Lecture 1. Introduction
Social influence = “when one’s emotions, opinions or behaviors are affected by others’
(Pure) Persuasion: intentional, focused at others, non-coercive, but;
- compliance gaining: I will do a request, and I hope you will agree
Pure persuasion → borderline persuasion
This course is about using the influence strategies and look for combinations
Two important questions:
1. How much control do people have over the information-processing steps?
2. Are people aware of the actual cause of our thoughts, feelings and behaviors
Automatic vs controlled processes
Controlled: awareness, intended, controllable, effortful (For example; solving 321 x 123)
Automatic: lack of awareness, unintended, uncontrollable, efficient (what color is this?)
The actual reason for your behavior is mostly different from what we think our cause of
behavior is. “I go to college, because I’m motivated”, but maybe you went because your
roommate went.
Heuristics
- strategies using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information to decide
- rules of thumb, educated guesses, intuitive judgements, common sense
- In part unconscious, automated choices
, - Fixed action pattern: behaviors that occur in virtually the same fashion and order
every time
Why do we use heuristics?
- cognitive limitations
“The because, is enough to hear a reason” so provide a reason for stuff, that alone can have
an impact effect. Only effective when the stakes are low
5 copies < 20 copies. Then a low reason doesn't have an effect. Mostly one time effective,
because afterwards people can think about it.
Expensive = good
- expensive beers taste better than inexpensive ones (if quality and style are similar)
- this is true even when prices and brands are switched
- price is the amount you want to pay for it, not the amount to produce it (restaurants)
- “because you worth it”; if you’re buying cheap, then you are cheap
Inexpensive = bad
- complementary products are valued less and perceived to be inexpensive
- If you think a bracelet is a free gift, people are willing to pay 35% less when they
think it is a free present.
- If you offer free products, indicate the price to make sure people will evaluate it
Discount
- discount coupons result in higher sales, even when no savings are offered
- expensive = good and saving costs
Effort heuristic:
The effort we put into something is an indicator for the value we give it.
→ You value things more ones you put effort in in, afterwards not prior
However: effort & arguments
- slogans in rhyme more positive effects, believed to be more true
- arguments who are easier to process, so more likely to be true
- The more easy it is to think of positive aspects of a product, the more positively that
‘product’ is evaluated (= self persuasion)
- Sloffy handwriting less persuasive
- Complex writing less persuasive
→ the easy way is not always the best option; when people are looking for
security
, Recognition heuristic:
- If one of two objects is recognized and the other is not, we think that the recognized
object has the higher value with respect to the criterion
- in many cases this is a valid assumption
- repetition of a brand has a great effect, familiarity with the brand
Simulation heuristic:
- The likelihood of an event is based on how easy it is to picture mentally (for example;
risk perceptions), a plane crash
- People more regret missing outcomes that are easier to imagine (for example; near
misses) you miss a train by 25 minutes or you missed the train by one second, you
will feel more worse.
How can you use this heuristic: let them vision to what it is like to recycle stuff
buying an iphone, the option to buy insurance with it → “Imagine that your new
phone will fall and everything is broken”, you are more willing to buy the
insurance.
- People make judgements based on similarity between current situations and
(prototypes of) other situations
- Adaptive: maximizing productivity through favorable experience while not repeating
unfavorable experiences
- For example; buy books with characteristics …
Similarity heuristic:
- “recommendation for you”
- “other people bought this as well”: → social proof with combination with
similarity heuristic
Contrast principle:
If you observe differences in stuff, you will perceive it as more different. You use one product
as a reference point.
Example: “sell costly items first, this will make the other item look less expensive (the other
way around is not effective)
- Cars: additional options
- Laptop is expensive, so you would easier buy a good laptop case because the price
of the laptop case is in line with the laptop not that expensive
- Real estate companies: tendency to show a very crappy house, which is overpriced,
this is a great reference point.
