Thinking, fast and slow
Chance, a writer, teacher, researcher and climate philanthropist, believes the key to boosting our powers of persuasion is understanding behavioral economics (or nudge theory), the lovechild of psychology and economics that helps to explain how people make decisions in the real world. The vast majority of decision making is controlled by one of two systems of thinking, as described in the Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow.
“System 1” thinking happens automatically and intuitively, with little effort. It’s driven by instinct and past experience. For instance, we know automatically how to tie our shoelaces. And when driving, we will instinctively swerve to avoid crashing into a pedestrian.
“System 2” thinking is slower, rational, deliberate and requires more effort. It kicks in when we need to solve a complex problem, such as picking out a friend in a crowd. Chance compares System 2 thinking to a judge. “Our conscious attention can only focus on one case at a time, carefully weighing evidence, the pros and cons,” she said.
System 2 likes to think it is in charge, but really it’s System 1 that runs the show. “The unconscious mind is far more influential,” she said. It is “like an alligator lurking below the surface of your conscious awareness, scanning the environment all the time for opportunities and threats”.
So even when we think we are making decisions based on rational considerations, System 1 is actually driving most of our choices. When trying to influence people, most of us will forget this and try to convince them with logical arguments, such as the benefits of our products and services. However, the decision they make will not be based on facts and figures. It will be driven by intuition.
System 1 is “very quick to make snap judgments”, said Chance. This is out of necessity. There is simply too much going on in the world. System 1 filters out the noise and focuses on the most significant stimuli, ignoring much of the rest. “It’s the gatekeeper to the judge,” she said.
To exert influence, you need to rise above the noise to make yourself heard. “We need to spark people’s curiosity before we start to give them all the data and the facts,” she said. So you must first grab someone’s attention before you can start appealing to their conscious, rational mind with your sales pitch. “The information isn’t impactful until the person is already interested.”