Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion [Paperback]

Robert B. Cialdini (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0688128165 | ISBN-13: 978-0688128166 | Publication Date: October 7, 1998 | Edition: Revised

Some people just won't take no for an answer. In Influence, Dr. Robert Cialdini explains the six psychological principles that drive our powerful impulse to comply to the pressures of others and shows how we can defend ourselves against manipulation (or put the principles to work in our own interest).

Influence guarantees two things: Readers will never say yes again when they really mean no, and they'll be more persuasive than ever before.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Arguably the best book ever on what is increasingly becoming the science of persuasion. Whether you're a mere consumer or someone weaving the web of persuasion to urge others to buy or vote for your product, this is an essential book for understanding the psychological foundations of marketing. Recommended.

Review

Influence is a joy to read. Cialdini deserves a pat on the back for breaking the mold. -- Contemporary Psychology

The materials in Cialdini's Influence is a proverbial gold mine. -- Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Collins; Revised edition (October 7, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688128165
• ISBN-13: 978-0688128166
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (378 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Consumer Behavior

More About the Author

ROBERT B. CIALDINI, Ph.D
Influence, Negotiation, Communication, Management, Leadership, Sales

Harvard Business Review lists Dr. Cialdini's research in
Breakthrough Ideas for Today's Business Agenda.

"Influence" has been listed on the New York Times Business Best Seller List.

Fortune Magazine lists Influence in their "75 Smartest Business Books."

Extensive scholarly training in the psychology of influence, together with over 30 years of research into the subject, has earned Dr. Cialdini an international reputation as an expert in the fields of persuasion, compliance, and negotiation.

His books including, Influence: Science & Practice, are the results of more than 30 years of study into the reasons why people comply with requests in business settings. Worldwide, Influence has sold over 2 million copies. Influence has been published in twenty-five languages. His most recent co-authored book, Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive, has been on the New York Times, USA Today & Wall Street Journal Best Seller Lists. Additionally, CEO Read lists Influence in their 100 Best Business Books of All Time.

In the field of influence and persuasion, Dr. Cialdini is the most cited living social psychologist in the world today.

Dr. Cialdini received his Ph.D from the University of North Carolina and post doctoral training from Columbia University. He has held Visiting Scholar Appointments at Ohio State University, the University of California, the Annenberg School of Communications, and the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University. Currently, Dr Cialdini holds dual appointments at Arizona State University. He is a W.P. Carey Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Regents' Professor of Psychology, where he has also been named Distinguished Graduate Research Professor.

Media coverage of Dr. Cialdini and his research include:

* Dateline NBC
* CNBC
* CNN
* ABC
* Washington Post
* New York Times
* On Wall Street
* Forbes Magazine

* Chicago Tribune
* USA Today
* London Times
* Scientific American
* Los Angeles Times
* Psychology Today
* Selling Power

* Sales and Marketing Magazine
* Leader to Leader Magazine
* The Atlantic Journal
* The Denver Post
* The New York Times
* Harvard Business Review
* Fortune Magazine



Dr. Cialdini is President of INFLUENCE AT WORK, an international consulting, strategic planning and training organization based on the Six Principles of Influence.

Dr. Cialdini's clients include such organizations as Google, Advanta, IBM, Washington Mutual Group of Funds, Coca Cola, KPMG, AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Kodak, Merrill Lynch, Nationwide Insurance, Pfizer, Northern Trust, Prudential, The Mayo Clinic, Glaxo Wellcome, Harvard University - Kennedy School, The Weather Channel, the United States Department of Justice, and NATO.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

645 of 657 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Text About Influence, January 25, 2003

By 

M. A Netzley "mnetzley" (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Paperback)

As I sit here and write, I wonder why I did not draft this review long before now. I read Cialdini's book about five years ago and have been hooked ever since. It is simply a superb book about influence.

Cialdini believes that influence is a science. This idea attracted me. As a rhetorician, I have always thought of persuasion as more of an art. Cialdini, however, makes a first-rate case for the science point of view. But maybe most importantly, he makes his case in a well-written, intelligent, and entertaining manner. Not only is this an important book to read, it is a fun book to read too.

He introduces you to six principles of ethical persuasion: reciprocity, scarcity, liking, authority, social proof, and commitment/consistency. A chapter is devoted to each and you quickly see why Cialdini looks at influence as a science. Each principle is backed by social scientific testing and restesting. Each chapter is also filled with interesting examples that help you see how each principle can be applied. By the end of the book, I had little doubt that these are six important dimensions of human interaction.

I highly recommend this book to all professionals. It does not matter if you are a manager, sales person, pastor, or non-profit volunteer. The ideas in this book, once applied, will make it easier for you to accomplish your goals. In a video featuring the author, Professor Cialdini even goes so far as to promise that these principles can help you influence the most resistant of all audiences--your children.

With a claim like that, who wouldn't be intrigued?

My advice is to read this sooner rather than later. You will be quite glad you did.

245 of 258 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep AND readable; I'm persuaded!, January 2, 2003

By 

Max More "Max More" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Paperback)

Most books of applied psychology fall prey to one of two weaknesses: Either they lack scientific content (or over-simplify) or they present solid information in an academic manner that readers find difficult to absorb and apply. Robert Cialdini's book stands out brilliantly from these books. Combining wide and deep scientific scholarship with an engaging, lucid, and personal style, Influence may be the single best work on the topic. The intent of the book is to show how we can understand and defend against pervasive non-rational influences on our decision-making. Of course the same principles could be applied to market products or influence colleagues and rivals either in place of or in addition to genuine reasons. One sign of the range of the book is the fact that Cialdini doesn't get to the famous Milgram experiment on "Obedience to Authority" until p.208. The book concentrates on several factors that evolution and culture have drilled into us to produce compliance for good reasons, but which can be abused by "compliance professionals": reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. Any reader will find the research results stunning and frightening. Fortunately, Cialdini concludes each compelling chapter with hints on "How to say no". No matter how intelligent you are, you have undoubtedly fallen for many of these techniques used deliberately or accidentally. How many poor business investment decisions, product purchases, or strategic moves have been influenced by non-rational factors? You have to read this book. Why? Because I've done you a favor with this review and you owe it to me; you can't say you're a rational person if you don't; everyone else is reading it; I'm attractive, friendly, well-dressed, similar to you, and you like me; I'm an psychology expert and I recommend it; and you need to buy it now before all copies are sold!

263 of 282 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading for the Intelligent Consumer, May 8, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Paperback)

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.