This principle – one of Cialdini’s famous principles of influence – states that we are influenced by people we think are connected to us. That could be any category or interest in which people define themselves: race, ethnicity, nationality, and family, as well as political and religious affiliations.
According to Cialdini, “a key characteristic of these categories is that their members tend to feel at one with, merged with, the others. They are the categories in which the conduct one member influences the self-esteem of other members.”
Unity in the real world
In one of his college classes, Cialdini wanted to compare attitudes of students and their parents by having both fill out questionnaires. Student compliance was always very high. But, parents typically responded at a far lower rate, often below 20%.
One small tweak to the assignment increased the parent response rate to 97%. Cialdini said he would give the students an extra point on one test if their parents completed the survey.
By invoking the concept of helping a family member, Cialdini increased the response rate 5x.
Example Vault: Unity
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