Altering the Perception of the
Persuasion Target
One of the best ways to influence your target of persuasion to make a certain decision is by affecting the target’s perception of the circumstances. Let’s talk about a very practical and widely used approach of altering someone’s perception and using that altered perception to achieve your persuasion goal.
Persuasion Secret:
You Can Use the Contrast Principle to Drastically Change Someone’s Perception!
It is a proven fact that when a person is exposed to an extreme of some sort, it will greatly influence their perception. An excellent example of the potency of a perceptual contrast is an experiment that has been done in various different forms that works essentially as follows: Subjects are asked to place their hands into a container of very hot water. Naturally, the subject instantly pulls his hand out of the water. Next, the subject is asked to rate on a scale how hot the water is. All of these subjects will of course rate the water as extremely hot.
Next, the subjects are asked to stick their hands into a different container of water and to rate the temperature. This water is lukewarm. The subjects will consistently rate this water as being mild to cool in temperature.
After this a second group of comparable subjects are asked to stick their hands into containers of the lukewarm water. Now, with nothing to compare with, this group will consistently rate this water as being warm. Thus, the subjects who’ve first been exposed to very hot water will consistently perceive the lukewarm water to be much cooler than the group who was not exposed to the hot water first.
Perceptual Contrasts Are Used In Business Promotions All the Time
I’m sure that you have seen many promotions such as advertising in newspapers, television direct response commercials, and direct mail promotions where the product being placed for sale is said to have a certain value that seems fairly expensive.
At the moment when the target of the persuasion perceives the fairly expensive price, the target is not too convinced that the purchase of this item is good idea. But the marketer quickly lets the target know that in fact this is not the price, but that the actual price is a lot less.
In successful direct mail promotions or direct response television promotions the actual price is often something only 25% of the initially mentioned price. Based on the contrast of the higher price that the target perceived was the actual price, this new lower price is now perceived as an exceptional bargain and that an instant buying decision is an excellent idea.
Perceptual contrasts are just one of many ways you can persuade people to increase you wealth, succeed in business and vastly improve your personal life.
For more information on becoming a master of persuasion, follow this link: