Dr. Samar Zebian

When was the last time you needed to influence or change someone’s perspective or behaviors and your only weapon was your tongue? Experts call the adept ability to persuade, Supersuasion. Be on your toes around Supersuaders; listen and learn because it is an acquired art. Their techniques are smooth and unsuspecting. The lynch pin is that they do it without coercion. Coercion is NOT persuasion. Coercion, which is a different means of social influence, involves the use of blunt instruments such as threats, power plays or stigmatization. In contrast, Supersuasion is more about tinkering with the systems that produce our attitudes and motivations—it involves the skilled reading of minds and situations and using this knowledge to bring about willful compliance or non-resistance in situations that require split second reactions.

Social scientists have argued that there are a number of basic and universal tactics used by Supersuaders: simplicity, reciprocity, confidence, public commitment, social validation, liking, impromptu humor and scarcity.

SIMPLICITY: It is easier to convince someone of something if your message is simple, preferably with a 1-2-3 structure. Catchy phrases that have no more than 3 parts are memorable, i.e., “we love life”, vote yes for change, Kunhadi (campaign for safe driving).

RECIPROCITY: Supersuaders also know that getting someone to acquiesce is easier if there is some sort of reciprocity or exchange. It can be a physical exchange but any sort of social concession will work. When it is a physical exchange, it is more effective if people are getting away with something rather than simply receiving something (i.e., not paying V.A.T or leaving work early on Fridays). With respect to social concessions, people are more likely to acquiesce if they’ve rejected a large request but then are presented with a smaller request (i.e. when your boss refuses to increase your salary but then is willing to give you a few days off).

CONFIDENCE: Moving on to the confidence factor, individuals are more likely to change their attitudes or behaviors if the person doing the convincing is confident. Who is more likely to convince your teenager to study more; a teacher who tells them that 100% of her students get into tier-one universities or teachers who tell your kids, “their effort is the key to success”. Teacher #1 will be more likely to affect her students study habits.

Public commitment: as a persuasion strategy, is an interesting and subtle one. When you want to really make sure someone does something, ask them to verbally commit to it as opposed to leaving the commitment implicit. A replicated study was done in a restaurant to decrease the number of people who make reservations but don’t show up. When the waiters asked their customers if they would call if their plans changed and then they waited for the customer’s response (public commitment) the rates of no-shows decreased from 30 to 10%. Even minor public commitments seem to work.

Social validation: also stimulates compliance. In a classic study researchers compared how people would behave when one research associate stood on a busy street corner and looked up compared to when a group of 4 associates looked up. When there was four research associates looking up, there was a four-fold increase (400%) in the number of passerbys who imitated their behavior.

LIKING: When you genuinely like someone, for whatever reason, the success of persuasion increases. Physical attractiveness, whether we admit it or not, is a substitute for liking. Consistently, individuals acquiesce to physically attractive people more than unattractive people whether it is in voting behavior or making a donation, or fulfilling a taxing request.  It might not be fair, it might not be politically correct but it is a replicable finding which plays out in many spheres of interpersonal relations.

Humor: especially the more impromptu and unexpected type, is a driving force in bringing about rapid changes in an individual’s behavior. If you can make someone laugh, even for a fleeting moment, their defenses come down.

Scarcity: or perceived scarcity makes banal things seem more desirable. The next time you want to give someone a gift have a convincing story ready about how difficult it was to find it and how exclusive it is—never mind that it was mass produced in one of the fine reproduction workshops in Burj Hammound (with all due respect to indigenous industry).

Supersuaders draw on these core techniques and improvise as the situation calls for it. These methods are most effective if they seek to build upon already existing values and beliefs in a person and are much less effective when they are used to changes people’s values or create new ones.