Behavioural Economics at Work

Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior

Whether it's choosing to feature Daniel Craig on ads, or paying The Situation not to wear your brand of clothes, smart marketers know there's a science behind influence.

Last night, Jonah Berger, best selling author of Contagious and professor at the Wharton School came to the Rotman School of Management to talk about his new book Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior.

Jonah led a packed room through hilarious and powerful examples of how hidden influences shape our behaviour and talked about how we can be smart about influencing and being influenced.

• Jonah described how subtle tools like mimicry create a sense of affiliation and turn strangers into friends, give waiters who mirror their diners 75% higher tips, and give negotiators who mirror their partners a 5 times greater chance to reach a favourable outcome than those who don't.
• In meetings, Jonah says to speak first if you want a great shot at influencing the outcome. To avoid group think in meetings, he suggests setting up a designated dissenter, or having people vote ahead of time or anonymously.
• When trying to get energy consumers to change their habits, the only way researchers saw real behavioural change was by harnessing the power of peers.
• However, Jonah emphasized the importance of picking approximate peers when trying to motivate, say a sales team. Otherwise, the effect could be demoralizing.

• For sports fans, Jonah suggests waiting till half time to bet on the winning team. He posits that if a team is down by two points at half-time they are likely to lose. However, if they are down by one, they are more likely to win. In tennis, however, being behind by one set means you're more likely to be demoralized and lose the game entirely.

It's not always monkey see, monkey do. Sometimes it's monkey see, monkey don't.

While we make certain choices to fit in, we also have a desire to feel different: a need for uniqueness. Culture plays a significant role. For example, North Americans favour uniqueness whereas East Asian cultures value good membership. There are other factors that effect outcomes: Jonah says MBA students would not be pleased to know their friends bought the same car as they did. Firefighters, however, had the opposite reaction. Observers noted that cars in a Walmart parking lot tend to be similar to each other compared to those in a high-end mall. Marketers need to know when to sell differences and when to sell similarities.

These and other powerful observations on influencing behaviour can be found in Jonah's latest book. Jonah's talk was part of the Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR) Speaker series. This month, B.E.A.R. is hosting a high-impact Behavioural Economics at Work Executive Education program: April 19-20. Email or call me (416.946.0722) if you'd like to learn more about this topic.