Delving into strains of persuasion

Flipnosis: The Art of Split-Second Persuasion. By Kevin Dutton, William Heinemann, 400 pages, £11.99

For a writer to get others to read their work is not always an easy job. It requires, as they say, a bit of persuasion. Take this article, for instance. Why are you reading it? You could easily turn the page and move to the next story or, if online, click one of the links to the right of the screen to view something else. Come on, I dare you.

Still reading? You are not alone (hopefully). It is not rocket science to figure out that writers often employ catchy beginnings to try to instantly hook their readers.

Of course, where the dark art of instant persuasion is concerned, written word is not alone — as my interviewee for this article, Dr Kevin Dutton, will tell you. An academic at Cambridge University, Dutton is the author of the recently published book Flipnosis: The Art of Split-Second Persuasion.

I went to interview Dutton at his home in the village of Comberton, near Cambridge, to find out more about the hidden — but ubiquitous — world of "extreme" persuasion. For someone who is an expert in the field, amusingly Dutton bombed in his first grand test of persuasion when I turned him down on his offer of tea or coffee. "Cold drink, perhaps?" No thanks.

As he began to talk, however, it became clear to me I was sitting next to a talking encyclopaedia on persuasion. "We are persuaded 400 times a day," Dutton explains. "In terms of advertising, what you hear on the radio, everything. Persuasion is endemic to everyday life and it is something that is extremely powerful."

It was one incident in particular which sparked the idea in Dutton's head to write the book. A few years ago, while on a trip to San Francisco, he and his wife got stuck at a cheap hotel located in a down and out part of the city.

Every day when they left the hotel, there would be this same bunch of homeless people standing around a newspaper stand. Walking in and out, Dutton would often give them some money.

After a few days he was on first name terms with these people. As time passed Dutton eventually told his wife he had made a decision to stop giving this lot any more dough.

Then one day, towards the end of their trip, as he left the hotel, Dutton came across a new man standing outside. This newcomer was holding a placard which read: "Why lie? I want beer." Without even thinking, Dutton instantly reached into his pocket and gave him a few dollars.

"He couldn't have got money out of me any faster if he had pulled a gun on me and mugged me," he says. Later Dutton wondered how it happened when he had already decided not to give any more money. "I thought, well, clearly there is a strain of persuasion that does work instantly," he says.

So Dutton, who holds a PhD in social persuasion, decided to investigate what the literature said about this type of persuasion ... and found nothing. "So I thought this is a radical departure from the kind of persuasion which I teach and the kind which I learnt about when I was at university," he explains. "So I put together a whole database of all different kinds of persuasion which I got from various people when I advertised for stories. Then I subjected it to a factor analysis and I extracted what I call the DNA of persuasion out of this — that formed the basis of the book."

Some of his findings are enlightening; others such as the ugly little truth of attractive people being more persuasive are just common sense. But the best bits in the book are concerning some of the "weird science" about persuasion.

So for instance there is a particular hue of the colour pink — Baker-Miller pink — which has been documented in studies in the United States for producing a calming effect on the mood of violent offenders when placed in rooms painted in it (another reason to wear that pink shirt at work to ward-off hot-headed colleagues.)

Human beings, so Dutton argues, are at their most persuasive as a baby on the first day they are born. "We are completely helpless and have to convince those who look after us to do so," he explains. "So what do we have? We have this kindchenschema, these features, which extract love and nurturance from people. And part of that are the eyes."

The term "kindchenschema" was coined by Austrian Nobel laureate and ethologist Konrad Lorenz to refer to child-like features which invite a protective behaviour from others. Such characteristics could include having a large head, small nose and big eyes.

In fact, eyes can act as a powerful weapon of persuasion. In the case of a baby, the eyes are disproportionately large compared to the rest of its face. "If you have ever tried to stare out at a baby, forget it," he says. "If you look at a baby, they will latch on to you and keep staring at you. In the end you will have to stare away."

More disturbingly, Dutton claims adults with baby features have a tendency to be more persuasive then the rest of us. So for instance, criminals with baby faces have been shown to get lighter sentences in both real jury situations and mock jury experiments. And not just criminals but their close pals the politicians can also get an unfair advantage if they have baby features.

So how did Flipnosis factor in the elections in the United Kingdom with regards the three main candidates? "In terms of just looking at the facial appearances, I think the reason why Gordon Brown wasn't re-elected is far more complicated than just the way he looked," he says.

"But if you look at the way all three of them performed in the televised debates, I think you then start to dig a little deeper. I mean, funnily enough, Nick Clegg proved a real star in this debate," he says. "Gordon Brown fared far worse. I think because Gordon Brown's appearance and his style actually didn't surprise anyone too much. He came across as rather weary, sometimes rather belligerent, whereas the fresh faced, more baby-faced Nick Clegg and David Cameron didn't just look fresher but they had fresher ideas as well."

And for those of us unlucky enough not to have baby faces like Cameron, it is encouraging to know Dutton believes there are steps people can take to improve their capacity to persuade others.

He lays out five key components which form the SPICE model of persuasion: simplicity, perceived self-interest, incongruity, confidence and empathy.

Of these five, one of the key factors is incongruity. With the right kind of application a person could, say, get themselves upgraded to first-class when flying.

For his research Dutton went on a mission to enquire with airline check-in staff about how passengers who are bold enough to make such requests for an upgrade can succeed.

In response one employee related an incident where a passenger, while checking-in, asked "Do you have a window seat ... in first class?"

It sounded simple enough but the unexpectedly cheeky second part of the request, especially the way this man delivered it, did the trick.

So, the question which comes to mind is, has Dutton himself succeeded in getting a first-class upgrade using the power of — ahem — Flipnosis? "You know the funny thing is people often say to me you must be a brilliant persuader," he replies.

"I am not a brilliant persuader. I am not a bad persuader. It's like people who write about humour, you know, people think if you write about humour, you must be funny. Well, not all the time. So if you write about persuasion.

"Obviously, I have learnt a lot, even as an academic, from this journey of looking at what the DNA of persuasion is. I think we have all got strengths. ... But in terms of making people laugh off the cuff, there are people better than me at that."

On a Flipnosis scale, just for a bit of fun, how did Dutton find my interview skills?

"What I like about you, maybe I shouldn't tell you because it might then disappear, one of your skills is that you allow the person to be themselves," he says. "You allow the person to tell you exactly what they want to tell you and not what you want them to tell you.

"You have obviously done your research. That was a big thing, I can see your notes, can see you have read the book.

"With other journalists who have interviewed me, I know they haven't read the book. Or I know they have just skimmed it."

Obviously Dutton is trying to Flipnosise me with this persuasion business!

"No, not at all," he laughs. "It's absolutely true. You don't need persuading. I think you have got it and you can't learn it. And I know journalists who haven't got it."

Syed Hamad Ali is an independent writer based in Cambridge.