

Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive - MattF
http://www.moskalyuk.com/blog/yes-50-scientifically-proven-ways-to-be-persuasive

======
gensym
Gah, this is some awful abuse of statistics:

"There are three times as many dentists named Dennis as any other names.
Number of Florences living in Florida is disproportionately high, same goes
for Louises living in Louisiana."

This is interesting, but it proves nothing. Of all the possible names and
vocations, of course you're going to find at least one combo with a
disproportionate number. Perhaps the "Dennis/Denist" combo has more to do with
the popularity of that name coinciding with a growth in the numbers of
professional dentists.

Similarly, with names and states, you're going to find some overlap. Know any
young people named "Florence"? Know where retirees move to? And perhaps people
living in Louisiana are more likely to name their kids something similar to
the state name than the other way around.

I'm toying with the idea of starting a blog that highlights abuses of
statistics and misunderstandings of probability in the press. They drive me
nuts!

~~~
TheSOB88
I would totally read this blog, dude.

------
Hates_
Dupe from a few weeks back, with some discussion:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=613402>

------
TrevorJ
Very good info here, thanks for the submit. The huge font kinda hurts my eyes
though.

The point about how giving away a product causes it to lose perceived value
and seem less desirable is a good one: I wonder though how this translates to
web-based products since so much of this ecosystem is defined by free
services.

~~~
TheSOB88
Nah man, it's like this: free stuff given away _in order to convince you to
buy other stuff_ seems less valuable. That's what the experiment says,
anyways.

------
omail
Typo?

"When employees were offered a choice of 2 funds, roughly 75% signed up for a
retirement program. When the number of funds was increased to 59%, even though
qualitatively this was a better deal for employees, only 60% decided to sign
up."

~~~
weaksauce
Probably "by" 59%. It is true that when there are more choices there is less
of a conversion rate in sales. Studies have shown that when there is 3 types
of jam on an endcap at the supermarket more total jam gets purchased than when
there are 7 choices on the same endcap.

