The art of convincing others to do something for you is one such quality that every growth hacker must have. And the good new is, anyone can learn this art of convincing others with the following simple trick. How to convince people and make them believe in you The answer is in physiological tendency called Spiral of silence, Propounded by the German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, Spiral of silence is a mind trick that can be used to perceive your friends and family against their belief by making feel their opinion belongs to the minority group. Let’s take an example put by Quora user Carla Lazzari. Let say you go out with your friend, for a movie that he/she is very passionate about. Also invite some other mutual friends to come along. Now tell that “other mutual friends” to give negative feedback to the movie even if they like it. And slowly, you will start seeing a change of opinion of your friend who was enthusiastic about the movie. Why does this happen ? The science behind this is Spiral of silence. People fear to express their opinion publicly if they think they are in a minority. But not only this, if the convincing act is done properly you might even see change their belief to that of the majority to avoid the fear of isolation.
So if you are smart enough to make them believe that their opinion belongs to the minority group, then slowly you will start noticing the shift in their perception. And if this is repeated for a long time then it may even change ones believe permanently. Wikipedia suggests Spiral of Silence is – Spiral of Science happens at both micro and macro level. A micro level you can convince people to update/change their believe and start believing in you. And in the macro level, it is the same technique that media use to alter public opinion before elections. However it should be done in by practice with logical facts otherwise, you may see negative effects. For instance, if you convince someone belief as minority using incorrect facts then they believe in you for some time. But when will find the truth, they might feel emotionally cheated, and you will lose their trust forever. Therefore it’s important to practice spiral of silence in the positive way only. So now that you know both up and down of Spiral of Silence, next time you find yourself in similar situation;
Don’t get intimidated by the majority. If you believe in something, then say it. Many people like you are not saying it, just because of fear of isolation. And likewise, if you want to convince someone, make him/her feel that their perception belongs to the minority. And gradually you will see the shift in their perception due to fear of isolation.
Credits: Feature Image Modified from Pixabay.
