FOR BEGINNERS (PART IX)

II. c) Psychological Misjudgments (Continued)

You can find List I – Here, List II – Here, and List III - Here. This post concludes psychological misjudgment series.

List IV

It is definitely worth a further digging in Influence by Robert Cialdini (next 6 items are also covered in great detail with practical examples in his book – highly recommended).

1. Reciprocation. According to social rules we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided to us. This is one of the greatest mechanisms of mental shortcut triggering. It is greatly exploited in marketing, especially, in combination with some concession or gift and together with perceptual contrast known as a rejection-then-retreat technique

2. Commitment & Consistency. Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment. From the Influence book: “…all of the foot-in-the-door experts seem to be excited about the same thing: You can use small commitments to manipulate a person’s self-image; you can use them to turn citizens into “public servants,” prospects into “customers,” prisoners into “collaborators.” And once you’ve got a man’s self-image where you want it, he should comply naturally with a whole range of your requests that are consistent with this view of himself.” “Lowball” sales tactic is based on this mechanism. Those carefully reading the list will notice traces of loss aversion and other misjudgments.

3. Social Proof. The more uncertain people are – and the higher the stakes involved – the more vulnerable they are to the sort of cue taking that leads to herd behavior. This explains why teenagers are more likely to succumb to a peer pressure. One of ways how to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think about it. Trends and fads begin when individuals decide to ignore their private information and focus instead on the action of others. Do not allow other people to determine the value of things for you.

4. Liking. Research has shown that we automatically assign to good-looking individuals such favorable traits as talent, kindness, honesty, and intelligence. Liking can come via physical attractiveness, similarity, and compliments.

5 Authority. Beware of uniforms, titles, and trappings (expensive watches, jewelry, and cars) and imagine how strong is in combination with clever reciprocity and compliance (restaurant waiters).

6. Scarcity. Obviously, loss aversion plays here the lead role. As a rule, if something is rare or becoming rare, it is more valuable. From Influence: “Whenever free choice is limited or threatened, the need to retain our freedoms makes us desire them (as well as the goods and services associated with them) significantly more than previously.” That is why we have limited editions, deadlines for purchases, queues in front of restaurants, and … stupid parents.