Does swearing make you more or less persuasive?
This experiment examined the effects of judicious swearing on persuasion in a pro-attitudinal speech. Participants listened to one of three versions of a speech about lowering tuition that manipulated where the word “damn” appeared (beginning, end, or nowhere). The results showed that obscenity at the beginning or end of the speech significantly increased the persuasiveness of the speech and the perceived intensity of the speaker. Obscenity had no effect on speaker credibility.
Source: "Indecent influence: The positive effects of obscenity on persuasion" from Social Influence, Volume 1, Issue 2 June 2006 , pages 138 - 146
Are you convinced now, damnit?
I've recommended Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini a lot on this site. And there's a (damn) good reason for that. I'm re-reading it again right now and it's that good.
What's fascinating is that he took on jobs with sales organizations, MLM's, and other companies that absolutely need to be persuasive in order to stay in business. He distilled different effective techniques they used into six key principles. The book breaks them down in an accessible way and colors it all with solid anecdotes. At one point I'll cover the book in depth with a post but if you're going to buy one book from all my recommendations, this would definitely be on the short list. And you don't have to take my word for it: the book has 4.5 stars with 334 reviews on Amazon.
That last sentence might have been pretty convincing to you. It's an example of social proof, one of the six principles of influence Cialdini discusses. :)
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