Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (book)

If you read this book carefully and follow the principles taught, your life will be changed dramatically. If I were told to choose only one book of all, I would choose this one. This book or more correctly the knowledge that you will get from this book is powerful. Use it responsibly! Thank you Mr. Cialdini for this masterpiece.

Jeff Masison's review for this book has been copied from another site. The review he is plagiarising is listed below. It's sad people do things like this. So far I have discovered that the majority of his reviews have been copied from other sites. He has 75 reviews, we can only wonder how many more are copied.

Below is the review that he copied from Factnet dot org.

SEMINAL., May 21, 2003
Reviewer: Shashank Tripathi

This is most certainly not only a book about negotiation, it is for anyone interested in a gripping read about human psychology and our subconscious response to external stimuli. An interesting example: if you are at a party and you begin talking with a member of the opposite sex whom you find moderately attractive, it is very likely that your initial assessment of this person will decrease when a "beautiful" girl or guy ambles over to join the conversation. Obviously the first person did not morph into someone physically different, but did become comparatively less appealing when smothered in the shadow cast by the "beautiful" person.

While "Getting to Yes" and "You can negotiate anything" were flush with such interesting real-life nuggets and the best on offer in their time, "Influence" would rate as my personal favorite that conceptually digs deep into the art of persuation.

For one thing, Cialdini's writing style is entertaining and exudes common sense. Which makes it worth the ride for just about anyone interested in an intelligent read. I'd even venture to say that he comes across as accessible as Thomas Schelling ("Strategy of Conflict", "Choice and Consequence") in the kinds of intuitive but compelling examples that he uses to illustrate his points.

For another, this is one of the rare books that explain the *psychology* of WHY and HOW human beings/animals respond the way they do. What is different about his hypotheses? Cialdini breaks down his analysis into 6 broad principles consciously or subconsciously employed by people to persuade their counterparts (consistency, reciprocation, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity) and then discusses each of these principles in term of its ability to elicit "automatic, mindless compliance" from us. And if you do not feel that simply being aware of such compliance tactics is defense enough, he goes on to offer useful, practical shields in a scattering of sections such as "How to Say No".

This is an incredibly useful book that one can only hope does not fall into the hands of one's adversary. Clearly required reading for anyone involved in the business of persuasion (marketing/sales, diplomacy, strategy etc) and highly recommended for everyone else.

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'm glad I read this book. It provides a good look at how and why people are influenced in the decisions they make. On the other hand, I find myself thinking that I haven't really learned much I didn't already know. For instance, did you know that an individual is more likely to consent to a request from someone he likes than from someone he does not like? Well, yes, you probably did know that. Yet Cialdini spends an entire 40 page chapter telling you this.

I have bought over 30 copies of this book for members of my team and have made it required (or at least strongly recommended) reading for all of them. It creates a common vocabulary for everyone and points them all towards world-class results. This book delivers great examples, many of which are based in academia and pure research - I can tell you from personal experience that we have seen results stemming from the application of these principles that dwarf conventional 'best practices.'

This is, as earlier reviewers have said, 'required reading', assuming you're a marketer looking for high ROI's in program development. It's also a great read.