The house I got them spotted for looks really great after they’ve first looked at a couple of dumps. - Robert B. Cialdini

When our freedom to have something is limited, the item becomes less available, and we experience an increased desire for it. However, we rarely recognize that psychological reactance has caused us to want the item more; all we know is that we want it. Still, we need to make sense of our desire for the item, so we begin to assign it positive qualities to justify the desire.

tactic can be particularly successful when the audience is already aware of the weakness; thus, when a communicator mentions it, little additional damage is done, as no new information is added — except, crucially, that the communicator is an honest individual. Another enhancement occurs when the speaker uses a transitional word — such as however, or but, or yet — that channels the listeners’ attention away from the weakness and onto a countervailing strength.

The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.