Revised Edition, The Psychology of Persuasion

I had actually heard of the 6 principles of influence before, and thought it was a very interesting approach to influencing online conversion rate. This book came highly recommended from a consultant at conversion rate experts, and as soon as I opened the book, I realized that this book is a deep dive into those same 6 principles of influence. I am very excited to finish this book and understand more of the scientific approach to why people make buying decisions. This book doesn't have the typical agenda that so many consultants have of writing for publicity toward their side business, which is what makes it so powerful and interesting to read. I strongly recommend this book as a top 10 book for online marketing professionals.

I enjoyed this book alot. I'm currently majoring in Marketing at my university and I'm a business owner. There is alot of great information you could use to influence others. I've had this book quite some time and enjoy re-reading it from time to time.

I bought this book because I read somewhere that it was recommended by Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Thanks for the tip, Charlie. It's a very interesting book.

The author is a professor of psychology at Arizona State University. The book is about automatic responses of human behavior, or what the author calls our "click, whirr" mode.

The examples cover a wide range of circumstances, such as:
- How a clever waiter ropes his customers into spending more and tipping generously.
- How a variety of other sales people manipulate customers into buying.
- Why there is a surge in suicide rates following a highly publicized suicide.
- How the Chinese got American POWs to willingly write pro-Communist essays during the Korean War.

The concepts are divided into six categories: Reciprocation, Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Liking, Authority, and Scarcity.

I am a college professor, who teaches an upper-level non-major course in Persuasion and Propaganda. I've used this book for 3 semesters now, and the students LOVE it and learn SO MUCH from it. They say right away they can see these tactics in real life, they find the book very easy to read (even though the concepts are complex) and it sparks great class discussion. Highly recommend as a text for college students at all levels - graduate students could get through the text faster and go into more depth, younger students slower, but all college students can get something out of it. They say they refuse to sell it back because they want to hang on to it.

I have now read two versions of the book Influence and now I have high lit the parts of great importance for the third reading. For anyone who wants to find out why you make the decisions you make, you really should study this book like a manual. This Pearson New International Edition is well worth the extra money with all the additional comments and illustrations.

Over the course of eons humans have developed many psychological tools to help us simplify a complex world. In addition we are unconsciously motivated by social conventions that we acquire throughout our lives. The author refers to these automated responses as `Click, Whirr'. They happen without us even knowing and it takes a higher level of awareness to avoid the automated `Click, Whirr' in situations where it can be harmful. An example of an automatic response would be the belief that expensive = quality. The problem with getting rid of these automated responses is that they generally work quite well. Unfortunately there are people who recognize these idiosyncrasies and exploit them for personal gain.

I'm sure the first thing on everyone's mind when considering whether or not to purchase this book is, `will it get me what I want'. In other words will you become better at influencing people? The answer is yes but at some cost. Most of the techniques in `Influence' would be considered poor form in polite society and devious in sales. The author doesn't really try and advocate using the techniques, only demonstrating their effectiveness. The techniques play on quirks of human psychology that have to do with conditioning, social conventions and traits that seem engrained in human genetics.

The front cover has a quote encouraging marketers to pick up the book but in truth it has as much, if not more information to protect against unscrupulous salespeople as there is to assist them. This is a book that spans the gamut from techniques of successful waiters and car salesman to controlling techniques of men like Jim Jones to manipulations of entire nations. Before I was even done with the book I was already able to apply some of the things I learned to real world problems. The book is even helpful in giving advice on raising children. I may not be more persuasive but I feel better protected against those who might use tactics of persuasion on me.

I'd heard many of the the techniques discussed in this book from many sales and marketing books and training. However, the difference with this book, is that this is most likely the original book where all of these ideas were derived from. This book is a fascinating, in-depth study of how sales and marketing professionals influence people. Real research demonstrates which techniques work and why. It is written from a neutral perspective allowing the reader to either use these tactics or protect themselves from others who may try to influence them. It's an absolute must read for marketers and sales professionals or anyone who wonders why they are often persuaded to make decisions influenced by others.

Everyone should read this book then read it again. Whether you are on the selling or buying end of any transaction, knowing what Mr Cialdini discovered through years of research and testing will be to your financial advantage. Moreover, 'Influence' is not just about money. It is a guide to getting what you want or need and a fair and ethical manner. Read it closely and have your children read it.

This book is excellent regardless of your station in life and easily accessible to any reader.

The author’s main point is to show how marketers use stimulus-response techniques to basically trick consumers into buying products and ideas. (It’s a social control technique.)

I do wish the author had spent more time showing how the stimulus-response method of manipulation was originally discovered as a way of training animals. (Think, Pavlov’s dogs. Pavlov trained dogs so that when they heard a bell (stimulus) they would begin to salivate in anticipation of food (response) even when there was no food.) The point to understand here is that we are not animals and trying to condition our responses (manipulation) is unethical and immoral.

Great read for anyone that want's to better understand the way people think. I keep a copy of this on my shelf at home and have read it several times over as a refresher. It really provides some great insight into why some people are more successful than others when dealing with people. A must read for any mid/late teen child. If I knew half of the stuff that is in this book at that age...

Influence is written as a guidebook for the savvy consumer. The author's conversational style and frequent sharing of personal experiences will certainly recommend it to that audience. My interest in the work is probably closer to that of the typical reader: as a sales trainer I am looking for specific ideas for increasing my effectiveness. My attention has been richly rewarded.
Professor Cialdini organizes decades of research and experience into six easily comprehended categories of influence techniques. Relevant examples from marketing and sales are used to illustrate each concept. I especially appreciate the detailed footnotes and citations to original scientific articles. Too few books on sales or marketing have a solid basis in research. Influence remedies the dearth.
I highly recommend the book to anyone willing to invest a few hours in being a more effective persuader or a cannier "mark." Tony Mayo

Influence is a book about compliance and manipulation in general. The book offers detailed answers to two main questions 1/ what are the factors that cause one person to say yes to another person? And 2/ which techniques most effectively use these factors to generate compliance? Besides, there are many interesting, every-day sort of questions, that are posed and answered in the book. Just to mention a few:
# Why should the voting of a Jury member secret while the Jury is discussing a case?
# Why does a commitment made in public or by writing have such a powerful effect on the person who makes it?
# Why do we need to shout help and ask for specifics when we really need help?
# Why people commit more suicides after listening about suicides or disasters in the media?
# Which factors cause a person to like another person?
# Why do some people associate themselves so closely to their sport team that if their team is consistently losing they feel as losers as well?
# Which tricks do car sellers play to trick us to buy something right here right now?
# Why a TV commercial with a renowned actor playing a doctor selling pills has the same power as if he was a real doctor?

After studying all the tactics used by sales people, and the myriad techniques they use to manipulate, Cialdini came with six basic weapons of influence, each one governed by a psychological anchor or shortcut in human behaviour: 1/Consistency, 2/ reciprocation, 3/ social proof, 4/ authority, 5/ liking, and 6/ scarcity. Each of them is analysed in an individual chapter, where we are shown the psychological shortcut that produces automatic auto-pilot reactions that are used by manipulators, why these anchors sit comfortably in the human psyche from an Evolutionary Psychology and Sociology point of view, and in which precise ways they work, work better and can be enhanced or downplayed. Examples from many lab tests, natural psychology tests, scientific bibliography and Cialdini's own personal life are used to explain these mechanisms with simplicity.

Cialdini wants normal people, no matter we are a seller or not, to understand how our psyche works, because the trickster can be tricked and our psyche works using mechanisms that can be exploited and manipulated easily against us by anybody, for good and for evil. This is not a book on how to use or manipulate people and isn't directed to marketers or sellers specifically. A good part of Cialdini's work was done by infiltrating training programs from sales people and Cialdini mostly address the majority of people who don't use compliance techniques. However, he doesn't hold a grudge, nor want us to, against "compliance practioners" as he calls them (sales operators, fund-raisers, charities street workers, recruiters, advertisers, real-estate and travel agents, among others) are just people using the knowledge of our psyche without lying or masquerading anything. When they do, Cialdini advices war: "I he proper targets for counteraggression are only those individuals who falsify, counterfeit, or misrepresent the evidence that naturally cues our shortcut responses (...) The real treachery, and the thing we cannot tolerate, is any attempt to make their profit in a way that threatens the reliability of our shortcuts."

"Influence" is an useful book, not only to be learn and be aware of the tricks that compliance professionals play on us, but also of the ways people use them in our private lives to get something from us even if it is just approval, lack of a reprimand, or just sex. Most importantly the section "How to say no" in each chapter tell us, exactly, what to do or how to recognise the manipulators, the psychological anchors discussed in the chapter, and how to respond and react so our decision is o-u-r decision.

The book reads well, in simple English and is very entertaining and easy to understand.You will certainly get a few aha! moments as you can put into perspective what happened while booking a time with your hairdresser, your beauty salon, dealing with a charity worker that stops you in the street with a compliment, while a shop attendant shows you different stuff, dealing with a travel agent, dealing with your Real Estate agent, or while certain TV ads that do not make sense rationally but do make sense, totally, to your subconscious.

There are too many people including quotes in their books, but the ones Cialdini uses at the beginning of each chapter are spot on, as they summarise each chapter to perfection.

SOME CRITIQUE
>>> Cialdini is a bit reiterative at times, goes for pages unnecessarily, and although I loved most of the examples that Cialdini mentions, there are too many and he could have cut a few without the book losing interest or quality.
>>> Probably because the book was written in the 1980s, some stuff is really well-known nowadays and doesn't need of long explanations, or won't surprise anybody. I would say that people with a basic degree of education would not be saying what what what?! when reading about the bystander factor, the halo effect and the good cop-bad cop dynamics, or that our titles are something that can be used to trick people and that people who don't have them will attach to those to get a bit of the spark.
>>> The book has not aged well with regards to a few points:
1/ Some contextual facts that were common in the 80s are are no longer in use, or even legal in some parts of the world, like door-to-door sales. We live in the world of the Internet, online stores, publicity everywhere we look at, constant spam and marketing on networking sites, and the use of our private meta-data by corporations to sell us things or know what we want to buy. I would have loved seeing an analysis on how the shortcuts presented in this book have morphed to adjust to the needs of the online world and market, if some of these shortcuts are now more prominent than others, and if new shortcuts have been added to the six mentioned here.
2/ The bibliography used and referenced is still mostly from the 70s and 80s, with a few additions from the 90s. It would have been great adding a modern bibliography in a "further reading" sort of chapter when the book was revised.
3/ The use of some vocabulary is no longer OK. Referring to primitive cultures is no longer acceptable or accepted without discussion and calling animals infrahumans it is an anthropocentric adjective that doesn't connect with the reality of the environment and the planet we live in. I would call a shark or alligator a suprahuman!
4/ Some social practices have changed dramatically in the last decades, even though Cialdini thought that they would not as they have a function in the human psyche. Well, it seems no longer. For example the hell-week practices in Universities, which were in decline in my University before I entered mine and banned when I was in. They might be alive in the American Fraternity Societies, but there is something called Open University that works quite well, is everywhere and expanding, and people don't need to be part of a group or enter any building that often. The world is quite different nowadays more than people in the 80s would have imagined.

RENDERING FOR KINDLE
The book has a word index at the end, but it is not linked in the Kindle edition of the book. The author advises using the search tool to find them. Well, Kindle's search tool is not the most accurate sensitive sort of search tool. Kindle books should be sold cheaper if indexes or features that were in the hard-copies are not available in the electronic edition.

IN SHORT
This is a great reading overall, informative, entertaining and useful for our daily life, to notice things to stop us from buying something we don't want to buy right now or just not to act in a way that feels is not you but we are being pushed into and is not in our best interest. Entertaining and eye-opening this might be a bible for manipulators, but also a bible to counter-attack those who want to bend our will for their own benefit. We should learn about how influence works because automated stereotyped behaviour works better now than in the 80s, as the pace of modern life is faster and more stressful, and we have less time and energy to pause and think for a second to ask ourselves what we really want. This being the case, we can be manipulated more easily today than 30 years ago.

Dr. Cialdini did a masterful job of condensing psychological tricks known for centuries into this book. What's great about it is there are actual case studies that back up all the points in the book.

I've used knowledge gained from this book to help me grow my business significantly. I can tell you for a fact that the scarcity trigger is the most powerful one there is.

Heck, our current President here in the USA is using it all the time and many of the masses fall for it. But not me. Why? Because I read this book and can see all of these tricks happening in real time. My buttons don't get pushed.

I have long been a student of human behavior. It fascinates me. Naturally, I found this book to be fascinating as well.

The book is well researched and does more than present one person's opinion. It summarizes actual reserach results from many, many studies that demonstrate the behaviors under discussion.

Reciprocity? Consistency? These are some of the concepts discussed and are immediately applicable both as a tool of influence as well as an understanding of our own behaviors and how to protect ourselves from "forced" behaviors that we are programmed to do even when we don't want to. Yes, we are programmed to perform certain behaviors, and when we don't, we suffer socially. Naturally, this provides a means for some people to take advantage of us. This book gives us an understanding of the behavior and therefore a reasonable defense.

So, you don't believe we have automatic programmed responses? Then explain how the Chinese so effectively pursuaded American P.O.W.'s to defend communism during the Korean War. Then explain how Moonies got so many people to contribute to their religion when people just didn't want to. And explain why the effectiveness of that technique waned over time. Can't? Cialdini can. And convincingly.

I came to this book via a rather circuitous route and reference in Charlie's Munger Almanac. Charlie quipped that upon reading the book, he had been so impressed by its content and insights he had given the author class A shares in Berkshire Hatheway. As I am sure, you can imagine this caught my attention.

After reading the Cialdini's book, I have to say I support and applaud Charlie Munger's recommendation and actions. Robert's book is crisp in its insights and recommendations. It provides compelling window into the click/wrrr process of external influence. I should add that it also provides a set of references that will keep you interested and intrigued above beyond his core theme.

A book of our times - on the must read list.

I came to this book via a rather circuitous route and reference in Charlie's Munger Almanac. Charlie quipped that upon reading the book, he had been so impressed by its content and insights he had given the author class A shares in Berkshire Hatheway. As I am sure, you can imagine this caught my attention.

After reading the Cialdini's book, I have to say I support and applaud Charlie Munger's recommendation and actions. Robert's book is crisp in its insights and recommendations. It provides compelling window into the click/wrrr process of external influence. I should add that it also provides a set of references that will keep you interested and intrigued above beyond his core theme.

A book of our times - on the must read list.

The best book on the psychology of influencing that has ever been written. After reading it, I bought 20 copies and gave them to all of my engineering and scientist friends knowing that they are hopelessly out gunned in this world where marketing trumps all else. If you want to know how you always end up with a free set of steak knives or why some people seem to so effortlessly glide through life getting everything that they want, then start with this book.

everyone should read this. We are constantly being manipulated without our knowledge. We think we know better but our unconscious responds to certain stimuli and we can't control it without extreme awareness to our vulnerabilities..

Well written survey of what makes people comply. The majority of sources refer to the United States and one wonders to what degree factors like pricing high are relevant in less affluent, or in today's highly connected digital society. The final page calling on consumers to revolt seemed an odd suffix to an otherwise well written book.

I can't remember under what influence I acquired this book! It is worth reading for the delight of understanding many annoying repetitive aspects of our society, and for the warnings about tricksters who manipulate our behaviors in a variety of settings. This book is an eye opener. The writer gives suggestions for resisting the effects of the many influence virtuosos who are after our compliance with their wishes for reasons not always in our own best interests.

OK, I know this is a serious book about influence -- but I laughed all the way through -- at Dr. Cialdini's stories and at myself and how often I had been "taken" by persuasive tricks.

What I got from the book was more than just an enjoyable read --although I can assure you "Influence" is a fun read.

I got a mental innoculation.

I no longer listen to unknown young people at my door insisting that I "help" them win a scholarship by buying magazines I neither read nor want to read.

I no longer feel compelled to do nice things -- or anything at all -- for strangers who press on me small gifts I do not want.

I no longer hide out in the back room, waiting for the door-to-door salesman to roost on some other hapless person's doorstep.

I no longer listen to the spiel from a man who says "he's visiting friends in my neighborhood and just wanted to meet me." Oh, right!

And I no longer feel guilty about resisting and ignoring persuasive tactics -- whatever they may be -- at all.

Thanks, Dr. Cialdini, for a great read and a painless innoculation. I recommend your book to anyone -- anywhere -- who's bought something they absolutely did not want!

Phyllis Staff, Ph.D.
author, "How to Find Great Senior Housing"
and
"128 Ways to Prevent Alzheimer's and Other Dementias"

Influence: Science and Practice, by Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. has sold over a quarter million copies and has been published in nine different languages. Perhaps not surprising for a psychology book, but this is neither a dry college text nor a "pop" how-to book.

Cialdini is a retired professor of psychology at Arizona State University. He has studied why we buy things, often without much thought, and has broken down our "short-cut" (read knee-jerk) actions into six categories: Reciprocation, Consistency, Social Proof, Liking, Authority and Scarcity.

Reciprocation is the experience we have when a member of a religious sect hands us a flower in an airport and then asks for a donation. We don't really want to, but we feel a social obligation to reciprocate. Same thing happens whenever we get an unsolicited gift.

Consistency is about behaving in a way that is congruent with the expectations of others. What those around us think is true of us is enormously important in determining what we ourselves think is true.

Social Proof is the influence that peer groups have on us. Cialdini quotes Cavett Roberts's advice to sales trainees, "Since 95 percent of people are imitators and only five percent initiators, people are persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer."

Liking is demonstrated by several traits and behaviors, but the bottom line is this: people have to buy into you personally before they buy your product. People do business with people they like.

Authority is the demonstrated influence of anyone who sets himself up as knowing more than we do or having greater experience. This can be an Army general or a crafty restaurant waiter or any other self-proclaimed authority figure.

Scarcity is demonstrated by the greater desirability of the product when it is harder to get or more exclusive.

As Cialdini says, "The joy is not in experiencing a scarce commodity but in possessing it. It is important that we do not confuse the two." Hence the scarcity tactics used by many sales people.

Cialdini devotes a lot of space to explaining both how we can use these principles to influence others, and how, jujitsu style, we can defend ourselves against all this.

I hope this influences you to read this amazing book.

Maybe in one-off encounters, if you are a traveler or in a profession where long-term relationships are never formed it would be worth its weight in gold. In some business deals perhaps useful, especially to be aware of the techniques if used by others.

Anyone who thinks they have this much influence over others will come undone, you don't. You will loose influence by using these ideas all the time. Still, an interesting and insightful read. If you read it solely to become aware of when others are using similar techniques you will find it very worthwhile.

Robert Cialdini's book offers a set of seven persuasion principles. They include:

Consistency: Be consistent and people will trust you more.
Reciprocity: Give people something, and they will want to return the favor.
Authority: People tend to trust authority figures.
Social Proof: We tend to trust the wisdom of crowds.
Liking: It pays to be likable.
Scarcity: People want what they can't have.

The book is well written and filled with stories and research to drive his points home. Cialdini's follow-up book, Yes, expands upon this themes. Another favorite on this topic is Made To Stick, which provides a useful framework for communicating persuasively.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Great book on how humans are influenced to make the choices they make. It combines scientific. Principles of influence and relevant illustrations of how they work in real life. The only limitation is that the book uses knowledge almost exclusively from the USA, and applies it to an American public as well. An openness to support the principles exposed by research from all continents would make the book even richer. This being said, Influence is one of the most edifying books I have read on the psychology of compliance.

Cialdini draws from his own experiences as a salesman and his knowledge of the psychology research literature. The book brings an understanding of how we, ourselves, and others are influenced. Helps you decide how and when you may use some of these techniques, and touches on the moral dilemmas surrounding them. I am not a persuasive person, and am uncomfortable in using some of these techniques to get others to do what I want. I have been told that I have an overactive conscience. The book makes me wary and even angry at others who use these techniques- not a particularly good feeling- but maybe necessary to some extent.

Some people gave this book a negitive reveiw based on when it was written, and or the fact that it is written in a very simple manner. Both of these things are huge pluses for me as I do not have an advanced degree in phycology, and human nature is something that developed over the course of history so any preceived changes in the last twenty or thirty years are just that. I find the book very insightfull and it has given me an appitite to do more reading and research. Read from the proper perspective there is a ton of practicle knowledge here. I recomend for the lay person that is hoping to understand more of what makes themselves and others tick.

Started implementing the first principles of this incredible book and very easily increased my income 5x in 8 days! A must read for any entrepreneur, business owner, sales professional or human being...it will change your life in the most transformative way.

The book shows the automated mechanisms of our mind that help us to make decisions.I could not even imagine that so many choices humans make without thinking.
Those of you who would like to know more about art of persuasion , logic of debates and rhetoric and/or how become more powerful this book probably is not for you, a title of book is a little bit misleading on this aspect. The book is about unconscious algorithms of our mind imprinted in us by evolution , the algorithms which influence our daily and business decisions.it is about recognizing them and eliminating their influence if required.

As a professional salesperson, I found this book very interesting. If provides interesting insight into the psychological factors at play during normal conversations, sales conversations, etc. I would recommend it to everyone, because it adds a unique dimension to human conversation and interaction.

Even though not discussing all aspects of persuasion, and concentrating more about persuading people to do things, (rather than persuasion regarding opinions and beliefs (some points are made but much is absent). It is a fluent and rich book written in an engaging manner, and also has references to research done in the field.

Several people suggested that I read this, so I buckled down and started reading it. The different spheres of influence were extremely powerful, and the research that Cialdini uses is great for proving his points. Its undeniable that if you are to embrace the points made in this book and apply them to your sales and marketing techniques, you WILL make more money. If used ethically, you will build your business significantly.

For me, I'm starting to use some of these influence techniques for my business as well as my clients businesses. Basically, a lot of these things just need to be brought into your conscious so that you'll use them better and with a purpose.

The only downside to this book is that the content is very dry and academic. I gave this book 5 stars, not because I enjoyed the writing style, wit, humor, or any of those things that aren't here, but becasue the content is awesome. I highly reccomend this to anyone who wants to learn better sales and marketing techniques from a psychological approach. You will learn exactly why using some of these techniques consciously works so well!

This an extremely well researched book (including experiments performed by the author, a university professor). It has enough anecdotes to illustrate the techniques that compliance professionals use to influence your behavior/decisions.

Are you going to buy a car?

Do you need Door-to-door salesperson repellent?

The book isn't just about how to avoid compliance tactics, but also how to perpetrate them. Don't get me wrong, not all compliance tactics are evil. Like any weapon, it's the wielder that makes it good, evil or dangerous.

I bought the fifth edition, but if there's a sixth+ edition when you read this, then buy that one.

This is a wonderful summary of six key social psychology principles that go far to explaining how we as consumers and voters are manipulated by "compliance professionals." The discussion of each principle is interesting and well written, with enough humor to keep it very readable. I especially appreciate the author's advice as to how to easily counter attempts at being manipulated.

My only complaint about the book is that many of the examples and studies cited have obviously not been updated since the 1980's. This is a very minor problem and in no way detracts from the importance of the work. Get it, read it, and join the author in his prinicipled fight against the unscrupulous use of these principles!

The book has so much information. I would recommend, while reading, highlight sections, write notes and review 3 months after you've read.

Crazy to think our brain can be primed so to speak and if you know the information can be grossly profitable to you.

TL;DR:

Good:
-clear, detailed explanations of the what, how and why of CRITICAL aspects of human psychology you can use for influence.
- clearly backed-up points with many anecdotal and scientific examples

Bad:
-wordy. Book could have been 1/3 the size without losing the main content

Recommended Audience:
-Those who are just beginning in learning about psychology for business.
-Those who want to delve deep into the "why" and "how" of influence.

=======
My Review

This is a great start for anyone who wants to learn the basics of influence, without getting all the scammy tactics that direct/online marketers would peddle in their own books.

They author clearly breaks down each of the main areas of influence and uses plenty of anecdotal and scientific research to back up his claims, so you know they can be trusted.

For anyone who is more versed in this stuff, reading can be a drag. BECAUSE the author has so many stories in it, this book feels bloated with excessive explanation and can drag on at times. At many points in this book I found myself skipping whole paragraphs just to get to the next point.

On the other hand, because I was reading through so much I was forced to think about this topic more deeply and come up with some good ideas.

Great translation of academic research in psychology to real world situations. Not all academics can write to a broader audience persuasively. Cialdini nails it. Indispensable for modern day business, politics, or investing.

Football Fans - Have you ever seen Tom Brady call out Will, Mike, and Sam at the line of scrimmage? Well in this book, just like Tom Brady behind center, Dr. Cialdini calls out six psychological tricks that marketers employ on a daily basis.

Like many other business books, Cialdini's 'Influence' comments on our collective social experience. This book differentiates itself with its ability to tie modern psychology together with conventional marketing wisdom. Some advertising professionals and salespeople will gain a new appreciation for their craft when they learn about the underlying psychological principles that promote sales.

For instance...

-> After reading Chapter 1, readers will understand why inflated prices *promote* luxury car sales.

-> After reading Chapter 4, readers will understand why networks pump canned laughter into sitcoms.

-> After reading Chapter 6, readers will understand why an investment firm tapped 'Law and Order's' Sam Waterston for its new ad campaign.

-> After reading Chapter 7, readers will understand why candy companies manufacture "limited edition" chocolates.

As a whole, Cialdini's 'Influence' is both comprehensive and instructive in its distillation of psychological-marketing techniques.

Everybody I try to get advice from adviced this book so I checked it out. Good classic that is a must for your library collection..or just your wandering mind. Will show you the power and method of persuasion. Very useful and include good/interesting examples!

Wonderful insight into what drives our actions on a subconscious level. Cialdini does fail to explain simple heuristics that impact our decision making, and he elucidates situational circumstances that may drive us to do things we might not necessarily wish to do. Also, a great read for any individual that wishes gain more insight on how businesses manipulate certain facets of human psychology to boost their sales. Super thumbs up!

An excellent book with interesting insights. Can recognise most of the weapons described including the stores approach. An easy read and one that i will read again. Great examples.
It complements books on behavioural economics.
Look forward to reading other books by this author.

I love books that look at real life human behavior (like making a purchase) and then examine actual research to better understand what's going on. This book does a great job of that, and I found the information useful, intriguing and easy to understand.However, some of the "real life examples" seem to look at purchasing activity that focuses on what things were like 20-30 years ago -- still relevant, but not the best examples, and not taking into account today's internet-based purchasing activity. Still . . . I found this to be a good read.

Excellent book, essentially a thesis on the subconcious underpinnings that causes different persuasive techniques to work. The concept is that the world we live in is so full of information that it is impossible to make all or even most decisions based upon our concious decision making process. Instead, throughout the course of our life our subconcious has developed methods that help us quickly process data. We do this all the time and don't even think about it, because it is part of our auto pilot (click-whir as Caldini calls it). You did this today when you instinctively avoided eye contact with a person you perceived as a begger. Stimulus results in response - automatically. Most of these unconcious decisions are in our best interest. However, Caldini points out ways in which our subconcious filter can be manipulated and all of his examples are exemplified by real life event examples and controlled experiment examples. Some of these are frightening and even disturbing (not just the tests but the real life stuff too-things like forseeable waves of suicides and avoidable fatal airplane crashes, amazing stuff).

Personally I am a small business owner and prior to reading this book I had already been applying some of these tactics in my business but I never knew why. I only new that when I do x I make a sale, or I advertise this way because the experts say so and it does seem to work. After reading Influence (2 1/2 times so far) and referring to it regularly I now understand why those tactics that I used everyday worked. It is a tremendous guide for me as I read a plethora of "normal" marketing books (by normal I mean without the psychological slant)and am able to understand the psychology behind any marketing strategies or tactics they suggest.

I will close with an example of ONE of the principles in the book "social proof." Prior to reading the book I already had my walls covered with pictures of my clients taken in my office, I have a tax preparation office with a niche of serving the Latino community. We always made sure they were smiling, many times I would be interacting with their little kid in some way when the picture was taken, other times the client would be shaking my hand as we both smile at the camera but in all cases they were sitting at my desk smiling. I also had pictures of clients posted in the lobby with a brief testimonial about the big refund we had got them and what they are going to do with the money. I had learned to do this because others businesses have had success with this. When I read this book Caldini opened my eyes to what I was doing to the subconcious of my clients. All of us tend to believe and trust people similar to ourselves. So as my clients sit at my desk the thought of distrust never even enters their mind. They are too surrounded by people just like them who were obviously happy with my services (smiling). By the way I do not consider what I do manipulating. In Caldini's book you will read some disturbing accounts of manipulation by immoral people. Obviously I set the stage for my pictures and testimonials etc but this is merely good marketing. Every picture on my wall is an actual client and they truly are happy with the service. We just help them smile.

I will end now, I promise, with this last example. I just watched Barak Obama's nationwide 30 minute infomercial. This example is about marketing so wherever you land politically set politics aside for a moment(I voted for the other guy but that's beside the point). The 30 minutes was a collage of all sorts of different interviews, speeches, illustrations, and yes testimonials. As a matter of fact there were more testimonials than any other type of clip. The testimonials appeared random but I assure you they were far from random. They were all designed to bring credibility to the claims Barak had just made or dramatic emphasis to the problem he that he is going to "change." Also the person giving was far from random. In the first 10 seconds of each clip I could tell who the campaign was targeting. There were many testimonials from black, and latino voters (a key target for the Obama campain). He also had quite a few small business owners on there in an attempt to push back against the "Joe the Plumber" campaign of McCain. He had a testimonial from a retired brigadeer General assuring us that Obama is not too inexperienced but has the solution to the war. I would love to be a fly on the wall of each American's home as this played. I know I would have seen many examples of people's heads bobbing in affirmation as the testimonials played of the people "most similar" to them. Speaking of head bobbing did you see the little rally's he had with "heartland looking Americans" around him all bobbing there heads as he talked about the breakdown of healthcare or whatever the topic was. That's an entire different tactic and for that one I'll let you read the book.

The original version of this one was published in 1984 and I read the revised copy that came out in December of 2006. The revised edition contains a lot of great stories from readers who provide real life examples giving social proof at the end of each chapter.

I absolutely love reading books like this one. Dr. Robert Cialdini explains Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion and it is filled with all kinds of studies performed on animals and humans as to why we do the things we do, specific to being influenced.

The book starts off with a great example where a friend of the author has opened a jewelry store and is having a hard time selling some turquoise jewelry. She tries moving the display and various other traditional marketing techniques but has little success.

Finally, as she's headed out of town for the weekend, she asks one of her employees to mark everything at 1/2 off. When she comes back she's not surprised to learn that the entire display sold out; however, not because it was 1/2 off because the employee misunderstood and marked everything at x's 2, twice the price! Why would this happen? She sold out the display and made a great profit. Well, that's where Dr. Cialdini comes in and explains certain triggers and how we look for shortcuts and our minds believe "expensive" = "good."

The book is divided into seven chapters and covers seven specific areas. We learn about Weapons of Influence, Reciprocation, Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Liking, Authority, and Scarcity.

Personally, I enjoyed the chapter on Reciprocity because it's something I firmly believe in. I think of reciprocity in terms of Karma, what comes around goes around. If you operate in the service of others and put other people before yourself, it's bound to come back around to you.

I love this book and so do many of the reviewers with a 4.5 rating on the store with 1,788 reviews and a 4.17 on Goodreads with 49,087 ratings and 1,782 reviews. The information provided in this book is backed by sound scientific studies and is practical information that can be applied to real life situations, especially valuable for the sales professional.

I enjoyed this one so much that I picked up Cialdini's new book called Pre-Suasion that was just published in September of 2016 and I cannot wait to dive into it. I highly recommend picking up Influence, especially if you're one who desires understanding why we react and respond on the fashion we do, especially when it comes to Influence.

This was a fascinating book--a fast read, too. It seemed aimed at business people, or salespeople to some extent. . . but if you are on the other side of the 'pitch' you'll get an eye-opening look at how simple it is to sway a person.

I'd read this if you like social psychology--or maybe Gladwell's Tipping Point?

The writing was clear, accessible and I would happily read anything Cialdini has written.