3 Simple Actions That Make People Respect You, According to Psychology

You want to be the kind of person that moves the needle. You want to make a difference, but you also want to encourage genuine action and respect among those around you.

You don’t want people to smile and nod before moving on to the next guy. You want people to feel what you are creating and to be inspired to do something to change their lives. Only this will bring you income and results for them. So how can you make sure you inspire movement and respect in the people around you?

Here are three simple steps to ensure people have respect for you:

1. Appeal to emotions, not logic

You can argue about how important your message is until you’re blue in the face. But you won’t inspire action until you make someone feel something.

You do this by telling a story and painting vivid scenes that people can immerse themselves in.

They experience the story and the pain and the desire and the joy and the relief as if they were there. You show it, don’t tell it. If you feel it in your content, many others will feel it too. Emotions are the basis of every action.

Research from Harvard Business Review finds that relying on emotion over logic in marketing can significantly increase brand success by creating stronger customer loyalty, increasing brand recall, and driving purchasing behavior.

People often make decisions based on their feelings rather than purely rational considerations. However, to avoid negative impacts, authentic and appropriate emotional appeals are essential.

2. Be approachable

Smiling young woman wearing a leather jacket Melike Benli | Pexels

People only respect those they like and trust. It is also unlikely that people will reach out to you and be interested in you and your work if you are not approachable in the first place.

What’s the best way to stay aloof? Be a little robotic. The alternative? Be human. How can you be human? Be honest and show us your imperfections. Show us that you’ve made a mistake or have an annoying habit of watching far too long video game golf videos every day (like me). This makes you more relatable, trustworthy and approachable.

A study published in the Journal of Strategic Marketing explains that sympathy has been defined in the psychological literature as “a persuasion tactic and a scheme of self-expression.” Early research found that a multidimensional construct with cognitive and affective components describes sympathy.

More recently, Reysen has developed a scale that can be used to examine traits of likeability. By looking at factors such as friendliness, approachability, attractiveness, level of knowledge, self-similarity, and agreeableness, the Reysen Likeability Scale attempts to measure a person’s likeability.

3. Call to action

Smiling man in glasses gesturing with his hands Photo by: Kaboompics.com | Pexels

This is secondary to the others, but still often important. People feel comfortable when they are led and are more likely to act when they see the direction you are leading them in. If you are an approachable, respected person who can stir emotions and encourage action, you will be successful.

Research from Stanford University shows that a call to action works by leveraging human psychological principles such as reward behavior, urgency, clarity, social proof, and the desire to avoid loss.

It guides users to take a specific action by clearly stating a benefit or positive outcome associated with that action, often with a sense of timing to prompt an immediate response.

Alex Mathers is an author and coach who will help you build a profitable personal brand using your knowledge and skills while remaining mentally resilient.