This presentation is inspired by famous book by Robert Cialdini "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" and will be useful to those who would like to get acquainted with popular weapons of influence or just broaden own outlook. It recalls real life cases mentioned in the book as well as similar situations that are fully IT-related and based on my own experience and observation. Design by Yarko Filevych (http://www.filevych.com/)

1. Influence
The Psychology of
Persuasion* (in IT)
TARAS MATYASHOVSKYY
* Inspired by Robert Cialdini famous book

3. About me

4. Warning
When using approaches described ahead,
make sure that you use them honestly
and by persuading people to do things
that are good for them.
If you persuade people to do things
that are wrong for them, then this is
manipulative, and it's unethical.

5. The 6 Principles of Influence
also known as the Weapons of Influence
• Reciprocation
• Consistency
• Social proof
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity

6. Weapons of Influence

7. Shortcut
“Civilization advances by extending
the number of important operations
which we can perform without thinking of them.”
- Alfred North Whitehead,
English mathematician and philosopher

8. Shortcut Motivations
People tend to respond intelligently to the information
when they have the desire and the ability
to thoroughly analyze it

9. Shortcut Examples

10. Shortcut Examples
• Expensive = good
• Pink for girls, blue for boys
• Dolls for girls, cars for boys
• Handbag and shoes should match
• Blondes and IQ
• All domestic goods are of poor
quality
• Etc.

11. Shortcut Examples in IT
• Legacy projects
• Testing takes a lot of time
• Technology X sucks
• Customer doesn’t know what he/she wants
• TL/PM knows what he/she is doing
• Similar tasks – same old solutions
• Etc.

12. Contrast Principle
The way we see the difference
between two things
that are presented one after another

13. Contrast Principle Examples
• Real estate agents and rents
• Expensive thing first, accessories
second
• Beautiful woman first, less
attractive second
• Etc.

14. Contrast Principle Examples in IT
• Interesting task first, boring second
• Complex task first, simple second
• Project descriptions during
recruiting
• Etc.

15. Reasoning
People simply like to have reasons
for what they do

16. Effect Captainitis
Automatic,
but irrational compliance
usually thrives in organizations
with clearly defined hierarchies

17. Effect Captainitis in IT
Mistakes made by senior engineers,
TL/PM, customer/clients are easily
ignored

18. Reciprocation
Give and Take

19. Give and Take
As humans,
we generally aim to return favors,
pay back debts, and treat others
as they treat us

20. Reciprocation Examples
• Quid pro quo
• Birthday presents
• Invitations to parties
• Expression of courtesy
• etc.

21. The Reciprocation
Rule Is Overpowering
It overwhelms the influence of a
factor,
liking for the requester,
that normally affects the decision
to comply

22. The Reciprocation Rule
is a Weapon of Influence
The rule enforces uninvited debts

23. The Reciprocation Rule is a Weapon
of Influence
The rule can trigger
unfair exchanges

24. The Reciprocation Rule is a Weapon
of Influence
Reciprocal concessions,
i.e. rejection-then-retreat
technique

25. The Reciprocation Rule in IT
• Extremely complex task – retreat – complex
task, that was the goal right from the start
• Extremely boring task – retreat – boring
task, that was the goal right from the start
• Expensive conference compensation – retreat
– cheaper conference compensation
• Headhunter offer – retreat – “Can you
recommend someone?”
• Etc.

26. Should I Say No?
• reciprocation rule is not bad in
general
• reject is not the best option
• favor vs. trick

27. Commitment and Consistency

28. Commitment and Consistency
“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”
- Leonardo da Vinci,
Italian painter, scientist, and engineer

29. From Commitment to Consistency
Humans have a deep desire to be
consistent.
For this reason, once we've
committed to something, we're then
more inclined to go through with
it.

30. Commitment Examples
• “Watch my things”
• Signing petitions
• Lowball strategy
• College initiation
ceremony
• Etc.

31. Commitment is the Key
• committing power of written or
verbal statement
• committing power of public
statement
• committing power when appropriate
actions are effortful

32. Commitment Is Not Always Bad

33. Commitment in IT
• Meetings
• Action items after meetings
• Wiki pages
• Emails sent to “all”
• Etc.

34. Commitment and Consistency
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson,
American essayist, lecturer, and poet

35. Social Proof

36. Social Proof
"safety in numbers"
“Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.”
- Walter Lippmann,
American writer, reporter, and political commentator

37. The Principle of Social Proof
We use to determine what is correct
by finding out what other people think
is correct

38. Social Proof Examples

39. Social Proof Examples
• Put a tip in a jar if it already
contains money
• Laugh if we hear canned laughter
• Buy goods influenced by commercials
using average-person-on-the-street
• Etc.

40. Social Proof Conditions
• we are feeling uncertain or
ambiguous
• we are even more likely to be
influenced if the people we see
seem to be similar to us

41. Situation in which a majority of group
members privately reject a norm,
but incorrectly assume that most
others accept it,
and therefore go along with it
Pluralistic Ignorance Phenomenon

42. Pluralistic Ignorance Phenomenon

43. Pluralistic Ignorance Phenomenon

44. Pluralistic Ignorance Phenomenon
Since nobody is concerned,
nothing is wrong

45. Pluralistic Ignorance Phenomenon in IT

46. • Missed feature/critical bug
• Missed meetings
• Inconsistency in processes
• Code quality
• Failed unit tests
• Etc.
Pluralistic Ignorance Phenomenon in IT

47. Liking

48. Liking
“The main work of a trial attorney
is to make a jury like his client.”
- Clarence Darrow,
American lawyer

49. Liking
We are more likely to be influenced
by people we like

50. Likability Forms
• People might be physically
attractive
• People might be similar or
familiar to us
• People might give us compliments
• People might be associated with
smth. good or successful
• We may just simply trust them
• Etc.

51. Liking

52. Liking in IT
• Overrate colleague
• Overrate team lead
• Overrate PM
• Overrate customer/client
• Etc.

53. Luncheon Technique
Humans can become fonder
of the people and things
they experienced while they were eating

54. Luncheon Technique in IT
• Team building
• Corporate parties
• Coffee breaks
• Etc.

55. Authority

56. Authority
“Follow an expert.”
- Virgil,
Roman poet

57. Authority
Humans feel a sense
of duty or obligation
to people in positions of authority

58. Authority Accessories
• job titles
• uniform
• status
• height
• attributes
• etc.
can lend an air of authority
and can persuade us to accept
what these people say

59. Authority or not?
• remove element of surprise
• ask yourself – is this authority truly
an expert
• seek for the authority’s credentials and the
relevance of those credentials to the topic at
hand
• may show apparent lack of concern for
personal profit in order to look more
frankful

60. Authority in IT

61. Authority in IT

62. Authority in IT
• Is senior engineer truly a senior?
• Is architect really an expert in this
technology stack?
• Is manager truly an expert in risk
mitigation, understands development
processes, estimates techniques, etc.?
• Is this customer/client truly a domain
expert (SME)?

63. Authority in IT
Push from customer for
specific technology,
framework, tool, etc.
without getting into the
essence of the problem

64. Scarcity

65. Scarcity
“The way to love anything
is to realize that it might be lost.”
- G. K. Chesterton,
English writer, theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist

66. Scarcity

67. Scarcity
Opportunities seem more valuable to us
when their availability is limited

68. Scarcity
People seem to be more motivated
by the thought of losing something
than by the thought of gaining something
of equal value

69. Why It Works
• Shortcut
• Psychological reactance theory

70. Censorship and Scarcity Principle

71. Other Aspects of Scarcity Principle
• recently less available vs. have
always been scarce
• competition-for-limited-resources-
fever
• discounts
• real estate agents
• the same appointment time approach
• auction
• uniqueness

72. Scarcity in IT
• Unique task
• Unique skill set
• Unique title
• Unique project
• Etc.

73. Psychological Reactance
Theory in IT
• Time tracking
• Freelance vs. out staff
• Fixed work schedule
• 20 kinds of tea – 2 kinds of tea
• Etc.

74. Epilogue

75. Epilogue
“Every day in every way, I’m getting busier.”
- Robert Cialdini,
American professor, writer

76. Rapidity of Modern Daily Life
• We contact more people and have
shorter relationships with them
• We are faced with an array of choices
among styles and products
• We travel more and faster
• We relocate more frequently to new
residences
• Etc.

77. Rapidity of Modern Daily Life
Our ability to collect, store,
retrieve, communicate
and analyze information is limited

78. Evolvement of Technology
• Technology evolve much faster
• Our natural capacity to process
information is likely to be
increasingly inadequate
Shortcuts to rescue

79. Decision Making and IT
• we don’t use all the relevant
available information
• we use, instead, only a single, highly
representative piece of the total
• an isolated piece of information can
lead us to clearly stupid mistakes

80. Resistance
• Be aware
• Change current conditions
• Take your time
• Collect more data and analyze it more
carefully
• Listen to your gut feeling

81. Q&A
Thank you!

82. References
http://www.amazon.com/Influence-
Psychology-Persuasion-Revised-
Edition/dp/006124189X
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/arti
cle/six-principles-influence.htm
http://cumama.blogspot.com/2010/03/
19.html
http://www.biztimes.ru/index.php?ar
tid=797