Methods of Persuasion: How to Use Psychology to Influence Human Behavior

by Nick Kolenda

schemas, priming, and spreading activation.

priming the mindset: activate schema, priming indset,

if you’re ever in trouble yourself, don’t make a general plea for help. A general plea will only cause people to diffuse the responsibility. If you’re in desperate need of help, you should: (1) directly point to someone so that you destroy her cloud of anonymity within the crowd, and (2) give her a specific and direct request, such as to call 911. This strategy is the proper way to “persuade” someone to help you when the circumstances are dire.

tactics to be covered, so we’ll revisit this scenario