Sometimes choosing the right words can make all the difference - like during a job interview or when you’re asking for a raise. Words are powerful and the way we put them together to make our point actually reveals a lot about us.
Psychologist Elizabeth Stokoe, professor of social interaction at Loughborough University in the U.K. has done her research on the impact words have and she specializes in conversational analysis. She transcribes everyday conversations to try to understand their “linguistic and social components.”
And through her analysis, Stokoe has picked up on one word that can help make you more persuasive when you use it: willing.
While speaking at a conference, she explained that when you want to change someone’s mind after they turn you down your request, following up with the word willing might help change their response.
“If you ask someone ‘Are you interested in meditation?’, they might say yes or no. But if you ask them if they’re willing to meditate, that requires them saying something about the type of person that they are,” Stokoe explains. “So if we change words, we change outcomes.”
Willing. The word we need to add when asking our kids to clean up their rooms, when asking our partners to help out, and when asking our boss for a favor. If it helps us get the answer we want to hear, willing is our new favorite word.
Source: My Domaine