Inner Secret Of Persuasion

Posted on January 16, 2009
Filed Under Self Improvement |

The art of persuasion can be used to get humans into bed or to get them to buy material goods. What I am interested in is using the art of persuasion to sell ideas. You might use it to sell an idea like a new computer architecture, the end of hunger, a sustainable ecology or that gay and straight humans should have strict equality. You might use it to persuade humans to give up some bad habit like smoking tobacco, abusing alcohol, an obsolete violent religion or cruelty to animals and children.

These hints may be useful to altruistic humans or future artificial intelligences. Knowledge of these techniques may also be useful in defending yourself from persuasion by people who are considering only their personal benefit. Here are the techniques I have learned. I have not yet thought out which ones are ethical.

Techniques:

# Teach by example. If you want to stop a mob from panicking in a theatre during a fire, walk calmly. If you want humans to adopt some ethical moral code, or philosophical system, live it rigorously. They will pick it up from you unconsciously by modelling you.

# Lead with non-controversial statements.

# Humans reason mostly by analogy. The key is finding the right analogy and letting them reason it through for themselves. You don’t even need to assert the two models are related, just put them in the same vicinity.

# Praise the desired behaviour in anyone who exhibits it. The others will mindlessly model the behaviour to get praise.

# Don’t bother with the reasons why you want humans to do something. Get into their heads. Why would they want to do it? People are much more likely to trust you if you obviously like them and have their desires and well being in consideration.

It is possible to improve your skill as a persuader. Check out 20 day persuasion by Michael Lee. Some important note: learn how to communicate your passion for your position and how to judge your audience’s emotional state. Next, listen carefully to the other party’s concerns and try to find some common ground. Increase your persuasive ability by using vivid language and compelling evidence to reinforce your position.

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