59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot (6 page)

K.I.S.S
. When thinking about the name of a new project, campaign, or product, keep it simple. Adam Alter and Daniel Oppenheimer, of Princeton University, tracked the fortunes of companies on the stock market and found that those with simple and memorable names, such as Flinks, Inc., tended to outperform companies with awkward names such as Sagxter, Inc.
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Further research showed that the effect resulted not from larger companies’ tending to have simpler names but from a natural tendency of people to be drawn to words that are easy to remember and straightforward to pronounce.

Mind Your Language
. Who hasn’t been tempted to slip the odd overcomplicated word into a report or letter to make themselves sound especially intelligent and erudite? According to other research conducted by Daniel Oppenheimer, an unnecessary love of the thesaurus may have exactly the opposite effect.
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In a series of five studies, Oppenheimer systematically examined the complexity of the vocabulary used in passages from various kinds of texts (including job applications, academic essays, and translations of Descartes). He then asked people to read the samples and rate the intelligence of the person who allegedly wrote them. The simpler language resulted in significantly higher ratings of intelligence, showing that the unnecessary use of complex language sent out a bad impression. Oppenheimer described the results of the research in a paper titled “Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly.” Among his findings was that passages presented in a font that was difficult to read lowered people’s evaluations of the author’s intelligence. These results suggest that you can increase how bright people think you are by merely writing legibly and simplifying your language.

FAVORS, PRATFALLS, AND GOSSIP

Likeability matters. The Gallup organization has examined the public perception of American presidential candidates since 1960, focusing on the impact of issues, party affiliation, and likeability.
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From these factors, only likeability has consistently predicted the winning candidate. Similarly, research on relationships, by Phillip Noll at the University of Toronto, shows that likeable people are about 50 percent less likely to get divorced. Indeed, likeability might even save your life, as other studies indicate that doctors urge likeable patients to stay in touch and to return for more frequent checkups.

But what is the best way to ensure that you top the like-ability league? Self-help guru Dale Carnegie has rightly pointed out that one way of increasing your popularity is to express a genuine interest in others. In fact, Carnegie argues, people will win more friends in two months by developing a genuine interest in those around them than in two years of trying to make others interested in them. Other writers have suggested alternative quick and easy routes, which include giving sincere compliments, matching people’s body language and style of speech, appearing to be modest, and being generous with your time, resources, and skills. No doubt these kinds of commonsense techniques work. According to research, however,
there are other, more subtle ideas that can also help you win friends and influence people. All it takes is a little advice from Benjamin Franklin, the ability to trip up once in a while, and an understanding of the power of gossip.

Eighteenth-century American polymath and politician Benjamin Franklin was once eager to gain the cooperation of a difficult and apathetic member of the Pennsylvania state legislature. Rather than spend his time bowing and scraping to the man, Franklin decided on a completely different course of action. He knew that the man had a copy of a rare book in his private library, and so Franklin asked whether he might be able to borrow it for a couple of days. The man agreed and, according to Franklin, “when we next met in the House, he spoke to me (which he had never done before), and with great civility; and he ever after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions.” Franklin attributed the success of his book-borrowing technique to a simple principle: “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.” In other words, to increase the likelihood that someone will like you, get that person to do you a favor. A century later, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy appeared to agree, writing, “We do not love people so much for the good they have done us, as for the good we do them.”

In the 1960s psychologists Jon Jecker and David Landy set out to discover if this two-hundred-year-old technique still worked in the twentieth century.
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They arranged for participants in an experiment to win some money. Then, soon after the participants had left the laboratory, a researcher caught up with some of them and asked a favor. He explained that he had used his own funds for the study, was running short of cash, and wondered if the participants would mind returning the money. A second researcher, the departmental secretary,
accosted another group of participants and made the same request, but this time explained that it was the psychology department that had financed the experiment, not personal money, and that the department was now a bit low on cash. Afterward, all of the participants were asked to rate how much they liked each researcher. Just as predicted by Franklin and Tolstoy all those years before, the participants liked the researcher who asked for help on a personal basis far more than they liked the researcher who made the request on behalf of the department.

Although it may sound strange, this curious phenomenon, referred to as the “Franklin” effect, is theoretically sound (at least when it comes to small favors—large requests can have the opposite effect, making people either respond begrudgingly or simply refuse). Most of the time people’s behavior follows from their thoughts and feelings. They feel happy and so they smile, or they find someone attractive and so look longingly into the person’s eyes. However, the reverse can also be true. Get people to smile and they feel happier, or ask them to look into someone’s eyes and they find that person more attractive. Exactly the same principle applies for favors. To encourage others to like you, ask for their help.

The Franklin effect is not the only counterintuitive route to likeability. There is also the technique that helped John F. Kennedy become one of the most popular presidents in American history.

In 1961 Kennedy ordered troops to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The operation was a fiasco, and historians still view the decision as a huge military blunder. However, a national survey taken after the failed invasion showed that the public actually liked Kennedy more than earlier despite his disastrous decision. Two factors could account for this seemingly
strange finding. Kennedy didn’t try to make excuses or pass the buck for the botched operation; instead he immediately took full responsibility. Also, until that point in time, Kennedy had been seen as a superhero—a charming, handsome, powerful man who could do no wrong. The Bay of Pigs disaster made him appear far more human and likeable.

Elliot Aronson and his colleagues at the University of California decided to take an experimental approach to the issue in an effort to discover whether making a mistake or two is actually good for your popularity.
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In one part of their study, participants listened to one of two audiotapes. Both tapes detailed a student’s participation in a general-knowledge quiz, followed by him talking about his background. The student performed very well on the quiz, correctly answering more than 90 percent of the questions, and then he modestly admitted to a lifetime of success. However, in one of the two editions, toward the end of the recording, the participants heard the student knock over a cup of coffee and thereby ruin a new suit. All of the participants were asked to rate how likeable they found the student. Despite the only difference between the tapes being the fictitious knocking over of coffee, the student who had committed the blunder was considered far more likeable, just like Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs invasion. Interestingly, the effect emerges only when someone runs the risk of being seen as too perfect. In another part of the Aronson experiment, the researchers made two audiotapes of a more normal-sounding student who averaged just 30 percent correct answers on the quiz, and then outlined a series of more mediocre achievements. Under these conditions, spilling the coffee in his lap sent him plummeting to the bottom of the likeability scale, because he was perceived as a total loser.

This strange phenomenon, often referred to as the “pratfall” effect, may work well for presidents, and when heard on
audiotapes, but does it also operate in other situations? To find out, I recently helped restage a version of Aronson’s experiment, but this time the setting was a shopping center.
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We gathered a crowd and explained that they were going to see two trainees demonstrating how to make a fruit drink using a new type of blender. First was Sara, who played the role of our “perfect” person. Sara had spent the night before coming to grips with the device and learning a convincing script. In went the fruit, on went the lid, zoom went the liquidizer, and out came a perfect drink. The crowd rewarded Sara with a well-deserved round of applause and then eagerly awaited our second demonstrator, Emma, who was playing the part of our “less than perfect” person. This time, in went the fruit, on went the lid, zoom went the blender, off came the lid, and Emma ended up covered in fruit drink. Shaking the remains of the drink from the bottom of the blender into a glass, she received a sympathetic round of applause from the crowd.

After the first part of the experiment, it was time to explore the issue of likeability. We interviewed audience members about the two demonstrations. Which impressed them more? Were they more likely to buy a blender after seeing the first or the second demonstration? Most important of all, did they most like Sara or Emma? Although the public tended to find Sara’s demonstration more professional and convincing, it was Emma who topped the likeability scale. When asked to explain their decision, people said that they found it difficult to identify with Sara’s flawless performance but warmed to Emma’s more human display. Although not the perfect experiment (for example, Emma and Sara were not identical twins, so maybe their looks influenced the crowd’s judgment), it provides further support that the occasional trip-up can be good for your social life.

The third, and final, route to likeability involves a very human trait—the desire to gossip. Most people like to pass on a juicy bit of information about friends and colleagues, but is such behavior good for them? John Skowronski, from Ohio State University at Newark, and his colleagues investigated the downside of spreading malicious gossip.
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Participants watched videotapes of actors talking about a third party (a friend or acquaintance of the actor). Some of the actor’s comments about his friend were very negative, such as “He hates animals. Today he was walking to the store and he saw this puppy. So he kicked it out of his way.” Afterward, the participants were asked to rate the personality of the speaker. Remarkably, even though it was obvious that the person on the videotape was criticizing someone else, the participants consistently attributed the negative traits to the speaker. This effect, known as “spontaneous trait transference,” reveals the pluses and minuses of gossiping. When you gossip about another person, listeners unconsciously associate you with the characteristics you are describing, ultimately leading to those characteristics’ being “transferred” to you. So, say positive and pleasant things about friends and colleagues, and you are seen as a nice person. In contrast, constantly complain about their failings, and people will unconsciously apply the negative traits and incompetence to you.

IN 59 SECONDS

Self-help gurus have argued that it is possible to increase your likeability by becoming more empathetic, modest, and generous. They are probably right. But there are also three other surprising factors that can promote popularity.

The Franklin Effect

People like you more when they do a favor for you. The effect has its limits, however, and is more likely to work with small favors rather than more significant requests that make people either respond begrudgingly or, even worse, refuse.

The Pratfall Effect

The occasional slipup can enhance your likeability. However, remember that the effect really works only when you are in danger of being seen as too perfect.

Gossip

Know that whatever traits you assign to others are likely to come home to roost, being viewed as part of your own personality.

   
QUICK PERSUASION TIPS

Make It Personal
. In 1987 the public contributed $700,000 to assist a baby who had fallen into a well in Texas, and in 2002 they gave $48,000 to help a dog stranded on a ship in the Pacific Ocean. In contrast, organizations constantly struggle to raise funds to help prevent the 15 million or so deaths from starvation that occur each year, or the ten thousand annual child deaths in America resulting from car accidents. Why? In a recent study, researchers paid people for their involvement in an experiment and then presented them with an opportunity to contribute some of the money to the Save the Children charity. Before making any contribution, half of the participants were shown statistics about the millions facing starvation in Zambia, while the other half saw a story about the plight of just one 7-year-old African girl.
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Those who saw the story of the girl contributed more than twice the amount given by those who saw only statistics. Irrational as it is, people are swayed far more by the individual than by the masses.