“If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.” – Zig Ziglar
Although this isn’t a business-related article, Zig’s quote testifies to the power of trust. Any relationship – personal and professional – depends on mutual trust.
Human psychology has a lot to do with it. Behavioral and cognitive scientists have studied the trust/behavior phenomenon for a long time. Again and again, researchers and scientists conclude that one’s willingness to trust another is strongly influenced by what the other person says and does.
In this article, we’ll take a look at five such behaviors – all of which are backed by scientific evidence. Genuine displays of these behaviors can help you gain the trust of friends, co-workers, and even strangers.
5 Ways To Get People To Trust You
1. Having a pleasant smell
Ok, we all know that being smelly isn’t conducive to earning someone’s trust. On the other hand, our olfactory nerve (which affects smell) does influence trust to some degree.
The Trust Game (aka, “the investment game”) was developed by University of Arizona professor Joyce Berg to measure interpersonal trust. Dutch researchers wanted to test whether or not certain scents would influence trust.
90 participants were split into three groups; one group was exposed to no smell, the second group to peppermint, and the third to lavender. People within the lavender-smelling group were “significantly more willing” to entrust money to someone else than participants in other groups.
Researchers explained this phenomenon in simple terms: lavender has a calming effect. Apparently, this calming effect may invoke feelings of trust in others.
2. Mirroring body language
One group of MBA students were asked to mimic their colleagues in a business transaction negotiation subtly. Another group was used as a control, and were advised not to mirror. None of their colleagues knew of the experiment.
The simple act of resting an elbow on the table when their partner did had a drastic effect on the outcome.
A negotiation was reached 67 percent within the mirroring group, and just 12 percent in the control group. Researchers have previously shown that we mirror those we admire; adding another interesting dimension to interpersonal relationships.
Read more HERE.
Source: consciouslifenews.com