The Psychology of Persuasion hits on most but not all of the criteria for being what I would consider to be the leader in the field of persuasion.
The book starts with a clear exposition about the importance of utilizing influence with integrity. Hogan is probably overly zealous in his repetition of "the win win philosophy." This could be a habit from his religious background or possibly a simple concern that people utilize the principles of the book ethically.
His discussion of outcome based thinking which at least in part appears to be based on the Harvard Negotiation Model is his first glimmer of genius. It's rare to see any author present a process of thinking as clearly as his model of outcome based thinking is presented. What makes this work is the multiple examples of how to think in a negotiation. This is an area generally untouched by most authors, who like Hogan, focus on how to do, but not how to think.
The next chapter glosses over an area which Cialdini addresses more articulately in "Influence." The laws of persuasion are an expansion on Cialdini's six principles of influence. Hogan's additions are valid and I suspect that in time when Cialdini updates his text, these additions will be seen there as well. This chapter works, just not as well as it's most profound influence.
Persuasion Techniques (Ch. 4) appears to be some of Hogan's oldest material as the examples date all the way back to Iraqui SCUD missiles and the fears of same. This chapter works as the author shares well thought out techniques for asking questions and rapidly assessing values. Again, this is Hogan's niche, teaching specific patterns of thinking.
Chapter Five is one that the author seems to be most comfortable with. The Impact of Nonverbal Communication is a treat. Hogan's new research blends well with the likes of Birdwhistell and Knapp. My only complaint is that he could have gone more in depth in this fascinating area.
The acquisition of "intelligence" is something that is rarely discussed in persuasion/influence literature but Hogan misses an opportunity when he doesn't detail how to acquire high level intelligence with the world's big players like GE and Cisco. Instead he sticks with the small business owner and sales person as his examples. Here again, the book excels, but an opportunity missed is an opportunity missed.
A couple of other chapters breeze by when you again find Hogan passionate about passion. Here Hogan scores big. Difficult concepts of motivational thinking processes are dealt with in some detail and they actually transfer to the reader. This was my favorite chapter in the text.
Instant Rapport comes next and I found this chapter a bit on the manipulative side. His modeling processes are so chameleon like that you almost voyeuristically observe someone who loves to teach others to play inside other people's minds. The chapter works well but it certainly is intense.
The first half of the book ends with a discussion about how to make effective sales presentations and close the sale. He was obviously trained in the J. Douglas Edwards/Zig Ziglar tradition and these chapters add nothing that isn't available elsewhere.
The second half of the book is absolutely intriguing.
The author's ability to synthesize NLP with current psychology is impressive. Complex ideas from NLP become easy to understand and seem to actually work in real life applications. I'd like to see more research in these areas...perhaps in a sequel???
His Master Persuader chapters seem to fit the bill as once again, Hogan excels at sharing effective thinking processes to succeed at human communication.
He closes with discussions about ethics and brainwashing in two appendices which one wishes would have been chapters. Hogan never discloses his intense passion for ethics and brainwashing but clearly his arguments for ethics and understanding brainwashing by the masses are well formed and worthy of every school teaching.
Overall this is an excellent book. It misses in the area of big business applications but succeeds at the highest level for the salesperson and entrepreneur. The pragmatic and humanistic philosophy mixes well with a dash of Christian/Jewish story telling.
Five stars.
