User:Dsmith56/sandbox

Liking In social psychology, is seen as a strong motivater for compliance (psychology). It isn't that people don't realize that they like others, the trick here is that people aren't consciously aware of the fact that liking a person influences their decisions. Salesmen are very aware of the power of liking and use it to their advantage when selling a product. Here are some of the ways in which the salesman will use liking to their advantage.

First, the simplist act is for the salsman to be friendly and try to build a good report with the customer. Then, during conversation the salesman will remark on similarities that he and the customer share. Similarity is one of the strongest reasons for liking another, people are drawn to those that they feel are like themselves. However, research shows that it works best when left at the surface level, if a subject/customer is offered too much information about the person they are dealing with it often leads to dislike of that person. It seems that familiarity does often lead to contempt, as the old saying goes. So, if you find yourself liking a person a lot in a short time, it may be smart to ask yourself how much you actually know about the person, and based on this try to determine if they deserve the feeling you have for them.

Another thing that can cause undo liking is the attractiveness of a person. It often seems that attraction breeds liking. People who are attractive can easily get more that they want from another person than can someone of average attractiveness. It has been found that attractive people are less likely than unattractive people to found guilty of a crime or if found guilty less likely to go to jail, political candidates who are attractive are more likely to be voted into office regaurdless of their qualifications, and in everyday life attractive people are more likely to have favors done for them. However, it should be said that this isn't as strong when looked at cross-culturally. It seems that this is more powerful a cause for liking and compliance in Western cultures than in other areas of the world.

Regardless of the cause for liking, considering the power it wields one would do well to concentrate some energy into finding defenses against it. One defense, mentioned above, is to be aware of the situation. If you find yourself in a position were you have come to like an individual who would profit from your compliance ask yourself if you have come to like this person too quickly and if you feel you have ask yourself if this is why you are complying to their request. Basically the best advice you could get is to be aware of the conditions under which you are asked for a favor, or ask to purchase a product, don't be fooled by a phoney sense of liking, instead focus on the product or request itself.