ABSTRACT
Words play a very significant role in social influence processes. This chapter provides a special look at words by examining techniques in which the word takes centre stage. One of the most well known techniques exploiting the power of the word is "even a penny will help". One may often refuse various requests to support charity campaigns, justifying the decision by saying that they can't help everyone. Another technique explained in the chapter is based on the fact that people often refuse to carry out small requests without justifying the reasons for such a decision. The chapter discusses a foot-in-the-mouth technique and an evoking freedom technique. Many studies have been devoted to the phenomenon of labelling. Defining people using dispositional traits often leads to them behaving in a manner consistent with the content of those labels.
