Viewing Persuasion in Everyday Life is like holding a mirror up to your mind. Use it to explore five often hidden forces that shape beliefs and judgments.

1. Frames
From a guy on a Harley to a shopper buying hamburger, how we frame events influences our judgment and beliefs. We lack awareness of our own frames so find it puzzling when others see the same thing and interpret it differently. The ability to shape perceptual frames is the power to persuade.

• Learn what fashion has in common with magic.
• See how changing “garbage” into “waste” can change policies.

2. Setting
• Learn why “taking it out of context” is an act of persuasion.
• Explore how the act of comparing things (say in a taste test) influences our judgment about what is being tested.

3. Filters
• Learn that we construct mental filters through which we view and explain the world. One common filter (the confirmation bias) blocks out ideas that conflict with our beliefs.
• Explore the “above average” filter that leads to distorted self-perception.
• Why do we say “I don’t buy that!” to express disbelief? Do we own beliefs?

4. Social Influence
See how the actions of others influence us from tip jars at the coffee shop to canned laughter and shop-at-home television networks. Learn how we follow the leader, all the while affirming we are independent from “monkey-see-monkey-do.”

5. Belief
Learn about the placebo (and lesser known nocebo) and discover how belief can have a stronger influence than the thing itself. See how our expectations can create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

22 minutes.
Copyright © 2007 Learning Seed

Teaching Guide
There are three ways to access the teaching guide for this program:

1) The guide is included on the DVD.
2) It is available for download (see below).
3) Printed copies are available on request. Contact us with any questions!

Adobe Acrobat Version
Microsoft Word Document