Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion

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To access you ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. Commitment and Consistency - If people commit, verbally or in writing, to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment. At this point it’s a little hard to tell how much of this seems obvious to me because of previous reads, or previous training, or just because it’s, well, obvious.

I see this stuff abused all the time, to spin democracies to go to war, to sell us products and services we don't really need and much, much more. This ‘shortcut’ of ours is exploited, almost everyday by people who are trying to sell us something. Another (scary) example: more suicides when the press publicizes a suicide…more fatal “accidents” too. The main thing though is the fascinating concepts explained in the book with principles which I think will be very useful for me in my life. This book was particularly interesting to read immediately after Simon Sinek's 'Start With Why', in which is outlined the difference between tactics of inspirational leadership vs those of manipulative coercion.

Ethopia had been reciprocating for the diplomatic support Mexico provided when Italy invaded Ethopia in 1937. Talks about being influence in a highly drawn out, verbose, repetitive - in a way that says it again like when you are trying to say it all over to make sure that .

It requires a deep understanding of the subject to be able to bring such perspicuity to a subject area. The content of this book is useful for all types of situations in which you interact with people, or even just process information that is brought to you with the intent of getting a certain reaction. Cialdini, still a top consultant in this field, has a tiny disclaimer at the end of the book saying how he's aware that this knowledge could be misused, but doesn't go much further. It's sometimes insightful but it seems to be written for a "young adult" reader and it seems to pander to the audience. The same applies to suggestions given by people who dress as if they are in the successful upper-class, or who are acknowledged authorities in some field (it doesn't have to be the one under discussion).The examples were mostly business cases, although according to the author the principles also apply to other facets of life.

For example, in one experiment, one or more accomplices would look up into the sky; the more accomplices the more likely people would look up into the sky to see what they were seeing. During a California referendum on smoking in public places, a woman in LA was overheard saying: "It's a real tough decision. So, I've read a fair amount of the literature about group dynamics and social influence, and taught classes that discussed and used it. That consistency then led them down a path of minor forms of collaboration – without them really thinking about it as such.Interesting (but slightly saddening) how our tendencies to seek mental shortcuts in decision-making are consistently exploited by marketeers. People like and believe in commitment because their image and reputation is on the line (ie the Chinese concentration camp example above). Social proof is most powerful for those who feel unfamiliar or unsure in a specific situation and who, consequently, must look outside of themselves for evidence of how to best behave there. He should have just done a reprint with a new foreword or something, because the result of the update is a total failure.

A couple of months ago, I read somewhere that when it comes to the psychology of persuasion and influence, Cialdini is the “daddy” of this subject. And while this is working just fine most of the time, sometimes someone comes along who knows how these short-cuts work and tries to exploit them. At times he sounded as if he just woke up and started reading while shaving and then to the kitchen making a fresh cup of brew.Cialdini cites incidents, such as the Milgram experiments in the early 1960s and the My Lai massacre. One of the main objectives of the books is said to be preparing the average person against compliance tacticians but I have a feeling that it's the latter who'll use the book more. This book therefore is NOT one to be read by anyone intending to develop effective, long-term and ethical leadership skills, but IS still an extremely important general read for learning our innate automatic psychological triggers that can be used against us, and how we can recognise these triggers so that we can fight them.