INDIVIDUAL

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INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY

• 12.06
• www.rci.rutgers.edu/mvm32

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WEAPONS OF INFLUENCE

• In todays class, we will address the last three
  weapons of influence in Cialdinis treatise
  the principles of liking, authority and scarcity.
• To recap, these are all types of automatic
  behavior (mental shortcuts) we employ in times
  when we cannot afford to stop and evaluate each
  individual situation and choice.
• Most of the time, the shortcuts are beneficial to
  us, but, at the same time, they can be easily
  exploited by profiteers and, at times, we step
  in it all on our own.

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LIKING

• The basic crux of the principle of liking is that
  we most prefer to say yes to the requests of
  people we know and like. (p. 144)
• This principle relies on pressures of friendship
  which, incidentally is tied in with the other
  principles we covered so far reciprocity,
  commitment and social proof.

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LIKING

• There are several dynamics (or reasons) within
  the principle of liking.
• Physical Attractiveness It has long been
  established that the beautiful people have
  definite edge as far as societal perks go.

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LIKING

• The uncanny way we are drawn to attractive people
  points to something known to psychologists as the
  Halo Effect.
• A halo effect occurs when one positive
  characteristic of a person dominates the way that
  person is viewed by others Research has shown
  that we automatically assign to good-looking
  individuals such favorable traits as talent,
  kindness, honesty, and intelligence. (p. 149)
• This kind of attractivegood mentality can lead
  to some unfortunate (and irresponsible) decision
  making like allowing a politicians looks
  influence voting outcomes

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LIKING

• Similarity We like people who are similar to
  us whether the similarity is in the area of
  opinions, personality traits, background, or
  lifestyle. (p. 151)
• These things in common do not have to be profound
  they can be anything age, religion, politics,
  music, dress, smoking habits, food, leisure,
  cars, birthplace you name it
• Based on these things, we are willing to cut
  people all kinds of breaks, which sets us up for
  potential exploitation.

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LIKING

• Compliments We are all suckers for flattery (no
  exceptions really!)
• From the perspective of the looking-glass self
  theory, it makes sense that we would feel so
  immensely rewarded when our virtues and
  accomplishments are acknowledged by other members
  of society.
• It goes without saying that flattery leaves us
  vulnerable to all kinds of exploitation.

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LIKING

• DEFENSE
• Cialdini suggests that rather than taking some
  preventative measures against liking people too
  much in advance (because that would result in all
  kinds of unhealthy paranoia), we should just
  make sure to catch ourselves if we find that we
  are beginning to like someone more than they
  reasonably seem to deserve it.
• The simple recognition of unwarranted liking
  should be enough to get us to react against it.
  (p. 175)

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AUTHORITY

• Remember Stanley Milgrams experiment with the
  electric shocks how the respondents continued
  to administer them to total strangers on the
  orders of the lab scientist?
• That is the classic study of the pressures of
  authority and what those pressures can push us to
  do.

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AUTHORITY

• Social Roots of Authority A multilayered and
  widely accepted system of authority confers an
  immense advantage upon a society. It allows the
  development of sophisticated structures for
  production of resources, trade, defense,
  expansion, and social control that would
  otherwise be impossible. At the opposite end, the
  alternative is anarchy Consequently, we are
  trained from birth to believe that obedience to
  proper authority is right and disobedience is
  wrong. This message fills the parental lessons,
  the schoolhouse rhymes, stories, and songs of our
  childhood and is carried forward in the legal,
  military, and political systems we encounter as
  adults. Notions of submission and loyalty to
  legitimate rule are accorded much value in each.
  (p. 185)

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AUTHORITY

• And yet, there is a type of blind obedience of
  authority that can be not counterproductive and
  destructive not to mention downright
  nonsensical and absurd (e.g. the strange case of
  rectally administered ear drops)
• It follows that its easier to blindly carry out
  orders than to question authority because to do
  so is to challenge the social order and to do
  that is to take the risk of disrupting ones own
  reality, social place and comfort zone.

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AUTHORITY

• The funny thing is that with all the social
  anxiety toward authority figures (respect, fear,
  awe, etc), authority is very easy to fake
  after all, its just a role / identity one
  projects.
• Cialdini outlines several devices used by cons
  and other profiteers to put on the airs of
  authority.
• Take attendance

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AUTHORITY

• Titles Slap a fancy title before or after your
  name, and you have an instant image boost. Be it
  Doctor, Professor, or Esquire, your authority
  rating will improve immediately, and chances
  are people will take your word for it (unless
  you find yourself in an unfortunate predicament
  of being surrounded by actual colleagues)

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AUTHORITY

• Clothes A uniform can do a lot to convince
  others to carry out an order. But one need not
  dress like a police officer or a member of the
  military. A well tailored business suit can go a
  long way as well it brings its wearer the air
  of professionalism, wealth and sophistication.

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AUTHORITY

• Trappings other props to set the stage for
  the role of the authority figure can be used
  the most popular and obvious of which is the
  automobile. An expensive car can complete the
  package of the authority figure image it speaks
  for the socio-economic status, age,
  sophistication and happens to be a very male
  symbol of power.

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AUTHORITY

• DEFENSE
• Cialdinis advice for situations when one is
  being potentially taken advantage of is to ask
  oneself questions Is this authority truly an
  expert? and How truthful can we expect the
  expert to be?
• As for blind obedience, I think that the
  operative word here is blind. As long as we
  keep our eyes open, we should be able to make
  judgment calls appropriate to specific
  situations, rather than by default.

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SCARCITY

• The scarcity principle claims that opportunities
  seem more valuable to us when they are less
  available.
• People seem to be more motivated by the thought
  of losing something than by the thought of
  gaining something of equal value.

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SCARCITY

• Compliance practitioners rely on the scarcity
  principle to sell us stuff all the time the
  limited time / limited quantity gimmick is a
  typical device.
• The theory of psychological reactance claims that
  whenever free choice is limited or threatened,
  the need to retain our freedoms makes us want
  them (as well as goods and services associated
  with them) significantly more than before. (p.
  209)

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SCARCITY

• Companies exploit the scarcity principle for
  commercial purposes all the time.
• But there are other, more devious and subtle
  traps out there censorship being one of them,
  for instance.
• We think of censorship as being the enemy of
  freedom of expression. Consistent with the
  scarcity principle, we always crave censored
  information which, one could argue, is usually
  an educationally sound pursuit.

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SCARCITY

• However This raises the worrisome possibility
  that especially clever individuals holding a weak
  or unpopular position on an issue can get us to
  agree with that position by arranging to have
  their message restricted. The irony is that for
  such people members of fringe political groups,
  for example the most effective strategy may not
  be to publicize their unpopular views but to get
  those views officially censored and then to
  publicize the censorship. (p. 215)

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SCARCITY

• As with other weapons of influence, there are
  two particular conditions that intensify our
  proneness to the scarcity principle.
• Firstly, we value things that are newly
  restricted more than those that have been scarce
  all along.
• Thus, it is not the traditionally most
  downtrodden people those who have come to see
  their deprivation as part of the natural order of
  things who are especially likely to revolt.
  Instead, revolutionaries are more likely to be
  those who have been given at least some taste of
  a better life. (p. 219) When it comes to
  freedoms, it is more dangerous to have given for
  a while than never to have given at all. (p. 221)

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SCARCITY

• The second condition is competition with each
  other for scarce resources.
• Theres nothing like getting into a bidding war
  on Ebay with some other overzealous fake Tiffany
  collector to jack up some lucky vendors sale!
• Competition for scarce resource has very useful
  social roots not to mention evolutionary value.
  But, unfortunately, in our modern life, in our
  society, if you find yourself competing with
  someone over something scarce its probably
  something overpriced and useless and thats
  Cialdinis point

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SCARCITY

• DEFENSE
• If you find yourself overly excited by the
  scarcity influences, you should take it as a sign
  to stop and evaluate the situation before
  proceeding with a decision to purchase something.
• In doing so, we should remind ourselves that
  scarce cookies dont taste any better than the
  more plentiful ones.