny bit pursuaded. And that feeling made me so uncomfortable (knowing that his smooth talking had even slight power over my thought process) that I got up and left. Although as soon as I did, the salesman informed me that a new deal had just opened up. It was for half the original price, and he couldn't legally offer it to me once I walked out the door...

Re:Vacation timeshare sales pitches

I went to one of those things once, too.

When I was in college, I lived in a really cheap apartment. I don't know if they somehow aimed for the neighborhood, but my phone and mailbox were constantly bombarded with every scam imaginable. Maybe the previous residents collectively got that address on all the wrong mailing lists, I don't know.

Anyway, this one called me up and offered me a $50 gift certificate (to Wal*mart!) if I just saw some presentation. Easy $50, I figured. And I'm certainly too strong and smart too buy into one of these deals.

Anyway, my usual bad habit of arriving aggregriously late worked in my favor, and I wasn't let in to see the "main presentation". Instead, I was moved directly to a salesman who would work on individual prospects after they had seen the main presentation and not decided to buy.

And, I have to say, it was weird -- I really did start to feel a tiny but persuaded. The salesman told me that the offer was just for me, just for now, and that strangely made me not want to miss out on it. Of course, a totally different part of my brain told me that was why it had to be complete bullshit -- which I wisely listened to.

Still, I'll always remember that weird feeling I had, despite my best intentions and clear good sense contradicting it, so that perhaps if I ever feel it again I'll know for sure to discount it at all costs.

Almost Suckered...

Goddamit... I hate telling this story because it shows how weak I was...

I was on a cheap trip to Vegas with my Fiancee... Cheap meaning we drove there, stayed in $30/night hotel room, and $10 in nickle poker machines. While walking around we got stopped and offered free tickets if we listened to their talk about time-shares. We say okay because free stuff on a cheap trip cannot be refused. Long story short... 3 hours of talking and I was ready to put $2k down on a timeshare... ofcourse I only had $200 in my bank account (ie. the cheap trip). Me and my s/o fought it out... he even left so I could pursuade her and even kept trying to boost my male ego.

Thank god for the level headed, no-bullshit woman I married. She almost left me after all the shit I gave her during all that presentation. Ofcourse she'll never let me forget... and so I still remember the horrible feeling I had afterward that I was manipulated.

Ohh the humanity....

--D3X

Sounds alot like...

"Virus of the Mind".
See http://www.memecentral.com/votm.htm.

As a sidenote, there is also thhis nice (e)mail chain-letter debunking page:
http://www.memecentral.com/antidote.htm

IMHO, the everything's-a-meme-thought is a bit exaggerated today, but it is still interesting.

I would buy this book but...

I spent all my money on an icon of a diamond ring for a person i've never met on a website.

This is why I'm so....

cynical!

If you come up to me and say "My, what a nice pair of shoes you're wearing!"
I'll think:

You want to sell me something..

You want money for nothing..

You want someting
I think it's worse for us Americans because everyone is trying to sell us something!
I once took a class from an Asian Chi Gong master. During his lesson he said that he had videos on sale. All of us just groaned under our breath. To make a long story short, he was sincere and wanted us to buy the videos to remember his lessons. Nothing else! He was the exception.

I'm still jaded and I haven't been wrong since. We're continually being bombarded to spend our precious income on shit in America. Companies are demanding that we buy their crap in order for us to be happy and to keep "our" economy working. My friends, who really care about me (I think), say supportive things, I just think they want something! I thought it was just me, but I'm beginning to think that it's a side-effect of living in America. Watch out, anyone who says nice things to you wants to sell you something!

Makes me want to shave the rest of my hair off, move to Thailand, and become a Buddhist Monk!

Doesn't this...

...belong in apple.slashdot.org?

Also check out Remar Sutton

Remar Sutton [corningcu.org] wrote a book called

Don't get taken every time [amazon.com]

He also speaks at seminars sponsered by Credit Unions [google.com] , (Anyone can join one these days) which is where I met him.. got my (secondhand) book autographed too.

The people who sell you stuff are trained by professionals.

* They are NOT YOUR FREINDS!*

For the sake of your bank account and your sanity, it's worthwhile to educate yourself about the methods that are used, and how to circumvent them.

Seminal work?

Reading AlexisKai's review, the book sounds remarkably similar to "Influence: Science and Practice" by Robert Cialdini who, like Levine, is a social psychologist (at Arizona State University), took a job (as a car salesman) to research the various methods of persuasion, uses examples where he himself has been fooled (he calls himself a patsy), and categorises the various "weapons of influence" under concepts such as "reciprocation", "commitment and consistency", and "social proof". It's a very persuasive read ;-)

The genre seems to be getting a bit bloated, though, with the review itself mentioning yet another two recent books covering the same ground--Robert Steiner's "Don't Get Taken" and Gerald Zaltman's "How Customers Think". There must be some great thinker who came before these guys to pioneer the field. I thought of Charles Mackay's classic "Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds", but it deals mainly with people as a herd (only one aspect of persuasion/influence, falling mainly under the umbrella of Cialdini's "social proof").

Is there a seminal work in the field of persuation/influence covering all the bases, or is this really just a recent thing?

Re:Seminal work?

Robert Cialdini who, like Levine, is a social psychologist

I think the best advice is, if you are in university, to take a Social Psychology course. If you don't have the prerequisites or don't want to do the homework, just sneak into the lecture hall (like I did). It's facinating stuff.

Trading Up

This book sounds like it would go well with Trading Up: The New American Luxury by Michael Silverstein. The premise of that book is that companies like Starbucks, GE's appliances division, American Girl, Victoria's Secret BMW and others have figured out that coupling modest technical advantages with persuasive advertising can dramatically increase sales.

There's an element of groupthink in that idea too -- that if others are doing it, so should I. They don't wield the con-man kind caliber of persuasion this book seems to favor, but they play on the idea that you'll be smarter, more attractive and a better person if you buy their brand. People will build emotional affinity with a company vastly out of proportion with the usefulness of that company's products.

I think discerning readers who read both will get a better idea of one of the problems of our times: if we turn on, tune in and veg out, someone is going to try to take advantage.

Manditory link to propagandacritic.com

I just thought I'd post the manditory link: www.propagandacritic.com [propagandacritic.com]

I know this site doesn't go into as much depth as a book could, but it's a good start. I honestly think that this material should be the basis of a required course in high school, or at least interwoven into english and/or history courses. The widespread use of propaganda is perhaps the greatest threat to democracy today.

best defense against persuasion

When someone tries to convince you of something they usually come at it with a million little assumptions in their head about what your arguments are going to be and what their counters are. The best way to totally de-rail someone trying to convince you of something is, to use their own assumptions against them. Destroy all the preconceptions they have and they'll be so confused that you're likely to gain the upper hand.

sales enders I've used:

"Don't you want to save money?"
"No, I'm not really concerned with my budget."

"Please vote for candidate X."
"I don't believe in voting."
"Everyone should vote!"
"Oh yeah, tell me why."

"Who makes the decisions you or your girlfriend?"
"I let her decide every single aspect of my life. I'm basically just a pathetic sycophant."

Try them out, at least it will spice things up a bit!

Dominating Meetings

I recently had a meeting with someone who knew more about how to dominate meetings than about business.

We were selling software software through a reseller. The reseller dissolved, and the partner we knew took her client list to a startup being funded by a VC firm. As far as I can tell, the startup has 2 people: the entrepreneur and a "manager". The manager, Jeff, probably works for the VC firm as a roving manager.

We were lured to a meeting with the entrepreneur to "discuss future possibilities." The meeting time was changed at the last minute (we were already in the car) to the following day so that Jeff could be there.

We arrived at the meeting. The table seated 3 people per side, plus one person on each end. Each team had 3 people. If you want to work with people, sit on the sides so you are close. If you expect conflict, the ends are the power positions. Jeff already had his stuff at one end of the table, with the reseller next to him. So I took the other end, and my associates sat on either side of me.

The reseller greeted us, but Jeff did not appear for about 5 minutes. (Being late implies that everybody else should wait on you.) Then they announced that the entrepreneur would not be joining us.

They already had glasses of water, but my request for some was denied. That is just bad manners. Did Jeff think we would talk less if our mouths were dry? (Later, I left the room while Jeff was talking to have water brought for us.)

Jeff finally entered the room, and as he sat down, he suggested that "Why don't you move closer?" It was a good tactic to get me out of a power seat. (We did not move.)

Then he demanded the source code for the product we sold through the reseller. They wanted to cut us out, and could not support the program without the source. He was quite persuasive saying that he knew they had a right to it because of all his experience and analysis of the situation. I let my business manager debate with Jeff (which he said was fun but pointless), and Jeff never noticed he spent the entire meeting debating with a subordinate. Jeff offered a royalty on future sales, but my manager had Jeff admit they had little interest in selling software. Unfortunately for Jeff, ownership of copyright can only be transferred by written contract, and no such contract existed.

I had fun with Jeff. Even though I have been in the software business for over a decade, and own this company, I gave him the impression that I was the stereotypical unworldly programmer and acted like an egotistical brat. This caused Jeff to make a few mistakes. I did try to move the meeting back to the original purpose of building a partnership relationship, but Jeff dismissed the attempt. At one point, after I interrupted one of Jeff's attacks, he said he was thinking of offering me a job, but now he wouldn't. (If you have read my other posts, you know I would never consider a regular job, and I avoid working with people like Jeff.)

He kept trying to hire my technical assistant. The techie had worked for the reseller and knew the customer's infrastructure. We hired him when he left the reseller. I am uncertain why Jeff tried, since the techie did not talk much in the meeting, and does not have the source. I think Jeff was trying divide-and-conquer, but the techie had already met Jeff, and disliked him intensely.

Jeff "complimented" my business manager by suggesting he should go to college to become a lawyer because "he would be good at it." This happened as we were leaving, so I was able to contain the laughter until we were outside. My business manager has been working in this field since the 70s, and has held upper management positions at several large companies.

Jeff's fatal mistake was to threaten to have the customer's lawyer contact us. Later that week we received a nasty letter from this lawyer. I believe the letter was written by Jeff, since it contained several of the fallacies he used in the meeting. That letter opene

Re:Did anyone see that MTV Spring Break show

I saw that... that was dang crazy.

offtopic from your post but i don't want to post 2 comments..... i read the reviewed book, and there was an interesting section on how people who want to be classified as something, they will do whatever other people who are classified as that do.

now just as an example (this was actually an example in the book)... a 12 year old kid thinks he's good at computers, so he considers himself a nerd. He visits /. regularly and realizes that all the nerds use linux. The next thing the kid does is he gets his older, non-nerd, but better at computers (than a 12 year old) to install linux on their family PC... the kid is now officially a nerd.

There was another section on how people like to stand out... which can be compared to the people here on slashdot who use windows and love microsoft products. The same can be said to the people who use linux and talk about it outside of slashdot (like their communities, where everyone else uses windows server stuff)

sorry that was just a long random rant and my own personal review of the book... mod me down