Audiences Need for Simplifying Their Daily Tasks Discussion

Watch and listen to the interviews and whiteboard animations listed below. Robert Cialdini, psychology professor emeritus at ASU (sadly for us, he retired early), is the leading researcher in social influence and arguably the most cited living psychologist. He just donated $1 million to ASU and established the Cialdini Institute. 

SOURCES to watch or review:

Science of Persuasion (a whiteboard animation for the first six principles)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw&t=92sLinks to an external site.

Brief descriptions of the principles (Influence at Work is one of Cialdini’s companies)

https://www.influenceatwork.com/7-principles-of-persuasion/Links to an external site.

The PSYCHOLOGICAL TRICKS To Persuade & Influence ANYONE! | Robert Cialdini & Lewis Howes (this is a bit long but worth it! I recommend watching at 1.5x speed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7pI5qY8cCELinks to an external site.

DISCUSSION PROMPT

For this discussion post, you will practice using Cialdini’s 7 principles of influence. Your goal is to convince an audience to adopt an idea or purchase a product (of your choice) or try a new phone app. Your goal is to use at least THREE influence principles, providing specific examples of each in your sales pitch. 

You may (a) construct a verbal dialogue with the person(s) you want to influence, or (b) design a pop-up or paper ad by describing it in detail, or (c) design a short video ad and describe what it would contain.  For your chosen method, be sure to describe exactly what the customer would experience (what you would say or what they would see) and explain the principles you used and the rationale for your tactics.