Dr. Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, is a fascinating paperback filled with contemplative studies and analyses of human behavior.

If you’ve ever wondered why you impulse buy at a supermarket, or why you allow the fast-taking car salesman work you over, you’ll appreciate the few hours needed to finish this book. I’ll share two episodes I found particularly interesting. The first is very apropos and timely.

It’s Christmas time and if you have children, they are no doubt influenced by the swarm of advertising all around them. Toy manufacturers and toy stores have come up with a clever scheme to boost sales of toys in January and February (traditionally slow months for them.) Here’s how the scam works, “They start prior to Christmas with attractive TV ads for certain special toys. The kids, naturally, want what they see and extract Christmas promises for these items from their parents. Now here’s where the genius of the companies’ plan comes in: They undersupply the stores with the toys they’ve gotten the parent’s to promise. Most parents find those things sold out and are forced to substitute other toys of equal value. The toy manufacturers, of course, make a point of supplying the stores with plenty of these substitutes. Then, after Christmas, the companies start running ads again for the other, special toys. That juices up the kids to want those toys more than ever. They go running to their parents whining, ‘You promised, you promised,’ and the adults go trudging off to the store to live up dutifully to their words.” (page 66) How cunning!

The second episode concerns a magic word. Can you guess what one word induces compliance more than any other? In an experiment by Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer a bizarre truth was discovered. Here’s how the experiment ran: Langer asked a small favor of people waiting in line to use a library copying machine: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?” Effectiveness? Ninety-four percent of people acquiesced to the request.

Langer tried another experiment. This time the question was only, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine.” The percentage of consent this time was only 60%.

Nothing particularly surprising here; people like having reasons for behavior. But Langer didn’t stop there. Here’s the final experiment run, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies.” This final trial was sneaky. People thought they were hearing a reason, but in fact, none was given. The result? Ninety-three percent agreed! The keyword “because” was spoken and that was enough to trigger an automatic compliance response rate. (page 4)

In conclusion, the book is choc full of bewildering studies that really get you thinking. In fact, I’ve used the because trick several times since I finished the book, each time with a successful result. Let me know how it works for you because I’d like to know. -)