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Xachariah comments on How to get cryocrastinators to actually sign up for cryonics - Less Wrong
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Comments (94)
You might have wanted to use a control question (e.g. "How many days are in a week?"), just to check if she'd have answered "yes" to that, too.
I assume the whole point was to create a compliance ladder (aka yes ladder). It's the same technique used to sell cars, close business deals, or seduce others. It's at least as old as Dale Carnegie's "How to Win friends...etc", and probably older than English.
A single 'no' breaks the pattern just as drastically as a single non-conformist destroys the Asch conformity experiment. If he wanted to find out true answers, a control question would be useful. But if he wanted her to actually sign up for cryonics, an unbroken chain of 'yes' would be essential.
Xacariah, would a positive 'no' break the chain, i.e. 'would you like to be annihilated?'?
Sort of.
Yes ladders function in two ways. One is commitment and consistency effects. Each question has the answerer define themselves in a way that makes them more likely to agree with subsequent questions and, eventually, the final conclusion. A positive no would still build up consistency effects.
The other way they work is by 'turning off your brain'. Shopping and similar decision making is controlled by a tug-of-war between the NAcc and the insula. A proper yes ladder lets the seller steer the conversation to the sale, without ever triggering the insula. If you have the buyer stop and think about something (eg, should my answer be yes or no?), it inhibits your ability to sell. You want them to just trust in you without ever activating the parts of their brain designed for second guessing. That means a lot of 'no brainer' questions. Positive no's don't necessarily do this, but it's a lot harder to build a safe positive no question, when you could just use a yes instead. Hence, I was always taught to just steer clear of them.
(In retrospect, it this tactic does sound slightly more dark artsy than when I was replying to JGWeisnman about it)
The point was to establish that she really did want to sign up for cryonics. It wouldn't be a big surprise to me if getting that "Yes" sequence is a way to influence people, but it's not what I was going for. I had previously done this on a room full of people, without going through the "Yes" chain, and whatever influences there were from me addressing a group or whatever, people who would answer "no" to some of those questions did decide not to fill out the form.
I am not trying to trick people into signing up for cryonics. I am trying get those who think they should be signed up to actually do it.
You tapped into a powerful persuasive technique unintentionally. Although I think 'trick' is too negative a connotation. Many things can influence decisions, such as being well dressed, or attractive, or using the right lingo. It's nothing more than effective communication to speak to your target in the most impactful way.
It's hard for me to think something as manipulative, when it's getting them to do something they already want and it's good for them as well.