Define and discuss the 6 principles of persuasion.

Next, describe a situation, either fictional or

real-life, where you were tasked with persuading an individual or group at your place of work to

do something that you wanted them to do or help you with. Remember that this should not

include a situation in which you, the boss are telling your subordinates what to do; the

communication should occur between equals. Describe how you used the 6 principles during the

persuasion process. Were all 6 of the principles applied to the process of persuasion? If not, what

was missing from your argument?

Vuong Dang

Gustavo Zavala

BUS 1105-01 - AY2023-T1

10/12/2022

Writing 6

According to the information provided in our textbook, persuasion can be defined as

either the act of presenting arguments or the process of doing so in order to move, motivate, or

change your audience (McLean, S. 2010). When it comes to conducting business, the skill of

persuasion is an essential instrument that, once mastered, can significantly improve a person's

level of success. According to the findings of my research conducted online, the six principles of

persuasion developed by social psychologist Robert Cialdini are utilized in a variety of business

contexts. The six guiding principles are known as "reciprocity," "scarcity," "authority,"

"commitment and consistency," and "consensus and liking," respectively. In this article, I will
first define each of the six principles, then discuss them, and finally illustrate how they can be

used in practice.

The idea behind the principle of reciprocity is that people feel compelled to show

gratitude to those who have helped them in some way, even if that gratitude takes the form of

merely acknowledging the favor. This helps to develop a relationship and fosters trust between

the parties involved. When you are conscious of opportunities to take the initiative and give

something up, you create an atmosphere in which other people will feel obligated to give

something in return. When someone buys us a gift or does something nice for us, for instance,

we tend to feel obligated to get them something in return or to repay them in some other way. As

a result of the fact that one of my responsibilities at work is to process the paperwork for newly

hired employees, I am one of the first people who new employees talk to. This usually means

that as they are getting settled into their offices, questions or requests are directed toward me as

the person to contact with them. Just this past week, I had two newly hired employees come by

my office to say thank you and drop off a token of their appreciation for the assistance that I had

provided to them.

The idea that there are inadequate supplies of something or that there are limited

resources is known as the Principle of Scarcity (McLean, S. 2010). People's desire for a product

increases in proportion to how unusual or hard to find it is. Products that are marketed as

"limited editions" are typically quite popular for this very reason. I recently overheard a jewelry

store advertising their "one of a kind" wedding ring settings as a way to entice people to shop at

their store rather than going to another store and purchasing a ring that looks identical to what

everyone else has. The goal of the advertisement was to prevent customers from purchasing a

ring that was identical to what everyone else had.

 The notion that people are more likely to believe a credible expert is where the Authority

Principle gets its start. People are more likely to believe that you are an authority and trust you if

you can demonstrate that you are knowledgeable about a product and how it works. One more

facet of this principle is the practice of drawing on the knowledge and experience of people who

are already considered to be experts in their fields. People come to me when they need assistance

using either our copier or our printer because I have read the manuals for both of those devices. I

am able to instruct them on how to make use of all the features that are available and provide

assistance in the event that problems occur.

When individuals make decisions that are consistent with their previous actions, the

principle of commitment and consistency is demonstrated. Experiments have shown that if a

person does even a small favor for another person, that person is much more likely to return the

favor with a larger favor at a later time. (Dooley, R. 2017). When conducting business, getting a

client to make even minor commitments will establish a pattern that will make subsequent

transactions more straightforward.

The idea behind the Principle of Consensus, also referred to as Social Proof, is that when

faced with a decision, most people will first consider what others have done in similar situations.

For this reason, businesses will use customer testimonials or make statements about the number

of clients they have worked with in the past.

Having things in common with one another is an essential component of the principle of

liking, which states that "like attracts like." When it comes to making decisions, people are more

easily swayed by those they like. One method of putting liking to use in business is to emphasize

the things that you and the people you are trying to convince have in common. An illustration of

this would be a person who sells athletic gear but dresses in the manner of an athlete.
 When I was a member of a hiring committee, I had a personal experience in which I was

able to put some of these principles into practice. We had a large pool of qualified applicants to

choose from, and some of the other members of the committee were having a hard time

narrowing down their list of top candidates. I decided to create a table that would list the

applicants and the requirements that we were looking for in order to make the process simpler.

After that, I used a sliding scale to determine how closely each applicant met the requirements

and ranked them accordingly. Because I was the one who took the initiative to create this table,

you can look to me as the expert on how the candidates should be ranked. I had the opportunity

to use the principle of liking in certain situations where the applicants were equally qualified, and

I took advantage of that opportunity by pointing out what certain applicants had in common with

the personalities and interests of others who were already working in the department. I also

applied the principle of reciprocity by demonstrating what the applicants could bring to the table

in terms of growth and service to the department. I did not apply each of the six principles, but

by putting into practice the ones that I did, my team and I were able to reduce the number of

candidates in a manner that was both more timely and effective.

Although each of the six principles of persuasion is effective in certain circumstances, it

is not always necessary to employ all of them simultaneously. The key is to be familiar with all

of them and know how to use them effectively, so that when opportunities present themselves,

you can take full advantage of them and turn them to your advantage.

References

Dooley, R. (2017, August 31). A Guide to the 6 Principles of Persuasion & How to Use

Them in Sales. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/cialdini-principles-of-persuasion

McLean, S. (2010). Business Communication for Success. The Saylor Foundation. Licensed

under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 License without

attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.