Posted January 30th, 2016 @ 11:56am in #Trump
For regular readers of this blog only, see if you can find a persuader’s fingerprints in this video clip (or the text below it). Then tell me who the persuader is.
You’re looking for a one-word tell.
See it?
0 CommentsPosted January 30th, 2016 @ 11:21am
I add this data point to the “Everything you knew about diet is wrong” part of your brain.
0 CommentsPosted January 29th, 2016 @ 8:33am in #trump
Last night the Republicans held their debate in Iowa without Trump. Let’s see how Trump fared.
0 CommentsPosted January 28th, 2016 @ 7:45am in #Trump
In the book Influence, by Cialdini, we learn that any sentence that contains the word “because” will influence people no matter what follows that word.
Hypnotists already knew that.
That’s the sort of rule you don’t believe until you see it in action. Here’s an example:
0 CommentsPosted January 26th, 2016 @ 8:54pm in #Trump
Donald Trump says he won’t appear at the upcoming debate on FOX if Megyn Kelly is a moderator, and as of this writing, it appears she will be. Some of you asked me how this move by Trump could possibly be a smart thing.
On the 2D playing field, Trump appears petulant and whiney. Maybe narcissistic, fascist, and a little bit of Hitler too. And as FOX cleverly pointed out, negotiating with foreign leaders won’t be easier than Megyn Kelly’s questions.
So Trump loses badly in the second dimension.
0 CommentsPosted January 25th, 2016 @ 9:42am in #Trump
Patrick Henry is one of the founders of the United States, and here we see him using a high-ground move and making his listeners think past the sale. Patrick Henry was a Master Persuader and a patriot. So were the other founders. And they built a government from scratch.
In a few days, the patriots of Iowa will decide if they want to fire the government of the United States. A convincing win for both Sanders and Trump would be a good start. It seems we are heading in that direction.
0 CommentsPosted January 22nd, 2016 @ 9:26am in #Trump
I need to add one level to the BOTTOM of the persuasion stack. That level involves arguing about the definition of a word.
0 CommentsPersuasion Stack
Identity (best)
Analogy (okay, not great)
Reason (useless)
Definition (capitulation)
You’ll see a lot of debate on whether Trump is a true conservative or not. That is argument by definition. It is the linguistic equivalent of throwing your gun at a monster because the magazine* is empty.
Posted January 21st, 2016 @ 12:01pm in #Trump #bernie2016
As I have taught you, persuasion can be ranked like this:
1. Identity (best)
2. Analogy (okay)
3. Reason (useless)
Bernie Sanders had been operating in the lower two categories along with Hillary Clinton. But his new ad, set to a Simon and Garfunkel tune, is pure identity (America!) and pure gold.
That should put him over the top in Iowa, according to the Master Persuader filter.
0 CommentsPosted January 21st, 2016 @ 8:14am in #Trump
This post will make more sense to the people familiar with the systems-versus-goals idea in my book.
One of the most powerful systems I have seen involves layering one modest skill on top of another until the effect is something special. For example, I combined the following modest skills into a cartooning empire:
0 CommentsPosted January 21st, 2016 @ 7:13am in #gun control #nra
Today I give you a bad idea with the hope that you can fix it. As usual, this idea is more for fun than for reality. Unless you fix it. No pressure, but lives are at stake.
The question is whether an app could reduce the death toll from mass shootings in public places. Follow me on this and see if there’s something there.
0 Comments
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