Concepts of Behaviorial Persuasion
The technique of persuasion in itself can be studied in different ways. One such way is to study it according to our behavior. It’s really amazing to observe, how we as human beings tend to get persuaded easily because of some of our inherent behavioral patterns. Behavioral persuasion in fact, plays a vital role in the advertisement world, where the manufacturers try to persuade us to buy their products by observing our general behavior.
Read on about some powerful principles of behavioral persuasion.
Reciprocation
Even the most selfish people somehow abide to the principle of reciprocation. If someone offers us something, we because of our human tendency tend to return the favor with something else. Take for instance, a child gives you a flower on the road, you might first hesitate in accepting it, but you might then take it and would feel like offering something to the child in return, this is how the reciprocal persuasion works.
Consistency and Commitment
Believe it or not, you would hardly find someone who wouldn’t like to stick to a consistent path. Once we get things that are consistent, we usually rely on those things for our whole life. The rule of consistency can be seen in an office where you like a person and if someone criticizes him or her, you may not like that person but if on contrary the other person admires him or her, you will automatically start admiring that person too.
Social Proof
Social proof or social validation is another principle of behavioral persuasion. This world goes only with proof, without proof even a family won’t accept a lost child. In other terms, we all tend to believe n something if there is some solid validation or proof. This rule of persuasion is used by many brands in advertisements; they show us some research proofs to make us believe in their products.
Authority
Those higher in authority always gain in persuading others in their own way. People have a tendency to follow the recommendations of those in high authority. Take for instance, people handling business look more authoritative if dressed in a proper business suite than the ones dressed in casual dresses.
Liking
Another principle of behavioral persuasion is the principle of liking. It is a truth untold that we are always persuaded by the people we like. This is the technique used most often by the ad makers, who try to persuade us by bringing famous celebrities to endorse their products, so that we are persuaded to try their products.
Scarcity
The rule of scarcity is yet another way of behavioral persuasion. The moment we feel that something will be in shortage, we tend to grab it at once. The fear if scarcity drives us to be the first one to buy certain products from the market. Take for instance, we are more inclined to buy things that come with an offer of buy one and get one free, this is because we feel that it will be a limited offer and not worth missing.