Whether at work or in private: we always communicate.
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san francisco Language determines social interaction. A team of researchers from Harvard University underscored this with a simple experiment: They tried to queue up at a university’s printer.
One group just asked politely if they could use the printer right away. The other group added the postscript to their request: “because I’m in a hurry”.
Just one small word “made a huge difference,” says language expert Jonah Berger. “Obviously it doesn’t make any difference in terms of content. Hurry is hardly a good reason,” said Berger. But that’s not the point.
In fact, using the word “because” in the experiment increased the likelihood of being let straight to the printer by 50 percent. “The word “because” alone has significantly increased the power of persuasion,” Berger told the Handelsblatt.
The language expert is himself a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has written several bestsellers dealing with language and human interaction. For his most recent book “Magic Words” (in German “Die magicen Wort” will be published by Redline Verlag in June), he has defined rules that are intended to distinguish a particularly targeted language.
The four core theses:
Active language convinces
The terms “you” or “you” can strengthen the persuasive power of statements and texts, concludes Berger from his studies. Accordingly, an article with a headline like “Five tips that save money” is significantly less appealing than: “Five tips on how to save money”.
Personalizing statements has a similar effect. A study with children at Stanford University aimed to find out whether certain terms help them to tidy up. The children cooperated significantly more often when asked if they wanted to be a “helper” than when simply asked if they wanted to “help”.
Weighing harms
In our language, we often use terms to protect ourselves. “Could”, “in my opinion”, “possibly” are examples of this. However, these led to the speaker being perceived as less competent and convincing. “Don’t weigh things up, but make clear statements,” demands Berger.
Key terms like “definitely”, “clearly” or “obvious” could strengthen our communication and lead to more convincing statements. This conviction can be underlined not only by individual terms, but also by the tense of language used, says Berger.
Jonah BergerMagic Words
English version
Harper Business
New York 2023
256 pages
22.99 euros
It’s better to say “I like something” than “I liked something”. “If you don’t speak in the past but in the present, you will be more likely to convince others to listen,” says Berger.
Ask the right questions
Questions do not reveal our ignorance, but can convey the opposite, says Berger. “Asking questions makes us look good.” This is especially true for good questions.
Asking the right questions at the right time is an art that can be perfected. In order not to make unnecessary mistakes, Berger recommends starting with simple, non-controversial questions and then feeling your way forward.
Concrete is better
The telephone hotline of companies is often a difficult place. People who have a problem or are dissatisfied often get in touch. Although the course of such conversations usually follows a specific pattern, they are often perceived very differently by customers.
Berger evaluated many of these conversations for a study and came to the conclusion that the more concrete statements were, the more customers felt heard. A general apology for “a problem that has arisen” is less effective than an excuse that the technician did not show up at the appointed time.
More about communication:
Conclusion: Berger has collected many useful statements. Some of the studies cited are not new, but were carried out decades ago. However, Berger brings the findings into an easily readable form and distills useful conclusions from them.
However, there is an important caveat: almost all of the results are based on using the English language in a US context. Much of this can be directly transferred to Germany. But not everything fits. Small talk is an art form in the USA that hardly exists in Germany.
On the other hand, Americans often communicate much more cautiously in the business environment, while statements made in German companies are much more specific. This must always be kept in mind when reading the book.
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