The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold by Robert Levine
Paul Buckley
It is almost impossible to avoid being sold to. Why not learn the tactics, psychology, and ploys people use to do it?
Why did I read this book?
During my first year on the job I had a series of interactions that made me so uncomfortable and gullible that I still cringe at the memory. It started with a phone call.
Me: "Hello this is Paul."
Voice: "Hi Paul, this is Jonathan from XYZ Money Co, your friend Melissa said you were interested in finances, do you have a moment?"
It was a man who "just wanted to talk a little finance", apparently introduced to me by a friend. He wanted to help me out by setting me up with retirement options- what a noble cause! So we chatted, he ran some analysis on my financial goals and talked to me a number of times.
From there it escalated to where I was sitting across from him about to sign my name for a life insurance policy. I didn't want or need this, but felt pressed to sign due to the series of small commitments I'd made and feeling that I had otherwise wasted his time.
Declining at that point was... awkward. How did I get there? I'm not dumb enough to get suckered am I? Well, apparently yes, and that isn't a bad thing, but I needed an education.
Enter, The Power of Persuasion.
How did I hear about this book?
Will MacAskill recommended this book in an interview on Tim Ferriss' podcast. His philosophy resonated with me, so I decided to pick up this book to avoid (read: try to avoid) being bought and sold in the future. (As an aside, I've also placed Will's book Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference on my to-read list)
What did I learn from this book?
On a high level I learned people give more thought to marketing/selling/advertising/brainwashing than I thought. The science and proven tactics for persuasion fairly well known, and people believing they are immune is mostly a fallacy. From this book, I believe a solid base-understanding of some core concepts can be learned.
Here's a small sampling of things to keep in mind to avoid being persuaded:
- People believe in perceived authorities.
- Perceived honesty of a person weakens one's ability to avoid persuasive tactics.
- Same goes for likability and confidence (things like eye contact go a long ways).
- Avoid the sunk cost fallacy with escalating commitments (Levine brings up cults often with this message, especially the cult of Jonestown).
- When given multiple choices, realize that these may not be all the available ones, seek more as some may not be "legitimate" choices despite other legitimate choices existing (he gives the example of Kissinger giving Nixon 3-4 choices where only one of them was any good, the others being plants to make the desired choice appear better).
- Physical attractiveness does not equate to trustworthiness.
- Reciprocity is a powerful force, notice when it's being used against you (like in my example with the finance guy).
- Don't put your guard down when complimented.
- Avoid anchoring (a fascinating topic I may write a post on).
- Loss-aversion is more powerful than gain-desire, notice when this is being used against you (e.g. "You could lose everything without insurance!").
- Invite information that will prove your opinion or choice wrong. People put up blinders to contrary information when we have made a decision.
- Be cognizant of unconscious triggers.
A long list. The last chapter does a good job of pulling it all together and summarizing the methods to avoid being taken advantage of, a chapter I'll be coming back to.
Favorite clippings
The psychology of persuasion emanates from three directions: the characteristics of the source, the mind-set of the target person, and the psychological context within which the communication takes place. [Location 125]
Research shows that three characteristics are related to persuasiveness: perceived authority, honesty, and likability. When someone has any or all of these characteristics, we're not only more willing to agree to that person's request, willing to do so without carefully considering the facts. [Location 438]
For example, employers sometimes give substantial raises to workers with the intention of reinforcing their hard work and, more important, motivating them to work even harder. Studies show, in fact, that if the raise is large enough, it does activate a brief feeling of obligation to please the employer. In the long run, however, it rarely leads to more output. Instead, it encourages the workers to rationalize why they deserve the raise. They might, for example, tell themselves that their job is more difficult than they'd previously thought, or dwell on how little they'd been paid in the past. As a result, if the raise is too steep, and the justification leak isn't plugged, the initial favor can backfire. The persuader may create new standards of entitlement, subsequent disgruntlement, and, ultimately, lower production than before. [Location 1002]
Because our anchor points are so readily manipulable, they're often easier to change than the product itself. [Location 1354]
Since large gains are subject to the rule of diminishing returns, there's not that much psychological difference between a big gain and a pretty big gain. [Location 1599]
(Nestle is the same company that was later caught shipping huge quantities of "free samples" of their infant breast milk substitute to Third World hospitals-just enough freebies to allow time for a new mother's breast milk to dry out, making her dependent on buying the powdered formula. Unfortunately, when powdered formula is mixed with contaminated water-which is unavoidable in these countries-it often leads to malnutrition, disease, and death in newborns, about a million such deaths a year, according to UNICEF. A costly world boycott forced Nestle to agree to change its marketing policy, but international watch groups later found that the company continued to ship as much of the free formula as before, and even more of it in some areas of eastern Africa. Talk about chutzpah-this is the company that told women what kind of coffee they should buy to prove they love their families?) [Location 2056]
Interesting story, only partially related to the topic of the book really.
It's especially important to guard against the sunk-cost trap. Recognize when your most profitable course of action is to swallow a loss and move forward. Remember that it's normal to loathe a loss and that your inclination will probably be to persist until you've gotten back to even. [Location 2500]
Persuasion that is exercised invisibly and with minimal force creates an illusion of choice. [Location 2570]
Winning hearts and minds means propelling people from the inside. If we receive too much reward, we may do what's asked, but only as long as the goods are coming. To be captured for the long haul, we need to convince ourselves we're doing it because we want to. [Location 2628]
Invite information that will prove your initial judgment wrong. We're very good at finding support for what we want to believe, but it's all too easy to fall into the myopic trap of assuming the only thing to see is what we happen to be looking at. As the famous psychologist Abraham Maslow observed, "To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail." [Location 3138]
Who would I recommend this book to?
Anyone who has ever felt stupid for taken advantage of, or who has thought they were being manipulated. By interspersing the book with personal examples and anecdotes, Levin makes this an educational yet easy read that leavens an otherwise dense topic.
My rating: 8/10