Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Wonderful Stories Exquisitely Told

I frequently reflect on the insights gained from Cialdini¿s superb book in both my private life and my life as a public relations professional (the ultimate influence peddlar). His research is sound and his style completely readable ¿a book filled with many ¿aha!¿ revelations. I recommend this book all the time, often purchasing one to give to a colleague. Simple truths told simply.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good read

It's a solid book. Fascinating, easy to read. If you've already read other psychology books some of the studies Cialdini refers too might already be familiar to you.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Concepts Every Marketer Should Understand And Use

To understand why your marketing plans work or don't work, you need to look deep into what goes on in your customer's head. That's where this book takes you. It's a classic work on persuasion that will show you not only why behavior can be altered, but how to do it. The author, Robert Cialdini, is a professor of marketing at Arizona State as well as president of a consulting company specializing in ethical persuasion. Unlike my book on the subject, The Dynamic Manager's Guide to Marketing and Advertising (which draws heavily from the stories of business owners), some of the material here might be a little technical for the casual reader, but the serious business reader will find it worth the effort. Marketers, sales people, and managers of all stripes should take the time to understand the concepts in this substantive work.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Tired of being duped?

This book tells you in a very concise and direct manner all of the tricks that advertisers, marketers, and salesmen use to get you to buy, to say yes when you really don't want to. If you don't want to be taken advantage of then you need to read this book to understand how its being done.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I absolutely loved it!

I bought the book on a recommendation of an aquaintance. I was told it was a MUST READ for everyone. I figured what the heck and bought it. I couldn't put it down from page 1. I breezed thru it and I loved it. I was actually getting flustered near the end because I wanted more. This is an excellent book! Highly recommend it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not what I was looking for

I was disappointed to purchase this book for a particular purpose and then find that it didn't come close to what I was looking for. I'm just getting into business to business sales, so I was looking for guidance on how to influence and help potential customers to purchase from me. I found this book to be long and drawn out and irrelevant to what I was looking for. These drawn out stories lead me to skip several pages at a time throughout almost half of the book, and then finally decided to search for another book that might help me in my career. When submitting the review I was forced to fill in more stars that I wanted to. I would have rated it at one star.

Must read for sales or parents

Clinical studies backed up by vividly told stories make this an entertaining read. The information contained is stunning, almost frightening. I was amazed at how easily we are influenced by the smallest things. This has positively affected my success at work (sales), parenting and as a wife. Absolute must read.

Wrong order link

The Psychology of Persuacion, Influence Nook version was sent to me by mistake (and me not paying close attention). I tried to order Influence: Science and Practice. However, Barnes and Noble has the wrong Nook order link to the book. Instead of receiving Influence: Science and Practice, I received Influence of Persuasion. I indicated this issue to Barnes and Noble over a month ago. However, they have not fix the problem. I have a hard copy of Influence: Science and Practice, which is an excellent book, and I am using in a book club. However, I also want the Nook version, but I am unable to do it on Barnes and Noble.

0 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Eye-Opening!

All I can say is thanks to this book, I now appreciate why Barnes and Nobles asks us to write these reviews. Still very useful nonetheless.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Re-inventing my career...

This is a fascinating book backed up with psychology and clinical proof! Since I¿m re-inventing my career (to marketing/sales) I¿ve found the information to be extremely useful ¿ even out shopping I see all kinds of examples detailed in the book. The section on scarcity was particularly useful and one that I used to buy into. Another read I just finished that is extremely useful/tactical in re-inventing (and since getting hired!!!) is The Sales Adventure Guide. This no punches pulled Sales Adventure Guide walked me through how to market myself and (to date) stay employed. Read and prosper!

Great, helpful book.

Great book - provides wonderful insight into human nature and an understanding of how you make decisions (become persuaded). Don't be fooled by the 'Psychology' in the title - the title could have been: 'Understanding Persuasion' or 'A Study of Persuasion' or 'A Self Help Guide for Suckers of Persuasion'. Absolutely critical read for anyone who is interested in making objective decisions. (All these reviewers, including professors and other experts, purchased and recommend this book. Spend a couple days reading a book that will save you years of bad decisions.)

Are you influencial?

This is an interesting book written by a Robert Cialdini, PhD dealing with the psychology of request compliance (persuasion) The book is replete with real life anecdotes and psychological experiments without any psychobabble. The subject deals with basic human psychology, automatic response and human perception The level of analysis is quite detailed with pictures, graphs, cartoons and famous sayings. The author keeps the subject interesting by mixing conceptual presentation, story telling, historical issues and psychological research. It is a well studied subject reminiscent of Dale Carnegie¿s classic book about How to Make Friends and Influence people. This book arms the job hunter and the workplace with effective techniques in persuasion. The book end abruptly without integrating the subject. The seven principles outlined in the book are: Weapons of Influence ¿ studies the concept of perceptual contrast as an example an unhappy event in contrast with a more philosophical approach might reduce the severity of the event when contrasted. Reciprocation: Emphasizes human nature of feeling obligated when one is provided first with a small favor. Commitment & Consistency: being consistent (as opposed to being right) is a natural human response stemming from the need to appear logical, honest and personal and intellectual strength. This sometimes results in mechanical consistency. By encouraging someone to making a statement or taking action the individual creates commitment and hence will feel pressed to remain consistent with that commitment. Social Proof: At times of uncertainty or indecision people are influenced by those who can show clarity through suggesting acting or thinking like the rest of us. Liking: We tend to say yes to those who we know or like. The Tupperware party¿s example demonstrates this principle. Authority: The author suggests that authority in context, title, attire has a significant influence. Scarcity: as opportunities become less available people realize that they hate losing freedom so they react to correct that. The book deals with the ethical issues as well as methods to counteract the unscrupulous practitioners of these principles.

The Power of Persuasion and Manipulation

Robert B. Cialdini concisely explores six strategies that persons with good and/or bad intentions can use in influencing others to do something or not to do it. These strategies are authority, commitment and consistency, liking, reciprocation, scarcity, and social proof. Cialdini convincingly demonstrates the power of each strategy with examples belonging to a wide range of disciplines. These stratagems often work because the target audience has been preprogrammed to react to specific situations in a certain way. Cialdini clearly explains which counter-strategies the target audience can use in defeating the six strategies mentioned above, whenever appropriate. To his credit, Cialdini refrains from using jargon that makes Influence Science and Practice a very enjoyable read that is easily accessible to a wide audience. As a side note, in Simplicity Marketing, Steven M. Cristol and Peter Sealey explore the increasing need for shortcuts that businesses and consumers in the most developed economies have in making choices. Cristol and Sealey show with panache that marketers can use four strategies called the 4 R's, Replace, Repackage, Reposition, and Replenish, to simplify the life of businesses and consumers who are overwhelmed with choices in an increasing number of product categories.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

One of the best written and most useful books I have ever read

I first read this book (under the title Influence: Science and Practice) when I was about 13. I re-read it every two years. I have used this information almost every week of my life, from job interviews through buying my first car. Cialdini's information is dead-on accurate. I have used this book in philosophy classes and he is a great reference for the student in any liberal art. His information has not only saved me money, it has helped my personal relationships, and helped me learn to get what I want, while making sure that other parties are satisfied as well. And excellent book for anyone.

My Favorite Book Ever

I absolutely enjoyed this book -not just because of the continuity of the authorship but because of the incredibly invaluable information in this book. I was recommended this book from my psych roommate at Dartmouth who had to read it for her class and I was pleasantly surprised at what a good read it was. Please don't be deceived by the title 'the psychology of persuasion', it's as much about how to persuade others as it is about how we're all extremely vulnerable to being persuaded. This is a book for EVERYONE because it addresses intrinsic flaws in how living beings perceive the world in which we live (see the synopsis). In addition, the author clearly sites all the studies and reports that are widely available, but he doesn't use so much technical psych-jargon that you need a PhD. My only critique is that the book really should have been a little thicker -I felt like the book ended a little too abruptly. But, even that cannot subtract from the 5 stars that it deserves.

I loved it!

This is one of the most profound and influential (excuse the pun) books I've ever read. My wife and I fought over it! I am a Public Speaking Coach focused on high tech executives. I have a background in sales and marketing. I have found this book to be a gold mine of information for all of these areas. I have reccomended the book to everyone that I know. I intend to add it to the Bibliography section of my website.

Required Reading for the Intelligent Consumer

The human mind is a wonderful thing, capable of the most wonderful thought processes and ideas. Yet the brain is on automatic pilot for most situations. That allows the conscious mind to really focus. The drawback is that some people will use our conscious inattention to sneak one by us, like a fastball pitch to a hitter looking for a change-up. Influence, the book, is very useful in this regard, because it uses interesting examples to help us be aware of our own tendency to let automatic pilot thinking take over. Since I first read this book many years ago, I have been watching to see if the circumstances I see support or invalidate Professor Cialdini's points. By a margin of about 9 to 1, Cialdini wins. Given that we are easily manipulated by our desire to be and to appear to be consistent with our past actions and statements, swayed by what the crowd is doing, and various other mechanisms, the only way we can be armed against unscrupulous marketing is to be as aware of these factors are the marketers are. At the same time, I appreciated how the book explores the ethics of when and how much to apply these principles. Without this discussion, the book would come off like Machiavelli's, The Prince, for marketing organizations. That would have been a shame. By dealing with the ethics, Professor Cialdini creates the opportunity to educate us intellectually and morally. Well done! I have read literally dozens of books about marketing and selling, and I find this one to be the most helpful in thinking about how influence actually works. Even if you will never work in marketing, you will benefit from reading this book in order to better focus your purchases and actions where they fit your needs rather than someone else's. Donald Mitchell, coauthor of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The 2,000 Percent Solution

i loved this book

i finish few books, but i plan to read this twice. i learned stuff applicable at home as well as at work. i would reccomend to anyone, including my wife.

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