In Methods of Persuasion author Nick Kolenda insightfully integrates some basic, well-known (as well as several not-so-well-known) principles of perception and learning from the fields of cognitive psychology and neuroscience, packaging them in a unique step-by-step persuasion process that you can use to subconsciously influence a target person’s thoughts, attitudes and actions. Although many of the applications are from a marketer’s and advertiser’s perspective, Kolenda also demonstrates how many principles are also practically relevant to influencing others such as employers, friends and family members. There are even several applications to teaching (e.g. to successfully communicate a new concept, compare it to something your target is already familiar with; use rhetorical questions to spark greater personal relevance and hence interest; give students choice among potential assignments). For professors teaching Consumer Behavior, Advertising and other marketing courses, such as Personal Selling; there are a number of interesting and involving examples and exercises.
Full disclosure: I am perhaps a biased reviewer, as Nick was a student in my Consumer Behavior course and a 2012 Stonehill College Marketing and Psychology double major graduate (and I would like to believe I taught him a few of the principles and their applications discussed in this book). That said, I firmly believe that this is a book deserving of space on every consumer marketer’s bookshelf. It could also be assigned as supplementary reading in a Consumer Behavior course and would, I suspect, provide background for lively class discussion. And, because of the many general applications, the book would be of interest to anyone fascinated by psychology.
The author, although young, is uniquely well qualified to have written this book. Nick is an accomplished professional “mind reader” with over ten years of stage performances (his viral video, “Chat Roulette Mind Reading”, has been viewed by over a million people worldwide). This book draws on this experience at using psychology to “mind read” by influencing people’s thoughts, and then “revealing” the thoughts that he subconsciously implanted. In fact, Methods of Persuasion uncovers some of the psychological secrets behind his mind-reading performances. Nick also incorporates his academic background in both marketing and psychology along with grounding his strategies in a thorough literature review (with over 160 references, most from academic journal articles, cited in text and listed at the book’s end) to develop his subconscious persuasion procedure.
As Kolenda states in the Introduction, “This book will teach you how to successfully (and ethically) become a puppeteer in a world full of human marionettes” (p. 1). Although the analogy is a bit overstated, as it suggests control (a word used in a prepublication version of the book but subsequently changed to “influence”), the principles and process herein are, indeed, influential. I applaud the author in being careful to emphasize that the book’s tactics should be used ethically, as there is potential for abuse by using them against a person’s best interest without that individual being aware that they are being subconsciously influenced.
Nick wrote Methods of Persuasion in a clear, concise, creative, interesting, witty, colloquial and engaging style, using scenarios, anecdotes, rhetorical questions, fun and involving examples (my favorite is the book opener on why visualizing a “lucky dwarf” primes the number seven) and vivid analogies to pique readers’ interest. Chapters typically open with intriguing examples or exercises for the reader to do to illustrate the theory and its applications lying ahead. Summaries are provided to simplify the material and to tie together the many different concepts presented in each chapter.
Although the many persuasion techniques discussed can be used in isolation (and many examples of such are offered), they are arranged to suggest a step-by-step persuasion process using the acronym METHODS:
Step 1 – Mold their perception;
Step 2 – Elicit congruent attitudes;
Step 3 – Trigger social pressure;
Step 4 – Habituate your message;
Step 5 – Optimize your message;
Step 6 – Drive their momentum; and
Step 7 – Sustain their compliance.
Accordingly, the book is divided into seven parts, each representing one of these seven steps. Each part, in turn, typically comprises several chapters that each explains a relevant psychological principle. And, every chapter is structured similarly, beginning with an explanation of the relevant principle and its influence in our everyday lives. Next, he discusses the relevant psychology literature to enable readers to be able to develop their own persuasion applications of the principle. The author finishes each chapter with his own example persuasion applications. Each of the three parts of the book ends with a “Real World Application” (e.g. convincing a budget-concerned spouse to agree to take a family vacation), integrating various concepts and demonstrating how you can use that step in everyday situations.
The first four steps lead up to the request for the target person of your message to perform a particular behavior. Steps 5 and 6 occur during the request, and the final step follows the request. The following is a brief synopsis of the process. Space limitations preclude giving the complete details necessary to successfully persuade someone; for these, you will need to buy or borrow the book.
Step 1: Mold their perception. Based on the principle that our perception of reality is subjective, the target’s mindset is molded through priming (activating) a particular schema (set of associations), anchoring (providing particular information) her perception to influence their judgment and creating high expectations through initial impressions (which lead to perceptions matching those expectations) that will induce a more favorable perception of the behavioral request.
Step 2: Elicit congruent (consistent) attitudes. Based on the principle that people prefer to hold attitudes consistent with their behaviors, you can influence the target’s body language (e.g. trigger a head nod, from which he will infer his own positive attitude toward the request) and behavior (e.g. get him to comply with a small request, from which he will also infer his own positive attitude toward the larger request) to mirror that of someone who would comply with your request. In each case, the result will be a congruent attitude, which will cause the target to be more likely to comply with your request so as to maintain consistency with that attitude.
Step 3: Trigger social pressure. Based on the principle that if everyone is exhibiting a particular type of behavior, we too are naturally inclined to engage in that behavior, emphasize social norms (e.g. the norm of reciprocity is encouraged by doing unsolicited favors and giving compliments) and build greater rapport by revealing any similarities between you and your target (especially rare similarities and belonging to a perceived ingroup).
Step 4: Habituate your message. Based on the principle of the mere exposure effect (familiarity breeds liking), use repeated exposures to the general topic of your request to increase liking it, and desensitize your target to any requests she is likely to find unfavorable by habituating her to the request in small, incremental steps. This technique is most effective if the target cannot perform a side-by-side comparison of the original unliked stimulus and new stimulus, if she is not expecting any changes in stimuli to occur and if you combine the unfavorable stimulus with a pleasant stimulus.
Step 5: Optimize your message. Based on the principle of systematic versus heuristic message processing, alter the target’s evaluation one of two ways. First, if you want an effortful evaluation (systematic processing) because your arguments are strong, increase his motivation and ability to evaluate your message by grabbing his attention and increasing personal relevance (e.g. via second-person pronouns, storytelling and rhetorical questions). Or, if you want a mindless evaluation (heuristic processing) because your arguments are weak, decrease his motivation and ability to evaluate your message by enhancing his mood or increasing message complexity. However, if you are unable to alter your target’s motivation and ability to evaluate your message, tweak your request, so that it complements how your target will evaluate your message. For systematic processing, enhance the perceived strength of your argument by using a two-sided argument or by using primacy or recency effects. For heuristic processing, influence him by enhancing his perception of you as an authority or as being attractive, or else, enhance his perception of your message by presenting a lot of information, making it aesthetically pleasing, or providing justification.
Step 6: Drive their momentum. Based on principles of motivation, provide proper incentives to stimulate either intrinsic motivation (generally more effective, stimulated through small rewards, which cause the target to attribute his compliance to a genuine desire to comply, social rewards such as praise and positive feedback and promoting the target’s sense of competence and perceived freedom via allowing choice of an incentive or request) or extrinsic motivation (through large rewards). Also, motivate through the power of limitations on freedom of choice, causing an urge to engage in psychological reactance to reclaim the freedom and to value the limited option more highly.
Step 7: Sustain their compliance. Based on Pavlovian conditioning principles, make favorable associations on a continuous basis (via techniques such as metaphors and linking your product or message with something people frequently encounter) so as to either sustain your target’s compliance or to later gain their compliance if you have failed to do so.
Kolenda concludes his book with a clever request of the reader that incorporates over half of the book’s principles. He also emphasizes that readers need not follow a strict step-by-step process and can pick and choose which principles to use and when.
