Understanding Mass Persuasion

Understanding Mass Persuasion

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Have you ever wondered how the art of persuasion works?

In this week’s episode, as we continue our series on mass movements, I am going to discuss a few techniques and tactics people use to persuade other people into taking action.

To be clear, persuasion is neither good or bad, it is simply the process of convincing someone to do or believe something. However, people (both good and bad) will use the same persuasive techniques to convince others to head down a certain path (both good and bad). 

So in this episode, I will discuss  FIVE common persuasion tactics people use so that you can better spot them in your day-to-day life.

Enjoy the show

Matt

TRANSCRIPT

(00:07):

All right. Hello. And welcome back to another episode where we're going to dive into mass persuasion today, right? And again, this is part of our series on creating mass movements, right? Part of mass movements is persuading the masses. And so, um, this is really the stuff I'm going to cover today is, is so applicable for so many things in life. Um, but specifically today, we're going to talk about how people will use these things to manipulate the masses. And so this can be applied to marketers, right? You know, people trying to sell you stuff. This is what they'll do, or this is they will fall like good people, good salesman, and, uh, good people that are, you know, of persuasion, trying to persuade you to do something. They will use these components that I'm going to talk about in this, uh, in this training. And again, we want to, we want to be clear too, that, you know, look, persuasion is not good or bad, you know, I can be persuaded to buy something that actually really is helpful for me.

(01:14):

Right. And so these, these tools are just that they're just tools. They're just ways of doing things. Now we need to understand that they can be used for good and bad. Okay. I am not implying that mass movements are bad. They aren't right. They can be right. They definitely can be, but they can also be good. I'm not PR I'm not implying persuasions bad. You know, I, I persuade people, you know, I, I try to persuade people all the time. In fact, this video right now, right. Is an act of persuasion. Right. You know, to, uh, to try and to persuade the idea of thinking critically about stuff, as opposed to getting roped into mass movements. Right. I mean, and just like, you know what I mean? You see, they kind of the metal level of this. Um, but most of us are operating from a place of persuasion, you know, quite often in our life.

(02:05):

And it's just about understanding what's going on. So you can see it and not get so emotionally attached to it. So close to it that you are getting persuaded to do something that ultimately you don't want to be doing. Right. So let's talk about the five components of persuasion. And this is something that I, um, picked up from, uh, the one sentence persuasion course by, uh, by Blair Warren. And so, um, again, we talked about a mass movement. One of the first components of a mass movement is a charismatic leader, right? So someone who, you know, you're, you're following, right. And usually that person is positioning himself in a way where they are, where you want to be. Right. Um, or they're going to lead you where you want to be. And some of the things that they're going to do to persuade you, to follow them are to encourage your dreams, to justify failures, to put your fears to rest, or, you know, allay your fears, uh, confirm your suspicions and throw rocks at the enemy.

(03:07):

So let's talk about each one of these. So encouraging your dreams, this is when the person's going to look and kind of future pace you, right. And say, Hey, look, you know, wouldn't it be great if you were here, right. And kind of really get into, you know, the deep, emotional place in your mind of where you want to be in your life. Right. So, you know, this idea of like, okay, if you're dreaming about this, right. If you know, let's just say having a six figure job or something like that. Right. Like it doesn't really matter what it is they're going to, you know, again, encourage that dream. Yeah. Yeah. You know what you deserve that. Right. And, and again, this can be used for good or bad, right? Like we, we need to understand that general concept that people will use this for evil, the evil people.

(03:56):

When they get this concept, we'll use it for bad stuff. Good people will use it for good stuff, but encouraging dreams again, can be used for good or bad, but this is what, what the, one of the things they'll do. Um, the, the second thing is that they'll justify failures. So one of the last things that any of us ever want to admit is failure. Right. And a good persuader will take your failures and explain how they're not about you. Right. So they'll, there'll be like, yeah, you know what, it's this person's fault. Right. You know, it's, it's the government's fault that this is their, you know, or, you know, or it's this particular political party, that's, it's their fault. Right. Um, and they will, they will take any guilt that you feel about your failure and move, remove it from you. Right. Um, because the last thing that most people want to do is admit that, Hey, you know, I, I fell short.

(04:58):

I failed. Right. And, and that's a, it's a tough thing for people to do. And, and again, you know, obviously it's the, almost the opposite of, of my message in many ways where it's like, you know, I think, I believe in taking personal responsibility, I think it's one of the most important things we can do. Right. Um, but when you, when you talk about mass movements, manipulating, if they can make you not the failure, not the reason for the hardship that you're experiencing, whatever that might be. Well, then naturally you're gonna, you're gonna gravitate towards that because your ego doesn't ever want to be wrong, be a failure, or, you know, be at the, at the, in the wrong end of things. Right. So, um, the third thing is to put, to rest your fears, right? So that's number three now. Well, what does that mean?

(05:44):

Well, we all have fear, right. And when we're driven by fear of the future, you know, naturally it's going to create chaos in our present moment. Right. And when a good persuader, what they'll do is they'll future pace, you and give you a future of hope. Right. You know, in your mind anyway, and that puts you to rest in the present. Right. I mean, we always only always have the present moment. Good persuaders will almost try to predict or like help you predict your future in a positive way so they can, um, they can essentially put your fears to rest about the future. Right. And, and, um, again for better or worse. Right. I mean, if we look at the example I use in the, in the last, um, in the last episode, when I talked about the charismatic leader and persuasion, it's like, okay, you have Jesus on one hand.

(06:39):

Right. And the idea of like, look, you know, you don't need to worry about going, you know, or like God sending you to hell, you know, as long as you believe in me, right. Or believe in Jesus, um, then, you know, and ultimately accepted forgiveness, that is what is going to enable you to ultimately get to heaven. And so that fear is put to rest now, conversely, on the other side, with, with Hitler, right. In his mass movement, well, you know what, you know, you, you can actually use fear of like, Hey, you know, if we don't do this, then this and this and this, and this is going to happen. Right. And so, um, you know, in order to make sure that this bad stuff doesn't happen, right? You, so you can future pace a good event, or you can future pace a bad event.

(07:24):

And I want you to see that, you know, if someone is future pacing, bad stuff in your future, in your future, that's going to create fear. Right. And then they put that fear to rest by saying, Hey, here's the solution. Right. It's a very, very, um, interesting persuasion technique to, to pay attention to, um, because if someone's talking about this futuristic catastrophe, right. Of these bands, bad things, that's creating fear in you. Oh, that's what persuader, there's nothing that drives more behavior than fear. Right. And, and, you know, and I, again, specialize in OCD and anxiety. And so you watch how much fear controls people. It's like when you can create fear in someone and then put that fear to rest with your solution. I mean, it's like, it's almost in many ways, it's not like it's guaranteed, they're going to do it, but it's, it's a high probability, right.

(08:12):

That they're going to, I'll be listening to you. Um, number four is to confirm their suspicions. Right. And again, instead of challenging suspicions, right? It's the idea of confirming the suspicion cm, Dan, like, because nothing makes someone feel more aligned than when you take something that's kind of going on in their mind and you can speak it to them before they even say it. Right. So when they're like, Oh, you know, this, this, this, right. I mean, you know, you can fill in the blank on this, but something that they're suspicious about, like, Oh, I wonder if this, this, and then that the leader says that to you. It's like, Oh, see, I knew it. You know? I mean, you know, and when they're able to say what you're thinking before you ever say it, there's an immediate alignment that confirms that, right. Or that, that forms there.

(09:01):

And then finally is to throw rocks at the enemies. And so any good persuader, what they'll do when we're talking about mass persuasion, especially is they will create an us versus them mentality. Right. They will create a divide on purpose, right. Because if you're trying to get a movement created, you can, you have to be moving against something. And even if you have to create that something, it's the only way you can create a movement. Right. So creating division is a huge component of persuasion. So, you know, if, um, I mean, just thinking of an example off the top of my head, it's like, okay. Some people will, like in, in mental health, let's say, right, there's different modalities of therapy and anyone that's persuading someone to work with them. Right. Like if I was a therapist and, and I, you know, obviously I believe in the research and evidence based of, um, practice of ERP and, uh, CBT when it comes to treating anxiety.

(10:13):

Right. And things like acceptance, commitment, therapy, mindfulness, all that. If someone comes to me and they say, well, I want to try electroshock therapy. Right. Or something like that. Some very like, or, you know, I want to get Labatt itemized or, you know, something. And I just say, yeah, you know, all treatments are created equal. Right. Yeah. You know, everything's great. Just do whatever you want in order to persuade someone to do the work. I have to kind of show like, Hey man, this is why this is bad. And this is why this treatment is good. Right. And I have to make that persuasion in the same way though. You know, when it comes to creating a mass movement politically, or, you know, into a kind of a creating a culture, all that stuff, you have to create an us versus them to create something to move against.

(10:59):

Okay. And in many ways, right. Um, the media, right. If we look at what the media is doing, right. Um, in, in, in the States, I mean, talk about fueling fear on both ends, right. I mean, I'm, I'm just fear every head read every, go, go read the headlines today. I avoid news like the plague, right. I don't, I don't engage with it. Don't consume it because at the end of the day, it's, you know, it's going to be biased no matter who writes it and it's going to be fear-driven because fear drives behavior. Right. And then if they can stimulate the fear, what they can then do is position their solution as the result that you need to follow. So someone putting you in a fearful state, you need to understand that that is manipulation. That is persuasion. Right. Because if you're in a fearful state, you're not going to be thinking logically.

(11:47):

Right. And, um, so, so again, just to recap these as we go in, so again, encouraging dreams, right. So encouraging that, that positive stuff, right. Um, justifying failures, making it not you, it's like, you're not the issue. Right. You know, there's no way that you could be at fault here. Right. Um, so, and, and then setting up, usually that's where they set up the us versus them approach. And then, um, putting fears to rest often that includes stimulating fears first, and then putting them to rest right. And confirming suspicions and throwing rocks at the enemy. Right. Or so, you know, creating an us versus them environment. And so understanding these five components is crucial to understanding persuasion, because this is what people that are really good at persuasion will do. This is what Kahneman will do. Right. And, and sociopath, who are gonna manipulate you financially. Right. They're going to create all this stuff to ultimately get an end result and an unconverted people that are really trying to help you we'll do the same things. And it's your job as an individual to step back from the emotion that's created through these, in that, ask yourself from critically thinking, thinking for yourself of like, okay, what's going on? What am I trying to be persuaded into and really asking yourself, like, is this for my best interests? Or is it for theirs? Right. Am I being used right now?

(13:17):

Right. Um, because

(13:20):

Persuasion in the right hands can be a very good thing. You know? I mean, like that's, that's part of what has to happen, right. Is that we have to, you know, in the medical professional, you often know there's a persuasion that's needed to get someone to take treatment right. Or to get help right. When they need it. Um, and, and that, and that is a good thing. I mean, it, persuasion is not bad in and of itself. It can be bad used by the wrong people. And so as individuals. Right. And cause I always will always go back to the individual. Right? The, the, my, my trust is always in the individual, never in cultures, communities, or movements or any of that, because what we need to understand is once a movements happened, it's not even the individual's thinking anymore. It's just the leader thinking for them and telling them what to think.

(14:09):

So, um, understanding how persuasion works in PR is important to understanding, to making sure you don't get roped into something. And in our altar are ultimately not being persuaded in a negative way. Right. And as long as you can understand how persuasion works, you're going to be more equipped to see it when it's happening to step back from it and ultimately critically think for yourself because that's the most important thing that we can do as individuals. So, um, thank you for taking the time to, uh, be here today and to, uh, to, uh, you know, be here on this episode. And, um, you know, for those youth on the cellphone, we have more helpful resources over restored mines.com and there's some links down below. And we also would really appreciate if you would like subscribe, share, you know, hit the notification buttons. Um, you know, because again, we just really want to get our messages out to, uh, to people to help them, you know, um, the, especially these times where there's a lot of negative persuasion going on. And so, um, yeah, thank you so much. And I hope you guys have a wonderful day.