How to get what we want through words, gestures and our behaviors? Is persuasion the key to a successful life? How to learn to influence others to achieve everything we want?
When we talk about fulfilling our dreams, it is crucial to discuss the ways in which we can become a more persuasive, influential and relevant person.
Knowing our own needs and those of those around us is usually an essential step when we talk about addressing others to convey confidence and that this serves to achieve what we want.
For this it is important to be aware that persuasion and the ability to convince others begins with psychology. Understanding why someone behaves in a certain way or why someone shows a certain attitude will also help us to understand how their behavior is linked to our goals.
This is helpful in understanding how persuasion works in social settings and how to influence the thoughts, ideas, and feelings of others.
9 psychological theories about influence and persuasion
Whether to improve our personal life, to find a job or simply to socially influence the beliefs, attitudes, motivations, intentions or behaviors of others, a process popularly known as persuasion is used.
Through persuasion we can try to alter someone's attitude or behavior towards an idea, object, event or person through the use of language, in such a way that using the appropriate messages we can use the information, feelings, reason or a mixture of all of them to achieve something that we have proposed.
Although not all people have the innate gift of being persuasive, it is possible to develop our skills to better communicate our ideas and to offer the world a different vision that directly influences their behavior.
If you still do not know if you are someone persuasive, just keep reading or try visiting this website with psychological tests to see what your personality really is like and what effects it has on you and on others.
Amplification of behaviors
By expressing a certain attitude with conviction, that idea is reinforced. The same happens to the contrary: When you express something with doubt or laziness, the attitude is softened.
Conversion theory
A minority can have a disproportionate effect by influencing the majority. That is, a large part of the majority is usually more likely to have joined that group because it was the easiest thing to do or, simply, they could not find another alternative.
Information manipulation theory
When some of the 4 premises of a conversation are broken, it is much easier to be persuasive. These four hypotheses are as follows:
- Quantity: The information must be complete and complete.
- Quality: The information must be reliable and adequate.
- Relationship: The information must be relevant to the conversation.
- Conduct: The information is expressed in a way that is easy to understand and non-verbal language complements the tone of the statement.
Use baits
It is possible to influence others through a stimulus that is directed to the way of perceiving the thoughts and actions in the short term.
For example, an illusionist might say "scare away»And then include the word«birds"In another sentence to make the person think about the word" later.scarecrow«.
The scarcity principle
The scarce is the most demanded. This desire increases as much as you anticipate the regret you would feel if you lose it for not acting fast enough.
Widely used in marketing, the scarcity principle increases the feeling of desire by perceiving that something can run out quickly.
Sleeping effect
Persuasive messages tend to lose effectiveness over time, except for those that come from low credibility sources.
Messages that start out with low persuasion begin to become persuasive when our mind slowly dissociates the source from the object, such as an offer from a salesperson over the phone with the advice that their offer is the best.
Social influence
It is possible to influence others based on how they perceive your relationship with the influential person.
For example, for a company, testimonials and recommendations made by sources of authority, large brands or recognized clients are truly influential, since it is a sign that important entities endorse it.
Sudden change in attitude
This trick is based on multi-year research by Yale University, which found that there are a wide number of factors that make up a persuasive speech, including being credible and engaging, but timing is also important. of speaking or the ideals of the listeners.
Use your words carefully
Some words are certainly more powerful than others. This theory breaks persuasion down into 3 categories:
- God's Terms: They are the words that denote supplication or demand obedience or sacrifice, such as: «Advance«,«evolution"Or"valuable«.
- Devil terms: These are those terms that inspire contempt or evoke unpleasant feelings, such as «fascist"Or"pedophilia«.
- Charismatic terms: They are intangible and less observable terms than any of the above, such as: «Liberty«,«altruism"Or"contribution«.
How to communicate influencing others
It goes without saying how important food, water, feeling protected or the affection of others are to survive… do you know what else is needed?
The hierarchy of human needs -or Maslow's pyramid- is a theory proposed by Abraham Maslow in the 1940s where he explains, through an advanced scale, the path that our needs as human beings follow.
In this case, we will focus our attention on the second, third and fourth steps of the pyramid:
- Safety
- Belonging
- Esteem
The businesswoman Christine Comaford He explains that it is in these steps where the keys to influence and persuade are found, since creating these feelings of security, belonging and relevance is what we all need, so it is what most will demand of you.
Super effective formulas to communicate persuasively
- «What if…«. With this, we will be able to remove any ego from the conversation and we will be giving way to an environment of curiosity and participation.
- «I need your help«. We play the dominant role and the subordinate role, including the other person in our approach and offering a transfer of power.
- «It would be very beneficial if ...«. Perfect for going from problem to solution.
How to apply persuasion techniques in a social environment fully effectively
To influence others, the essential thing is to put aside your ego and return happiness and positivity to those around you, making them feel welcome and lucky.
Without a doubt, a great way to reach your goals through persuasion is to make others think that the idea was theirs. That is, if the initiative is taken by someone else, then we will be closer to what we are looking for.
How to make people take your thoughts as their own?
- The best - and only - way to win an argument is to avoid it.
- Show respect for the opinions of others and never say "You're wrong."
- If you make a mistake, admit it quickly and emphatically.
- Always start with a friendly attitude.
- Get the other person to say "yes" quickly.
- Let the other person do the most talking.
- Let the other person feel that the idea was theirs.
- Try to see things honestly from the other person's point of view.
- Be understanding of the ideas and wishes of others.
- Appeal to noble motives.
- Dramatize your ideas.
- Throw a challenge.
For example, instead of saying something coercive, it is better to practice with something that works in a more virtuous way. Use informative headlines, clever but with no intention of being manipulative.
It is also helpful to learn the importance of showing people what they want and how to get it. In other words, it talks about benefits rather than features.
From now on you can try to put some of these strategies into practice and surely, in a short time, you will begin to see how you become a more sociable person, charismatic and with greater success in everything you propose.
