STARTLING INSIGHTS INTO PERSUASION, TRUST, EMPATHY, AND TEAMWORK BASED ON REVELATIONS ABOUT HOW WE TREAT OUR COMPUTERS
The driver was insistent: âA woman should not be giving directions.â Despite the customer service repâs reassurance that the navigation system in his car wasnât actually a womanâjust a computer with a female voiceâthe driver (and many others like him) refused to listen. There was only one person for BMW to call for help: Clifford Nass, one of the worldâs leading experts on how people interact with technology.
After two decades of studying problems like BMWâs GPS system, Microsoftâs Clippy (the most hated animated character of all time), and online evaluations that led people to lie to their laptops, Nass has developed a powerful theory: Our brains canât fundamentally distinguish between interacting with people and interacting with devices. We will âprotectâ a computerâs feelings, feel flattered by a brown-nosing piece of software, and even do favors for technology that has been âniceâ to us. All without even realizing it.
Nass has found that the most powerful strategies for working with people can be learned from watching what succeeds and fails in technology interfaces. If a computer can make friends, build teams, and calm powerful emotions, so can any of us.
Nassâs studies reveal:
⢠Mixing criticism with praiseâa popular tactic for managersâis a destructive method of evaluation.
⢠Opposites donât attractâexcept when one gradually changes to become more like the other.
⢠Flattery worksâeven when the recipient knows itâs flattery.
⢠Team-building exercises donât build teamsâbut the right T-shirt can.
⢠Misery loves companyâbut only if the company is miserable, too.
Nassâs discoveries push the boundaries of both psychology and technology and provide nothing less than a new blueprint for successful human relationships.