The Science of Persuation

I recently was watching TV and came up on a show that listed some awesome facts about the power of persuasion. The host basically gave a short quiz about the topic and listed a few plausible choices and then revealed the correct answer. I will try to reproduce that quiz in this post and you will have to take guesses as to what the right answer should be

1. 

Repetition is one of the techniques that advertisers, pitchmen, and politicians use to sway people. But if you want people to embrace an idea, you have to know how many times to repeat your message. How many times should an idea be repeated for maximum effect?

a) 3-5

b) 13-15

c) 30-50

d) 100

2.

The Illusion of Truth capitalizes on human nature - our tendency to think that if most people believe something, it must be true. The Illusion of Truth is a powerful tool, but whether people buy into a message or not also depends on how it’s presented.

What are most people likely to believe is true? Something that is:

a) easy to understand

b) hard to understand

c) in the tabloid at the supermarket

d) relayed in scientific terms

3.

To see how persuasive swearing is, or isn’t, scientists wrote different versions of the same speech, with or without the world “damn” in them. Then they studied how effective the speeches were.

Which version of the speech was most persuasive? 

a) with the word "damn" in it

b) without the word "damn"

c) none of the speech was persuasive

d) the speeches were equally persuasive

4.

Another persuasion technique is the speed of speech. If you want to convince someone, should you speak as fast as humanly possible, at about 195 words a minute? Or should you speak as slowly as you can?

What talking speed is the most persuasive?

a) fast

b) normal

c) slow

d) it depends on whether the audience agrees with you or not

5.

Changing someone else’s mind about certain ideas isn’t easy. In one experiment, researchers tried to change their subjects’ minds about voluntary euthanasia. Those who received a dose of a commonly ingested substance were more likely to change their minds than those who didn’t receive it.

In what would you find this “persuasive” substance?

a) chocolate

b) cigarettes

c) coffee

d) fruit