How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | страница 309

directions say to do. For example, a particular "candid camera" stunt
involved a stop sign placed on a sidewalk, even though there was no
reason to stop there. The sign was in an odd place and there was no
danger of oncoming traffic, but everyone obediently stopped and waited
at the sign, just because it said to do so! In another spoof, a sign reading
"Delaware Closed" actually made people start asking for how long
Delaware was going to be closed![8]
[7]Robert Cialdini, The Psychology of Influence (New York: Quill, 1984), p. 7.
[8]Roger Dawson, The Secrets of Power Persuasion (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice Hall, 1992), p. 29.

The Placebo Effect: Persuasive Suggestions
One form that expectations can take is in the shape of a placebo. A
placebo is a nonmedicinal substance that is given to patients so they
believe they are receiving medicine. Placebos were used during the
Korean War when MASH units ran out of morphine. When medical
workers gave wounded soldiers placebos, 25 percent of the soldiers
reported a reduction in pain. The placebo works because the expectation
that the "medicine" will help is so strong that our brains actually translate
it into reality. In some studies, placebos worked 25 percent to 40 percent
of the time![9]
Not only can our expectations make us well, but they can also make us
sick. You may think, "I feel the flu coming on," and you will probably get
it. Or if one of your coworkers says, "You look terrible. Are you coming
down with something?" you probably will. Expectations have also been
related to the occurrence and timing of death. Most elderly people view
nursing homes as the end of the line, the last step in life. After admission
to the nursing home, mortality rates, for both men and women, double
compared to people of the same age and health still living in their own
homes.
The Nazi concentration camps fed off of the psychological expectation of
death. Prison guards instilled hopelessness in prisoners. They created a
psychological environment whereby the prisoners came to expect no
chance at survival. Prisoners exhibited powerlessness, an inability to cope,
and a diminished will to live — in a sense, a self-imposed death sentence.
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