Improving Our “Signals” and “Beings”

This is a book review of Robert B. Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

Robert Cialdini is currently Regent’s Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. Being involved in the academic field of psychology has given Robert amazingly numerous and insightful research findings that he shares in Influence. The research shared within this book is what by far stood out for me.

You may think that research is only good for discovering things. Well, in Influence the research provided is the author’s way of revealing, explaining, and investigating the principles of influence. I would go far as to say that every page of its 280 pages mentioned at least 1 research experiment or a real-life example of the relevant persuasive principle.

The book discusses the following six principles of influence which have a chapter dedicated to each:

1. Reciprocation – people have an inherent desire to return favors.
2. Commitment and Consistency – people’s past decisions guide their future decisions.
3. Social Proof – people look to others and follow what they are doing.
4. Liking – people have less resistance to those who they like and are more easily persuaded.
5. Authority – people are more persuaded by those who possess authority.
6. Scarcity – people are more persuaded when the resource at hand is perceived to be limited.

These six principles I have briefly described are simple definitions that do not fully explain their respective principle of influence. Influence provides an in-depth look into the various situations each principle can be applied, when it is most effective, why it works, why it won’t work, and other variables that modify the principle.

Each of the chapters is split up into two parts. The first part of each principle teaches how you can apply the persuasive principle. The second part teaches you how to defend yourself from the principle when it is used against you. While all the principles are naturally desirable to us, the second part is about being more aware of when the influential principles cause you to make a decision that you otherwise would not have made given that the persuasive principle was not used.

As I said earlier, the most fascinating thing about Influence was the research and real-life examples throughout the entire book. One real example I’d like to quickly highlight for you to give you an idea of its fascination is how 1 leader in the year 1978 managed to get 910 people to kill themselves with no coercive tactics but by just using the principle of social proof. The leader firstly influenced the individuals who would most likely commit suicide and from there, other people began to follow simply because in times of uncertainty we look to see what others are doing. The lesson out of this example was that no leader can expect to persuade every member of the group and therefore must create an environment that maximizes social proof. As a result, the leader is able to influence the entire group.

This book is a leader in the business world and I feel it is really a must-read for anyone who wants to improve his or her negotiation skills, leadership, parenting, sales skills, or business. I highly recommend this book to anyone as most of us require persuasion in someway because it enables us to more easily achieve our goals. You can grab your copy of Influence from Amazon by clicking here today.

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