007 - Why We Like What's Familiar

Influence Psychology and Persuasion - Mike Sweet - 10 Minute Coach - Develop and Discover

This is session number 007 of the Influence Psychology and Persuasion podcast. In this episode, I'll be explaining all about familiarity and how it affects our interactions and decisions. First and foremost, and more obviously, we, as a species like what's familiar. From an evolutionary angle, if what you did yesterday was good enough to keep you here, alive and well today, then repeating that makes so much sense. But..... how can this psychological principle be used to your advantage, and what do you need to be aware of to prevent falling into the trap of following a pre-programmed responses.

Familiarity and similarity go hand-in-hand. You've heard the saying, “birds of a feather flock together". And the reason why this is known so well, is because in so many cases it's absolutely true. We like people who are like us. This recognition of being similar confirms to us that we are on the right path and that our way, our beliefs, and how personality traits are exactly where they need to be, which is why there are other people just like us. This acts as a confirmation bias.