The Science of Influence: How to Get Anyone to Say "Yes" in 8 Minutes or Less!, Second Edition

Chapter 5. The New Principles of Influence

Over the years there has been a lot of animosity between academics and street-smart businesspeople. Academics don't go out and actually do the work; they study and research things. Street-smart businesspeople (including salespeople) don't actually know specifically what they are doing that is working. When you take the two worlds and bring them together, you get . . . this book. For 20 years I've been interested only in what works. You have the same interest or you wouldn't have picked up this book.

Before we move on to the universal principles of influence in business and relationships, I want you to take a little self-test with me. Throughout the book you will get an opportunity to participate in lots of self-tests. In each of the tests, the questions have been used in numerous studies before. The answers you give will help you understand how you think, and as you go through the book you will literally come to understand how people in general think and decide. Ultimately you will learn how you can utilize all this new learning to be far more influential.

Framing a Question

For your first dip in the pool of new knowledge, I want you to participate in a decision-making game that comes from Kahneman and Tversky (1984). Simply read this scenario and write down the answers before going through the evaluation.

Imagine that we are preparing for the outbreak of a dangerous disease that is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat ...