6 Psychology Principle of Persuasion

Principle 6: Scarcity

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion — In-Depth Summary

This Book consists of seven chapters, the first chapter introduces the basis for weapons of Influence used by compliance professionals. The next six-chapter builds on top of chapter one (So make sure to read chapter one first). Each chapter introduces one principle of persuasion listed as below:

6 Psychology Principle of Persuasion

Principle 1: Indebtedness

Principle 2: Commitment and Consistency

Principle 3: Social Proof

Principle 4: Liking

Principle 5: Authority

Principle 6: Scarcity

Principle 6: Scarcity

“The way to love anything is to realise that it might be lost” — G.K.Chesterton

The idea of potential loss plays a large role in human decision-making. In fact, people seem to be more concerned by the thought of losing something than by the thought of gaining something of equal value. For instance, when homeowners were told how much money they could lose from inadequate insulation, they are more likely to insulate their homes than those who were told how much money they could have saved.

“The aim is to get someone to want to buy quickly, without thinking too much about it” — Orestes J. Mihaly

What kind of scarcity methods?

1. Imperfections. Manufacturing imperfections, imperfections that would otherwise make for rubbish when produced too much can become prized possessions when they bring along an abiding scarcity.
2. Illusions of scarcity. Some shops would convince customers that the product is out of stock, but would later “accidentally” find the “last one” in the inventory. By convincing the customers of an item’s scarcity and thereby increase its immediate value in their eyes.
3. “Deadline” tactic. This tactic placed some official time limit on customer opportunity to get what the compliance is offering. This pressures the customer to react quickly without thinking too much.
4. Promotion. The notion of promotion will end, and they have to purchase the item at a higher price in the future give a sense of urgency to customers to buy the product right now instead of later.

Why do we react to scarcity?

Scarcity Principle

1. We know that the things that are hard to possess are typically better than those that can be easily possessed. We would often use an item’s availability to help us quickly and correctly decide on its quality. Thus, by following it, we are usually and efficiently right.
2. According to Psychological Reactance Theory developed by Jack Brehm, whenever a free choice is limited or threatened, the need to retain our freedoms makes us desire them (good and services included) significantly more than previously. Virginia-based studies have found that this psychology reactance developed as early as two years old. How? An independent being is one with choices, and a child with the newfound realization that he or she is such a being will want to explore the length and breadth of the options. However, the tendency to fight against every restriction should not be viewed negatively, but as a quest for information, by testing severely the limits of their freedoms (freedoms like “How long can I be underwater?” or “Can I put my hand on the stove?”).

When our freedom to have something is limited, the item becomes less available, and we experience an increased desire for it. However, we rarely recognize that psychological reactance has caused us to want the item more; all we know is that we want it. Still, we need to make sense of our desire for the item, so we begin to assign it positive qualities to justify the desire. For example, Censorship, when a piece of information is censored, the audience believes in the information more, even though they haven’t received it.

Another tricky way to increase the popularity of an unpopular opinion is to not publicize it, by having it officially censored but to have it later “leak” to the public. When we find this “leak” information (exclusive information), we viewed it as more scarce, and we will find it more persuasive. To up one more level, the fact that the news carrying the scarcity of information was itself scare made it especially persuasive.

Competition for scarce resources has powerful motivating properties. When in direct competition with a rival, the message is not just the product is good because others think so (social proof), but also that we are in direct competition with those people for it. The thoughts of losing out to a rival frequently turn a buyer from hesitant to zealous.

How to say no?

By learning to flag the experience of heightening arousal in a compliance situation, we can alert ourselves to the possibility of scarcity tactics there and to the need for caution. We must also bear in mind that scare things do not taste or feel or sound or ride or work any better because of their limited availability.

Disclaimer

All information above are the summary of the book: “Influence: The Psychology Principles of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini” There are a lot more interesting and eye-opening techniques used by compliance professionals that are not mentioned in this summary. Find out more by buying this book at Amazon.com