Covert Influence
(Part 1 of a multi-part series)

Kevin Hogan

INITIALS AND SUCCESS

For example, Jack is more likely to move to Jacksonville and marry Jackie than is Philip who is more likely to move to Philadelphia and marry Phyllis. Scientists call this phenomenon the "name-letter effect" and argue that it is influential enough to encourage the pursuit of name-resembling life outcomes and partners.

However, if you like your name too much, you might be in trouble. Leif Nelson at the University of California, San Diego and colleague Joseph Simmons from Yale University, found that liking your own name sabotages success for people whose initials match negative performance labels.

In their first study, Nelson and Simmons investigated the effect of name resemblance on batters' strikeouts. In baseball, strikeouts are recorded using the letter 'K.' After analyzing Major League Baseball players' performance spanning 93 years, the researchers found that batters whose names began with 'K' struck out at a higher rate than the remaining batters.

"Even Karl 'Koley' Kolseth would find a strikeout aversive, but he might find it a little less aversive than players who do not share his initials, and therefore he might avoid striking out less enthusiastically," write the authors.

In a second study, the researchers investigated the phenomenon in academia. Letter grades are commonly used to measure students' performance, with the letters 'A,' 'B,' 'C' and 'D' denoting different levels of performance. Nelson and Simmons reviewed 15 years of grade point averages (GPAs) for M.B.A. students graduating from a large private American university.

Students whose names began with 'C' or 'D' earned lower GPAs than students whose names began with 'A' or 'B.' Students with the initial 'C' or 'D,' presumably because of an unconscious fondness for these letters, were slightly less successful at achieving their conscious academic goals.

Interestingly, students with the initial 'A' or 'B' did not perform better than students whose initials were grade irrelevant. Therefore, having initials that match hard-to- achieve positive outcomes, like acing a test, may not necessarily cause an increase in performance. However, after analyzing law schools, the researchers found that as the quality of schools declined, so did the proportion of lawyers with name initials 'A' and 'B.'

The researchers confirmed these findings in the laboratory with an anagram test. The result of the test confirmed that when people's initials match negative performance outcomes, performance suffers. These results, appear in the December issue of Psychological Science.

New! Just Released on CD....

Influence Without Resistance. What’s the Key Factor? You’ll have most amazing, truly stunning tactics in predicting what and how your client (spouse, child, customer, read: anyone) will choose. Thus, you are a step ahead of anyone else in implementing the most powerful phenomena in consumer research today. Find out with this program!

Creating Irresistible Impulse. The button is there (for everyone); it just needs to be pushed. What are some of the irresistible impulses marketers are using on you? How can you take advantage of these tactics yourself? It’s all here in this section. Kevin details the marketing phenomenon that pushes the buttons...all the way to irresistible.

Tapping into Human Desires & Emotions. With just ONE change in strategy, a non-profit organization can get 5 times the donations. What can this strategy do for you? You can’t afford NOT to implement this tactic now.

Desires and Emotions… That Influence. You’ve heard some rumors, I’m sure about negative emotions and positive emotions in the influence process. But do you know what actually works, and what to emphasize in the process, and when? Find out once and for all!

Tribes. You’ve heard the term. What does it describe? How does it come into play in the influence process? Most important, how do you utilize the concept of the Tribe in order to make more sales? It’s all here… Kevin explains about subgroups and how to make appeals based on whether a group is “in” or “out”. This is cutting edge research that benefits you.

Covert Influence...to Control Behavior. You’ve seen the signs. Above the candy jar, tacked to the break room wall. Even posted on a fence, or highway. How do signs really influence? What elements should be used in signs to covertly control behavior? Fascinating new research uncovered for you!

Return: Page | 1| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

Kevin Hogan
Network 3000 Publishing
3432 Denmark #108
Eagan, MN 55123
(612) 616-0732

Cool Article?
Get Coffee with Kevin.
Articles, events & more!
+ 2 Free e-books today!
E-zine delivered Mondays.