Search the Community

Scott Adams on Persuasion This thread is a placeholder--a place to throw tidbits of information Scott Adams dribbles out about persuasion. It's kind of a reference thread. I've felt the need for a place like this for some time now. So here it is. For people who don't know, Scott Adams is the author of the syndicated cartoon strip, Dilbert. He also dabbles in persuasion. During the Trump campaign, he identified the future president as a " master persuader" and wrote a series of blog posts dissecting the techniques. He made a series of predictions that came true while the mainstream predictions turned out to fizzle, one after another. That led to guest appearances on mainstream TV news shows and a bestselling book: Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter. His blog: Scott Adams' Blog. I have frequently made reference to Scott here on OL. Over time, I'll see if I can bring some of those comments to this thread, too. He's one hell of a smart cookie. To start things off, here's a lesson by Scott on how to recognize cognitive dissonance in people and in yourself. Really cool... Michael

Searching the site, I see that MSK and others have been following Scott Adams's tweets for several years. Also, MSK and others know this book. However, no review has been put up here. Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter by Scott Adams (Penguin, 2017) is a tribute to Donald Trump. It is also a tribute to Scott Adams. The author of Dilbert has been popular online for decades; and he had tens of thousands of readers when, back on August 13, 2015, he began predicting Donald Trump’s victory. Throughout the book, Adams gives himself a lot of credit for that. Adams calls Trump a Master Persuader (in capitals). Trump won because facts do not matter. People make up their minds based on emotion and then cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias provide them with “reasons” to justify their choices. Adams says that Trump could have run on any platform, even Bernie Sanders’. One of Trump’s most successful tactics as a Master Persuader is intentional wrongness. He makes a grandiose claim, such as building a wall along the border. People point out the errors. He might modify his position – he does that often – but it remains that he has framed the discussion, defined the terms, tilted the debate in his favor. Everyone talks about what he wants them to talk about. The border wall, banning Muslims, global warming, Syria, North Korea, whatever the issue of the moment, Trump made huge statements that grabbed headlines, then slowly shifted away from the hardline stance, often to no specific proposals at all. All the while, everyone talked about what Donald Trump told them to talk about. Another way that Trump achieves that control and neutralizes his opponents is by flooding the news. He issues so many statements in so many media and so often provocative that news agencies can only report them all and yet be unable to actually focus on any one or a few of them. He did this in the campaign and it made him the most newsworthy candidate in the race. Among the many failed strategies of the Democrats was their campaign called “imagine President Trump.” It was supposed to turn people against him, of course. People who consumed news were supposed to be shocked and disgusted by the picture and thereby vote for Hillary Clinton. In fact, all the Democrats achieved was to plant the vision of President Trump in millions of people. The Democrats did Trump’s selling for him. “Love Trumps hate” was another failed campaign slogan. All it said was “Love Trump…” And apparently, very many people do.