Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition)

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This is a fine book. So why the low rating, you ask. Like me, you may have read this same author's book entitled . I bought this one expecting a different book. Not so. Pretty much the same stuff with a different title. So, if you've read one, don't mess with the other, is my advice. And if you've read neither, go the used book route and save yourself money.

Right away, buyers should know that Cialdini has produced a less-expensive version of this book. "Influence: Science and Practice" is designed as a textbook for classroom instruction. So, it has things like chapter summaries and questions that can be assigned as homework. However, the other book "Influence: the psychology of persuasion," is designed for a more general audience. The content is basically the same, but it omits the classroom-oriented layout. It's also cheaper. If you are a student who is buying textbooks online, this is probably what you (or rather, your professors) want. If not, get the other one.

Both books focus on persuasive tactics. This is not a theoretical work trying to lay out a strategy of communication, like "Getting to Yes." This is a toolkit, designed to give the reader a selection of tools for specific circumstances. That is not to say that Cialdini lacks an understanding of more strategic thinking, just that it isn't the focus here.

The underlying theory is that people tend to be hardwired to respond to certain stimuli in predictable ways. The book tells you what those stimuli are, that is, how to push people's buttons. And it does a very good job, which is why Cialdini has demand for two versions of the same book.

I'm not going to list all of the tactics because the table of contents does that and, because they're detailed, they're difficult to understand without reading the book. But, they all have some basis in science and their effectiveness is empirically demonstrable, so you can trust that they work. The best part of this book, for me, was becoming more conscious of how others, including politicians, advertisers, and bosses, try to manipulate me. Cialdini deserves respect just for opening people's eyes, but he goes a step further by explaining ways to deal with the constant manipulation that is inherent in human communication.

The only problems I see are that the textbook version (this one) has a better index in the editions I compared, so it makes a better reference tool and that the book is written from an American cultural perspective. That's fine, as most of his audience is American, but, and this is my M.A. in Int'l Relations talking, I wonder how well some of these tactics would be recieved by people from other cultural backgrounds. In particular, notions of authority (which constitute a chapter) vary widely. Just a heads up. This is still a "must read" for people who want to know how to persuade or protect themselves against other's persuasion.

Edition after edition. They all sell. Why? Because this is a superbly written treatise on the subject of influence. This book and Aronson's Social Animal both rate among my 50 favorite books of all time. Cialdini's influence was enormously influential in my work in the field of persuasion and you can't say enough wonderful things about this text. Cialdini writes with clarity and authority about one of the most important subjects in the world today. A mega-winner. I have bought dozens of copies of this book for clients. It sets the standard. Kevin Hogan, ...

I disagree with the complaints about this being a repeat of earlier versions. "4th Edition" is quite clear. This is an updated easy to read version of a highly-regarded seminal work whose value has been proven over time.

While intended for students of psychology and for practitioners of the black art of marketing (selling over-priced unnecessary "stuff" to the unwitting), I regard this text as a very helpful reference for the new warriors, the practitoners of Information Operations and within that larger discipline, Strategic Communication & Public Diplomacy.

The six "principles" of influence, reciprocation, consistency, social proof (e.g. canned laughter), liking, authority, and scarcity, each receive their own chapter with annedotes and study questions.

Most interesting to me would be an international variation of this book, one that discussed the nuances of influence in other cultures, inclusive of family ties and prevalent sterotypes.

This book is applicable to business, evangelism, foreign affairs, defense, homeland security, and just about any field where interaction with humans is called for, and the mission demands the elicitation of collaborative behavior from others.

Good index, notes, and illustrations. Well-presented.

Pleae note that this book and "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" are the same in content. So dont waste your money as I have done !! That's what my 1 star is for.

I have not yet read this book in detail. When I have done it I will write another review on it.

Unlike "pop" influence books like the neo-machiavellian "48 Laws of Power" or NLP / Tony Robbins rubbish, this is REAL social science. Cialdini is brilliant, providing solid evidence to back up his principles. Each major concept is supported by a variety of social psychology studies that demonstrates the principles in practice. Not only does it show how you can and how you are influenced, but also provides notes on how not to be manipulated. His style, while very detailed, is easy to read, with lots of often self-deprecating humor throughout. If you want to get a taste of this before buying, I'd suggest the audible lecture by Cialdini - it's a great intro to the subject and a blast to listen to. My only hope is that too many people don't find out about this book. Let them waste their time on NLP pseudo-science and outdated Machiavellian nonsense.

I've reviewed many books on influence and persuasion and this is one of the top books in the category. Easy to read, excellent writing style, it is a hard book to put down and begs you to read it slowly so that you don't miss something important. One of the fun things about reading it is when the author makes a point and you can look back and realize that you have dealt with someone who used just that technique to get you to buy that candy bar, car, or change your mind about something.

Persuasive speaking is an important part of what I do and I am very successful at it. The ability to persuade others has been very hard to pass on to employees and other speakers who have asked me how I do it. This book allowed me to look at what I do and see how I can transfer that ability to others. It has also helped me see some of the tricks of persuasion that snare the unwary and how they are used by unscrupulous people.
Cialdini not only makes his case by carefully presenting the techniques and the experiments on which they are based, but also details how they are used and how you can use them. For each technique he also indicates how to know when it is being used against you and how to resist the influence.
A highly recommended book and one of the best on this subject, Cialdini's work is often quoted in other books on influence and persuasion.

Influence: Science and Practice, by Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. has sold over a quarter million copies and has been published in nine different languages. Perhaps not surprising for a psychology book, but this is neither a dry college text nor a "pop" how-to book.

Cialdini is a professor of psychology at Arizona State University. He has studied why we buy things, often without much thought, and has broken down our "short-cut" (read knee-jerk) actions into six categories: Reciprocation, Consistency, Social Proof, Liking, Authority and Scarcity.

Reciprocation is the experience we have when a member of a religious sect hands us a flower in an airport and then asks for a donation. We don't really want to, but we feel a social obligation to reciprocate. Same thing happens whenever we get an unsolicited gift.

Consistency is about behaving in a way that is congruent with the expectations of others. What those around us think is true of us is enormously important in determining what we ourselves think is true.

Social Proof is the influence that peer groups have on us. Cialdini quotes Cavett Roberts's advice to sales trainees, "Since 95 percent of people are imitators and only five percent initiators, people are persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer."

Liking is demonstrated by several traits and behaviors, but the bottom line is this: people have to buy into you personally before they buy your product. People do business with people they like.

Authority is the demonstrated influence of anyone who sets himself up as knowing more than we do or having greater experience. This can be an Army general or a crafty restaurant waiter or any other self-proclaimed authority figure.

Scarcity is demonstrated by the greater desirability of the product when it is harder to get or more exclusive.

As Cialdini says, "The joy is not in experiencing a scarce commodity but in possessing it. It is important that we do not confuse the two." Hence the scarcity tactics used by many sales people.

Cialdini devotes a lot of space to explaining both how we can use these principles to influence others, and how, jujitsu style, we can defend ourselves against all this.

I hope this influences you to read this amazing book.

First off this is a great book and is written in a very accessable style. Just be aware that this book is the same (although updated I think) as "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion". I got them both with "buy both and save" only to find that out when I started to read the second one.

+++++

This well-referenced book first published in 1985 and authored by Robert Cialdini, an experimental social psychologist, deals with the dynamics of interpersonal influence processes.

Specifically, this book deals with the compliance of "automatic influence" which Cialdini defines by a question: "Just what are the factors [or principles] that cause one person to say yes [without thinking first] to another person?"

The principles mentioned in the above question are the subject of this book and, in fact, this book is organized around them. There are six principles discussed. Cialdini calls these principles "weapons of influence."

Each principle or "weapon" has a well written and thorough chapter devoted to it. Parts of these chapters are occasionally humerous. As well, each chapter has plenty of examples to illustrate each principle.

However, just knowing these principles is not enough! You have to know the practical techniques or "compliance tactics" that are based on these principles in order to get the desired result of automatic compliance. This book is packed with these techniques as well as examples of how they're used.

Why bother to learn these principles and techniques? Answer: to protect yourself. Protect yourself? From whom? To protect yourself from "compliance professionals" (for example, sales people, fund raisers, and advertisers) who utilize these principles and their associated tactics to help them get their own way. Where money is at stake, having them get their own way could be costly. Cialdini suggests ways of thinking to defend yourself against such people after you realize a specific technique is being used on you.

Of course, the compliance pros aren't the only ones who know about and use these principles and tactics. We all use them and fall victim to them to some degree in our interaction with neighbors, friends, spouses, and so on.

A handy feature of this book is the summary sections at the end of each chaper. These effectively highlight the main ideas in each chapter.

After reading this book, you'll be able to answer questions such as these:

(1) Imagine you're a lawyer representing someone who broke his leg in a store and is suing the store for $25,000.00 in damages. What would you do during the trial to make the jury see that this amount is reasonable, even a small, reward?

(2) Why is the "free" sample really not so free?

(3) What is there about written promises that make them so effective?

(4) Which naturally occurring conditions of city life reduce the chances of bystander intervention in an emergency?

(5) What is the evidence that we tend to say "yes" to similar others in an automatic fashion?

(6) What is the relationship between size and status in our society? Why did this relationship develop in this way?

(7) During one mid-1980's Christmas season the most sought after toy in the U.S. and Canada was the Cabbage Patch doll, which was said to be in very limited supply. Why were people reported to have spent as much as 35 times the regular price for this doll at public auctions to own a doll that cost much less at department stores?

(8) How can each weapon of influence be used in an exploitive way and how can each be used in a non-exploitive way?

In conclusion, don't be easy prey to compliance professionals! Learn about the principles or weapons of influence and their associated compliance tactics. Most importantly, learn the ways to defend yourself against such weapons and tactics. This book explains all this and more!!

+++++

Robert Cialdini discusses six ways of influencing people - reciprocation, commitment, social power, authority, contrast, and scarcity. The principles are easy to understand and are intuitive. Due to the complexities of modern life, we have built "short-cut" reactions to these influences. Most of the time, these short-cuts are fine; however, folks can sometimes create events that "trigger" your short-cuts and may be able to unduely influence you. Robert discusses the theory of these principles, practical situations where these principles are often unscruplously applied, mechanisms to better become aware of these influences, and ways to counter them. You will gain better insights into your past behavior when you fell for sucker deals. Hopefully, reading this book will help you avoid / reduce future bad deals.

Cialdini explains how we have become dependent on shortcuts to remain healthy and functional in a world of increasing complexity. Such shortcuts can work either for or against us, depending on the instigator. In particular, he outlines six or so of the most commonly manipulated varieties (fraudulently triggered, often by the marketing industry, but also by politicians or even inadvertantly by friends, or indeed ourselves). Examples abound, supported by well-documented studies and bringing the concepts gracefully to a practical level, ranging from eating cookies to buying vacuum cleaners to contemplating romantic rivals.

Advice for defending ourselves is also given, as summarized briefly here at the end of the book with a few (well, sorta smug in this case) examples:

"We should refuse to watch TV programs that use canned laughter. If we see a bartender begin a shift by salting the tip jar with a bill or two, that bartender should get no tip from us. If, after waiting in line outside a nightclub, we discover from the amount of available space that the wait was designed to impress passerby with false evidence of the club's popularity, we should leave..."

As far as the six main vulnerable points of influence are concerned, here is a summary:

1. Reciprocation. When a business gives us a gift (even a worthless little trinket), we are prone to an overwhelming feeling of obligation to return the favor with some sort of purchase. Or as a slight variation on this, the business might start out with an unrealistic offer and then apply a bargain, causing us to see this as a "concession" worth repaying in kind.

2. Commitment and consistency. If someone tricks us into committing to something (especially publically), we are likely to follow through, even if we realize soon afterwards that we were deceived. This tendency is especially strong if cancelling the commitment would violate a belief or reputation we hold tightly (i.e., force us to be inconsistent). The hazing process for fraternities operates by the same principle, making us feel guilty for leaving something that we overcame some ridiculous hurdle to achieve membership in.

3. Social proof. When we are unsure about the appropriateness of an action, we will often look to others to see what they do, assuming it's correct if (and only if) we see others doing it. Many crime victims are ironically _least_ safe in crowds, because passerby hesitate to act unless "everyone else" acts first. The tendency is stronger the more uncertain we are, and the more similar we are to those we are watching.

4. Liking. We are much more likely to comply to the wishes of someone we experience a positive feeling towards, even if this feeling is fake and fleeting. We are susceptible to such features as physical attractiveness, similarity, and associations (for example, connections with celebrities).

5. Authority. We will often blindly follow the advice or orders of someone we consider a superior in some way, in title or repuation or otherwise. This phenomenon explains why the majority of nurses fail to catch mistakes in prescriptions written by doctors. One amusing example offered is of a nurse who quite literally carried out orders to treat an ear infection by administering droplets to (abbreviated by the doctor) "R ear." The clincher here is that the patient was also neutralized by a sense of the nurse's superiority and failed to object!

6. Scarcity. We will lustfully pursue the most ludicrous things when they are in short supply, especially if they are in demand and reducing quickly in availability. For example, we will often buy something impulsively if we sense that a competitor is eyeing the same item.

So how do we know when and how to fight these tendencies? Sometimes they are working for our best interests, when they are correlated with actual desirability or utility. But often they are not, being concocted by someone wanting our money or time. Cialdini offers tips on how to distinguish between these two possibilities. Often it's as simple as learning to detect when one (or more) of these tendencies is triggered and using this chance to think twice, before we fall prey to a "click, whirr" response. With a wealth of real-life examples, this book makes it that much easier to get a head start!

Cialdini has done a masterful job of putting together social-psych studies into the nature of personal influence and compliance in a format that can be understood by the average Joe. If you are a sales professional looking for the reasons behind the "Yes," or if you hold decision-making authority in buying complex solutions, this book is a must-read. Cialdini outlines what tactics are used by the best and worst in the business, why they work, and what to do to combat these situations and tactics.

Here's a recipe for an enjoyable and useful book. Begin with one respected professor of psychology from Arizona State University. Sweeten with Regents Chair and Distinguished Graduate Research Faculty distinction. Mix in comments from readers of previous editions ("we get mail"). Fold in pop psychology twist and plenty of examples. Season to taste with just enough irreverence to spice up the text. Bake with three previous editions, improving on each version. Absorb and chill for 262 pages and gain a deep, fun, yet realistic understanding of how humans influence each other.

Marketers will benefit tremendously from this book. So will executives, managers, business owners, students, and everyone who has an interest in how we are influenced to make decisions. Those decisions may affect what we buy, where we work and live, and what relationships we have with others. The illustrations sprinkled throughout the volume offset the small print used to cram a tremendous amount of content into a book that is small enough not to be intimidating. No wonder over a quarter million copies have been sold. It's an Everyman's book on the topic, yet it's an academic treatise as well, with 16 pages of references preceding the index.

Each chapter includes a summary and study questions-both on content and to stimulate critical thinking. All those features you'd want in a book like this are all there, waiting for you. Expect to curl up with this book, nod your head, laugh, shake your head, and wonder in amazement while gaining insight. Cialdini grabs your attention and won't let go. Expect to make notes, write in margins, underline or highlight, and repeat your reading.

Readers of "Influence" will look differently at the world around them. Even if you merely scan through this book, you'll gain a new appreciation for advertising, group behavior, and even how you're treated by salespeople, co-workers, bosses, parents and friends. The conscious and unconscious heightened awareness will be well worth the time and money you invest in this book.

This is an interesting book about the various motivators that drive people to agree with us. The examples are relevant and add substance to the author's viewpoints. I think this book is well worth reading if you want to know how to move others. Additionally, I strongly suggest another book, Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self as the resource to be your best, bring out the best in others and achieve optimum results. Get a hold of both of these books.

Cialdini is an expert in the field of influence. The book is a comprehensive study on the psychology of influence. It is a indispensible tool for professionals involved in sales and marketing and negotiations, but it has practical applications for everyday social intereactions as well.

Cialdini explains techniques (aka weapons of infleunce) that can be used to gain compliance from others. These techniques are drawn from real-life situations. While he constantly cites academic sources and laboratory experiments, the book remains accessible to the casual, non-academic reader. Illustrations, cartoons, and "reader's reports" are sprinkled throughout which helps the book stay firmly grounded in practicality. The study questions at the end of the chapter help to pull each chapter's ideas together.

To critics of the book many of the ideas presented are seen as common sense, but I really think that everyone can benefit from reading this book.

Srikumar S. Rao is Louis and Johanna Vorzimer Professor of Marketing at Long Island University.

I have known about and used "Influence" for more than a decade. This new edition is the best yet and updated with recent references and examples.

Can you be manipulated into taking actions against your intent, actions that might even be against your interest? Absolutely. Most consumers have a vague notion that this is true but they don't know why or how easily this manipulation can take place. Cialdini lays out the methods by which such "persuasion" happens with surgical precision. He describes the method, the reason why it works and gives dozens of examples from fields ranging from business to social interatcion.

Take reciprocation, the instinctive reaction of "giving back". Cialdini shows that this instinct has tremendous societal benefit. It makes persons more likely to help others and creates a reserve of "available resources" that functions exactly like credit in an economy. One can even argue that this has helped make our economy so dynamic and society so prosperous. It can be - and is - used unscrupulously in fields as diverse as fund-raising and Ponzi schemes. Reading this book not only tells you how, it also arms you with the ability to resist when this technique is used against you.

The same comments are true of the other techniques Cialdini describes: Commitment and consistency; Authority, Scarcity; Social proof and Liking.

It is a scholarly book in the sense that Cialdini makes you aware of the research on which he bases his conclusions. There are also several pages of references if you care to delve deeper into the subject. But, unlike the vast majority of "scholarly" books, this one is eminently readable, useful to a vast general audience and actually makes sense.

I am chary of recommending books unreservedly. I do recommend this one. I have used it as a required text in many courses at graduate and undergraduate levels. My students have invariably loved it and frequently classify it as the best marketing book they have come across. Its too bad that Cialdini hangs his hat in the psychology department. He belongs in business school.

Three things that make 'Influence' more useful than 95% of marketing books:
- It is based upon observation and experiment, not just the author's opinions.
- Cialdini uses examples from marketing, advertising, cartoons, and the real world to illustrate his points.
- The book is not a new business pitch from an ad agency or a front for a consulting group. Cialdini is not out to sell you anything (other than this book). He just wants to share these fascinating things he's learned.

Each chapter covers one specific 'Weapon of Influence'. It's easy to read in bite-size chunks, and Cialdini's insights are broadly applicable in marketing whatever you've got. 'Influence' is perhaps the most useful book on advertising and marketing I've come across since Luke Sullivan's 'Hey Whipple!'.

The headline already sums up why you should read this book - it is very good in general - and why on the other hand it didn't get 5 stars - it is too short and often sadly superficial.

But lets start from the top. With his very engaging writing style, the author seeks to establish that there are six little secret 'buttons' with which to influence other people: 1) Authority 2) Commitment 3) Liking 4) Social Proof 5) Scarcity 6) Reciprocation.

Those six points correspond, according to the author, to underlying mechanisms, instincts so to speak, which make it very probable, that people will react in a preprogrammed way to certain situations.
This predetermining of responses of course makes a lot of sense in an evolutionary context; after all, we or our distant forbearers cannot afford to ponder every single decision endlessly, what makes following `shortcuts' that consist of proven paths tried and tested over many generations quite useful.
In our modern day world though, while still in general helpful, we have to be careful to not follow our intuitive response non-thinking or we might be quite misled.
A straightforward example is that a scientific statement coming from a Prof. Dr. So-and-so is more likely to be taken serious than coming from someone without the academic credentials, whereby it doesn't matter if the subject is in any way connected to the 'authorities' field of expertise. Another everyday occurrence is that if we like someone, we are more inclined to help or follow that person, which can lead to quite silly
decisions as the one or the other might have experienced already.

Not only does Cialdini outline these and more elaborate mechanisms, along with some tidbits of scientific research to the respective topics (one of the parts where one would have wished for more, especially the almost complete lack of references is quite an embarrassment), he also shows a considerable number of common schemes with which people around us, for the most part sales professionals, try to use our built-in responses to their advantage.

Each chapter is topped off by some guidelines of how to detect such `misuse' of our inborn reaction patterns. This is another part of the book I find a tad unsatisfying, since in the end all he says in those chapters can be summed up with `Be careful, don't stop thinking for yourself, keep your eyes open, be aware of the methods of deceit you just learned.'
I do hesitate though to give the book a minus for this, since to be honest, I cannot come up with better advise myself, nor do I know of anyone who did.

Overall, this book is highly recommendable, and if you do read it, I cannot imagine anyone being dissatisfied with it, apart of course, that it does treat its subject in such brevity.
If you have any further questions or comments regarding this review, feel free to contact me.

I frequently reflect on the insights gained from Cialdini's superb book in both my private life and my life as a public relations professional (the ultimate influence peddlar). His research is sound and his style completely readable -a book filled with many "aha!" revelations. I recommend this book all the time, often purchasing one to give to a colleague. Simple truths told simply.

Polished and fine-tuned in its fourth edition, not a sentence or word out of place or without impact, Influence is packed with powerful facts and arguments relating to important areas of all of our lives. This book should be taught in high schools, perhaps as part of a course on smart, responsible consumerism. But it is about much more than how to avoid buying a vacuum cleaner or magazine subscription you don't need or want. At the foundation of the book is information and enlightenment about human psychology -traits, tendencies, susceptibilities and strengths, that we share with each other as a species. This knowledge applies to all areas of life, not just to our role as consumers. Think of a relative or friend who seems to have terrible luck with intimate relationships. This book will probably explain why. Think of that teacher in school who always was able to maintain control, but rarely had to raise his or her voice. Or think of the phonies, game players, sycophants and incompetents you may have worked with who survive or even prosper when you would be fired the first time you tried one of their antics. Influence can help you understand how they do it. It will also help you analyze your personal life situation and behaviours, and facilitate positive change if that is needed.

As the book entertainingly illustrates, we are all subject to various influences, whether we are aware of them or not, because of the vagaries of human psychology. For example, we all use shortcut thinking these days, almost by necessity. Cialdini shows how 'compliance professionals' feed on this, and how you can protect yourself against them without completely throwing out valuable psychological coping devices such as shortcut thinking. You will also become familiar with concepts such as the power of reciprocation, low-balling, rejection then retreat, the pressure to be consistent (the personality can be described as a power structure addicted to consistency), pluralistic ignorance (in an emergency situation the more strangers around, the less the chances are that you will be helped), and psychological reactance theory. There are also some great quotes (e.g. from Sir Joshua Reynolds 'There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the labour of thinking.') and great anecdotes (my favourite is about Joe Pine's encounter with Frank Zappa).

Some of Cialdini's knowledge was gained by going undercover in places like car lots, realty offices and restaurants. Much was learned through painful experience. Cialdini admits to being an enduring mark for confidence artists of all persuasions, and generously shares his 'fleecings' with the reader. All of his points and arguments are backed up with relevant examples and lots of data. Cialdini also invites the reader to share his or her own experiences that illustrate or contradict his findings, and the book is studded with instructive experiences we can all relate to. I am going to write to him with an example of bizarre 'hurry up or lose' tactics used by a famous cult that would fit in the chapter entitled 'Scarcity: The Rule of the Few'. I'll update this review when I get a response.

P.S. Prof. Cialdini responded to my feedback promptly and generously. He shared the following facinating anecdote concerning the Heaven's Gate cult: "Two months before the Heaven's Gate commune members committed suicide, they spent several thousand dollars for a high-powered telescope because they had heard rumors about a small object (which they suspected was a spaceship) that appeared to be trailing the Hale-Bopp comet. When they complained to the salesman that the telescope showed them no trace of the mysterious object, he explained that there never was a trailing object, only a rumor based on a blip of static in one very early and poor quality image of the comet. How did they respond to this direct evidence against their group's unanimous and firmly held beliefs about a spaceship carrying their extraterrestrial contacts? They decided to continue believing in the spaceship's existence but to stop looking at the evidence: They turned in the telescope for a
refund."

I have hesitated to write a review for this book because as someone whose profession it is to shape public perceptions, basically I don't want the secrets to be given away too easily.

Having said that, it would be wrong to label this as some kind of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" type work - it is based on proven psychological studies and, perhaps more importantly, the techniques of persuasion that we see around us every day.

The general public now have a much more sophisticated palate when it comes to persuasion in the media/advertising/sales field, but how many of us really recognise the devices being used?

This book will show you what those devices are and you will be able to recognise them in their various guises when you next see them.

First of all, I gave this book 5 stars because it is a remarkably thorough book, engagingly written, and backed by copious amounts of scientific research. I have recommended this book to people more than any other book I've read in the past few years. It deserves five stars. Then I saw Steve Brant's very sarcastic and inaccurate "review" of the book and the pitiful one star he gave to this book that he admits he has not read and I had to respond.

I first heard about this book on NPR where it was stated and restated that this is the FOURTH edition of the book and that the new edition includes all the new research that has come out on the subject of influence since the publication of the previous book. I see that on Amazon that the title of this edition clearly also states that it is the fourth edition and the description of the book also spells out that this edition contains the newest research on the subject of influence. Hence, this book isn't quite EXACTLY the same as the other editions, although it is very nearly the same book with the same title and by the same author. The first edition of the book was published in 1985, the fourth was published in 2000. If you the potential reader of this book would prefer to save a few dollars and buy an earlier edition of this book that doesn't include the research that was done on the subject in the 15 years following the publication of the first edition, that is your perogative. However, you have the right to know that every edition is not EXACTLY the same so that you can make an informed decision for yourself.

I think this book might not need more reviews, it is an established stuffs used by academia and professional as their base of learning about influence. This is the 4th edition and a bit of change from previous edition, as this one is more inclined toward business.

I still want to state that this is one of the few books that "influence" me in the way i see things in life. Life is never fair, and being able to learn those weapons of influence we can learn to avoid the trap and use it as we see fit.

Weapons are as good or bad as the intent we use it for. Learning this will be your weapons to make your success easier to achieve. This is a great book for sales person, leader, negoiator, and team player, as well as the average people in business and social life.

Highly recomended for everyone to learn from.

Robert B. Cialdini concisely explores six strategies that persons with good and/or bad intentions can use in influencing others to do something or not to do it. These strategies are authority, commitment and consistency, liking, reciprocation, scarcity, and social proof. Cialdini convincingly demonstrates the power of each strategy with examples belonging to a wide range of disciplines. These stratagems often work because the target audience has been preprogrammed to react to specific situations in a certain way. Cialdini clearly explains which counter-strategies the target audience can use in defeating the six strategies mentioned above, whenever appropriate. To his credit, Cialdini refrains from using jargon that makes "Influence Science and Practice" a very enjoyable read that is easily accessible to a wide audience. As a side note, in "Simplicity Marketing", Steven M. Cristol and Peter Sealey explore the increasing need for shortcuts that businesses and consumers in the most developed economies have in making choices. Cristol and Sealey show with panache that marketers can use four strategies called the 4 R's -- Replace, Repackage, Reposition, and Replenish -- to simplify the life of businesses and consumers who are overwhelmed with choices in an increasing number of product categories.

I've bought lots of these sorts of books hoping to get some insights into advertising. I would have to say this and 'Ogilvy on Advertising' have been 2 of my best purchases ever. Although Ogilvy was more geared towards advertising, whereas this book also can be related to everyday life. This would be a good book for anyone anywhere to read, not just advertisers. Teachers, Policemen, anyone who has to deal with people should read this book! This is a smallish book but packed full of information. Every sentence must be carefully read. I first skimmed through the book and discovered this later as I read it. This book may be small but that's only because it doesn't contain lots of extraneous information. It is very to the point. I already tried a couple rewordings on some of the advertisements I've done and the results have been very positive so far. I am very happy Robert Cialdini wrote this book. I hope he writes others, I plan to purchase anything else by this author.

Robert Cialdini is an amazing scientist. He gives the origins of his creative thinking in social psychology studies. He enumerates six fundamental psychological principles (rule of reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity) underlying tactics that successful influence professionals use every day. This book is an excellent source for social psychology studies. I ws thinking that psychology was missing in our psychiatry rsedency training curriculum, and I benefited much reading this book.

I did not buy the book to find out how to schnook the unsuspecting, but that's pretty much what I learned. Or learned a -bit- of. After reading Woodward and Denton's far superior Persuasion & Influence in American Life, Cialdini's work seems like densely worded overkill attempting to concretize a mere seven worthwhile, but very simple concepts.

These seven concepts could have easily been dealt with in a magazine article: 1) Conditioned, co-dependent, people-pleasing "reciprocation;" 2) post-purchase "committment" to fend off cognitive dissonance; 3) peer-conscious, approval-seeking, run-with-the-pack "social proof" in place of actual evidence; 4) acquiescence to seduction or "liking the friendly thief;" 5) socially conditioned acceptance of "authority;" 6) anxiety-driven fear of "scarcity" (or not getting what we want because we think it won't be available "next time"); and 7) the "instant influence" created by informational overwhelm and perceived lack of time or resources to examine the evidence for and against a decision.

If Cialdini dealt with these at such length with concrete examples that were more easily grasped, I might have given this -three- stars, but his writing style is so opaque, it flows like molasses in winter on the south shore of Lake Ontario. Hey! It's cheap, but even so, I'm scratcing my head as to why "over one million copies [have been] sold!" ...unless most of them were bought by used car salesmen, stock brokers, real estate agents and telephone solicitors.

I consider this to be an excellent book. It is easy to read through and has practical application. Further it gets you to consider things from a different perspective.

What I really liked about this book is that helps you to recognize how you and others react to certain situations and stimuli. With that recognition you can sometimes take yourself out of certain manipulative situations. If you can't remove yourself from the situation at the time, then at least you have some basis for later analysis and improvement.

I can recommend this book for anyone, but business people may be more inclined to find it useful in their daily lives.

I occasionally refer back to the book to refresh my memory or see if I can figure out why a particular thing happened as it did.

The human mind is a wonderful thing, capable of the most wonderful thought processes and ideas. Yet the brain is on automatic pilot for most situations. That allows the conscious mind to really focus. The drawback is that some people will use our conscious inattention to sneak one by us, like a fastball pitch to a hitter looking for a change-up.

Influence, the book, is very useful in this regard, because it uses interesting examples to help us be aware of our own tendency to let automatic pilot thinking take over.

Since I first read this book many years ago, I have been watching to see if the circumstances I see support or invalidate Professor Cialdini's points. By a margin of about 9 to 1, Cialdini wins.

Given that we are easily manipulated by our desire to be and to appear to be consistent with our past actions and statements, swayed by what the crowd is doing, and various other mechanisms, the only way we can be armed against unscrupulous marketing is to be as aware of these factors are the marketers are.

At the same time, I appreciated how the book explores the ethics of when and how much to apply these principles. Without this discussion, the book would come off like Machiavelli's, The Prince, for marketing organizations. That would have been a shame. By dealing with the ethics, Professor Cialdini creates the opportunity to educate us intellectually and morally. Well done!

I have read literally dozens of books about marketing and selling, and I find this one to be the most helpful in thinking about how influence actually works. Even if you will never work in marketing, you will benefit from reading this book in order to better focus your purchases and actions where they fit your needs rather than someone else's.

Last year, I asked a social psychologist to give me the name or names of books about influence and persuasion. Without hesitation, he recommended the book "Influence: Science and Practice." I bought the book, read it, and I am glad that I did. Cialdini's book is "user-friendly," informative, and to the point.

I am a trial attorney and have since suggested the book to many of my close friends - most of whom are also trial attorneys.

Right now, I am on a quest to learn all that I can about influence and persuasion. My clients depend on me and my ability to lay out the facts in a persuasive, simple and straightforward manner. Law school helped me learn the law (or at least where to go to find it), but it did little in the way of explaining how to go about arguing a client's cause in a compelling manner. Thankfully, we have Cialdini's book for that.

Influence is great. After having read it, I better understand cases that I won, that is, why I won ... as well as re-examining those that I have lost and what I could have done differently. No doubt about it, I recommend this book. I only wished that I had read it years ago.

Finally, I suggest that anyone interested in persuasion be sure to also order a copy of Gerry Spence's "How to Argue and Win Everytime." A wonderful book about relationships and how to get along with others, as well as argue - if necessary.

Are you a wuss? Maybe it's because your momma treated you badly and wrecked your self-esteem. Or perhaps you just don't grasp the science of influence. If it's the latter, buy this book. You'll never find a clearer explanation of why people maneuver you into doing things against your interest. Dr. Cialdini's writing brings such clarity to the methods of influence that his recommendations on ways to combat them are almost superfluous. If you still can't resist car salesmen, you will at least know why you're being led around by the nose. On the other hand, most of us are selling something, even if it is just ourselves, and this book will certainly help in that endeavor. Perhaps most important, "Influence" is solidly based on scientific research. This is no half-baked self-improvement book written by some horse-trader. "Influence" is well-written and engaging, with plenty of anecdotes to leaven the science. You will want to keep this book and review it occasionally, because it is packed with solid information.

Cialdini's Influence is a well-written, comprehensive treatment of the mental tactics compliance professionals (salespeople, marketers, etc.) can use on us to influence our decisions. Rather than focusing on how to deceive people, however, it also provides self-defense techniques to recognize what tactics are being used and how to respond to them to defeat them.

I found the book to be a very slow read, because it contained so much information. That's not a bad thing, though. I was highly entertained throughout the book and enjoyed every bit of it.

Are you a student of human behavior? Do you like to learn about we make decisions? Have you ever scratched your head at rational people making rational behaviors? Are you a compliance professional? Have you ever been convinced to make a purchase that you regretted later? Do you want to learn tactics to engender more trust and loyalty as a leader? Are you struggling to find ways to impart your wisdom to your kids without them rejecting it? If you can answer yes to any of those, I would recommend this book as an educational and entertaining read.

This is one of those books that is generally as easy to read as a pop-psychology book, but has the flair and style of something much more intellectual. I do agree with one reviewer who says it reflects much of the material in Cialdini's other book on the subject--but it isn't precisely the same.

I bought it to use in training about gaining and using influence in positive ways. I have also found it fascinating for thinking of the times when I have been persuaded in one direction, in spite of my determination to stand strong in the other direction. It is packed with information and many, many interesting examples.

Some readers with whom I have discussed this material view it primarily as an expose of manipulation. I think it is more than that. It is an excellent analysis of what works, and what doesn't, when we want to influence the actions of others by presenting our views in the best possible way. It can even be useful for self-talk when we want to persuade ourselves to do what we know we need to do. A good addition to a leader's library.

I read this book a long time ago for a Persuasion and Rhetoric class and it's still on my shelf today. If you ever think about going into conflict management, negotiation, or mediation, it's extremely useful to identify different "dirty tricks" that can be used to sabotage sincere efforts toward a common goal.

Ok, so that's for the academics. What about the common bystander? This book is imperative to understanding the little tricks of the trade that get you to buy that car, give that donation, or buy those Girl Scout cookies. It's written in a very easy, engaging way and is great knowledge for a smart shopper. Once you read the tactics in this book, you start to see them everywhere and look at sales tactics in a whole new light. Definitely a must-read for the educated consumer.

The doorbell rings, you open it to find a salesman hawking his wares unmercifully upon you. For some reason you just can't say no. Cialdini explains why in this wonderfully entertaining thesis on the psychological trips and traps of our society.

Put this in your library next to 48 Laws of Power, under the section How to Be Darth Vader.

Many reviews have previously highlighted the value of this book in everyday life situations. I limit my comments to technical professional life.
I am a technical professional who has to work with practicioners of other technical disciplines. The reason I came across this book because I wanted to learn how I can influence other technical professionals to take my point of view into account in their work. After reading this book I recognize why some of my colleagues have much stronger influence than others. It is not because they are technically more competent or offer a better solution. They practise the influence techniques discussed in Cialdini's book.

I read this book some 9-10 yrs ago & have probably given away 20 copies. I am buying this one to replace a give a way! I always tell people about a good book I have read. I many times pass a good book on to a friend. "Influence" is the only book I have read & then bought for people.

For my school work, I've had to do a TON of reading on persuasion and influence. Cialdini is THE expert, so I knew I'd have to read his work. What a joy to find that he writes in a lively, personable style -- I could scarcely wait to get to the next chapter! The book has thorough cites and is based on hard-core academic research, but it's written in a flowing, fun style that is normally reserved for those trashy pop-psychology books. As for the reviewer who thinks Cialdini is on the side of the manipulators -- he must not have read very far. In each chapter, Cialdini covers how you can mitigate or block the effects of these persuasive triggers. An ethical, easy-to-read academic? WOW!

Influence is a must read for anyone in business and just about everyone else too. It beautifully explains both our concious and unconcious behaviors. It explains concepts like reciprocity - the behavior that makes us feel obligated to someone who does something for us. You may intuitively understand that, but he explains how much it can affect our behavior. Many more psychological and sociological insights are to be found in the book.

I had to read this book for a graduate marketing class. I enjoyed it much more than most of my required readings. However, don't give a copy of this book to anyone you don't trust or has too much power over you because the things taught in this book really work.

¿Que tan util es la informacion en este libro?
Después de convertirme en el PRIMER INSTRUCTOR EN MEXICO del METODO CIALDINI puedo confirmar que no hay nada igual.
Si esta tecnologia ha servido a políticos, el FBI, grandes empresas y profesionales de los negocios.
¡Imagina lo que puedes hacer cuando aprendas como usar este conocimiento en tu beneficio!
Puedes influir en cualquier situacion de una manera etica y efectiva.
sidhi@prodigy.net.mx

I first read INFLUENCE in its original version, "INFLUENCE, The Psychology of Persuasion," in 1996 (the two books are virtually identical). Simply put, of all the books I've read on sales and marketing, INFLUENCE has made the greatest positive impact on my success. Personally, I think this is because the book was not written for marketers -- it is simply a study of why people go on auto-pilot when making certain decisions.

You should be careful, however, when applying the concepts, because they will work as well when you're attempting to manipulate people as when you're being straight-forward and honest. (So make sure you don't cross the line and do anything unethical.)

In my opinion, this book is absolutely a "must read" for anyone who is in sales or marketing. In fact, I think anyone who buys or sells anything should read this one.

Enjoy,

Gill

This is one of my favorite social psychology books. It is about compliance. It is about influencing others.

It is probably one of the most important works available to the general public regarding the science of compliance. How to get customers, counterparties in negotiation, etc. to be primed to act in a targeted way (i.e., to get them to say "Yes", or to do something you want, etc.).

The top people on "Madison Avenue" (advertising, marking, publicity, etc.), campaigning, political action, interrogation, etc. know these concepts. You should too. If only to be aware of the subtle factors that could influence you in acting in a manner you are initially opposed to, not necessarily to use them. However, if you are a negotiator, or are in marketing, or involved in campaigning and spreading "messages" or involved in "thought leadership" - you definitely need to read this book and learn its concepts and techniques. Consumers - which these days is basically everyone - should read this - so they don't get taken in or advantage of by advertising and marketing campaigns.

This book is all about influencing behavior - influencing the behavior of others - as well as being on guard from being the subject, or target of, these influencing techniques to your detriment.

Briefly, you can understand these influence techniques by understanding the concepts that Cialdini in Influence elucidates (with multiple cases and examples found in the book):

1. Reciprocation - People tend to help people that help them.

2. Consistency - People tend to act consistently over time. Small moves (especially when those moves - actions or statements - are public) towards a goal are hard to reverse. Small gains thus become leveraged into larger gains (i.e., gains being equal to the subject's behavior moving towards the target behavior). Past behavior can be used to influence future behavior.

3. Social Proof - This is when third-party's lend their credibility (for e.g., "Lance Armstrong uses product x" - the implication is so should you, etc.) or "Everyone likes x" - so should you. This is the "bandwagon" appeal which is also used in advertising and propaganda techniques.

4. Liking - People tend to like their friends and people who are nice to them, people that are ingratiating.

5. Authority - Similar to social proof, but here, this is based on the background of the person making a statement. For example, "Tom Smith is a Ph.D. in economics. He says the economy is going down." Thus you take his advice or conclusion (claims) as true just based on his credentials and not based on his argument and the evidence he provides (if any) in support of it.

6. Scarcity - People think that if something is scarce that it is valuable. This is not necessarily the case. An example: "this sale only lasts for three days, hurry and buy this car". Or another example is an executive or other person who feigns "busy-ness") to influence someone - to feign importance.

This book is very important in our age of mass media. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in advertising or marketing, negotiation, or the general public (i.e., consumers).

This book is profoundly insightful; makes a deep impression on the reader with a fresh & new way of looking at human psychology. The concepts introduced are backed up with relevant examples and real life stories. You will feel like a genius by the time you have put down the book. Author details six different factors that make up the ingredients of influence including reciprocity, commitment &consistency, social proof, Liking, Authority,Scarcity etc

Brilliant work supported with both case studies and controlled data.
This printing will appeal to those serious readers and consultants that need (and want) all the data plus later case studies after the first printing was released.

If you're looking for a quicker read with less detail, buy the first edition printing. As a business development expert, I probably should have only purchased this later edition, but I enjoyed reading them both!

Very few books on seller/buyer psychology provide as in-depth analysis and discussion. I train people how to sell without sounding like a salesperson, and I constantly refer to Cialdini's book as a foundation of what to do and what not to do. His work also provides additional benefits to allow the reader to relate to their own buying experience. Hence they will be more likely to utilize the revealing lessons in their own businesses and selling strategies appropriately.

I teach a class in social psychology, and my social influence lectures draw heavily on this book and the many examples it provides. This book is engagingly written and it provides many examples to illustrate the points it makes. These examples are taken both from the scientific literature as well as from the personal experience of the author and from past readers.

As other reviews point out, it is a great book if you are in the sales industry. For the rest of us, however, it is a great tool to help us resist the influence of others, because it can help us identify the "tricks" that telemarketers and used car salesmen are using. Knowing what these trick look like in practice, we are less susceptible to them, and can try to make our purchase decisions based on the facts.

This is the book to read if you are ever planning to purchase anything! Cialdini writes a superb treatise on how someone is able to get you to buy something when you originally did not want the merchandise. He shows the reader the art of persuation and the techniques that are employed. I was personally stunned when I read about some of the techniques that were used on me by a recent young lady selling me a variety of famous cookies. The book is written in an easy to understand language that never bores or loses the reader with stuffiness.

I was originally assigned this book as a college text. I have kept it in my personal library and have recommended it to a wide variety of people. If you ever want to understand the salesman's mind, then this is the book for you.

I have been privileged to hear Dr. Cialdini speak and have heard from many others as well, that Cialdini is scrupulous about his science AND the ethical use of these powerful principles. Of course, like any good tool, the science can be used or mis-used. Often I find the interpretation of how to use these principles is in the eye of the beholder.

After seeing Dr. Cialdini give a keynote address at my company, we were all given a copy of his book. I can tell you that knowing these principles and using them ethically, as Dr. Cialdini has emphasized, has been an extraordinary help to me, my company and, yes,our clients as well. Next time he speaks for our company, we're all invited to bring our clients.

This is an easy to read book on how to influence people. When you are finished you should be able to avoid the standard salesman trick. It also helps if you have a boss like mine.

This book is as practical a guide to understanding humans and how we behave as I have ever seen. We are software developers who train other software developers to think differently and, god, do these ideas work! Very powerful, fun and funny. I find myself quoting Cialdini all the time.
If anyone knows a better book on the topic, send me mail.

I used to work for Xerox in marketing when they were Fortune 25. Currently, I am a personal growth and development coach with graduate education in psychology. Prior to all of this, I got my undergraduate degree in biology and attended graduate school for biochemistry. I provide this context because this book merges psychology, biology and its relation to sales and marketing.

This fascinating book looks at how persuasion works and why. It considers the underlying psychology and biology. As mammals as well as humans, we bond and are community-oriented. As a result, we have evolved certain ways of communicating, making agreements, etc. Some of these underlying "mechanisms" are unconscious... in fact most of them are. As a result, we can be manipulated.

I agree with other reviewers that every good consumer ought to read this book. It explains how and why certain language works in a sales situation, some of the psychology behind marketing, etc. It is also a must read for good sales people. While some salesperson's give sales and marketing a bad name, others truly add value and these folks don't get enough credit.

With respect to non-sales people, would also be of interest. Everything from dating to family discussions involves persuasion. If you are interested in being a better communicator, I also recommend Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most and Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values (Nonviolent Communication Guides). The last book in this list is also available as a four CD set on audio. If you are going to get one or the other, I would get the audio.

Some other good books that describe the psychology that underlies language and/or how deceive ourselves are: Philosophy in the Flesh : The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought and Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships and VITAL LIES SIMPLE TRUTHS: The Psychology of Self Deception. The last book of this series is very interesting and valuable to anyone.

This book is easily understandable and enjoyable for anyone. If you have any interest in this area at all, I'm sure you will thoroughly enjoy it.

Robert Cialdini's Influence: Science and Practice is a useful book but suffers from some severe flaws. I found the work to be rather mechanical in its approach, the writing is tired and uninspiring and the organization is reminiscent of a primary school textbook. However, I do like the insight offered by the book and would recommend a casual reading.

This is the fourth edition, so that means there is value in the message. It has proven its value in the market place.

It is important that we understand how we are influenced to do what we do. In the information overload age, we simply do not have the time to contemplate all our decisions in depth. Therefore we tend to rely on very limited information to arrive at our decisions to buy, agree with, vote for or support certain products or activities. Often times we are unknowingly manipulated to make choices not necessairly in our own best interest.

Cialdini describes the different behavioral influences: reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity. These are all illustrated with interesting stories and studies. He also tells us how to recognize and defend against those who would try to use these influences to sway our behavior.

Finally because we are bombarded with way too much information to process, we often resort to automatic responses. He urges us to become aggressive in our boycott of those who try to unduly influence us to react automatically to some artificial stimuli.

The book is well written and full of interesting stories and case studies. For the more serious student, there are excellent references to the research. If you want to learn more about why we act the way we do, Cialdini tells you.

I always look to customer reviews before I decide whether or not to purchase. I never really thought about why I did it until I read this book.
Cialdini's style is interesting, conversational, profound and all-in-all down to earth. This is my first review for a book I bought on Amazon and this book certainly deserves it. Reading this book will certainly bring you a lot of oh's and ah's.
It def get's my thumbs up! Enjoy!

Average to slightly above average book. An easy read. Lots of stories that tie in to author's points.

This book has a wonderful, humourous and yet down to earth writing style. Mr. Cialdini is a professor and so his points are not only backed by examples, but many, many references to other studies and journal articles. A very authoritative book; not a marketing fluff book.

I actually enjoyed this book somewhat but it wasn't quite what I expected. After reading most of the reviews I thought this was a book I couldn't afford not to have as part of my library. Many of the ideas presented were the same recycled ideas you find in other sales related books. I guess that is just a testament to their effectiveness. There were a couple of new approaches I wasn't familiar with so I was satisfied. For anyone new to sales/marketing this is a definite winner. For those who are a little more seasoned, it is good book to have in the library but not necessary.

This book is practical with a good scientific background. I am eager to test their principles and sure that they will work. A must read for salesman, managers, etc.

Why do we get sucked in to buying things we don't want? How do we get tricked by Hare Krishnas at the airport? What's the most effective way to ask for help in an emergency?

These are the practical insights we all wish we learned in Psychology 101. Before the Behavioralists were winning Nobel prizes, Cialdini was explaining to us the psychological underpinnings behind how we are influenced. These psychological shortcuts explain much of how we act irrationaly in the world.

This isn't rocket science, but understanding the concepts in the book will make the reader a better manager as well as a better consumer. Enjoy!

Influence is absolutely a fantastic book written on the psychology of persuasion. Cialdini writes clearly and engagingly and does a great job presenting scientific research in an entertaining manner. Cialdini is one of those special writers who can make a complex subject seem simple through their style of writing alone. Not only is Influence highly readable, it's highly practical as well. Cialdini explains in great detail how compliance practitioners intuitively use six basic principles of influence to get you to say "yes" to their requests and lays out strategies to defend against them.

Few books are brimmed with information this powerful and useful! It explains a large body of phenomenon, not limited only to economic exchange. The chapter on social proof is particularly interesting, especially when Cialdini outlines strategies employed by cult leaders to persuade their followers to comply with outrageous requests. These strategies are of course used by leaders of all organizations, not just the occult or bizarre. I spent some time reflecting on my own experiences at church and as a salesman for a major corporate gym, for example. (And believe me, the people designing the training programs for the sales staff KNOW the best techniques for getting your money--so should you!) As you read along, you will undoubtedly recall countless occasions in which you were bamboozled into doing something you really did not want to do. If you are even slightly interested in persuasion, marketing/advertising, or any other form of social influence, this book is definitely for you.

I had to purchase this book for a class in college and expected it to be as boring as every other college book. However i found that Robert B. Cialdini used a style of facts linked with many examples to create a very interesting persuasion piece. Every chapter allows the reader to hear the issues and actually know real accounts of the situations. It explains every part of influence a reader would want to know.

This is a fantastic book on how to understand human psichology.
Not only it is fun to read with a lot of cases and real-life examples, but it is also very well documented (references and bibliography) and based on hundreds of published scientific studies.

If you want to know how "mechanically" we react to things without "thinking" about them; you want to understand why humans can only function in a hierarchical system (wether military, political or social system), then this book will bring you some insights about it.
You can see why Communism is not applicable to humans, why we are sold things we don't want to, why we react in a pre-determined way to basic situations (that override the reasoning and "thinking" processes).
All other reviews of this book talk about the ways you can use (or that someone can use in you) to force someone to buy things they don't want to. I think this book goes way beyond that... Psichology and Sociology students can get quite of good insights from this book also.

I have been privileged to hear Dr. Cialdini speak and have heard from many others as well, that Cialdini is scrupulous about his science AND the ethical use of these powerful principles. Of course, like any good tool, the science can be used or mis-used. Often I find the interpretation of how to use these principles is in the eye of the beholder.

After seeing Dr. Cialdini give a keynote address at my company, we were all given a copy of his book. I can tell you that knowing these principles and using them ethically, as Dr. Cialdini has emphasized, has been an extraordinary help to me, my company and, yes,our clients as well. Next time he speaks for our company, we're all invited to bring our clients.

I have been privileged to hear Dr. Cialdini speak and have heard from many others as well, that Cialdini is scrupulous about his science AND the ethical use of these powerful principles. Of course, like any good tool, the science can be used or mis-used. Often I find the interpretation of how to use these principles is in the eye of the beholder.

After seeing Dr. Cialdini give a keynote address at my company, we were all given a copy of his book. I can tell you that knowing these principles and using them ethically, as Dr. Cialdini has emphasized, has been an extraordinary help to me, my company and, yes,our clients as well. Next time he speaks for our company, we're all invited to bring our clients.

This book is a classic in the field of marketing psychology. I first heard about it in workshops and discovered it was an outstanding, easy to read handbook on how to influence people; and conversely, how to avoid the standard salesman's traps. Beautifully written, a perennial classic.

It's brilliant. really good. I read an earlier edition a couple of years ago and I was blown away, but Cialdini's latest edition is even better. It explains so much of what I've experienced in the past without understanding it, both as a 'victim' and as a 'practitioner' of influence. Cialdini demonstrates how we influence each other with fascinating stories and details of influence tactics, and puts forward persuasive arguments as to why it actually benefits society. This isn't just a fascinating read, it's an true eye opener.

This is a brilliant book, get it now, I cant add more to what people have said .

Language flows easily. Examples are extremely useful and relevant. Organization is great and facilitates referencing of information.

This was a very insightful book that is a must have for anyone! You'll look at media as well as day to day relationships differently. As a lover of psychology this is a fun read about persuasion.

This book offers "every trick in the book" that might be used to influence you. Cialdini explains the research that went into the development of popular techniques used by saleman, non-profits, and others. Knowledge is power. Just being aware of these techniques with help you to arm yourself when the methods of influence are used against you.

For anyone in sales, you really ought to invest the time to read this so you can influence those who haven't!

This book is a must read for anyone interested in taking control of their life. Either you'll use it for taking advantage of people as a salesman, advertiser, etc., or else you'll used to protect yourself from being taken advantage of as a dupe, a sucker, an easy mark. Regardless of which side of the equation you fit on, this book should be high on your list.

Cialdini presents a very small number of concepts, but describes each of them with a wealth of detail and examples. Unlike a lot of high-minded, heady tomes on psychology, this book is easily understood by the common man.

Definitely something you want to read before making a major decision, to include buying a new car, buying a new home, joining a new church, or voting for the next world leader.

If you ever asked yourself "Why did I buy this?", read this book. You'll find plenty of fascinating facts about how people make and rationalize their decisions. You will be able to recognize different tactics sales guys use on you to influence you.

This is a very interesting book, and while it would be best if someone was a salesman to use this it has theories and practical applications that are useful and that I use everyday.

This book is astonishing. Some of the influence methods named in this book will be familiar to you already however, most are very subtle. Once you're aware of the various methods of influence you can defend against them and use them to your advantage.

Cialdini does an excellent job of explaining the ways in which we become persuaded. He uses clear, practical language to describe the many "weapons of influence" that can be used to produce compliance and change. He focuses on cults, but also provides valuable information applicable to real world business situations. Cialdini dissects the topic of persuasion and explains the best techniques to not only implement it, but to avoid becoming a slave to it.

Cialdini's use of examples throughout the book really helps the reader understand his point. In each chapter, one will find numerous cases submitted by readers demonstrating the point Cialdini is attempting to convey. Also, he includes pictures and photos accompanied by captions that add insight to his arguments.

This book is perfect for students of social psychology or consumer actions, in addition to those who sell, and even more importantly those who negotiate and buy. It will help people make better choices and use their control wisely, in addition to explaining the psychology behind it. Also, when paired with the various forms of technology available today (television, radio, internet), influencers can reach a large number of people. Advertisers especially would find this book to be a very helpful resource to convince the buyer to purchase something. Cialdini even examines relationships and how influence is applied to them. This book offers helpful information to everyone.

Robert Cialdini is the true master of the science of persuasion. If you're involved with putting together marketing campaigns, or making sales calls, or writing advertisements, or just getting your kids to clean their rooms, this is a book you must read.

Cialdini is Regents Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. Normally, that would mean that he would write like an academic and be interested in the arcane debates of his specialty. Fortunately for us, neither of those is true.

Dr. Cialdini writes persuasively (of course) and clearly about the practical aspects of persuasion. His books on this subject have sold more than a quarter of a million copies under slightly different titles and over several editions. They will all help you persuade people more effectively.

Cialdini lays out basic tools of influence. Actually, he calls them "weapons" of influence, but I like the term "tools" better. The tools are: Reciprocation; Commitment and Consistency; Social Proof; Liking; Authority; and Scarcity.

The book deals with each of these in turn. Cialdini offers engaging examples and practical applications for what you're reading.

This is simply the very best book there is on the subject by the very best expert on the subject. You'll enjoy the book and you'll improve your ability to persuade people if you follow Cialdini's suggestions. You'll also be able to spot ways that you are being influenced. Either of those outcomes is reason enough to make this book a must-read.

Influence: Science and Practice, by Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. has sold over a 250,000 copies in nine different languages. Does that make you stand up and take notice? Of course it does, it is called social proof. Well, count my review among the rest of the five-stars out there; this book is top notch. I hope that influences you to not only buy his book but devour the content.

Reviewed by: James L. Clark, MBA, MSc., PhD Candidate is a serial infopreneur whose book Wading Through The Crap: How To Start Living The Successful Life You Have Always Wanted (ISBN 0972697551) has received rave reviews. Accelerate your success online and off by applying James' battle-tested and proven personal development strategies (only available online at his Success Without Boundaries® website: www.jameslclark.com) and you'll see amazing results immediately too!

I cite this book as often as I can! I am in grad. school and also teach at our local univerisity here in Tampa, Florida.

This book so motivated me that it would be an honor to get my PHD at Arizona State under Dr. Cialidini.

A must read for anyone in marketing, management, education,and business.

I read the book on a recent business trip. Very easy to read and follow... and sure did open my eyes to some sales and marketing tactics currently deployed. Highly recommended to sales people who want another edge in on their potential customers.

After reading "Influence:Science and Practice", I never realize before that the aspects of "influence" has a pervasive effects on individual perspective (perception) in the formation of the social characters. In essence, our civilization is formed by the force of the influence. Read this book and take the best opportunity for learning the art of living.

I found Cialdini's newest book to be very insightful. I am now able to understand the reason for situations of which I have been involved as both the recipient as well as the reciprocator. This goes for both my personal and my professional life. The demonstration and examples of influence techniques fascinated me. I only wish I would have read it sooner.

Cialdini's book is an excellent field guide to battlefield participants on both sides of the compliance war. Salesmen and marketing executives will no doubt see it as a "how-to" manual, reveling in the many techniques offered. The rest of us may use it as a self-help reference so that the next time we're faced with a situation in which we may be unduly influenced, we'll have a ready defense. Influence is light reading despite its intended use as a textbook. The many anecdotes are entertaining, though I found them somewhat repetitive. The summaries and critical thinking questions at the end of the chapters helped to ensure that I understood the concepts. One disappointment is that Cialdini's defense mechanisms are not terribly satisfying. He urges us to stop and think about our situation and if we feel we're being manipulated, we're probably right. I wanted a better defense than "Try not to be a sucker"-I already know that.

Cialdini has compiled decades of related research findings on influence. Unlike most texts of techniques to memorize on selling or influencing, this one teaches you HOW influence works. You can use the information in this book to test every sales and negotiating technique you will ever learn. If the technique is not supported by the findings in this book, they might cost you sales. Note, however, the book is rather academic and lacks the perspective of someone who has lived their life inside business. Stanton Royce, MBA, 'The Millionaire's Coach

Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition) This book is a MUST read for any sales or marketing professional. Not only does the information dive into the buying decisions of consumers, but it helps us become aware of these process so we can avoid them as well. Great book! A must have!
Gregg Swanson
http://WarriorMindCoach.com

Both my husband and I greatly enjoyed reading the book. Very helpfull and good reading.

A must read. In 2002 I wrote a review about the previous edition. Now I am a professor and have a doctorate, so I actually reference the book in my marketing and management classes. Great book for so many disciplines.

The book is very infomartive and is a great easy read. If I had not need it for class I would not have known it existed. I normally sale my books back, but NOT this time.

Overall this was an enjoyable read, but it almost felt like two separate books to me: chapters 1-3, then chapters 4-8.

The first three chapters were very interesting and, in my copy, are covered in sticky notes, underlines, and highlights. It's not that the book shared anything particularly new, but it presented it in an organized fashion that directly related to many of my current business endeavors. If you have any project that involves selling/marketing - whether writing web copy or attending networking events - there will be some good tips, or at least friendly reminders, in these first three chapters.

The rest of the book was pure pop psychology, along the lines of "Stumbling on Happiness" - well-written, with many illustrative examples, but not all that useful. I only highlighted three phrases in all of chapters 4-8. If you like pop psychology, the rest of the book is an easy and enjoyable read, but hard to justify as work-related research.

I purchased this title for an MBA course, 'The Causes of Corporate White Collar Crime'. It, along with quite a few case studies, makes up our reading content for this course. Cialdini does a thorough job of focusing on a number of topics of influence: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity. For each of these topics, Cialdini successfully incorporates many real life examples to help flesh out and explain each of these. Instead of some hard to read textbook, it is an enjoyable read and easy to get into and follow.

What lets some people be listened to while others are completely ignored -- despite saying essentially the same thing? "Influence: Science in Practice" has sold over a million and a half copies is an examination of the concept of Influence and its effect in the world of business. The new and improved fifth edition adds more supportive anecdotes, the effect of popular culture, technological advances, and cultural issues that appear. Now in a newly updated and expanded fifth edition, "Influence" is a must for anyone who wants to be heard in the world of business.

Its an older book so the information might be a bit dated. Its a lot of what you will learn in an intro psych course or soc psych course.

Good book for lay person though. Its entertaining and well orgainized.

I can't even begin to tell you how many books I have read on the subject of "influence". I have been sorely disappointed by all of them. They range from books on magic tricks, to new age ideas and pop-psychology.

But this book, FINALLY, is the real deal. It is based on good, solid, scientific research and is beautifully written. There are eight chapters which essentially take one particular technique of influence (used by the advertising industry typically)and the chapter explains in detail why and how it works. All of the other books I've read give techniques and explanations that seemed doubtful to me at best. As you read this book you KNOW it's right!

I am not a marketer interested in techniques of influence to sell my product - but certainly if you are - you will find what you are looking for. But for me, the most important part of the book was that it not only showed me the techniques they are using, but how to protect myself from those same techniques.

The book is well worth having and if you are interested in this subject, I don't think you'll find a better book.

I am a professional in the sales and marketing fields. I suggest that if you have no sales back ground and need to learn to be persuasive like a doctor, lawyer, or a speaker, this is a excellent book to start from instead of learning it the hard way. You will still will not learn every hings that you want to learn in this book. However, this is a excellent start for a book even for you experts who want extra knowledge to get ahead of your squirming manager who thinks he knows everything. Hope it helps you, it helped me alot to get ahead in life. Best wishes to your ambitions.

This book is the best ever written on this subject. I study persuasion, influence, human nature, sales and marketing obsessively. I have read many, many books from these genres and this is the one that I will not even lend out for fear of not getting it back. If you read one book in your lifetime, this should be the one.

I have recommended this book to my teenage son. It was provocative, entertaining, and informative. I use some of the ideas to exert influence at work and in other situations. It would be a great book for someone in marketing or sales. I used some of the ideas to teach a class on getting things done when you're not in charge.

This is a wonderful summary of six key social psychology principles that go far to explaining how we as consumers and voters are manipulated by "compliance professionals." The discussion of each principle is interesting and well written, with enough humor to keep it very readable. I especially appreciate the author's advice as to how to easily counter attempts at being manipulated.

My only complaint about the book is that many of the examples and studies cited have obviously not been updated since the 1980's. This is a very minor problem and in no way detracts from the importance of the work. Get it, read it, and join the author in his prinicipled fight against the unscrupulous use of these principles!

Influence is an interesting book. I found the author's tone to be slightly pompous, but the material presented in the book to be informative. It's an easy book to get through, and you will inevitably take some key points away with you, though there is also a fair amount of verbalized intuitive knowledge that you will have to gloss over.

This is a great book. I read it for an organizational management class at George Mason University as a grad student. Very easy to read and follow. I would recommend it to anyone interested in societal dynamics and how to get others to do your bidding.

A martial arts student learns to control the opponent by applying the laws of physics and using opponent's physical momentum. A compliance student (e.g., sales practitioner, executive, entrepreneur) reading this book learns to control the opponent by applying the laws of influence and using the opponent's mental momentum.

Cialdini's Influence contributes to the art of compliance in three important ways:

1. It formulates the basic laws of influence (similar to Newton's physics laws)--the six principles, including reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity--and shows how to use these laws to craft both simple and complex triggers of influence in practical situations;

2. It shows how to identify other compliance professionals using modern triggers of influence and how to create antidotes against them. Example: this book is written by a university professor specializing in compliance (authority) and it sold over 1,000,000 copies (social proof); and

3. It helps the educational and material retention processes by concluding each chapter with a summary, study questions, and a critical thinking section.

The result is an outstanding practical guide for building continuously improving compliance systems and personal defense methodologies against them in an increasingly hectic and challenging environment of cognitive overload. The reader learns the complete art and science of professional compliance.

Yuval Lirov, Practicing Profitability - Billing Network Effect for Revenue Cycle Control in Healthcare Clinics and Chiropractic Offices: Collections, Audit Risk, SOAP Notes, Scheduling, Care Plans, and Coding

Well written, interesting anecdotes, and plenty of (small) studies to back up what the author says. Value for money.

Ibought this book because it was recommended on an Internet marketing program I subscribed to.It is always interesting to read books referred to by skilled people as they probably wouldn't recommend them unless there was something special.Trusting my coach,then I bought a copy and have found it to be one of the most fascinating books I have ever read.
Imagine a psychologist wanting to understand how people get sold to,attending classes for door-to-door salesmen to see what they are taught and how people respond to various ploys - both obvious and subtle.
This book is an amazing study of human behaviour and quite frankly I have found it to be one of the best buys I've made - having no preconceived ideas of it.
The chapters are divided clearly,it is presented very compactly,and is cobcise in its presentation.I found I could only read a few pages at a time to digest what was said in such a short space.
Overall this book is a must for the new up and coming internet marketers both to understand the buyers and the limitations of traditional marketing techniques which are changing rapidly due to the internet.

It would be rare to find a social psychologist who does not view Cialdini as the master of persuasion and influence. I'm no exception. Not only is his knowledge comprehensive, but it is presented in an understandable and compelling way. This is why this book is in its Fourth Edition.

Any serious student of persuasion and influence, theoretical or applied, needs this book in their library. Becoming familiar with Cialdini's six principles of influence (reciprocity, consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity) will broaden your world . . . and when applied, increase your bottom line.

You also will want to read Kevin Hogan's books, including "The Psychology of Persuasion" and "The Science of Influence". I'd also recommend, especially for applied sales and influence practitioners, Dave Lakhani's more recent book, "Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want".

Mollie Marti, Ph.D., J.D.
Author, Selling: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success

This was a supplementary text to an MBA Negotiations course (main text was Thompson's, Heart and Mind of a Negotiator)
Influence is a a very insightful book and a very easy read compared to usual academic texts.

I like this book because it lays out the science behind influence. A social science perspective grounded in contemporary and historic research on how humans influence each other.

... because I couldn't put it down.

The theory is clever. In six headings and crisply written. The proof is laid out and it's like Cialdini is talking to you. It's easy to remember.
But the examples are harrowing: Why cult leaders do what they do; why initiation rites are brutal; why normal people do nasty things to each other if the conditions are set; why my daughter always gets what she wants; why there's no safety in crowds ...and why reasonable people like me are the MOST likely to be suckered by conmen.

But it closes well. Cialdini gives us tips and exercises to resist the persuaders and to use the same tactics for our own benefit - ethically. This is a great book. I've thrown others out but this one's staying.

This is one of the first and still one of the best books on the practical applications of social psychology out there. It is hard to put this book down. Cialdini organizes his main points simply and understandably using several examples from both his personal observations and psychological research. I believe everyone should read this book; it is a stellar example of how psychology can improve the human condition and give us great insight into who we are.

very entertaining book about all the tricks salespeople play on us without us realizing. absolutely worth reading. thanks chuck!

This book is just simply outstanding. I recommend this book first before you read any other books on this very useful topic. This book brought to the surface the tactics used by sales professional that were brought against me that I thought peculiar. For example, why apartment viewings in my area were all scheduled at the same time or when I was searching for a gym membership why he was stressing if I left I would never EVER be able to get his reduced price again. I am now an informed consumer and this is a essential book in the hands of a avid consumer or student of business.

Absolutely fantastic, fascinating, and amusing read. If you have slightest interest in social psychology, humans interrelationships and interactions, persuasion, or marketing and sales, this book is a must read.

This book will give you more and better insight to how people make decisions than anything you've heard before. The principle of consistency over logic is amazing. If you have a need to persuade people (sales, etc.), then you need to read this book.

I am in business school. I have have been in business for awhile. I know this book is pretty bad. The author uses 5 times as many words as needed and over emphasizes obvious concepts. Unless you have never remotely thought about negotiatig, this book is useless.

Got this book for a social psychology class. Can read slow sometimes. Good information over all. Still easier to read then my text book.

Everyone should read this book at some point in their lives; the sooner the better. Gives you an excellent foundation in persuasion with countless applications to every day life.

Remarkable scientific analysis of what motivates and determines human actions in different environments. Applicable to marketing as well as general exchanges of information, goods, and interactions, this book is groundbreaking in exploring how humans unconsciously value items based on perceived value, due to the channel flow of information. Useful for both exploiting or establishing an environment to robotically guide humans to a certain outcome, as well as prevent oneself from being manipulated by the media, marketeers, and consumerist oriented society of the present day.

This book describes the external circumstances that influence our choices. The information is interesting and helpful for those who are motivated by externals. Unfortunately too many people are erroneously motivated. I recommend Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self to anyone who is interested in being optimally self-motivated by doing their best in any situation.

This is the best written book I have read that explains how people use the pyschology of compliance to get us to buy or do something we normally would not do. It does an excellent job of explaining how they do what they do and how to you can defend youself against their tricks.

At the end of each chapter the author gives a brief summary and study questions with a critical thinking section that forces you to think and utilize what you just read.

This is a wonderful book that I will have my children and wife read to protect themselves in the future from unscrupulous marketers.

Everything with the "influence" in a title is just a bad attempt to repackage Cialdini's work.

Possibly one of the most informative and eye-opening books I've read in my life. Many people criticize psychology and say the studies only produce "obvious" results. I say it's "obvious" only because the studies have shown them - it's now become part of collective knowledge, ingrained into our psyches. In hindsight it's easy to say the results are obvious - not so easy before the study has been done.

Psychological studies in the past century have shown many things that were not evident to intelligent people. A lot of studies that seem to be "obvious" at first sight actually do generate counterintuitive results that contradict common sense, and most people tend to overestimate their conscious powers of free will and underestimate the strength of "subconscious" factors like the ones described in this book, when considering their actions. Yes, psychology is a new field and there is a lot of bad science out there. But it is still a growing area of study and combined with neuroscience it will definitely uncover many more revelations about the human mind.

If you want to live your life in the "best" possible way, you would do well to read this book to try and free yourself from the auto-pilot reactions that are governing your behavior. It might seem "right", but really you're just a slave to your impulses. Of course many people deny the influence of factors like looks/reciprocation/liking etc. but that just means they're more inclined to act on those principles - they just rationalize them away as something else. That's not necessarily a bad way to go, but you're only deluding yourself. Others, like me, are fully aware of these subconscious influences but act on them anyway because it's the most convenient way - it just "feels right". In the end the choice is yours - to try and base your actions on rational thought rather than passive emotion.

This book is a readable presentation of a huge body of really interesting, crazy psychology experiements and their underlying theory. It tells you where science confirms conventional wisdom from mom or the used car dealer or the sneaky supermarket. You can use this stuff to your own advantage and you can be more aware as you are manipulated. It's very useful for the interested consumer, but very practical for anyone in retailing, marketing, pricing, product design or sales.

This is a great book full of interesting examples that will stay with you even if you are just picking it up for a casual read.

What really sealed my 5 stars is that the book has for years been required reading for some university courses on social psychology. Because of that you know that despite the very fun read, what you are getting is not just another self-improvement flavour of the month.

Having learned that marketing classes like to use this book, I tried it out. The book is a quick, pleasant read. It explains very well certain subconcious consistencies of human behaviour and the methods of exploitating them. Very insightful, yet logical stuff. I also like the fact that Cialdini's unassuming writing tone can make readers like me feel at ease.

My only selfish gripe is that this is not a marketing aid but a consumer's warning guide. Since I am trying to get into the marketing p