Questões de Concurso

The text below is part of the Japanese tale “My Lord Bag of Rice”:

“Long, long ago there lived in Japan a brave warrior known to all as Tawara Toda or “My Lord Bag of Rice”. His true name was Fujiwara Hidesato and there is a very interesting story of how he came to change his name. One day he went out in search of adventures because he had the nature of a warrior and could not bear to be idle. So he picked up his two swords, took his huge bow, which was much taller than himself, in his hand, strapped his quiver on his back and started out.

He had not gone far when he came to the bridge of Seta-no-Karashi crossing one end of the beautiful Lake Biwa. As soon as he stepped on the bridge, he saw lying right across his path a huge serpent-dragon. Its body was so big that it looked like the trunk of a large pine tree and it took up the whole width of the bridge. One of its huge claws rested on the parapet of one side of the bridge while its tail lay right against the other. The monster seemed to be asleep, and as it breathed, fire and smoke came out of its nostrils.

At first, Hidesato could not help feeling alarmed at the sight of this horrible reptile lying in his path, for he must either turn back or walk right over its body.” 

THE SCIENCE OF PERSUASION

Persuasion is key to business and to much more besides. In many walks of life and in many situations, persuading people to do what you want them to do is the key to success. Is persuasion a science with rules that can be taught and learnt, or is it simply a matter of instinct and personal experience? Researchers have looked into different aspects of persuasion and come up with some interesting results. 

     One advertising copywriter, for example, came up with an approach to selling a product on a TV shopping channel via phones sales that differed from the norm for such advertising. Instead of being instructed: ‘Operators are waiting, please call now’, viewers were told ‘If operators are busy, please call again’. This might appear to have been a risky tactic, putting potential buyers off by suggesting that they would have to waste their time calling repeatedly until they finally got through to someone to take their order. But the results were extraordinary and an unprecedented number of sales resulted. The advert suggested that instead of there being lots of operators sitting there and hoping people would call, there were so many people who wanted the product that people might have to wait until they could get it. This showed just how desirable the product was. Potential customers decided that, if so many other people wanted it, they definitely wanted it too.

     What role does choice have in persuading people to buy or get something? One study looked at the choices employees made when offered different retirement programmes. This showed that the more choices people were given, the less likely they were to choose anything at all. Another study in a supermarket revealed a similar effect of choice. A particular supermarket displayed either 6 or 24 different kinds of jam. When there were 24 jams to choose from, 3% of customers went to the display and bought one of the jams. When there were 6 jams on display, 30% of customers did so. […]