Everything Dale Carnegie accomplished regarding individual influence, Robert Cialdini has equally achieved on the topic of mass influence. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion offers an exceptional scientific look into the realm of persuasion backed by substantial logic and examples. Based on the premise of society's need for quick solutions for analyzing an abundance of issues in everyday life, Cialdini illustrates how marketers, salespeople, and pushers in all fields take advantage of these tools to exploit the public at will.

Years ago a great friend and I ran a sales business that involved an immense amount of persuasion to arouse people to take action. Using a considerable amount of trial and error, we discovered there were certain actions we could take that vastly changed the reactions of people, almost mechanical in nature, and we therefore drastically increased our effectiveness. We knew it worked, but had no way to explain what was happening. Cialdini clarified so much of the psychology behind these influences and added considerable amounts we had never even considered.

The beauty of Cialdini's work is his ability to delve into the scientific nature explaining why people react in certain ways in response to particular actions or unconscious stimuli. The science is backed with substantial examples and authoritative studies that prove beyond doubt how powerful even simple methods of persuasion can be.

Anyone in sales, marketing or any position where influence is imperative (really, in what line of work is it not?) absolutely needs to be aware of the content within this book. Perhaps even more importantly, this book should be essential reading to anyone as it's of equal importance to understand how you are being exploited as it is to learn the craft for your own benefit. Cialdini spends a section on each chapter detailing how to defend yourself against the ongoing psychological warfare that causes you to take actions you would otherwise avoid, thus the scope of his work provides equal time and value to both exploiter and the exploited.

I have not encountered another book on psychological influence that I would rate higher. I also can not recall a book I would recommend for both business associates and my family, including my mother; yet I genuinely feel this book warrants such high regard.

I read all these sales books in my early 20's but then never went into sales. Having said that, this is a good book for anyone. It teaches skills of influence, which can help keep YOU from being manipulated by others, I have found...

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.

Influence

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.

Influence

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

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.

I am one of those guys who lay my hands on every marketing-related book I can lay my hands on. Okay, this is not strictly speaking a marketing book, but is essential reading for anyone in marketing.
It would be more accurate to describe the topic of the book as social psychology, but the relevance to marketing becomes immediately apparent, because it examines the human nature which makes the compliance strategies of con artists so effective.

Cialdini selected the triggers he felt were the most important, and dedicated a chapter to each.

Robert Cialdini's work is brilliantly researched and he speaks as a true authority on the subject. His theories are clear and he backs up his statements with (sometimes astonishing) research findings. He writes well and his style is enjoyable.

The book is well laid out, and the findings are presented in a way which make them instantly usable.

Whether you are in marketing, or if you have ever been pressured into making a decision you later regretted, you will find this book really interesting and useful. I gladly recommend this title.

Cialdini's book is a page turner - I read it cover-to-cover, and could not put it down. He picks examples from animal psychology, cult behavior, car sales, marriage and dating, child raising, suicides, group behavior to re-inforce his classification of the six factors which influence people's opinions, behavior, and compliance.

Most examples come from the world of marketing and sales, and provide scientific insight into how human psychological patterns can be exploited into getting people to consent. The book is amoral, and many of the examples are manipulative. Cialdini tries to make it better by writing from the point of view of exposing these tricks vs. recommending their use, and how not to fall victim to these influence patterns. For me, reading this book had many Aha moments. "Aha, thats how they got me to do that!"

That said, there are non-manipulative examples which I will consider using in my day to day life to increase my personal effectiveness. I highly recommend this book to folks who have an interest in applied psychology and the factors which influence human behavior.

When I read this book a few years back, I found it eye opening about the involuntary aspects of how people are persuaded. Cialdini does a brilliant job of story telling to illustrate the use of his 'six psychological secrets' in the way products and services are marketed.

The book is readable, and, at least for me, filled with AHAs. Much of it was already familiar, so this piece of his work has already made its way through society. But in a time when campaign advisors and counselors to politicians are using these ideas to foist bad policy on an unsuspecting public, the time has come for we the people to catch on to just how easily we've been decieved, and how to protect ourselves from further deception.

When i was working on my own book on this topic,Insider's Guide To The Art Of Persuasion I found reference to this seminal work everywhere. What Cialdini called secrets, I call signals, because they are no longer secret but are in wide employ.

Cialdini's greatest contribution to the literature is his guidance in how to protect ourselves from being manipulated to act against our own interests. He talks of the 'click-whirrr' response and the role it plays in this. Over and over, he emphasizes our diminished mental activity when presented with persuasion signals. I can't imagine how a person would ever see or hear these signals in the same way after learning about this.

The only thing that would make this book better is a refresh of it that included more current examples. Many of the examples he used harken back to the time of my childhood (50s and 60s) when the rough use of these types of approaches was just catching on. These days, the persuasion signals have been honed to a fine point and, in light of the increasingly fundamental role of marketing and promotion in the success of any business or idea, I'd be very interested in learning how his thinking has advanced on his subject.

To put it briefly this is an invaluable book to understanding many of our behaviors relating to influence but it is written in a way that keeps you completely engrossed in it, nothing dry here. I agree with so many of the reviews here on this book. It is just excellent and if I were to have kids this would be something they would have to read. Having your wife read it is a good way to get her to stop buying thousand dollar canvas bags from Louis Vuitton also... CANVAS ..sheesh they should be laughing :-)

This was a great read. It opens a new way of explaining the world, it forced myself to scrutinize some of my decisions and methods of thinking...

Great book.

I first heard of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion from a graduate school professor. He declared that reading it changed his life and that it would change mine as well. I didn't believe him. It took me seven years before I finally picked up the book. And now I'm sorry I waited so long.

Influence explains the underpinnings of how the American marketing machine works. Cialdini explains that modern humanity has developed shortcuts to decision-making in order to deal with information overload. As a result, we have a reflex of sorts that kicks in for certain situations, such as the need to reciprocate favors, the desire for rare goods, following likable leaders, determining whom we should listen to, following the rest of the crowd, and maintaining consistency in our public persona.

As a teenager, these pressures to conform are front and center, but as adults we forget the compromises we made in the transition. "Are you a follower or a leader?" Cialdini explains that there are good reasons to be a follower and that, in most situations, it's perfectly acceptable to do what the rest of the crowd is doing. But there are situations in which our natural inclinations can be exploited, and there are scenarios where following the herd can lead to catastrophic consequences. Recognizing these behaviors in ourselves is an important part of survival, so that when modern life throws something at us unexpected, like an accident or a door-to-door salesman, we know how to react.

I mentioned that reading this book filled me with rage. I'm not angry at the author, but at all the people who now, with the gift of hindsight and Cialdini's guidance, I realized manipulated me.

I'm mad at the magazine salesman. He got me to buy two years worth of a magazine I didn't want by relying on my desire for consistency after I provisionally agreed to buy a subscription for what I thought was one year.

I'm mad at the Saturn dealer. Despite the "no haggle rule," he used the trick of authority where he "checked with his boss" for a better deal and then pressured me into buying it.

I'm mad at the real estate agent. He used the trick of scarcity to show me terrible, run-down houses to make me feel better about the house I ultimately picked.

And that's what's so interesting about this book. Cialdini wrote this book for US. Not for managers, salesmen, or non-profit volunteers. He wrote it as a defense! And yet everything from reviews on the book's cover to reviews right here on Amazon tout this book as a must for marketers. That's completely against the spirit of what Cialdini wrote - each chapter ends with "how to say no" and while the advice isn't always sound (he essentially tells you to, ya know, not fall for the tricks) it's certainly welcome.

It's a bitter irony that marketers have turned a book about resisting marketing into yet another marketing tool. Now that I've read this book, there won't be another magazine subscription, car, or house I buy without a fight. Buy it today so you can start fighting back too.

One of the great myths about modern society is that we can divide it into two non-overlapping parts---the private and the public. The private sphere is the purported locus of all affective, emotional commitments, while the public sphere is a realm of impersonal, purely instrumental, social interaction. In the private sphere, the story goes, we live, love, grieve, and sacrifice, while in the public sphere of markets and politics, we act to gather the material prerequisites to a fulfilled private life.

This myth was buoyed up in the mid-twentieth century by the vision of vast tracts of middle-class housing where neighbors were strangers ("and they were all made out of ticky-tacky and they all looked the same"), by the cult of public conformity ("the organization man"), and by such urban myths as women being raped and beaten in public while spectators did nothing.

We now know that this bizarre viewpoint is miles from the truth, and that public life is imbued with a rich nexus of emotion-laden, poignantly human, social relations. Even strangers meeting for the first time engage in characteristically human emotional interactions, and the quality of social life depends critically on the tacit culture of conformity to particular norms of social interaction among people in public capacities.

Chaldini's book is a classic contribution towards analyzing these tacit social relations among strangers. His take on the issue is that we are all vulnerable to being manipulated by our mental weaknesses, and we should learn to be on guard against this manipulation. This is a very good point, but it hides the deeper point that manipulation is just the pathological side of basically healthy approaches to interaction with others in society. Humans are intensely reciprocal, and will sacrifice to repay good with good, and bad with bad, at personal cost, even when dealing with strangers they will never see again (we call this "strong reciprocity"). We have a strong tendency to social conformity, thus respecting others by our willingness to follow their lead. We want to be liked, and we are more willing to sacrifice on behalf of people we like, even if they are strangers. These and other behaviors are what make us human. Cialdini's point is that these predisposition can be used against us, and we must be careful to protect ourselves from this.

The various elements of the psychology of persuasion are so well-known today, partly due to Cialdini's influence (the first edition was 1984), that I'm not sure I learned anything new from reading this book. But, he is a fine writer and tells a good story, making the reading worth its while.

This is an intersting fast read on an important subject. Everyone should read this book. It explains so much about how we react to things and why.

This book was a total "head trip" for me several years ago when I first read it. In "Influence", Dr. Robert Cialdini describes six "weapons of influence" that, when used, trigger automatic compliance from unsuspecting individuals. These weapons are subtle in that they're based on beneficial tendencies in human psychology that we all have and they work so well that the "victim" believes that the act of compliance was actually THEIR idea!

He spends the majority of the book explaining what these "weapons" are and sharing his (and others') theories on why they work, along with (often humorous) anecdotes that demonstrate just how effective these principles can be.

He also gives plenty of examples of how con-artists, unscrupulous salesmen, hucksters, and advertisers use these "weapons" on us every day. (Why are we more likely to buy aspirin when the guy who played Marcus Welby, MD. recommends it?).

Fortunately, Cialdini also describes the "antidote" that allows us to realize when we're being caught up in a pattern of automatic compliance, and how to say no to it.

After reading this book, you may never look at psychology, advertising or Marcus Welby, MD the same way ever again...

We are all consumers of goods and services in some way or another, and I am glad I have read this.... hopefully I should have done so much earlier, but certainly better late than never. The author discusses how the psychological mechanism works in making decisions, saying "yes" to a request, how our decisions are influenced/swayed, and how we can prevent ourselves from the situations where we likely end up making unwanted decisions and/or being exploited by ill-intended profiteers. In so doing, the six underlying principles: reciprocation, commitment/consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity, are introduced with ample examples from various intriguing researches, and how these potent influencers can be commissioned by those who want us to consciously or unconsciously comply with their requests. Used with due professional ethics, the six principles can be very effective marketing tools, but we as consumers would be certainly better equipped with understanding of the principles when dealing with someone who tries to pull a trick or two and manipulate our attitudes and behaviors.

We are all consumers of goods and services in some way or another, and I am glad I read this.... hopefully I should have done so much earlier, but certainly better late than never. The author discusses how the psychological mechanism works in making decisions, saying "yes" to a request, how our decisions are influenced/swayed, and how we can prevent ourselves from the situations where we likely end up making unwanted decisions and/or being exploited by ill-intended profiteers. In so doing, the six underlying principles: reciprocation, commitment/consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity, are introduced with ample examples from various intriguing researches, and how these potent influencers can be commissioned by those who want us to consciously or unconsciously comply with their requests. Used with due professional ethics, the six principles can be very effective marketing tools, but we as consumers would be certainly better equipped with understanding of the principles when dealing with someone who tries to pull a trick or two.

Fantastic book. You'll come away seeing how you've been victimized by "compliance practitioners" for years, and you'll now be able to see which of the compliance techniques were used on you. But, you'll deviously also start seeing how you can use some of these techniques to get others to, well, comply. I like using the Scarcity technique myself.

Overall, this is a very fascinating book based on facts and studies and is a fun read. Not many books rate 5 stars in my book, but this one clearly hits the mark.

This was a really enjoyable book -entertaining and accessiblly written while still being informative and empirically grounded. Cialdini avoids sounding like Machiavelli or Robert Greene by writing from the perspective of someone who is the target of influence rather than someone who is doing the influencing himself. Instead of teaching you how to manipulate others, he shows how our own instincts often allow others (sales people, politicians, fund raisers, and others) to persuade us or at worst manipulate us for their own purposes, and to influence our actions even when that influence is unintentional. Reading "Influence" provides a revealing look at how our minds process information. You'll see that it's aptly titled as you identify which methods were used to sell the book to you in the first place.

Most of our actions are automatic. You can take advantage of this fact, by activating the psychological mechanism that triggers them. Use it wisely.

I was very impressed, and have recommended this book to many others to read. It makes it so easy to understand and follow. I'm looking forward to reading more books by Dr. Cialdini.

This book is simply great. It's informative and it's a pleasure to read. I don't rate 5 stars very often but this one is worth it.

If you sum up the book into one page, you will find in it useful, but basic, information about the psychology of consummer behaviour, and you will find some blank lines in it too.

When it comes to the theory of persuasion, this is not only the best, but also the most important book out there. The book itself has influenced tons of other literature.

The product was shipped quickly and brand new. Couldn't have asked for more. Great seller.

This book is an easy read. I reccomend it for people that are in sales. Very useful information if you're trying to close out that deal. Little tips and tricks in there that are also helpful if you need to get your way out of a jam.

This book is Excelently written. Im no psychology student but I had no problem following along. all the stories and examples are relivant to real life situations. you should buy this book

This book is a must read for anyone interested or involved in business or marketing. I found it easy to understand, and packed full of real life examples and experiments. This book definitely gave me a new perspective on advertising and the likes.

Anyone who has dealt with salespeople will be familiar with the techniques described in this book. Nonetheless, it can be a good refresher to read before going out to make a major purchase, such as a car. The author tells a lot of "real-life" stories that demonstrate the techniques, but they tend to be a bit long-winded and slow to get to the point. Also, just my opinion, but I suspect that some of the stories didn't really happen, as they are just too tidy and neat to be true (that doesn't mean the principles they demonstrate are false).

This book was recommended to me by a very well respected marketing professional. "If you read one book, this is the one".

All I can say is, wow. It's powerful. A must read.

Excellent book! As with any book, really try and apply the information to your every day life. Very good methods.

This book is filled with various studies in the field of social psychology. I cannot recommend this book too highly; an entertaining and informative read. If you've ever been snookered into buying a into a timeshare condo against your better judgment or the thousand other unneeded sales we've all been hit with at some time or another, then this book is for you. It gives a structure to the various cultural instincts we all have, and how they can be subverted. On a more positive note, it is also useful for understanding how to best get your own message across, whilst avoiding manipulation. For example, after reading it I now tell my children "clean your room, because...", as using "because" makes the request more effective, and oddly enough, regardless of the reason given after the word "because", it does seem to work; at least in theory, I haven't tried "because the moon is full", yet. I plan to give this book to my children when they graduate from high school, if not sooner, so they may learn from it. And for a good philosophy book I recommend Understanding: Train of Thought.

I can't add much to the fine reviews already written about this book. I will just add that I own a First Quill Edition and that it is thoroughly underlined and dog-eared. I have loaned it out many times (and lucky to get it back each time). A dangerous book in the wrong hands, but more likely to serve as a mental vaccine against con-artists for the general reader.

I'm pretty ignorant of the whole topic of persuasion. So reading this book was fascinating for me. Sure some sections seemed to go on and on and on (boring!), but other sections seemed too short (I wished they were longer). I really enjoyed reading about the studies and examples.

A mind-blowing read about how we are persuaded in our daily life. While this book is intensely fascinating, it is also quite frightening when one realizes the powerful weapons words and actions can be.

If you look at my other reviews you may notice that I give the range of ratings (1 star to 5 star) and can be stingy with superlatives. But this book deserves all the superlatives it can get. It is insightful, educational, full of interesting studies, and very fun to read. It scares me to think that "compliance professionals" can use the knowledge from this book against ordinary consumers. Everyone should read this outstanding book and then pass it on.

The book describes 6 weapons of influence that compliance professionals use. The 6 weapons are scarcity, reciprocation, social proof, authority, liking and commitment & consistency. Book is filled with studies and examples which are fun to read in and of themselves.

I enjoyed this book so much that I have been buying extra copies for friends and family. I will not relinquish my own copy. This book was recommended by Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's partner. I believe Buffett, himself has praised this book. You may end up using the knowledge in your personal life. It doesn't apply to just sales. The knowledge, for example, could help you become a better parent. Even if you do not use the knowledge, it is still a very entertaining and enjoyable book.

Just reading Influence by Robert Cialdini. Wow. What a brilliant book. There's so much here for marketers to be aware of. A lot of this is taking things we do intuitively, or that we've learned from from experience and exploring the psychology behind it. I'm of the mind that the more you know how something works, the more you'll be able to use it to your advantage.

There is a fantastic chapter on consistency that explores our natural tendency to want to stick to our guns once we've made a commitment.

"If I can get you to make a commitment (that is, to take a stand, to go on record), I will have set the stage for your automatic and ill-considered consistency with that earlier commitment. Once a stand is taken, there is a natural tendency to behave in ways that are stubbornly consistent with the stand."

The author cites a great number of stories, anecdotes and examples to illustrate each point. It's really fun and I can see using these examples many times in presentations and in idea generation.


For instance, he sites how weight loss experts use the written commitment to help set people set and stick to their goals. Also how Amway uses the same method. Or the numerous Proctor & Gamble contests that encourage you to "tell us in x number of words why you love product y"

Can you get a commitment somehow?

It's just one of many great examples in this book. Buy it. Better yet, buy it for someone else. You'll learn why that's a good idea when you read the book!

Someone just replaced my sales six shooter with an AK-47. Wow! This is a very valuable book, not just for sales but for life. He has five main areas on what influences us. I have used them all, but now I really know how to use them: Reciprocation ( I give you a bit to get a lot) , Commitment and consistency (If I get you to state in public what you will do, you will likely do it), Social Proof (If you see others doing it you will too), Liking, (All I need is you to like me and if I provide a good deal, I make a sale), Authority (Nurses could kill you if a Dr says so!), Scarcity ( if I give and then take away an item, you want it more) . His discussions wheel from how to ensure you get help if you are having a heart attack to how to prevent a revolution. Thoughtful, insightful, easy to read and to use. He has reaffirmed my faith in some academics. Buy it! Read it! "Cause if you don't, when I call, you will buy whatever I am selling, "cause you haven't got a chance now!

I can sum it up by this, when I was in college a professor assigned us to read a couple of chapters in the book for the next class. I complained saying we had enough on our plates. The professor then told me, James, if you read these chapters and don't find them interesting, I'll give you an "A" in the class. So, trust me, I picked up the book "fully" expecting not to like ... but I couldn't put it down. And true to his word, the professor asked me in front of the class if I thought it was worth the read and I had to say yes and that I found it fascinating.

I found Influence to be a very captivating read. This book gives insight to both those in the marketing field and for every consumer. I see "tricks" outlined in book that people try to use on me all the time ... this book has helped me with defensive techniques at sales pressure. I've also purchased it for several friends.

I highly recommend it.

Advertisers use six psychological principles to take money out of our pockets. They exploit our habit of taking certain shortcuts to make decisions. The author thoroughly explains these six principles by using research data and many interesting and instructive stories. But most importantly he instructs the reader, how to say no, and thus shield herself when weapons of influence are turned on her. In the long run this book could pay for itself a thousand times over.

I wish I could condense the experience of reading this book down to a pill, I'd take it every morning. One of the best books I've ever read. Every chapter is packed with examples, all extremely fascinating.

This book should be required reading for anyone living in a human society. If you are in business of any kind or have kids, buy this book immediately, you won't regret it.

This is one of the best Marketing/Sales books that I have ever read. It is essential for anyone in that business. It came highly recommend from a colleague. I first read the book over 8 years ago and the lessons have stuck with me. I have recommended it to dozens of people. I recently shared it with a hypotherapist, who used the "tips" to make their approach more effective. It's THAT GOOD!

When I look back and think about all the books that I have ever read, this book sticks out more than any other. Robert Cialdini has created a masterpiece here. He has skillfully written a book that explains just how people are influenced through means that are powerful but not necessarily obviously. And he does it using humor and real-world examples.

While reading the book I continually had one "A-HA!" after another. I have applied the principals in this book to help close more sales and improve customer satisfaction. If you ever bought something and then wondered "Why did I just do that?", you need this book. (I love the story about him buying opera tickets. He doesn't even like opera!)

I cannot recommend this book more highly if you are in this field.

Easy to follow, well-populated with examples and utterly fascinating. Of course there will be some variance in reader response due to learning styles and other individual characteristics. I'm convinced, however, that anyone seriously interested in exploring the ways people use communication to influence each other will find this book a great read.

It's worth the investment, folks. Cialdini conveys a deep understanding of human communication in his style and in the depth of his research. The techniques themselves cover many common daily situations in a realistic manner that will have you up and practicing detection by the end of the first chapter. Application is explained too, with the occasional ethical caution.

I'm a 49 y/o with a 3.84 GPA and I have too much experience to rave often, but this book pushed my button.

D

list price is $12.31 , when I checked out , I found adding extra $3.99 .

I was searching for a good book on influence and human psychology, and I found exactly what I was looking for. The information was great, some of the examples were dated (but I have a dated version 1998 I believe), and overall I learned a lot from this book. It has also broadened my curiosity to explore the subject further, after I read it one more time.

Highly recommended.

This is an amazing book which analyzes some rather daily psychological tricks in depth. Cialdini is very profound; I've learned a lot from this book.

I didn't want you to read this review because I am not sure I want everyone to know the power of what is inside of it. However, I feel obligated to the author to let the truth be known about how good it is.

This ONE book has changed the way I view the world. I read it for marketing, but the concepts also apply to virtually every aspect of human life.

To give you an idea of how valuable I think this book is (to people who see value in such useful information), I send this book to clients and friends as gifts to help them in their business and personal lives. Outstanding.

Garrett Todd
"Who else is sick and tired of looking amateur
when putting callers on hold?"
Impress Callers - Custom Messaging and Music On Hold
www.ImpressCallers.com

This book is remarkable! Amazingly for a book of this genre, Cialdini has actually made it into a page-turner. The antecdotes he interleaves into the theory makes it anything but a dry psych text or self help book.

Even before I finished the book I found myself making use of the insights he provides - sometimes to influence others but most often to avoid falling prey to the tactics of others.

If you have even a passing interest in human nature or curiousity about why the world is as it is, buy this book!

A classic, and a must read for anyone in sales, marketing or copywriting. That means if you own a business, this book is for you!

Heck, even if you don't own a business this book will teach a ton about how easily a good salesperson can manipulate you into happily forking over your hard-earned dollars for something you never even knew you wanted. This was actually a college textbook of mine, and it is without a doubt the most enjoyable one I had to read in college. I believe it is so valuable that I've read it again twice since then.

This book blew my mind when I first read.

You're going through life in the dark if you don't understand these 6 principles of persuasion and how pervasive they are in society. They are everywhere!

Social proof - It explains everything from the popularity of kids toys (well, everyone at school has one!) to canned laughter on tv, reviews for movies (Entertainment Weekly calls this....the new summer blockbuster)..to why stocks go up and down to everything. I don't think most people have a clue how much of the world is run on social proof and what everyone else is doing.

On the radio, you'll often hear about contests and giveways. And after someone wins something, the station will invariably say.."And what radio station sent you to see ___ concert?"

The caller replies back...."K101...Wooo hooo!!"

Sounds perfectly harmless until you realize it's a very subtle form of commitment and consistency (making a public declaration that K101 is the greatest thing in the world). What radio station is the best? K101!! Say that twenty times, and what station do you think you'll be hooked to?

It's actuallly commitment and consistency and a little social proof (the caller is also giving a de facto testimonial for the station).

The whole world is awash in these principles and you'll never look at tv, the media, or anything else the same way again. You also have to be very careful with some of these.

A few months ago, someone was out on our street painting the addresses on the curbs. He painted it first, and then asked for a fee (donation) later.

Reciprocity can leave you with a sinking feeling in your stomach, that somehow you have to repay the person that made the concession (even if it was uninvited). If you consciously sense what's going on (the specific principle), you'll be able to handle it much better than if it happened unconsciously.

A must read for everyone.

I have purchased this book with no special interest. I just wanted some light psychological reading. However, when I started it, I could not put it away. Although written in the 80's, this book is an excellent choice for those who want to be reminded of some `basic' basics. I recommend it to all interested in humans everyday behavior.