You want what is in short supply. This desire increases as you anticipate the regret you might have if you miss out by not acting fast enough.

Scarcity Principle

When you express with certainty a particular attitude, that attitude hardens. The opposite is true as well: Expressing uncertainty softens the attitude.

Amplification Hypothesis

You can be influenced by stimuli that affect how you perceive short-term thoughts and actions. Here’s a really smart example from Changing Minds:A stage magician says ‘try’ and ‘cycle’ in separate sentences in priming a person to think later of the word ‘tricycle’.

Priming

This approach, based on multiple years of research by Yale University, found a number of factors in persuasive speech, including being a credible, attractive speaker; when it’s important to first or go last; and the ideal demographics to target.

Yale Attitude Change Approach

A common social norm, reciprocity involves our obligation to return favors done by others.

Reciprocity Norm

Certain words carry more power than others. This theory breaks persuasive words into three categories:<ul><li>God terms: those words that carry blessings or demand obedience/sacrifice. e.g, progress, value</li><li>Devil terms: those terms that are despised and evoke disgust. e.g., fascist, pedophile</li><li>Charismatic terms: those terms that are intangible, less observable than either God or Devil terms. e.g., freedom, contribution.</li></ul>

Ultimate Terms

Persuasive messages tend to decrease in persuasiveness over time, except for messages from low-credibility sources. Messages that start out with low persuasion gain persuasion as our minds slowly disassociate the source from the material (i.e., a presumably sleazy car salesman and his advice on what car is best).

Sleeper Effect

The minority in a group can have a disproportionate effect on influencing those in the majority. Typically, those in the majority who are most susceptible are the ones who may have joined because it was easy to do so or who felt there were no alternatives. Consistent, confident minority voices are most effective.

Conversion Theory

We are influenced strongly by others based on how we perceive our relationship with the influencer. For example, social proof on web copy is persuasive if the testimonials and recommendations are from authoritative sources, big brands, or peers.

Social Influence

This theory involves a persuasive person deliberately breaking one of the four conversational maxims. These are the four:<ul><li>Quantity: Information is complete and full.</li><li>Quality: Information is truthful and accurate.</li><li>Relation: Information is relevant to the conversation.</li><li>Manner: Information is expressed in an easy-to-understand way and non-verbal actions support the tone of the statement.</li></ul>

Information Manipulation Theory

Influence your audience without feeling sleazy about it with these tips on social media.