Misunderstanding Persuasion Theory
24th January 2008
In my neverending quest to improve the persuasion IQ of the world, I scour the Internet looking for examples of accurate and inaccurate presentations of theory and research. Today my search turned up an inaccurate example concerning New Year’s Eve Resolutions.
The BBC ran this story about using self persuasion to help their readers with those perennial plans to lose 10 pounds, exercise more, stop lingering by adult book stores and so on . . . (that was a joke). What’s nice about the story is that they actually mention an outstanding example of persuasion theory and research, the work of Robert Cialdini and the six cues of influence.
As the story states,
Scientists have been studying the influence process for over half a century and have found six principles that not only help organisations to get us to say “yes” to their requests, but could also help us to achieve the goals we set ourselves.
So far, so good. Except for one thing. There is no way that these persuasion and influence cues would produce significant, lasting behavior change. As Cialdini and other persuasion researchers have noted, these kind of persuasion tactics are aimed at people who are “low WATT” thinkers, with limited Willingness and Ability To Think (Cialdini calls this “click,whir” in his great book, “Influence.”) Cues are useful to such people precisely because they require limited cognitive processing. Thus, we typically find that likable people are more persuasive when receivers really aren’t thinking closely about the topic or issue. When the persuasive situation is really important to us and we are giving it our full attention, sure, it’s nice that the source is friendly or attractive, but, to quote an old Wendy’s commercial, “Where’s the beef?”
Applying persuasion cues as they are properly described in the BBC report would be highly ineffective self persuasion tactics regarding New Year’s Eve Resolutions precisely because those Resolution typically involve significant, serious, and negative behaviors. With these “high WATT” processors, the last thing you want to do is hit them with a cue, but rather with strong arguments, compelling information about the central merits of the behavior in question. A very different animal.
Quick summary. Kudos, to the Beeb for getting the theory right. Raspberries, for getting the application wrong.