Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

I would like to share book that I read recently. We can exactly know how these weapons were effectively used by RE companies & brokers so far.

This book is psychological research on factors that influenced us to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ at various events /situations that normally occur in everyone’s life but we really would not see the outcome or results of our response when we committed. Robert B. Cialdini is professor of psychology at Arizona State University. This book is his life time research on people’s behaviors and he took various roles during his research as door to door salesman, marketing guy and PR agent etc.


Author talks about the ‘weapons of influence’ that normally enterprises and other people use for their gain over the society which means the normal public. Prof. Cialdini found six common traits of people that influence an individual to make any decision.

Reciprocation – Based on the widespread human culture and evolution, the rule requires that one has to try to repay what another person has provided by means of any service/gain. Not repaying is considered as rude or uncivilized in our society. Free food samples at malls and stores.

Commitment and Consistency – It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end – Da Vinci. It is always our desire to move with the society, colleagues, friends or relatives on making decisions or on deciding lifestyle. We all like to get approvals from the above mentioned social set up. I know many people who signed on the dotted line for the word of a marketing guy ‘just sign we will take care of it, don’t worry’ for their investments, mortgages just because others did so; dared to ask questions.

Social Proof - This is about how a person likes the society to view his actions; this comes of out his skepticism about other people’s reaction. When he is not sure about the action he would tend to follow the predecessor. This is an easy experiment for us who live in India. Next time you come across a beggar at a temple, train or bus stop; people normally look for a predecessor. Try for once the role of predecessor and see the results.

Liking – People tend to say ‘yes’ to individual they know and like well. There are three main factors for this behavior. Physical Beauty – This halo effect makes people to yes. Similarity – We like people like us by appearance or behavior etc. Increased Familiarity – Repeated contact or information about a thing. (Advertisements, stock recos.) Why are we spending so much time and money on some of the bakwaas movies of Bachans, Khans and Rajinikanth though we know already? (No offense meant)

Authority – This is very simple to understand. We will do whatever our boss says with “I will take care of it, don’t worry’. Individual will not stand up and say ‘no’ even if he knows something is wrong. You might have read a lot in newspapers these days about 'Satyam'


Scarcity – Another simple one to quote an example under current scenario. You might be seeing lot of advertisements from real estate developers, car companies and banks with a limited time offer “Only for next three days” or “Pre Launch Discount – Very few flats”. Cool that’s it.

I read and watched Cialdini talking about this; I can go on writing about this book. I have listed only main 6 items and there many examples & other weapons detailed in the book. Get a copy if you want to overcome or positively use these 'weapons of influence'



Thanks Vik for giving the oppurtunity.