Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

The author demonstrates that he is well-read in the works of many scholars, contemporary and past, who have added to the body of scientific knowledge about human interaction. He includes abundant references to their writings and, in particular, to their social experiments. Cialdini examines the conclusions of these learned individuals through the lens of his own model, often demonstrating conclusions that seem counter-intuitive until fully explained.

An example of this is found in Chapter 5, where he describes a groundbreaking study conducted by Professor Stanley Milgram, who compelled one volunteer subject to administer electric shocks to another whenever the second volunteer made a mistake. Cialdini relates the details in a story-like fashion, only revealing at the end that no one actually got shocked. The second volunteer was an actor pretending to receive shocks. Milgram intended to test the first volunteer’s willingness to accept the authority of the researcher who was ordering the shocks. Cialdini expands upon Milgram’s insights to describe the deference an average person extends to an assumed authority figure.

In addition to the scholars and scientific texts he discusses, Cialdini frequently refers to colleagues. These include other researchers, such as Professor Wilhelmina Wosinska, his collaborative students—research assistants—who plot out experiments on his behalf, and also those who share important insights with him, such as his neighbor Sara, who shares her struggles about staying with her uncommitted boyfriend Tim, and Cialdini’s unnamed neighbor and fellow parent, who explained to him how toy companies hold back highly desired toys to perpetuate their sales after the holidays.

Cialdini places great emphasis on collaboration. Not only is he willing to share credit for insights, but he also often portrays himself as hapless in the face of levers of influence until colleagues explain to him what he has experienced. He occasionally plays “straight man” to the humorous comments and happenings perpetrated upon him, as when Wosinska informed him he had become so significant as a scholar that her students assumed he was dead. When Cialdini finds that a Boy Scout has tricked him into purchasing chocolate candy bars he dislikes, he summons his research assistants. These colleagues explain to him that he has succumbed to the reciprocity gambit called rejection then retreat, and they summarily eat the candy bars.