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Weapons of Influence #4: Liking (Ep. 195)

Last Updated January 22, 2018

Do you like me?

If not, than congratulations! If I’m ever trying to sell you a used car for some reason, you will be more resistant to my persuasive trickery.

However, if the opposite were true, we’d be much more likely to strike a deal — even if you ended up getting the short end of the stick.

In this part of our series on Robert Cialdini’s Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion, you’re getting two lessons: how to evade subtle manipulation by friendly charlatans, yes, but also how you might add to your own likability.

Whether or not you see used car sales in your future, you don’t need to be selling something to want to be liked.

Things mentioned in this episode:

This week’s episode is sponsored by:

  • Brilliant – Accelerate your learning in math, science, and computer science. Start learning for free at Brilliant.org/CollegeInfoGeek – and if you’re among the first 200 people to sign up, you’ll also get 20% off your subscription.

Other things we mentioned in this episode:

Want more cool stuff? You can find all sorts of great tools at my Resources page.

Timestamps:

  • 0:05:53 – How we are influenced by people and things we like
  • 0:18:28 – Being associated with something
  • 0:29:51 – Sponsor: Brilliant (Learning problem-solving skills)
  • 0:31:59 – Physical attractiveness and the halo effect
  • 0:40:26 – Similarities, compliments and how some exploit them
  • 0:51:25 – Contact, familiarity and cooperation
  • 1:00:56 – Recap and conclusion

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Weapons of Influence #4: Liking