In 1984, Dr. Robert Cialdini published Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, outlining the six core drivers of human compliance:
- Reciprocity,
- Commitment & Consistency,
- Social Proof,
- Authority,
- Liking,
- Scarcity
Decades later, psychologist Daniel Kahneman expanded our understanding of human decision-making in his ground breaking book Thinking, Fast and Slow. By experimentation, with research partner Amos Tversky, he demonstrated how our fast, intuitive “System 1” brains routinely rely on these shortcuts to reach a compelling conclusion. The research on which the book explains in laymans terms earned him the Nobel prize in economics.
Both books issued clear warnings: these principles could be leveraged just as easily by bad actors as by those whose objective is positive.
Cialdini wrote for an analogue world of salesman, direct mail, and print advertising. He could not have foreseen the impact of the internet, social media, and generative AI.
In the analogue era, persuasion took time and human effort. Today, machine learning algorithms execute Cialdini’s drivers at immediate, micro-targeted scale.
The tiny safety mechanism that was present pre digital, of the opportunity to reflect on a choice has been removed by the speed of digital. Any chance rational analysis had of imposing itself on an immediate emotional reaction has been dramatically reduced.
Social proof is manufactured via engagement metrics; authority is mimicked by synthetic media; scarcity is simulated through algorithmic urgency, and consistency has built its own echo chamber.
The result is systemic fragmentation and hardening of an opinion forged by these forces. Once a person takes a position, persuading them to change becomes progressively harder when they perceive that the effort to change is an attack. Our brains evolved to be a safety mechanism, so attack hardens resolve to defend. This has generated the divisions we see around us every day.
Households, public discourse, political systems, and social licenses are splitting into opposing, and polarised positions.
The forces Cialdini identified have not changed, they are the result of millions of years of evolution. What has changed is that AI now automates persuasion on both sides of the divide, compounding the fracture every second.
