Noah J. Goldstein > Quotes

“when fate gives us lemons, we should try to make lemonade, not apple juice.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Secrets From the Science of Persuasion

“More generally, to prevent a good apple from getting spoiled by a bunch of bad ones, remember to show your appreciation for it.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“The more clearly people see behavioral means for ridding themselves of fear, the less they will need to resort to denial.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“This strategy, known as the labeling technique, involves assigning a trait, attitude, belief, or other label to a person, and then making a request of that person consistent with that label.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“Broadly speaking, this research provides a valuable insight into human behavior: An ounce of personalized extra effort is worth a pound of persuasion. The more personalized you make a request, the more likely you’ll be to get someone to agree to that request. More specifically, this research shows that in the office or in the community, a personalized sticky note could highlight the importance of your reports and communications and prevent them from becoming the proverbial needle in a haystack of other reports, letters, and mailings that are also vying for attention.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“Consequently, an easy way for candidates to get more of their supporters to the polls is to have volunteers call these self-proclaimed supporters, ask them if they’ll vote in the next election, and wait for the “yes.” If the caller then adds, “We’ll mark you down as a ‘yes’ and I’ll let the others know as well,” the commitment has three components that potentially cement that potential voter’s commitment: The commitment becomes voluntary, active, and publicly declared to others.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“Although there’s little doubt that other people’s behavior is a powerful source of social influence, when we ask people in our own studies whether other people’s behavior influences their own, they are absolutely insistent that it does not. But social psychologists know better. We know that people’s ability to understand the factors that affect their behavior is surprisingly poor.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“We often make the mistake of asking, “Who can help me here?” This may be a shortsighted approach to influencing others. It is far more productive to ask ourselves, “Whom can I help?” or, “For whom can I do a favor?” If management is about getting things done through others, then a healthy web of indebted colleagues, who have benefited from a manager’s useful information, concessions, attention, and perhaps a friendly listening ear, can stand that manager in good stead for the future. Similarly, our friends, neighbors, and partners will become more responsive to our requests when we have first provided for them.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“Similarly, if you happen to spot a particularly serious problem in a large-scale project undertaken by your organization, you would be wise to accompany your statements to management with at least one viable plan of action the company could take to avert the potential disaster (assuming you can design a plan quickly, of course). If you decide that you will tell management about a problem first and generate a plan later, by the time you and your coworkers have developed a plan, management may have already found ways to block out the message or refuse to admit that it applies to that particular project.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“For the most part, research has demonstrated that fear-arousing communications usually stimulate the audience to take action to reduce the threat. However, this general rule has one important exception: When the fear-producing message describes danger but the audience is not told of clear, specific, effective means of reducing the danger, they may deal with the fear by “blocking out” the message or denying that it applies to them. As a consequence, they may indeed be paralyzed into taking no action at all.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“Szot changed the all-too-familiar call-to-action line, “Operators are waiting, please call now,” to, “If operators are busy, please call again.” On the face of it, the change appears foolhardy. After all, the message seems to convey that potential customers might have to waste their time dialing and redialing the toll-free number until they finally reach a sales representative. Yet, that surface view underestimates the power of the principle of social proof: When people are uncertain about a course of action, they tend to look outside themselves and to other people around them to guide their decisions and actions. In the Colleen Szot example, consider the kind of mental image likely to be generated when you hear “operators are waiting”: scores of bored phone representatives filing their nails, clipping their coupons, or twiddling their thumbs while they wait by their silent telephones—an image indicative of low demand and poor sales.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“Flynn asserts that immediately after one person performs a favor for another, the recipient of the favor places more value on the favor than does the favor-doer. However, as time passes, the value of the favor decreases in the recipient’s eyes, whereas for the favor-doer, it actually increases. Although there are several potential reasons for this discrepancy, one possibility is that, as time goes by, the memory of the favor-doing event gets distorted, and since people have the desire to see themselves in the best possible light, receivers may think they didn’t need all that much help at the time, while givers may think they really went out of their way for the receiver.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“Along with data from other research studies, these findings make it clear that when we’re trying to solicit cooperation from other people—be they coworkers, clients, students, or acquaintances—we should offer help to them in a way that’s unconditional and no-strings-attached. Approaching the potentially cooperative relationship in this way should not only increase the likelihood that you’ll secure their cooperation in the first place, but also ensure that the cooperation you do receive is built on a solid foundation of trust and mutual appreciation, rather than on a much weaker incentive system. You’ll also find this approach to be much longer lasting. Otherwise, the moment the incentive you’ve been promising or awarding can no longer be offered or is no longer desired by the other person, the brittle foundation of the relationship may crack, and the cooperative bridge you’ve built up may come crashing down.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“One type of card required eight stamps to receive a free car wash, with no stamps attached to the card. The other stated that ten stamps were needed to receive the free wash, but two stamps were already affixed to the card. This meant that both cards required eight washes to receive the reward, but the second group seemed well on its way to completing the card with 20 percent of the stamps needed for the free wash.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

“When so many choices are made available, consumers often find the decision-making process frustrating, perhaps due to the burden of having to differentiate so many options from one another in an attempt to make the best decision. This may result in disengagement from the task at hand, leading to an overall reduction in motivation and interest in the product as a whole.”
― Noah J. Goldstein, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive