Words from the Webmaster

Dear all,

Once again, another two batches of students have completed the course on the basics of qualitative social research. This time round, some selected participant observational research done by the students are put up. At the same time, students' video demonstrations of the various persuasion techniques in social psychology are included. Hope you enjoy them!

Regards

Henry Khiat

Persuasion Techniques: Technique based on Scarity

To limit the sup­ply of a prod­uct or ser­vice in some way to increase scarcity of an offer. Because it’s a proven fact that scarcity sells. It’s that age­less law of sup­ply and demand. The less the supply is, the greater the demand will be.

http://www.michelfortin.com/use-scarcity-to-sell-not-scare/

Persuasion Techniques: Bait and Switch

In retail sales, a bait and switch is a form of fraud in which the party putting forth the fraud lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_and_switch

Persuasion Techniques: That's not all Technique

When offering or conceding something to somebody, rather than give it to them as a final item, give it in incremental pieces. Do not allow them to respond to each piece you give them -- keep on offering more.

http://changingminds.org/techniques/general/sequential/not_all.htm

Persuasion Techniques: Low Ball Technique

The Low-ball works by first gaining commitment to an idea or item at a lower cost than you really intend to charge, then, using the fact that people will behave consistently with their earlier commitments you change the agreement.
The strategy creates an illusion of irrevocability so that a person believes that a decision made (at lower costs) cannot be reversed, he/she may consider a handshake the close of the deal and therefore have a responsibility to commit to it to the very end.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-Ball

Persuasion Techniques: Foot in the door

Foot-in-the-door technique (FITD) is a compliance tactic that involves getting a person to agree to a large request by first setting them up by having that person agree to a modest request.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot-in-the-door_technique

Persuasion Techniques: Door in the Face

The door-in-the-face (DITF) technique is a persuasion method. Compliance with the request of concern is enhanced by first making an extremely large request that the respondent will obviously turn down. The respondent is then more likely to accede to a second, more reasonable request than if this second request were made without the first, extreme request. There is also a feeling of guilt associated with the DITF technique of sequential requests (Cialdini, 2000). A person is also more likely to agree with the second request because they feel guilty for having rejected the first request. A reference point (or framing) construal can also explain this phenomenon, as the initial bad offer sets a reference point from which the second offer looks like an improvement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door-in-the-face_technique