October: Mental Health Awareness Month
Mental Health Awareness Month 1 to 31 October The month of October has been declared Mental Health Awareness month with the objective of not only
Mental Health Awareness Month 1 to 31 October The month of October has been declared Mental Health Awareness month with the objective of not only
One day Robert Cialdini was in his university dorm, when he answered the door to another resident who was selling subscriptions to Sports Illustrated magazine. “I was a starving student; I didn’t have a lot of discretionary income,” Cialdini recalls. He told Cialdini that he would be missing out on a unique sale that would only last for that weekend. “I thought, ‘You spent your money, and it wasn’t because of the merits of the thing – it was the way he presented it,’” Cialdini recalls. Cialdini’s curiosity would lead him to write Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, published in 1984. Melding academic research on behavioural science with opposite case studies and personal experience, it arguably created the mould for “Smart thinking” authors such as Charles Duhigg, Adam Grant or James Clear. After numerous updated editions, his book has now sold more than seven million copies, according to his publishers. On the book’s 40th anniversary, I sat down with Cialdini in a London hotel to discuss its conception and impact, and the ways that the psychology of persuasion has evolved in the decades since its first publication – and its implications for today’s fractured societies. As part of his research, Cialdini had decided to spend time studying people he defined as “Compliance professionals” – those in sales, marketing, recruitment and fundraising whose livelihoods depend on changing others‘ opinions. I ask Cialdini which experience stands out, and he describes accompanying a stellar salesperson offering heat-triggered fire-alarms on door-to-door visits. On their trips, Cialdini’s mentor always brought a big book of sales material detailing the different products – but repeatedly left it in the car. As the homeowners performed a safety test of their house, he would ask if he could borrow their keys so he could go to collect it and let himself back into the house. “He said, ‘Bob, who do you trust? You trust people who you will allow in and out of your house by themselves, and I wanted to be associated with that,’” Cialdini recalls. After three years of comparing these experiences with the published research, he identified six overarching principles that appeared to underline any persuasive campaign. The student selling Sports Illustrated perfectly illustrates three of these principles. He offered social proof – evidence that other people like us are taking the same action by describing how many of Cialdini’s dormmates had taken up the offer. “It shows that the action is valid, and demonstrates that it’s feasible to undertake,” says Cialdini. We are more likely to download a song if we have been told it’s popular with other listeners, and people were more likely to wear a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic if they saw others do the same. The liking principle – that we are more likely to agree to someone’s suggestions or demands if we warm to them personally – may seem self-evident, but a quick look at the invective of political debate suggests that many fail to put it into practice when trying to convince others of their opinions. In the first edition of his book, Cialdini pointed to studies of “Tupperware parties” – a business model in which a member of a community could earn a commission by hosting a gathering and then selling the kitchen containers.
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