Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion | Robert B. Cialdini

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion | Robert B. Cialdini | Awesome Book

books:

Influence: The Psy...

	Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Robert B. Cialdini Collins, 1998 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 277 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

This Book Fills Me With RAGE

I first heard of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion from a graduate school professor. He declared that reading it changed his life and that it would change mine as well. I didn't believe him. It took me seven years before I finally picked up the book. And now I'm sorry I waited so long.

Influence explains the underpinnings of how the American marketing machine works. Cialdini explains that modern humanity has developed shortcuts to decision-making in order to deal with information overload. As a result, we have a reflex of sorts that kicks in for certain situations, such as the need to reciprocate favors, the desire for rare goods, following likable leaders, determining whom we should listen to, following the rest of the crowd, and maintaining consistency in our public persona.

As a teenager, these pressures to conform are front and center, but as adults we forget the compromises we made in the transition. "Are you a follower or a leader?" Cialdini explains that there are good reasons to be a follower and that, in most situations, it's perfectly acceptable to do what the rest of the crowd is doing. But there are situations in which our natural inclinations can be exploited, and there are scenarios where following the herd can lead to catastrophic consequences. Recognizing these behaviors in ourselves is an important part of survival, so that when modern life throws something at us unexpected, like an accident or a door-to-door salesman, we know how to react.

I mentioned that reading this book filled me with rage. I'm not angry at the author, but at all the people who now, with the gift of hindsight and Cialdini's guidance, I realized manipulated me.

I'm mad at the magazine salesman. He got me to buy two years worth of a magazine I didn't want by relying on my desire for consistency after I provisionally agreed to buy a subscription for what I thought was one year.

I'm mad at the Saturn dealer. Despite the "no haggle rule," he used the trick of authority where he "checked with his boss" for a better deal and then pressured me into buying it.

I'm mad at the real estate agent. He used the trick of scarcity to show me terrible, run-down houses to make me feel better about the house I ultimately picked.

And that's what's so interesting about this book. Cialdini wrote this book for US. Not for managers, salesmen, or non-profit volunteers. He wrote it as a defense! And yet everything from reviews on the book's cover to reviews right here on Amazon tout this book as a must for marketers. That's completely against the spirit of what Cialdini wrote - each chapter ends with "how to say no" and while the advice isn't always sound (he essentially tells you to, ya know, not fall for the tricks) it's certainly welcome.

It's a bitter irony that marketers have turned a book about resisting marketing into yet another marketing tool. Now that I've read this book, there won't be another magazine subscription, car, or house I buy without a fight. Buy it today so you can start fighting back too.

for more information click here

Awesome Book

To put it briefly this is an invaluable book to understanding many of our behaviors relating to influence but it is written in a way that keeps you completely engrossed in it, nothing dry here. I agree with so many of the reviews here on this book. It is just excellent and if I were to have kids this would be something they would have to read. Having your wife read it is a good way to get her to stop buying thousand dollar canvas bags from Louis Vuitton also... CANVAS ..sheesh they should be laughing :-)

Great book

This was a great read. It opens a new way of explaining the world, it forced myself to scrutinize some of my decisions and methods of thinking...

Great book.

for more information click here

Basic Information of Great Value

When I read this book a few years back, I found it eye opening about the involuntary aspects of how people are persuaded. Cialdini does a brilliant job of story telling to illustrate the use of his 'six psychological secrets' in the way products and services are marketed.

The book is readable, and, at least for me, filled with AHAs. Much of it was already familiar, so this piece of his work has already made its way through society. But in a time when campaign advisors and counselors to politicians are using these ideas to foist bad policy on an unsuspecting public, the time has come for we the people to catch on to just how easily we've been decieved, and how to protect ourselves from further deception.

When i was working on my own book on this topic,Insider's Guide To The Art Of Persuasion I found reference to this seminal work everywhere. What Cialdini called secrets, I call signals, because they are no longer secret but are in wide employ.

Cialdini's greatest contribution to the literature is his guidance in how to protect ourselves from being manipulated to act against our own interests. He talks of the 'click-whirrr' response and the role it plays in this. Over and over, he emphasizes our diminished mental activity when presented with persuasion signals. I can't imagine how a person would ever see or hear these signals in the same way after learning about this.

The only thing that would make this book better is a refresh of it that included more current examples. Many of the examples he used harken back to the time of my childhood (50s and 60s) when the rough use of these types of approaches was just catching on. These days, the persuasion signals have been honed to a fine point and, in light of the increasingly fundamental role of marketing and promotion in the success of any business or idea, I'd be very interested in learning how his thinking has advanced on his subject.

for more information click here

Fascinating subject, fascinating book!

I am one of those guys who lay my hands on every marketing-related book I can lay my hands on. Okay, this is not strictly speaking a marketing book, but is essential reading for anyone in marketing.
It would be more accurate to describe the topic of the book as social psychology, but the relevance to marketing becomes immediately apparent, because it examines the human nature which makes the compliance strategies of con artists so effective.

Cialdini selected the triggers he felt were the most important, and dedicated a chapter to each.

Robert Cialdini's work is brilliantly researched and he speaks as a true authority on the subject. His theories are clear and he backs up his statements with (sometimes astonishing) research findings. He writes well and his style is enjoyable.

The book is well laid out, and the findings are presented in a way which make them instantly usable.

Whether you are in marketing, or if you have ever been pressured into making a decision you later regretted, you will find this book really interesting and useful. I gladly recommend this title.

for more information click here