Methods of Persuasion: How to Use Psychology to Influence Human Behavior (27 page)

Like most people, you probably learned nothing from reading that excerpt. How could anyone make sense of such a confusing and oddly worded passage? However, if you knew the proper context of the information, you could then categorize that information under a relevant schema, and the passage would then become crystal clear. Here’s the context of that passage: doing laundry. Now that you know the context, you could reread that passage and fully comprehend it because you can place that information under your schema of doing laundry.

Is this information starting to ring a bell? It should. In the first chapter, I explained that mentioning the concept of “luck” and “dwarf” can make the number seven more readily available on a nonconscious level. Due to the connections that exist between those two concepts and the number seven in our semantic network, the activation can spread from those concepts to the number seven.

A similar process occurs with classical conditioning. See Figure 14.1 for a snapshot of a more complex, yet still extremely simplified, version of our semantic network.

Classical conditioning is effective because it essentially forms a new connection in that network. When you consistently pair yourself with good weather, for example, you form a new connection between “Good Weather” and “You” in your target’s semantic network (the more pairings, the stronger the connection becomes). Once that connection has been formed, activation can then spread from “You” to “Good Weather” to “Positive Emotions.” When you classically condition yourself with good weather, you can activate positive emotions because of the spreading activation in your target’s semantic network.

Well, look at that! We
did
come full circle in the METHODS process. The first chapter explained how our semantic network is our mental framework of the world, and this chapter explained how associations are the building blocks of our semantic network. The profound implications of our semantic network stem beyond the scope of this book, but hopefully you now have a greater appreciation for the nature of associations and how they guide our perception of the world.

PERSUASION STRATEGY: MAKE FAVORABLE ASSOCIATIONS

In this step of METHODS, you can use associations on a continuous basis to maintain compliance or to add more pressure on your target if she still hasn’t complied.

Advertisers constantly take advantage of this principle by associating their brand with appropriate stimuli. For example, they’ll often promote their product at sports events to maintain or instill a sense of excitement about their brand. When people feel the excitement from those events, their excitement can transfer to the products in the advertisements and promotional messages.

But besides that obvious strategy of associating your message with positive or relevant stimuli, there are a few other not-so-obvious strategies that you can implement.

Leverage Metaphors.
You might not realize it, but metaphors are all around us. In fact, some researchers argue that our understanding of the world has largely emerged through seven “deep metaphors” (Zaltman & Zaltman, 2008).

It makes sense if you think about it. If we continuously learn new things by associating those ideas with existing concepts in our semantic network, there had to have been a starting point. In a sense, everything that we come to learn will somehow be tied to the deepest elements of our semantic network, elements that probably relate to primary aspects of survival, such as eating food. And when you stop to reflect on the use of our language, you
do
start to notice an enormous number of those metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980).

Don’t’ believe me? Well, I hope that you can at least
swallow
your pride and
stomach
this
meaty
paragraph while I demonstrate. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to
regurgitate
this information for an exam; it’s purely
food for thought
. And if this
half-baked
idea doesn’t convince you, then just let it
digest
and
simmer
for a while; it might start to
eat away
at you. But once you realize the
raw
abundance of these food metaphors, it might seem like a
bittersweet
epiphany. Or if this idea still
smells fishy
and it’s not an idea that you can
sink your teeth into
, then I hope you can still
devour
the remaining contents in this book (and I hope it doesn’t leave a
sour taste in your mouth
). As long as you don’t view this book as just another
flavor of the month
, then I’ll be happy, or as I like to say, I’ll experience the
sweet smell
of victory.

The use and origin of our language is a fascinating topic that researchers are still trying to understand (and it’s far beyond the scope of this book). The main point that I was trying to illustrate is that we come to understand many concepts by relating them to some other concept with which we’re more familiar. More importantly, there are a couple persuasion techniques that you can use to take advantage of our innate reliance on metaphors. This section describes two of those techniques.

Leverage the “Good = Up” Metaphor.
In addition to food, another fundamental metaphor relates to spatial orientations. Vertical positions, in particular, have come to signify the “goodness” of objects. In their cleverly titled article, “Why the Sunny Side Is Up,” Brian Meier and Michael Robinson (2004) describe that metaphor:

Objects that are up or high are often considered to be good, whereas objects that are down or low are often considered to be bad. In the Bible, for example, the righteous go “up” to Heaven, whereas sinners go “down” to Hell. In the media, movie critics give good movies “thumbs up” and bad movies “thumbs down.”. . . People who smoke marijuana “get high,” but when the euphoria diminishes, they “come down,” and happy people feel “up” whereas sad people feel “down.” (Meier & Robinson, 2004, p. 243)

Because “good” has become associated with people’s schema for “up,” you can enhance the appeal of your message by associating it with something in an up position.

Suppose that you’re purchasing a magazine advertisement, and the magazine editor mentions that you can choose one of two placements on a particular page: one near the top or one near the bottom. Though most people typically wouldn’t have a preference, you should choose the location near the top of the page because it would activate people’s “good = up” association, which would generate a more favorable perception of your product and advertisement.

But you don’t even need to be an advertiser to take advantage of this concept. Do you want your kids or spouse to eat healthier? Try rearranging the refrigerator to put the healthy options near the top and the unhealthy options near the bottom. That positioning would help to reinforce a “good = up = healthy” association in your target’s semantic network. It might seem somewhat far-fetched, but research in marketing shows that in-store products are evaluated more favorably when they are located near the top of the shelves (Chandon et al., 2009).

Communicate Using Metaphors.
Given our reliance on metaphors to understand new concepts, why not use metaphors to communicate information? As explained, we come to understand new concepts by relating them to concepts that already exist in our semantic network. Therefore, you can convey your message more effectively by comparing it to an already existing concept in your target’s semantic network.

That notion becomes especially important for abstract ideas and concepts. Experienced marketers consistently convey intangible benefits about their product (e.g., high quality) by comparing it to something tangible because that metaphor helps to “tangiblize” it. For example, Gerald and Lindsay Zaltman (2008) describe how “life insurance companies use ideas associated with various symbols such as umbrellas (Travelers), rocks (Prudential Insurance Company), and hands (Allstate) to convey qualities of protection, sturdiness, and support.”

Not only can metaphors help you communicate information more effectively, but they can also enhance the recipient’s trust in you. In research that I conducted with a few professors from my good ol’ alma mater, we found that if you communicate information by comparing it to something with which a recipient is already familiar, you increase affective trust, a type of trust where the recipient has a strong “gut reaction” to trust you (Kolenda, McGinnis, & Glibkowski, 2012). The takeaway: whenever you need to communicate a new concept to people, you should compare it to something with which they’re already familiar.

Associate with Naturally Occurring Primes.
Here’s a quick exercise: mentally list about 5 brands of soda. Did you think of your list? Surprisingly, depending on the time of year that you’re reading this book, your list could contain different brands.

In one study, Berger and Fitzsimons (2008) asked people to list some brands of soda and chocolate, and they found that people were more likely to include Reese’s in their chocolate list and orange soda (e.g., Sunkist) in their soda list when they were asked that question the day before Halloween. When other people were asked that same question a week later, the frequency of Reese’s and orange soda diminished.

Why were those products more popular the day before Halloween? All three concepts—Reese’s, Sunkist, and Halloween—share a common linkage: the color orange. People were more likely to include Reese’s and Sunkist in their list of brands when they were asked the day before Halloween because the concept of orange was more prevalent in people’s minds. Because the concept of orange was more prevalent, those brands popped into their minds more readily through the heightened activation in their semantic network.

Although that may have been a somewhat obvious prime (let’s face it, stores
do
tend to blind customers with orange-related products near Halloween), the same researchers conducted a similar study by giving people either an orange or green colored pen to complete a questionnaire. Despite a much more subtle prime, the color of the pen influenced how people evaluated products in the questionnaire. People who were writing with an orange pen significantly preferred orange-related products (e.g., Fanta), whereas people who were using a green pen significantly preferred green products (e.g., Lemon-Lime Gatorade). The subtle exposure to the pen’s color triggered conceptual fluency: if someone was primed with an orange-colored pen, the orange-related products appeared in their mind more easily, and that ease of processing became misattributed to a favorable product (and vice versa with the green pen).

Because subtle cues, like the color of a pen, can prime certain concepts, advertisers can take advantage of conceptual fluency by associating their message with common environmental cues that are perceptually similar to their message. Consider the use of
trade characters
—a person, animal, or object that marketers use to symbolize their brand. Many current trade characters are either fictitious (e.g., the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Jolly Green Giant) or rarely seen in a normal day (e.g., Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam). Rather than choose a fictitious or uncommon trade character, it would be much more effective for advertisers to choose a trade character that people frequently encounter because those “naturally occurring primes” will help consistently remind people of their message.

A more effective strategy can be seen in the E*Trade commercials with the talking babies. Not only does that association subtly imply a positive message about E*Trade (e.g., the service is so easy to use that a baby can use it), but it’s also a naturally occurring prime (I’d be willing to bet that you run into babies more frequently than you run into tigers and toucans). In fact, the next time that you see a baby, you might start a conversation with the parents by asking if they’ve seen “that commercial with the talking baby,” which would help spark word-of-mouth for E*Trade.

But perhaps an even better strategy beyond mere trade characters can be found in attaching your message to a naturally occurring need state, such as hunger or thirst. Suppose that an advertiser created a food commercial by using a talking baby. The commercial could take advantage of the common phrase, “food baby” (an expression that refers to someone who just ate a lot of food and looks bloated). The first scene could depict someone feeling hungry, the second scene could show an inside view of that person’s stomach and how it’s completely empty, and the third scene could show a talking baby on vacation (implying that the person is hungry and doesn’t have a “food baby” inside her stomach). It’s a pretty absurd example, but it incorporates several psychological principles.