Book SummaryHow Highly Effective People Speak, by Peter Andrei

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of How Highly Effective People Speak

Effective communication, according to Peter D. Andrei, is more of a science than most people think. It’s not, as some people believe, some obscure art that can only be mastered by the most charismatic and graceful among us. Instead, it’s a complex craft that can be studied and learned, and its strategies can be broken down and used by anyone.

Most books on speech and communication say the same things: “Keep it simple, be authentic, use emotion to persuade, speak with confidence,” and so on. Andrei argues that most of these truisms about speech aren’t wrong, per se, but they only scratch the surface. In How Highly Effective People Speak, he...

How Highly Effective People Speak Summary The Morality of Rhetoric

Communication, says Andrei, is about persuasion, and the morality of persuading others (that is, whether it’s right or wrong to manipulate people’s thoughts or actions with words) depends on the morality of the speaker’s intentions. Using cognitive biases to influence others may seem selfish, dishonest, or unethical, but Andrei argues that this isn’t necessarily the case.

Rhetoric, the science of persuasive speech, can be used for good or evil: to connect people, to sow division, to help people see the truth, or to make them believe in falsehoods. Thus, rhetoric is a tool you should...

How Highly Effective People Speak Summary Availability Bias

Availability bias is the tendency to give too much credence to evidence or information that comes most easily to mind—the evidence that’s mentally “available.” Relying on this type of information can allow us to make judgments quickly, which can be helpful but also can lead us to wrong judgments.

A classic example of this bias is in the common fear of plane crashes—a statistically unlikely event that people irrationally fear because they easily remember instances of it occurring. When you step foot on a plane, you might remember the news story you heard of a plane crash. Because it takes more time to think through the statistics about how likely such an event actually is, your readily available memory of the headline makes you worry it’s going to happen to you.

What Makes Availability Bias So Widespread and Powerful?

The availability bias was first researched by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in the 1970s, and their book Thinking, Fast and Slow provides some more insight into the causes, effects, and potential remedies of this bias. They write that [a big driver of availability bias is the...

How Highly Effective People Speak Summary Attribute Substitution

Andrei says that attribute substitution is behind a variety of cognitive biases and can be used to influence your audience in subtle yet powerful ways. Attribute substitution is the tendency for people to replace a complex judgment or problem with an easier one. In other words, they substitute an attribute that’s difficult to measure with a simpler one. For example, deciding whom to vote for in a democratic election can be a difficult decision. Many people, instead of reviewing the policies of every person on a ballot, simply vote for the candidates who represent their chosen political party. They substitute a complex judgment with a much easier one.

(Shortform note: Some researchers argue that attribute substitution is a form of unintentional intellectual laziness—we tend to take the easier intellectual route when making decisions. But one study found that although people intuitively avoid thinking about hard questions and instead think about easy ones, most people are aware of when they do this, suggesting we at...

How Highly Effective People Speak Summary The Anchoring Bias

The anchoring bias, also known as the anchoring effect, is the tendency for a person’s decisions to be excessively influenced by an initial reference point, or anchor. For example, when purchasing a new oven, if the first oven you like is priced at $1,200, that price is going to affect your perception for the rest of your shopping experience—when you see a similar oven for $800, it’s going to seem like a great deal even if it isn’t.

The anchoring bias is largely due to our relative perception of the world. We need a point of reference, a way to contextualize information, to understand what anything means. If the salary of a job you’re applying for is $40,000, you can’t do much with this information unless you compare it to what you make now, what the average salary for this particular job is, and the cost of living in your area. Without a point of reference and additional information, the number $40,000 is useless. As Andrei points out, you might be happy with earning $40,000 a year until you learn that someone with the same job is making $50,000.

(Shortform note: The relativity of perception may also be a big factor in our prejudices. As Jennifer Eberhardt explains in...

How Highly Effective People Speak Summary Zero-Risk Bias

Andrei claims that people are irrationally biased toward ideas, products, or circumstances that carry no risk of failure or loss. We’re extremely loss-averse creatures, and we’ll often pay a hefty price to ensure we don’t suffer the pain of losing something, whether it’s our hard-earned money, our precious time, or our health and safety.

(Shortform note: When calculating risk to make decisions, it may be helpful to differentiate between risk and uncertainty. The key difference is that risk is quantifiable (we can reasonably estimate the level of risk) while uncertainty is unknown. Experts point out that people often conflate risk and uncertainty, which can lead to poor decision-making. If you assume that the risk of an occurrence is largely unpredictable, you may fail to take reasonable actions to reduce the chance of it happening. Alternatively, if you try to reduce risk when there isn’t any, you might be wasting time and effort.)

If your proposal, idea, or product...

How Highly Effective People Speak Summary The Halo Effect

The halo effect is the tendency for people to base their overall impression of a person on one observed quality, and Andrei argues you can use this bias to make yourself appear competent and trustworthy to your audience. Essentially, the halo effect is the bias that tells us that good first impressions do matter.

The halo effect is the result of a combination of other cognitive biases, including the primacy effect, attribution substitution, and confirmation bias. When you notice an initial positive quality in a person (primacy effect), you’ll attribute a host of other positive qualities to that person (attribute substitution), and then see small signs that point to those positive qualities as confirmation of your beliefs (confirmation bias).

(Shortform note: Psychologists say that the halo effect comes from two things. Like most biases, the halo effect is a mental shortcut that helps us make easier, quicker judgments. It also helps us avoid [cognitive...

How Highly Effective People Speak Summary Contrast Effect Bias

According to Andrei, using the contrast effect in your communication is one of the most useful ways to improve your rhetorical skills. The contrast effect is the tendency to judge things presented closely together or in rapid succession together rather than separately, and it can strengthen or weaken perceived differences and similarities between two or more things. Like the anchoring bias, the contrast effect relies on our inability to judge things without a point of comparison. The contrast effect, however, doesn’t necessarily rely on the initial point of reference as the anchoring bias does. Instead, it’s activated by ongoing comparisons between two things.

For example, you could be presented with two things simultaneously, and this comparison would affect your perception of both of them. If you see a new boat right next to an old, rundown one, the new boat will seem even better than it actually is while the used one will seem even worse.

(Shortform note: One area in which contrast effect bias can negatively impact decision-making is in [the hiring...

Shortform Exercise: Consider How Biases Could Improve Your Communication

Consider how you might use an understanding of cognitive biases to be more persuasive and effective in your daily life.

Think of a time recently when you failed to convince someone of your opinion or persuade them to take action. This could be work-related (your presentation failed to convince your bosses to try your idea) or personal (you failed to persuade a friend to watch a movie you enjoyed). Write a brief description below.