Use This One Magic Word & Sound Persuasive To Progress In Your Career, As Per Harvard Study

If you want to progress in your career, you need to sound persuasive and confident enough.?

Now, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has suggested saying one magic word to become more influential.?

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The word is 'because' - as per a Harvard study.?

'Because' is the magic word to be considered influential?

In a conversation with CNBC Make It, Jonah Berger, a University of Pennsylvania professor, highlights the persuasive impact of incorporating the word "because" when urging someone to take action.?

It makes for a compelling result, he says.?

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Using 'because', he says, will make more people listen to you and do what you want.?

The Inherent power of 'because'?

The Harvard study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1978, had researchers sit at a table in the library, and wait for someone to use the copier placed in the library.?

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When someone approached the copier and placed the material to be copied on the machine, the subject was approached by the researcher just before he or she deposited the money necessary to begin copying.?

The subject was then asked to let the experimenter use the machine first to copy either 5 or 20 pages.The request to use the machine was made in one of the following ways:?

1. Request only. "Excuse me, I have S (20) pages. May I use the xerox machine?"?
2. Placebic information. "Excuse me, I have 5 (20) pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I have to make copies?"?
3. Real information. "Excuse me, I have S (20) pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I'm in a rush?"?

Researchers discovered that both requests using "because" increased compliance by over 50% among individuals already making copies.?

Even the second phrasing, akin to "May I do the same thing you're doing?" remained effective.?

The study suggests effectiveness arises from the stranger's considerate approach, highlighting the power of the word "because."?

Jonah Berger, in his book "Magic Words," noted that persuasion is not solely driven by the reason itself but by the inherent power of the word.?

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