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Product Description
Review
"Revelatory . . . exposing, along with many other wonders, just how many scientists are currently at work in the shadowy territories of human personality, psychological improvement and, essentially, mind control."
— The Sunday Times (UK)
"As fascinating as it is alarming. . . . Read it. Apply it."
— Men's Health
From the Trade Paperback edition.
— The Sunday Times (UK)
"As fascinating as it is alarming. . . . Read it. Apply it."
— Men's Health
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Product Description
It is a special kind of persuasion with an incubation period of just seconds. It is a psychological secret weapon that can instantly disarm even the most discerning mind . . .
This is the kind of high-wire psychological espionage which, in the right hands, can dismantle any conflict — but which in the wrong hands can kill. It is black-belt mind control. It doesn't just turn the tables, it kicks them over. From the malign but fascinating powers of psychopaths, serial killers and con men to the political genius of Winston Churchill —from Buddhist monks, grandmasters of martial arts, and magicians, to advertisers, salesmen, CEOs and frogs that mug each other —Kevin Dutton's brilliantly original and revelatory book explores what cutting-edge science can teach us about the techniques of persuasion.
Provocative, and ultimately inspiring, Split-Second Persuasion reveals, for the first time, how each of us can learn to be that little bit more influential.
This is the kind of high-wire psychological espionage which, in the right hands, can dismantle any conflict — but which in the wrong hands can kill. It is black-belt mind control. It doesn't just turn the tables, it kicks them over. From the malign but fascinating powers of psychopaths, serial killers and con men to the political genius of Winston Churchill —from Buddhist monks, grandmasters of martial arts, and magicians, to advertisers, salesmen, CEOs and frogs that mug each other —Kevin Dutton's brilliantly original and revelatory book explores what cutting-edge science can teach us about the techniques of persuasion.
Provocative, and ultimately inspiring, Split-Second Persuasion reveals, for the first time, how each of us can learn to be that little bit more influential.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The manipulator's toolkit,
This review is from: Flipnosis: The Art of Split-Second Persuasion. Kevin Dutton (Paperback)
This is not a book about persuasion along the lines of Cialdini, nor is it about conversational hypnosis along the lines of Milton Erickson, this is about manipulators and manipulation.The book investigates the darker side of human nature. My mother once worked in a mental hospital, and she explained how, after she had been working there for a few months, she began to wonder whether she herself were insane. Many patients spoke with convincing sincerity when they were in fact speaking nonsense; reading this book might give you a similar feeling. We are shown an alternative world, a parallel world where people are not accountable for human suffering. Although the cohesion of the book could be put on trial, we have many strands, more strands than are presented in similar books about guiltless manipulators. All of these strands are explained well, offering us some degree of protection against the worst elements of human nature. When you read about how highly manipulative people work, you begin to realise the feeling of power that they must feel. They understand exactly how the rest of us work, yet because they lack empathy, they can work most people in much the same way that a puppeteer operates a puppet. These people have no emotional feeling for others, nor do they possess any sense of responsibility for their actions, yet ironically they would probably tell us that this shortfall `sets them free'. Again, as I mentioned in my review of Martha Stout's book, after reading this kind of literature we will tend to find ourselves looking around and trying to put various people we don't get along with into the `without conscience' bracket. Robert Hare suggests that at some point in our lives we will run into this type of character, but not with great frequency - it won't be every other relationship ex or every other boss. It is important to distinguish the many shades of nasty human nature. Hare also asserts that diagnosis should only be carried out by those fully qualified to do so. Knowledge is protection, and here is the appropriate knowledge, but in addition to the `dark stories' there is a wealth of interesting material on broader aspects of human behaviour. For example, we learn how we unconsciously judge people on the basis of facial features, and similarly, we learn how we unconsciously respond to various other stimuli. We are also shown a number of cognitive loopholes. In fact, the parts that discuss attraction and cognitive perception might provide ideas that we could use in a productive way. I've given this book five stars because of the breadth of interesting information presented and because of the clarity of the explanations, but had I been looking for a well organised book on persuasion in terms of sales and marketing I would probably have been very disappointed.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Infobabble,
By
This review is from: Split-Second Persuasion: The Ancient Art and New Science of Changing Minds (Hardcover)
Perhaps foolishly, I bought this book hoping for a look at some of the science of persuasion and if 'split-second persuasion' was indeed possible. Instead, the book reads like a late-night TV infomercial. It was painful to read, and I felt like I needed to bathe once finished.If you really want this book, I'll give you my copy (you pay for postage; I've wasted more than enough money on this book).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews) 8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
not the science of social influence,
By A reader - Published on Amazon.com
The book is nothing more than disjointed anecdote strung together in a tedious fashion. If you have read the literature the author references, you will realize that often he is in error and/or he glosses over and misses important points. The author bills himself as a leading researcher in the field of the science of influence but yet he has never conducted research in this area nor has he contributed to the scientific literature on influence. And it shows in his miscommunication of basic findings and misleading story-telling.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Cognitive distraction,
By Aldo Matteucci - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
SPICE stands for: simplicity, perceived self-interest, incongruity, confidence, and empathy. These are the pillars of persuasion - says Kevin DUTTON Ph.D. From someone who has studied persuasion for so long, one would expect a grand and persuasive performance.There is lots of useful information in this work on how we change our minds, what factors influence us, and how our brain might operate. I found for instance the last chapter particularly illuminating. Emotion comes first - with a belief - and reasoning is the acid with which we test the validity of the belief. Unless we can "reason away" from belief - we are stuck (pg. 233). Of course the social environment plays a fundamental role, and so many inborn traits. Simplicity, however, is not the author's strong suit. He has an inordinate fondness for metaphors, at times inapt, many inept - one might suspect some kind of attention disorder, which inhibits him from completing a phrase, or using plain words. His language tends toward obfuscation whenever approaching the gist of the argument. Just an example: "It comprises, in zoological terms, the modern-day equivalent of a key stimulus of influence." (pg. 163). A penny for clarification. Descriptions of experiments are at times shoddy, incomplete, or confusing: one has to go over the material several times in order to understand it - or conclude that the description is imperfect. Maybe he is pursuing incongruity: he loves biological metaphors applied to consciousness: "persuasion virus", "cancer of the will", "genome of influence" - somehow he wants to get the message across that emotions have an unchanging biological basis - without making the case openly. Unless he happens to be lost in "airspace of perception" - that is. Given the central role of the brain in buttressing his case, one might have wished a brief and coherent description of the brain's functions. It all comes in bits and pieces scattered throughout the book. His link of emotions to evolution is beyond the pale. Our knowledge of hominid evolution is far too scanty to allow inferences as to the role of evolution in behavioural traits. Dr DUTTON shows here masterly confidence is his own insights: "We have a powerful, inbuilt bias that predisposes us to think in a certain way: namely, that we do the things we do because we're the kinds of people who do those things! It's an evolutionary rule of thumb. A timesaving device programmed into our brains over millions and millions of years by natural selection." (pg. 106) I rest my case. Does Dr. DUTTON generate empathy? This question I'll leave to other readers. __________ 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not Recommended,
By Robin - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
I really wanted to like this book, but found it tedious, disorganized and overwritten. What could have been said in three or four paragraphs went on for page after page after page. In the end, it just didn't seem particularly relevant. The book suggests you'll learn something about the art of persuasion by reading, but that's not the case. Long stories about bugs and eye contact. Save your money.
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