Customer Reviews

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

5 star:		(114)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I read the first edition of this book more than 10 years ago in grad school. Simply -- it is a must read for anyone in sales, marketing, advertising or public relations or who has a curiosity about human nature.

The big title "Ph.D" beside his name follows the Authority method (chapter 6). The quoted comments are blantant use of the Social Proof method (chapter 4). If you buy other books of Dr. Cialdini, you fall victim to the Commitment and Consistency principle (chapter 3). But indeed, this book says very little that has not been said in Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People"

Cialdini presents in extremely convincing and readable form a series of ways persuasion professionals (such as salespeople and politicians) can take advantage of our unconscious mental shortcuts to make us compliant. Successful advertisers already know these tricks! Since those persuasion professionals who haven't read this book yet are reading it now, the rest of us had better pay attention for our own good. Cialdini's examples sound eerily familiar and on-target. My only complaint about this book is that I am dubious whether the self-defense techniques he presents are adequate to the task. I think I need to read this book a couple more times

If you are interested in learning what the
tools of persuasion are and how they are
used, this is an excellent reference and
a very easy read.

Some examples from the book:

Find out how G. Gordon Liddy sold a $ 250,000
breakin to his fellow watergate co-conspirators
(Hint: It's the same technique as for used
car sales)

Going to the hospital? Find out why you may
be at risk from and susceptible to authority
as simply stated as the title, "Doctor".

Why was Jim Jones so successful at Guyana?
How was he able to single handedly mastermind
his infamous massacre?

What do weathermen and professional athletes
have in common?

Educate yourself about the tools of persuasion.
Learn how to recognize when those tools are
being used and strategies for avoiding being
manipulated. Learn how to use these tools to
your advantage.

To paraphrase, "Manipulation happens". We can
either accept it and move on, or we can educate
ourselves, be aware of when and how it happens
and of what we can do to prevent it or use it
to our advantage. Robert Cialdini's book is
an excellent reference towards that end.

See page 54 of this book to find out how I wasted eleven hundred bucks on a fire heat-detection system for my home when I could have gotten the equivalent protection for less than a hundred. Where do suckers come from? Anywhere from Yale to jail. Learn how the promoters use our instinctive responses against us. Then, (hopefully) you'll be able to defuse the tactics that turn us all into compliant drones

I couldn't put Cialdini's book down. He offers great examples of influentinal
situations. He often uses psychological research to make his point. As a researcher, I believe that
the use to research to demonstrate issues is an effective way to get your
message across. The issues dealt with in this book are a must for all in any
occupation. Everyone needs to know how to handle telemarketers and not
let their antics influence us. I'm ready to conduct a few influential experiments
of my own. My friends, family, and husband better beware! BUY this book and
learn how to arm yourself with an arsenal of information which will allow you
to enter any situation as a WIN-WIN

I read Cialdini's book when it was first published over 10years ago. It was a landmark book into the study of how humansinteract and respond to others. Being involved in sales and marketing for over twenty years, I had an excellent laboratory to try out some of the concepts in the book. They are frighteningly effective.

A must read for sales and marketing oriented individuals to help you communicate better with your customers and clients.

Also an effective self defense weapon against those unscrupulous individuals who will take advantage our natural responses to influencing events.

The chapter on commitment and consistency is worth the price of the book. A fascinating explanation of how and why we do things and where the manipulation happens, along with practical defenses. I was trying to understand why I was committing to doing things and then regretting afterwards yet still doing them. After the commitment and consistency chapter, I understand what it was all about and I got the knowledge to ensure I keep control over my life and time and not give away things so precious. The book is filled with insights which will arm you for the countless intensional and unintensional manipulations that go on in the world

Cialdini is a master at making science "useable" though his
entertaining writing and illustrative stories. He has
forever changed my perspective on influence. Because of his
work, I am "armed" with effective information that makes me
infinitely more persuasive AND a better consumer.

Those people who do not read this book are simply...at a
disadvantage.

I imagine that you have also read Machiavelli's "The Prince", Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People", Sun Tzu's "Art of War", and Musashi's "Five Rings." Since you applied the art unsuccessfully, you thought you couldn't go wrong by studying the science of making USE of other human beings. I once thought the same way as you!

Indeed, Cialdini may be a genius; he may also be an evil genius. What are the consequences of this science and do we really want this science to be applied to you and me? What does it make of human dignity and does such a science make us more vulnerable to our use? These are questions I have been thinking about since I read this book several years ago.

I want to give "Influence" a 10, but I am compelled to judge its usefulness to us as human beings. A book, unlike a person, is a tool for our use. But a tool's usefulness must also be judged by whether it leads us to a greater realization of what is best in us and not what is worst.

Unfortunately, this book teaches a human being how to use another human being. And our reading it will not be a self-defense against its operation on us. Most of us are too busy in our lives to think about how we are being used by one another in everything that is done to us.

Nonetheless, we will need to guard our senses against such seductions for these methods insult our dignity as ends unto ourselves. We need to be more vigilant because Cialdini has unloosed terrible things from Pandora's box! The Professor continues to strip-mine our existence in order to obtain the same techniques by which we will transformed into one-dimensional beings that are easily administered ala Kafka's "Metamorphisis" and Marcuse's "One Dimensional Man".

Otherwise, we shall become ever more herd-like in our thoughts and our decisions. We will become less rational, less free, and less human. "Group think" will become a problem for us all, just as it has been a problem for 40 years in black America as told in "Black and Right: The Bold New Voice of Black Conservatives in America," edited by myself, Brad Stetson, and Joseph Conti.