100 Effective Techniques of Social Influence: When and Why People Comply

273 Pages·2022·3.68 MB·English

by  Dariusz Doliński, Tomasz Grzyb

‘Never before have I seen a book covering this many techniques of
social influence. The authors are the highest authorities currently
researching in this area, so if they tell you a technique works, you can
trust them. But just in case you are reluctant to take their word for it,
each technique’s summary includes an easy to understand description
of the research that demonstrates the technique’s effectiveness.’
Professor Christopher J. Carpenter, Western Illinois University
‘Dariusz Dolinski and Tomasz Grzyb have produced an exceptionally
readable and very entertaining survey of many – yes, 100! – social
influence techniques. Each is described with an illustrative narrative,
an account of one experiment that shows the technique can be
effective, and a brief discussion of the underlying mechanism. Readers
wanting an engaging introduction to the variety of available social
influence techniques need not look further.’
Professor Daniel J. O’Keefe, Northwestern University
‘Dolinski and Grzyb have done us all a great favor with this book. Not
only have they described 100 effective influence practices, they have
also reported on the psychological mechanisms that make the practices
work. I can’t imagine a more useful book for anyone looking to build
persuasive success.’
Professor Robert Cialdini, Arizona State University

100 EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES
OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE
100 Effective Techniques of Social Influence provides a revolutionary look into the
effectiveness of many techniques of social influence, providing an
overview of the ways in which people use techniques to persuade others
to meet various requests, suggestions, and commands.
For each technique, the authors explore the idea behind it, what
empirical research says about it, and what the psychological mechanism
behind its effectiveness is, aka, why it works. The techniques included span
across multiple areas in people’s everyday lives, ranging from business
negotiations, managements, marketing, and close relationships, to people’s
behavior in public as well as in their private sphere. Covering research
from the 1970s to the present day, the book describes techniques of social
influence with the purpose of provoking certain behaviors, such as
convincing an individual to donate to a charity or purchase a certain
product. By exclusively focusing on techniques influencing human
behaviors, rather than beliefs, biases, or emotions, the authors show
how humans can be reliably convinced to behave in a certain way in a
huge range of situations and contexts. Rather than being based on
anecdotal evidence or legends of famous people, the authors have only
included techniques that have been proven to be effective through
scientific research.
With each technique described in an engaging manner, this is ideal
reading for students and academics in fields such as social psychology,
leadership, marketing, sociology, management, and communication. It
will also appeal to professionals who need to influence others, and any
readers who desire a better and more contemporary understanding of how
people interact and influence others on a daily basis.
Dariusz Dolinski is a Professor at the University of Social Sciences and
Humanities, Wroclaw Faculty in Poland, and editor of the Polish Psychological
Bulletin. He was formerly the president of the Polish Association of Social
Psychology and president of the Committee for Psychology of the Polish
Academy of Sciences. He is the author of Techniques of Social Influence
(Routledge, 2016) and (with T. Grzyb) The Social Psychology of Obedience
Towards Authority (Routledge, 2020) and The Field Study in Social Psychology
(Routledge 2022).
Tomasz Grzyb is a Professor at the University of Social Sciences and
Humanities, Wroclaw Faculty in Poland and President of the Polish Social
Psychological Society. His main area of interest is social influence and
manipulation techniques. He is also a supporter of courses concerning the
basics of social influence studies organized for military officers engaged in
PSYOPS. He has published a number of articles about marketing, social
psychology, advertising, and education.
100 EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES
OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE
When and Why People Comply
Dariusz Dolinski and Tomasz Grzyb
Cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Dariusz Dolinski and Tomasz Grzyb
The right of Dariusz Dolinski and Tomasz Grzyb to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Dolinś ki, Dariusz, author. | Grzyb, Tomasz, author.
Title: 100 effective techniques of social influence : when and why
people comply / Dariusz Dolinski and Tomasz Grzyb.
Other titles: One hundred effective techniques of social influence
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022001506 (print) | LCCN 2022001507 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032283920 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032283913
(paperback) | ISBN 9781003296638 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Social influence.
Classification: LCC HM1176 .D649 2022 (print) | LCC HM1176
(ebook) | DDC 302/.13‐‐dc23/eng/20220114
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022001506
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022001507
ISBN: 978-1-032-28392-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-28391-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-29663-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003296638
Typeset in Joanna
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
1 Sequential techniques 10
Foot-in-the-door 11
Two (or even more) feet in the door 13
Four walls (Repeating yes) 15
Service request 17
Give to take (Reciprocity) 19
Indirect reciprocity 20
We’ve already given (Reciprocity-by-proxy) 22
Door-in-the-face 25
Two-door-in-the-face 27
Door-then-foot technique 29
Foot-in-the-face 31
Low ball 33
The lure 35
Two-in-one: Low-ball combined with foot-in-the-door 36
Dump and chase 38
2 Emotions 41
Take advantage of her (or his) good mood 42
viii CONTENTS
Take advantage of her (or his) bad mood 44
Physiological arousal 46
Guilt 48
Shame 50
Embarrassment 52
Fear and anxiety 54
Anticipatory regret 56
You will regret not thinking this over 58
Positive cognitive state 61
Hide your anger, show your disappointment 64
Fear-then-relief 66
Humor 69
Foot-in-the-mouth (How are you feeling?) 71
Foot-in-the-mouth-then-door-in-the-face 73
Negative emotional see-saw 75
Hold flowers in your hand 77
The word “love” in your surroundings 79
Birthday effect 82
3 Framing 85
Validation-persuasion 86
Default settings 88
Script of mindless action 90
Do not state the reason (unless you want to lie) 93
The pique technique 95
Disrupt-then-reframe 98
DTR: Beyond selling and buying 100
Emotional disrupt-then-reframe 102
That’s not all 104
Endowment rule 106
Valence framing 108
4 Agency and freedom 111
Evoking freedom 112
Get it while you still can (unavailability) 113
You will probably refuse, but… 116
The power of limited choice 118
CONTENTS ix
Forbid, but carefully! 120
To be exceptional 123
The power of noun: Be a voter 125
Be a helper 126
5 Time and space 129
Goal progress 130
Just one more 131
Ask for it well in advance 133
Good location – bad location 135
Have a face-to-face meeting 138
Solicitation call technique 140
Gaze 142
Touch 144
Speak into the right ear 147
Position items on the right-hand side 149
6 Self and social self 151
Labeling 152
Self-labeling 153
Expert snare 155
Induction of hypocrisy 157
Flattery 158
“This is what intelligent people do” 161
Sensible people would do it 163
We are looking for people like you 165
A witness to an interaction 167
Make your commitments public 169
Using the name of one’s interlocutor 172
Similarity 174
Incidental similarity 176
The Chameleon effect: Behavioral mimicry 178
The Chameleon effect: Verbal mimicry 180
Two-in-one: Behavioral and verbal mimicry 183
Synchrony 184
The “We” rule 187
“That’s how we do it here” 189