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Tag Archives: persuasion

The psychology of price

In his book Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It), William Poundstone entertainingly explains the economics, psychology, and intellectual reasoning surrounding the ways in which producers and sellers take advantage of buyers’ lack of knowledge.

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Behaving badly is contagious

Imagine that the neighborhood you are living in is covered with graffiti, litter, and unreturned shopping carts. Would this reality cause you to litter more, trespass, or even steal? A thesis known as the broken windows theory suggests that signs of disorderly and petty criminal behaviour trigger more disorderly and petty criminal behaviour, thus causing the behavior to spread.

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Being a know-it-all is very persuasive

Being a know-it-all Is very persuasive, particularly if you don’t tell people you know it all. Social psychologists have performed many studies that demonstrate that people, especially in business settings, are more persuaded by proposals that come from credible and trustworthy sources.

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The power of reciprocity

Will people be just as likely to live up to the rule of reciprocity and return a favour in situations where nobody will ever know if the favour is returned?

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The sway of irrational behaviour

Yes, it is yet another book on irrational thinking. There must be money to be made in explaining the science of our faulty thinking in an easy to understand manner. In a new book, Sway: The Irressistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour, the authors Ori and Rom Brafman outline a series of irrational behaviours that remind us just how often decisions are made not on sound reasoning but on emotional impulses that can have critical consequences.

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