Stephen Downes

This article summarizes and discusses Robert Cialdini's 7 principles of persuasion: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity, and unity. You can read Cialdini's 1984 book here (279 page PDF). However as Jakob Nielsen argues, "Each principle is an appetite tuned for a world that no longer exists." So in user experience design, they have to be manufactured. For example, 'commitment and consistency' on the web is "progressive engagement, the art of asking for small steps before large ones." The problem is that on the web, "the same mechanism traps people. The negative option, where a free trial silently converts to a paid plan unless you cancel, exploits inertia dressed as consistency." So there's a need to apply these principles ethically, and Nielsen outlines how for each principle. Interesting article. I could do without the lavish AI-generated images, but the concept is well executed.