Analysis of Robert Cialdini's "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" Chapters 2 &am

Robert Cialdini novel "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" provides insight into the human mind and how we understanding persuasive techniques and how these techniques translate into action. This concept is incredibly important, especially for campaigns in which you are working to persuade someone to think or act differently in regards to a certain situation. For our purposes, the topic in which we have been discussing is one of traffic safety. Cialdini's novel becomes important to our discussion as we are working to persuade bikers and drivers to be respectful and obedient to the laws regarding traffic safety. And Cialdini does not disappoint, he articulates a few phenomenon that could be useful for future traffic safety campaigns.

The first notion Cialdini points out is in Chapter 2 of his novel, it is called the rule of reciprocation. This rule articulates that we "should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us." Cialdini notes that this rule is universal for all human beings and that it has been a societal rule since cavemen wandered the Earth. If you do something for one person, the chances they will do a favor back is increased exponentially, Cialdini explained this referencing a few things, but one situation, in particular, was how Mexico had lent the poor people of Ethiopia money once in the early 1900s and even when the Ethiopians needed money to help their starving people, the Ethiopian Red Cross send themselves to Mexico City to help individuals recover from a damaging earthquake.

The use of reciprocation could prove to be extremely powerful in our situation, purporting the idea of safe road use. Specifically, if we were to consider creating a campaign that's purpose was to reduce motor vehicle use around a college campus, the rule of reciprocation could an effective tool. For example, if the organization that is responsible for this campaign gives out free reusable water bottles to their peers and, after handing them their free "gift", asked the students to try using BikeShare to get to class that day instead of using a car, the likelihood that students will say yes is increased because they were first given a gift from that individual and - whether they want to or not - will feel an obligation to pay them back and perform the task they ask. Thus having fellow university students encouraging other students to use BikeShare, a local bike renting service located on certain college campuses, increases the likelihood that students will likely ride a bike rather than use a car or bus to get to class (even if the student doesn't like riding bikes) because a fellow university peer asked it of them.

Another technique that can be used from the rule of reciprocation is actually easier than providing a favor and receiving one in return; instead, this rule can be applied like it is a sales transaction. That is, we are "obligat[ed] to make a concession to someone who has made a concession to us." Cialdini gives the example of a boy selling $5 tickets, which Cialdini refuses, but after he refuses, the boy then offers him $1 candy bars, in which he accepts. Although Cialdini did not want the candy, nor did he want to give away his dollar, he accepted because of the rule of reciprocation. Therefore, if we were to apply this rule to a university, we could offer students a $300 fine for parking a car, and if they say no, offer a $5 parking fee for their bikes. In this manner, the biking option appears more appealing because it is cheaper than the first option presented and it also respects the rule of reciprocation.

Another psychological notion Cialdini points out in Chapter 3 is our innate human desire to be consistent with our choices. Once we have committed to a certain belief or action, we will "encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment." Cialdini also provides several examples to illustrate this concept, the clearest one being when people bet on horse races. Although bettors are not sure which horse will win, once they select a horse to bet on they are fully confident that they made the right decision. Since the action was to pick that horse to win, all feelings and beliefs are followed suit to believe that horse will win in order to create consistency with that choice.

As a central motivator behind our behavior, this aspect of Cialdini's novel could be particularly helpful in our college campus campaign for reducing motor vehicle use. In order to articulate commitment and consistency, a university could ask students to sign a pledge to live greener lifestyles. This list could then be posted in a school-wide email, which would publically display the students who signed as "green thinking students." In order to act in conjunction with their signed commitment to being green, this could enable students to act greener by riding their bikes more. Although this situation gives no guarantee of that response, it does increase the likelihood of greener actions by students. However, if the contract were to say something more specific like they would help lower that university's CO2 emission rate by doing one of a serious of events, including riding a bike around campus instead of a motor vehicle, that could have a major impact on the community and encourage them to follow their contract and fulfill their duty in order to remain consistent with their action of signing the contract.

The psychological aspects that Cialdini offers his readers can be extremely useful in constructing and executing educational campaigns. Particularly in this blog's area of study, using these major factors and psychological "mind games" could be very effective at engendering change. Unlike our previous articles that emphasize educating riders and drivers about street safety, this approach is much more in-depth and allows for deeper connections to be made about the problem at hand. Instead of traffic safety being a result of bad drivers and ignorant cyclists, this information can shift the focus to being more centralized around being consistent with your values and upholding the respect of reciprocation - that you help your neighbor when they help you, and this requires helping each other in the first place. The notions that Cialdini explains appear to be much more effective than generic campaigns that have no effective measurement and only target a certain issue (not bringing these two factors into consideration).