Resources / Ripples & Wipeouts

Robert Caldini is the godfather of the study of influence and is someone who is almost always studied by people who do any type of marketing. I find that his principles are also useful in crafting communications that are designed to build teamwork and inspire groups of people. There are lots of good examples of how Caldini’s principles play out in the workplace, both in nonprofit and for-profit enterprises, as well as government agencies. Here are Caldini’s six principles of influence, along with some examples I’ve created to illustrate each principle.

#1—Reciprocation: When someone gives you a gift, you feel obligated to reciprocate, to give something in return. I’m reminded of those fund raising mailings from the disabled veterans. They include free stickers with your name and address that you can use on your personal mail. This is, I suspect, designed to induce a feeling of indebtedness in the recipient so that we reciprocate with a donation.

#2 - Social proof: If many people are doing or believing the same thing, then that behavior or belief is validated as correct. Think of McDonalds’ “billions served” line on their signage and packaging. It implies that billions of people eat there, so you should get on board and eat there too.

#3 - Commitment and consistency: Once a person makes a formal commitment, s/he is more likely to follow through on the promised behavior. And once a behavior is established, most people tend to continue it. Last year the students in my social marketing course developed a campaign to encourage green behaviors on campus.  One feature was to get students to sign a pledge stating that they would reduce their consumption of plastic by carrying their own non-disposable water bottles instead of buying bottled water.  That’s a commitment technique. Regarding consistency, I immediately thought of the charge of “waffling” that is leveled against any politician who changes her/his mind about an issue.  There is incredible pressure to remain consistent in one’s beliefs, even if that belief is no longer credible.

#4 - Liking: People prefer to say ‘yes’ rather than ‘no’ to those they like, so it pays to cultivate friendly feelings. Think Facebook and LinkedIn.  If I want to reinforce a connection with an acquaintance, I will often click “like” on something that s/he has posted on Facebook.  And then there are the LinkedIn “endorsements.” We say positive things about colleagues and they in turn say positive things about us. The endorsements are also a good example of principle #1.

#5 - Authority: Once someone perceives another as an authority, s/he will follow the authority’s instructions, whether they make sense or not. A recent episode of Nurse Jackie had a great example of this.  A patient in the ER was obviously misdiagnosed by a medical doctor.  It was clear to everyone that the diagnosis was incorrect, yet when a nurse determined the correct diagnosis the patient chose to believe the doctor. For this patient, the doctor carried more authority than the nurse.  Also, the doctor in this instance was male and the nurse female, which may have had something to do with it. Another good example of this is the “dress for success” concept.  If you look like you are in charge, people will accept it and generally do what you tell them to do.

#6- Scarcity: The scarcer an object is, the more people tend to desire it. You see this in fashion all the time.  My favorite example are those hideously expensive Birkin handbags that have a years-long waiting list for people to pay hundreds of dollars for one.  Another example is people waiting in long lines to go to some trendy restaurant that was just reviewed in the Times and/or is owned by some celebrity.