Join Goodreads

and meet your next favorite book!

Sign Up Now
Sign in with Facebook
Book cover for Influence: Science and Practice Book Details

Influence: Science and Practice

by

4.17 50,911 ratings
Your Rating (Clear)
  • Cancel
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 combinesMore 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. Less

Friends’ Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up .

Community Reviews

Sundeep

rated it it was amazing
over 3 years ago

Summary: This book can’t be summarized. It can only be very, very strongly recommended.

Recommended? YES. Buy it now if you haven’t read it.

Table of contents:
1 Weapons of Influence
2 Reciprocation: The Old Give and Take…and Take
3 Commitment and Consistency: Hobgoblins of th... Read full review
Pouting Always

rated it liked it
about 1 month ago

Another one of those business books where it's a good read if you haven't read any others from the same genre but with the same basically formula where they keep repeating information that can be condensed down into a few pages and which every other business book will tel... Read full review
Gina

rated it liked it
over 1 year ago

I don't understand why so many people rated this book so highly.

--It panders to the audience by using overly simple language and repeating the same idea 5 times to make sure that the reader really understood. Example (from memory): "People are heavily influenced by societ... Read full review
Shishir

rated it liked it
about 5 years ago

Six "weapons of influence"

1)Reciprocation - People tend to return a favor. Thus, the pervasiveness of free samples in marketing. In his conferences, he often uses the example of Ethiopia providing thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid to Mexico just after the 1985 eart... Read full review
Jerry

rated it really liked it
over 9 years ago

I put this book under "dangerous knowledge." 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.

I see this stuff abused all the time, to spin... Read full review
Mark Cheverton

rated it it was amazing
over 3 years ago

Shelves: business , marketing
Required reading for all marketing professionals. The book details the most common approaches to influencing the decisions of others, backed up by the authors time spent infiltrating direct marketing companies and the like. Offers handy hints on how to spot when you're be... Read full review
Abubakar Mehdi

rated it it was amazing
about 1 year ago


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. I chuckled and moved on. But then, a few days ago I found myself in a bookstore holding this book and heading to the counter... Read full review
John Spillane

rated it it was amazing
3 months ago

Not a runaway train of rapturousness like 1776, Moneyball, or Outliers but like Anna Karenina it seems to encompass all of life and address all of life's important issues.

I would recommend this to anyone and will definitely listen to it again.

I tired one of his technique... Read full review
David

rated it it was amazing
almost 10 years ago

Social Proof - People will do things that they see other people are doing. 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. At one point... Read full review
Rachel

rated it it was amazing
about 2 years ago

Shelves: psychology
So, I've read a fair amount of the literature about group dynamics and social influence, and taught classes that discussed and used it. So I thought I'd know much of what was in this book already. While I was familiar with some of it, there were a number of tricks I hadn'... Read full review

Other Books by this Author

  • Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
    Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to I...
    by Robert B. Cialdini
  • The Small Big: Small Changes That Spark Big Influence
    The Small Big: Small Changes That Spa...
    by Robert B. Cialdini
  • Influence: Science and Practice: The Comic
    Influence: Science and Practice: The ...
    by Robert B. Cialdini
  • Instant Influence: How to Get What You Want in Any Business Situation
    Instant Influence: How to Get What Yo...
    by Robert B. Cialdini
  • Persuasão e Influência: Como Pequenas Mudanças Podem Gerar Grandes Resultados
    Persuasão e Influência: Como Pequenas...
    by Robert B. Cialdini
  • Feeling Good about Saying No
    Feeling Good about Saying No
    by Robert B. Cialdini
  • Executive Briefing: The Power of Persuasion
    Executive Briefing: The Power of Pers...
    by Robert B. Cialdini
  • Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
    Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways t...
    by Noah J. Goldstein
  • Die Psychologie des Überzeugens
    Die Psychologie des Überzeugens
    by Robert B. Cialdini

Readers Also Enjoyed

Book Details

Paperback, Fifth Edition, 260 pages
Published August 8th 2008 by Pearson (first published 1984
ISBN
0205609996 (ISBN13: 9780205609994)
Edition Language
English
Original Title
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

About this Author

160932. ux50 Dr. Robert Cialdini has spent his entire career researching the science of influence earning him an international reputation as an expert in the fields of persuasion, compliance, and negotiation.

His books including, Influence: Science & Practice, are the results of years of study into the reasons why people comply with requests in business settings. Worldwide, Influence has sold over 2...
Read full bio

Genres

Quotes

A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.
like
Embarrassment is a villain to be crushed.
like
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much. —WALTER LIPPMANN
like
See all quotes

Discussions

  • *o*o*tawny*rachelle*o*o*
    Click Whirr
    By *o*o*tawny*rachelle*o*o* ∙ 4 posts ∙
© 2017 Goodreads, Inc. · Terms Back to Top