Influence and Persuasion
Influence and Persuasion
Critical Thinking (Influence, Science and Practice)
Chapter 1
1. Suppose you were an attorney representing a woman who broke her leg in a department store and was suing the store for $100,000 in damages. Knowing only what you know about perceptual contrast, what could you do during the trial to make the jury see $100,000 as a reasonable, even small, award? * Research for similar cases with the same injury but with settlements far greater than $100,000. The bigger its difference from the client’s demands, the better it would be. Present these case citations to the court and by the principle of perceptual contrast, it will drive home the point to the jury that the plaintiff’s demand is indeed very reasonable.
2. The charity request card in Figure 1.2 seems rather ordinary except for the odd sequencing of the donation request amounts. Explain why, according to the contrast principle, placing the smallest donation figure between the two larger figures is an effective tactic to prompt more and larger donations * Listing $25 as the very first amount and succeeding it with the $10 already creates a perceptual contrast, wherein the larger amount would be rejected outright as a steep amount for donation. However, placing $5 right after the $10 creates more perceptual contrast – again the donor would lean towards the lower value. If the charitable organization’s target amount is a donation of $10/person, then it should have stopped at ten as the last amount. However, if its target amount is $5 dollars but with an objective of prompting donors to give more voluntarily, then placing the $5 between the $10 and $15 makes more sense because the donor would be forced to choose a balance between two extremes – the extremes being $5 and $15 and the $10 being the balanced amount that the donor could give without the guilt feeling of being stingy and at the same time without the feeling of being taken advantage of.
3. What
Critical Thinking (Influence, Science and Practice)
Chapter 1
1. Suppose you were an attorney representing a woman who broke her leg in a department store and was suing the store for $100,000 in damages. Knowing only what you know about perceptual contrast, what could you do during the trial to make the jury see $100,000 as a reasonable, even small, award? * Research for similar cases with the same injury but with settlements far greater than $100,000. The bigger its difference from the client’s demands, the better it would be. Present these case citations to the court and by the principle of perceptual contrast, it will drive home the point to the jury that the plaintiff’s demand is indeed very reasonable.
2. The charity request card in Figure 1.2 seems rather ordinary except for the odd sequencing of the donation request amounts. Explain why, according to the contrast principle, placing the smallest donation figure between the two larger figures is an effective tactic to prompt more and larger donations * Listing $25 as the very first amount and succeeding it with the $10 already creates a perceptual contrast, wherein the larger amount would be rejected outright as a steep amount for donation. However, placing $5 right after the $10 creates more perceptual contrast – again the donor would lean towards the lower value. If the charitable organization’s target amount is a donation of $10/person, then it should have stopped at ten as the last amount. However, if its target amount is $5 dollars but with an objective of prompting donors to give more voluntarily, then placing the $5 between the $10 and $15 makes more sense because the donor would be forced to choose a balance between two extremes – the extremes being $5 and $15 and the $10 being the balanced amount that the donor could give without the guilt feeling of being stingy and at the same time without the feeling of being taken advantage of.
3. What