Welcome to Make Up Their Mind! This site is dedicated to the art
of persuasion and techniques of influence as described in the book
Make Up Their Mind
by Dr. Julian Cauceglia. Although we maynot be aware of it, we are constantly influencing other people and
being influenced by them, mostly on a subconscious basis, and, since
the majority of our communication is non-verbal, we are
experiencing this often without a word spoken. A simple glance,
hand or arm gesture is sufficient for us to communicate an idea to
those around us. Think about how often you observe someone and
just know something is wrong without a word spoken.
Try this, the next time someone walks up to you at your desk or wherever, without
saying a word or looking up at them, casually point away from you and watch what
happens.
The person will likely move away in the direction you pointed or simply walk past you
without making the contact they intended. What you did was tell them "I want you to
go over there, or anywhere but not here", and they were persuaded to do so. All
from a casual gesture.
Consider this:
Think of Captain James T. Kirk.
Gotcha!
Now unless you are a trekkie, you probably do not spend a lot of time in your day
thinking of Captain Kirk...but you did, just then...just because I suggested it. (In reality
had I written "Don't think of Captain James T. Kirk" it would have been equally
effective in directing you thoughts to the Enterprise's Top Officer. We will discuss the
effects of negatives later.)
These very simple examples are meant to introduce to the idea of persuasion and
influence. As you will find when you read on, there is much, much more to it, and no
limit to the extent of influence you can have over others.
This might be a good place to emphasize the difference between "persuasion" and
"coercion". Although both may share a common result, coercion suggests
"involuntary cooperation" whereas persuasion not only is completely voluntary, but
often it is mistaken for the person's own idea. We all know the old adage of flies and
honey....there now you are thinking about flies...aren't you?
All information and material on this site is © Copyright 2001-2015 by Dr. Julian Cauceglia including but not limited to experpts from his book "Make Up Their Mind" ISBN # 978-0971740716. None of this content may be used without written perminssion of the author.
A book by: Dr Julian Cauceglia
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