Authority, Liking & Scarcity

4. Authority. The need for authority is hard-wired into our brains. As a result, people will obey an authority figure, even if they think that the acts that they have to perform are questionable. The greatest example of this is the Milgram Experiments. The Milgram Experiments were social, psychological experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram, which measured how willing people were to obey an authority figure who had them perform acts that conflicted with their own conscience. The experiments involved an experimenter, a learner, and a teacher. The only party that was not aware of the actual set-up was the teacher. The experimenter was a stern teacher in a gray lab coat. The victim was a 47-year-old accountant who was trained to act as if in pain, while the teacher was someone who gave an electrical shock if the learner gave an incorrect answer to a series of questions. After each wrong answer, the shock increased by 15 volts. In reality, there were no shocks so the accountant was not harmed. Milgram initially expected that the number of people who would inflict the maximum 450-volt shock would be only 1.2 percent. In reality, 26 of the 40 participants (65 percent) inflicted this high a voltage shock. Only one participant refused to administer shocks beyond 300 volts. This shows just how hard-wired we are to respond to authority figures.


5. Liking. People will usually listen to someone they like, or think they like. Viral marketing is an example of this. In viral marketing, the Internet allows groups of friends, separated by continents, to influence each other's decisions regarding media -- including television shows, movies, and music. Studies have found that people will buy from someone they like much more often than from those they do not like. As humans, we tend to respond to people who are more attractive and therefore we are more willing to buy from those people, because we believe that we like them more.

6. Scarcity. If people believe there are only a limited number of items left, they will be more likely to buy the product and create a greater demand. This is why you hear so many offers say, "Limited time only!" or, "Only a few left!" on television, even though there are probably warehouses full of these things left.


One very well-known form of persuasion is propaganda. Propaganda is a series of messages that are aimed at influencing the behaviors, and even the opinions, of huge groups of people, often numbering in the millions. Propaganda can come in a wide variety of forms, from complete lies, to absolute truth (the most effective form), but are used to produce an emotional response from the public, rather than a rational one. This is often seen in wartime. Governments will put out posters dictating that if you are not helping the war effort like your fellow citizens, then you are siding with the enemy. Many posters in England and the United States during World War II qualified as this type of propaganda.These posters used many of the methods we have discussed above:

• Commitment. Many citizens believed fighting the Nazis and the Japanese was the right thing to do for the world.


• Social Proof. By saying that their fellow citizens are fighting, the person seeing the poster is more likely to respond favorably.


• Authority. Usually it depicted Winston Churchill, a soldier, or Uncle Sam, telling the person reading the poster to enlist and help the war effort.


• Authority. Usually it depicted Winston Churchill, a soldier, or Uncle Sam, telling the person reading the poster to enlist and help the war effort.