Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition) | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert B. Cialdini
Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
Category: Book
List Price: $22.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  125 reviews
Sales Rank: 4395
Media: Paperback
Edition: 4
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 262
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 0321011473
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.852
UPC: 076092007739
EAN: 9780321011473
ASIN: 0321011473
Publication Date: July 9, 2000
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Book Description
Influence: Science and Practice is an examination of the psychology of compliance (i.e. uncovering which factors cause a person to say “yes” to another's request). Written in a narrative style combined with scholarly research, Cialdini combines evidence from experimental work with the techniques and strategies he gathered while working as a salesperson, fundraiser, advertiser, and in other positions inside organizations that commonly use compliance tactics to get us to say “yes.” Widely used in classes, as well as sold to people operating successfully in the business world, the eagerly awaited revision of Influence reminds the reader of the power of persuasion. Cialdini organizes compliance techniques into six categories based on psychological principles that direct human behavior: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 120 more reviews...
 Good Intro to Social Psych July 20, 2008
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.
 Seven good ideas over-worked poorly presented June 29, 2008
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.
 Science of Compliance - Extremely Important and Useful Book June 21, 2008
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 is it! - The Real Deal! June 16, 2008
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.
For Professionals, lawyers, and Doctors who need to learn persuasion and influence June 16, 2008
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.
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