In the 1970s, Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer conducted studies designed to answer a simple question: 'What's the best way to persuade someone
to let you queue jump?'
The studies revealed some interesting insights. Pushing in was, naturally, disastrous. Asking the person at the front for permission to cut in was much more successful. Some 60 per cent of people yielded to such a request. Interestingly, if the person making the request added a reason for why they needed to jump to the front of the queue, nine out of ten people would comply.
Intrigued that compliance could be increased by almost half simply by giving a reason, Langer decided to look at which reasons were most compelling. What she found was startling. It really made no difference what reason was given for why someone wanted to jump in front. They just had to have one. It was as if people stopped listening once they heard the word 'because' and simply acquiesced.
Given that Langer's studies were conducted almost 40 years ago, is simply providing a reason when making a request still an effective persuasion strategy in today's much faster moving modern world?
In a much more recent set of studies, Harvard economist Felix Olberholzer-Gee looked at the impact of offering a financial incentive rather than a reason to persuade people to allow queue jumping. His researchers approached people randomly in queues and offered them a cash payment to cut in. As one might expect, the more money offered, the more likely an individual was to allow a complete stranger to jump ahead of them. But here was the surprise. Hardly anyone who agreed to let someone jump the queue would accept the money on offer (students and women were the most likely groups to take the cash.)
In Olberholzer-Gee's studies, the cash incentive on offer directly represented the need someone had. The higher the incentive, the greater the need that was being communicated and the more likely someone was to say 'Yes' without actually accepting the cash.
Forty years on, this time-old persuasion strategy seems as valid today as it has ever been. When looking to persuade and convince others to agree to your requests, proposals and ideas, be sure to accompany them with a strong rationale, even if you think the reasons are fairly clear. We all too often fall into the trap of assuming that other people understand the reasons why we make the requests that we do.
Steve Martin is co-author of Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion. Visit http://influenceatwork.co.uk; Twitter @scienceofyes
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