Posted by
Darya Sinusoid | Jun 28, 2021
This article is an excerpt from the
Shortform book guide to "Win Bigly" by Scott Adams. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Do you want to improve your persuasion skills? What tactics do master persuaders use to sway people to their point of view?
If you want to level up your persuasion game, there is no shortage of methods that teach you how to exercise your skills. The following persuasion tactics are taken from
Win Bigly:
Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter.
Here are some tactics every aspiring persuader should know.
Scott Adams: How to Be a Master Persuader
Master persuaders often have a collection of persuasion tactics up their sleeve. The more you can combine, the more persuasive you will be. These tactics teach how to persuade on a word-by-word basis.
Linguistic Kill Shot
A Linguistic Kill Shot is a nickname or catchphrase targeting your opponent. It can be so persuasive that it quickly ends an argument. They are more effective when
novel (uncommon, unexpected) and visual.
The 2016 US Presidential election showed a variety of nicknames, some masterful and others ineffective.
- Trump’s: “Low-energy Jeb.” “Lyin’ Ted.” “Lil’ Marco.” “Crooked Hillary.” “Goofy Elizabeth Warren.”
- Note how the most memorable names weren’t common – no use of “liberal.”
- Note too the deliberate contraction of words that invites a double take – lyin’, lil’.
- These all fed confirmation bias and visual imagery – Jeb did indeed look listless, Ted did have beady little eyes that made him look untrustworthy.