Simple psychology for daily life: Boomerang effect

Adapted from images by garageband on Pixabay and Alessandro Paiva on freeimages.

The boomerang effect is when efforts to persuade someone result instead in an opposite outcome. The effect applies to practically any scenario with an opposite outcome to that desired when persuasion is being used.

The negative outcome when persuading may be stem from:

• the target’s guilt and desire to conform
• the target’s misinterpretation of the message
• the target’s aversion for emotionally confronting information (such as something that causes cognitive dissonance)
• the target’s resentment at feeling manipulated
• when new information presented as part of an argument against a position actually reinforces the target’s faith in it

Here are a few examples in no particular order to demonstrate:

1. Frank tells his boss that Steve is not the right man to receive a promotion. He gives the reason that even after Steve worked a month of 55 hour weeks, Steve’s department hasn’t seen an increase in sales. The boss is instead impressed by Steve’s long work hours and dedication to his job, and decides to promote him.
2. Lucy tries to convince Carol to buy an economic Kia for her next car. Carol’s brothers, father, and grandfather all drive and swear by Fords, and Lucy insists they only do so out of habit rather than more solid reasoning. Not wanting to risk deviating from her family tradition, Carol buys the Ford.
3. Greg is helping his friend Sam decide what GPU to buy for his new work PC. Sam is wondering if it’s worth buying the top-of-the-line model despite its high price. Greg tells Sam that model is mostly used by professional 3D and VFX artists and animators as it handles far more effects and objects on-screen than anything seen in day-to-day use. Not understanding that the extra power is superfluous in his case, Sam shells out the extra money to have the best model.

As we are both persuading and persuaded frequently in daily life, it can pay to learn when an effort is resulting in a boomerang effect.

If we feel someone we are trying to convince is not being swayed by our words, it can help to ask them questions about their position for a clearer picture. A course change could result in a more persuasive angle that better resonates with our target.

If we ourselves are finding someone’s efforts to persuade us are failing, it can often pay to take a moment to think on why that’s happening. Sometimes we may find their position is rather strong, and that our reason to resist them is not as solid as we may initially have felt.