Scott Adams' Blog

How to Do Persuasion Wrong

Posted May 4th, 2016 @ 9:44am in #Trump

Now that Donald Trump has effectively wrapped up the Republican Party nomination, let’s talk about the general election. Clinton’s campaign chair, John Podesta, has started to make the case that Trump is too “risky” to be president. That signals a shift from arguing about policy and experience to pure persuasion.

That’s a big deal. If you missed it, you missed the only important thing that happened this week. The rest is just blah-blah delegates, blah-blah, polls. Persuasion will determine the next president. As always.

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Clinton Versus Trump - Persuasion Scores

Posted May 3rd, 2016 @ 8:34am in #Trump #clinton2016

Today I’ll take you to the third dimension of persuasion to see how Clinton and Trump are matching up lately. I can’t make this post appear balanced because Clinton is making big mistakes on the persuasion dimension while Trump is being his usual skillful self. So the best I can do is remind you that my political preferences do not align with Trump or any other candidate.

We’ll start with Clinton’s new campaign slogan:

LOVE TRUMPS HATE

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Say Goodbye to Your Mind

Posted May 1st, 2016 @ 12:06pm in #Trump

Some of you already saw an article in which cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman explains why reality is an illusion. I say the same type of thing in this blog and in my book. But I have low credibility on this topic, so I recommend Hoffman’s explanation.

In order to be an effective persuader, you must embrace the idea that common sense is an illusion. And you must understand that humans rarely (if ever) do anything because of logic and reason. The part of us we consider rational is in reality a rationalizer. Your mind is creating little movies in which you are the star.

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The Health Tell

Posted April 29th, 2016 @ 8:12pm in #Trump #clinton2016

I have blogged and tweeted that Hillary Clinton looks unhealthy to me. And I have mentioned on Twitter that one of the skills of a hypnotist is identifying subtle bodily changes. Observation is a huge part of a hypnotist’s skill. You look for micro changes in muscle tone, breathing, posture, and anything else that can tell you whether your technique is working or you need to quickly pivot to a new approach. Think of it as rapid A-B testing on humans. And like any skill, one gets better with practice. I have more than three decades of practice for this specific skill.

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Can Trump Change the Frame on His Perceived Sexism?

Posted April 28th, 2016 @ 9:10am in #Trump

Donald Trump called John Kasich “disgusting” for how he eats. Trump insulted Rand Paul’s looks. He said Rubio was sweaty and little. He mocked a disabled guy (an enemy reporter) who has a bad arm. Ted Cruz turned into “lyin’ Ted” and Jeb Bush got tagged with the “low energy” kill shot.

Trump also said, “Look at that face” about Carly Fiorina. He made a reference to Megyn Kelly bleeding from “wherever” and he calls Hillary Clinton “crooked” nearly every day.

What do you call it when a man insults his enemies who are both male and female? Democrats call it a “woman problem.” And indeed it is. Here I remind you that reason is not part of persuasion. If the public sees Trump as having a “woman problem” then he does.

So how could he fix it?

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And Then There Were Two

Posted April 27th, 2016 @ 8:09am in #Trump

Hillary Clinton effectively sealed her nomination last night. And Donald Trump almost certainly did the same, winning five states by larger margins than the polls and the pundits expected.

Why did Trump exceed expectations?

Probably lots of small reasons added together. But I’ll call out a few from the field of persuasion.

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The Unfavorability Illusion

Posted April 26th, 2016 @ 9:58am in #Trump

Regular readers remember I blogged that Megyn Kelly got her new haircut because of Trump’s influence. This article seems to confirm it.

You also know I predicted that Megyn Kelly would do an interview with Trump that would mark Trump’s third-act solution. That interview is scheduled for May 17.

It is worth noting that while you were watching Trump do his thing, Megyn Kelly came out of it stronger, with a higher profile, a better job, and a sure-fire ratings bonanza with the upcoming Trump interview. Kelly turned me into a fan along the way. Nicely done.

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Cyberbombs and ISIS

Posted April 25th, 2016 @ 9:36am in #trump #ISIS

According to the news, the United States is stepping up its use of cyber attacks and psychology against ISIS. For example, our cyber forces are creating fake messages to send ISIS fighters to the wrong places.

Update: Here’s more about current efforts.

But the funniest part is that the U.S. military is openly bragging about their cyber tricks. That’s because the bragging makes the tricks stronger. We want ISIS to distrust 100% of their communications. That way we can use a few fake messages to destroy the credibility of all.

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Science Proves Science is an Illusion

Posted April 22nd, 2016 @ 9:34am

Let’s go a bit further down the rabbit hole today.

As regular readers of this blog know, I often say reality is an illusion. Our brains did not evolve to give us truth. Our brains simply evolved to give us little movies that we treat as truth. According to this way of thinking, nothing exists – or nothing exists the way we perceive it – including science itself.

Oh, and your brain probably doesn’t exist either, at least not in any shape and form you imagine to be real.

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How Powerful is Persuasion?

Posted April 21st, 2016 @ 8:51am in #Trump

I have been writing about Donald Trump’s powers of persuasion for months and yet many of my readers are still persuasion doubters. I get that. We like to think of ourselves as creatures of reason.

But we are not creatures of reason. We aren’t even close. Science has known this for a long time.

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