Book review: “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini
December 16th, 2009 at 6:53 pmCialdini is a professor of Marketing and Psychology, and in this book he attempts to show how the marketers use psychological methods to trick people into doing things they didn’t originally plan doing. He lists the six “weapons of influence”:
- Reciprocation
- Commitment and Consistency
- Social proof
- Liking
- Authority
- Scarcity
Each approach is described in detail, with many examples and interesting case studies done by professional psychologists. These studies sometimes give entirely unexpected results that help highlight aspects of human nature. The techniques the author talks about also resonate well with my experience of encounters with salesmen and people trying to persuade me to buy something / donate / participate or whatever.
That said, although this book is pretty good, it is unfortunately not what I expected. This shows the danger of judging the book by its back cover, which in this case says:
[...] explains the psychology of why people say yes – and how to apply these understandings. [...] You’ll learn [...] how to use them to become a skipped persuader, and how to defend yourself against them.
Alas, the book mainly focuses on the last part of the quote above – how to defend yourself against tricks attempted on you by skilled salesmen. Because unless you’re into marketing yourself, I doubt that you’ll want to use these techniques – the author openly defines them as con acts carefully designed to trick people into doing things they don’t really want to do.
Judging by the quotes above I expected a modern version of Carnegie’s “How to win friends and influence people”, but Cialdini’s book just goes in an entirely different direction. This is not to say that it’s bad. As I noted above, it’s a pretty interesting book. But it helps to know what to expect from it. If you’re a salesman, it’s probably a must. Otherwise, don’t expect more than an entertaining read on everyday psychology, with perhaps some useful tips on how to say no to salesmen and not feel too bad about it.
Related posts:
- Book review: “The Moral Animal” by Robert Wright
- Book review: “How to win friends and influence people”
- Book review: “Flow – the psychology of optimal experience” by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
- Book review: “Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny” by Robert Wright
- Book review: “The CASHFLOW quadrant” by Robert Kyosaki
December 17th, 2009 at 00:51
Eli,
I think you missed the mark on Cialdini’s work. He’s not trying to be the next Carnegie, he simply studies the psychology behind why people comply with requests. His work gives the psychological understanding for why Carnegie’s advice works so well to win people over and influence them.
Because I know Dr. Cialdini personally I can tell you he’s all about the ethical use of influence. The principles are neither good nor bad, they simply are. You always have to look at the intent of the person using them. Two people can do the same thing but for very different reasons. I think this quote from “The Art of Woo” by G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa sums up intent well, “An earnest and sincere lover buys flowers and candy for the object of his affections. So does the cad who succeeds to take advantage of another’s heart. But when the cad succeeds, we don’t blame the flowers and candy. We rightly question his character.”
I can tell you from firsthand experience that understanding the principles and ethically using them can make a big difference with all your relationships.
Brian
December 18th, 2009 at 08:23
@Brian, thanks for the detailed comment. I think you misunderstood me – I did not mean to say anything against Mr. Cialdini – in fact I’ve mentioned several times that for its intended purposes the book is good. Salesmen trick us, but that’s part of their job, and the book actually teaches a lot on how to defend against such tactics.
My only critical part refers to the book’s not being quite what I expected it to be from its back-cover.
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