6 ways to persuade anyone of anything
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Unless you're striving for a level of zen on par with the most dutiful Buddhist monks, there's pretty much always something that you want.
You might want a raise from your employer, a partnership with a new business that opened up, or maybe just some extra dipping sauce for your chicken fingers without paying that 50-cent additional charge.
You can get many things in life by simply convincing someone else to give them to you — but they aren't going to give it to you without a good reason.
Your greatest tool to get what you want is through the psychology of persuasion.
Here are seven persuasive tactics you can use to get what you want from anyone.
1. Be confident
Your first step is to remain and project confidence throughout the entirety of your appeal. The more confident you are, the more convincing your arguments are going to sound, and the more powerful you're going to appear. Confidence is easy to fake and hard to distinguish, so don't be afraid if you don't feel confident — just act confident, and that will probably be enough.
A study by the University of Leicester found that "the single significant behavioral difference between persuaders and persuadees was in the expression of confidence."
Confidence subtly implies that you're already convinced you're going to get what you want, which subtly influences the other party to give it to you. Just be careful not to overextend your exhibition of confidence, or you'll run the risk of turning people off with arrogance.
2. Introduce a logical argument
People are easily persuaded by logic. The Conflict Research Consortium of the University of Colorado states that "persuasion is the process of convincing an opponent to change his or her beliefs and/or behavior through moral or logical argument (rather than force). When someone is persuaded to do something, they do it because they have come to believe it is the right or best thing to do."
For example, let's say you're persuading your coworker to take on one of the more challenging pieces of an assignment you're working on together.
Initially, your coworker might resist, but you can use a logical argument to explain that he/she is better equipped to handle that section, meaning the assignment will be done faster and more efficiently, making both of you look good and helping the company in the process.
3. Make it seem beneficial to the other party
One of the more effective means of persuasion is making your request seem valuable for the other party. Doing so can be tricky, but under the right circumstances, it can be a perfect fit. For example, let's say you're trying to convince a friend to help you move.
Obviously, there's a lot of work involved with moving, and your friend may not be so willing to go along with it. Instead of talking about all the furniture you need to move, talk about how much fun it will be to go through your old junk, or about how you're buying pizza for everyone afterward, or how you're giving some old things away in the process.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider