Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials)

by Robert B. Cialdini

The study of persuasion, compliance, and change has advanced, and the pages that follow have been adapted to reflect that progress.

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.

There is a group of people who know very well where the weapons of automatic influence lie and who employ them regularly and expertly to get what they want.

With proper execution, the exploiters need hardly strain a muscle to get their way. All that is required is to trigger the great stores of influence that already exist in the situation and direct them toward the intended target.

If we are talking to a beautiful woman at a cocktail party and are then joined by an unattractive one, the second woman will strike us as less attractive than she actually is.