Page 180 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Notes (ii) Similarity: Social proof works very powerfully in influencing behaviour when
we are “observing the behavior of people just like us”.
4. Liking: Put simply, we’re more inclined to respond to a request if we like the person
making the request.
Several factors contribute to a person’s likability:
(a) Physical attractiveness: People who are physically attractive also enjoy the “halo
effect”, in which people think that because they’re attractive, they are also more
intelligent, kind, etc.
(b) Similarity: We like people who are similar to ourselves (in dress, age, expressed
background and interests, etc.)
(c) Familiarity: We like things that are familiar to us.
(d) Cooperation: When someone works with you to achieve a shared goal, you like them
more.
(e) Compliments: People who give compliments are more liked.
(f) Association: People who are associated with good/positive people, events, etc. are
more likely to be liked (e.g. it’s the “don’t kill the messenger” phenomenon.
A weatherman can be disliked simply because he predicts bad weather).
(g) Appearance of Truthfulness: A real-life example of this is when bloggers will review
a product by first mentioning its faults. They then talk up the benefits of the product
(which they claim outweigh the product’s negatives), and end with an endorsement.

(h) Primary Interest: This is when someone seems to be arguing against their own best
interests in favour of yours (i.e. they’re “on your side”).
5. Authority:

(a) Human beings have a “deep-seated sense of duty to authority”.
(b) Even the appearance of authority is enough to obtain compliance (e.g. an actor wearing
a doctor’s lab coat on a commercial)

Symbols that can trigger compliance in the absence of real authority:
(a) Titles
(b) Clothes
6. Scarcity:

(a) The psychological underpinning of this principle is that “opportunities seem more
valuable to us when their availability is limited”.
(b) Related to this, people are more motivated to avoid losing something, than to
potentially gain something of equal value. (This ties in with Kahneman’s prospect theory.)
(c) When our desire for something scarce grows, we make sense of the desire by assigning
it “positive qualities to justify the desire”.
Specific forms of scarcity:
(i) Limited number
(ii) Limited time (i.e. deadline)

(iii) Competition. Competition increases desire for something (e.g. to goad
indecisive buyers, realtors will “invent” another potential buyer)

174 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY