This is a book I am embarrassed to say I just read for the first time. I will read it again – soon.
I was first introduced to Influence: Science and Practice while in college by my debate coach David Snowball (whose academic interest is, and dissertation topic was, propaganda). Dave thought it was a great book – he, as usual, was right. I have a hard time imagining any business endeavor – or for that matter any social endeavor – where these principles aren’t applicable. Certainly in my areas of interest, employee relations and helping executives find a job these ideas are extremely powerful and important. If you haven’t read it and you have anything to do with business, especially if you need to convince people to work with you in some way (buy your stuff, help with your project, pull the knife out of your back, etc.) you MUST read and absorb this book.
Here’s the quick overview: Cialdini is a professor who studies how and why we humans are influenced to act. More interesting, he addresses how those principles can be used by what he calls “compliance professionals” to get us to act in a way which benefits them. His interest in the subject is very personal – in what may be the best first line of any “academic” book I’ve ever read Cialdini confesses, “I can admit it freely now. All my life I’ve been a patsy.” He is a sucker for these influence tactics – I think most of us would have to admit we are too – and likes to study why.
Cialdini identifies 6 laws of influence. They are reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. He addresses each of them in a lot of detail with both entertaining (and sometimes frightening) anecdotal evidence regularly bolstered with what the academic research says on the subject. These 6 laws are even more powerful given what Cialdini calls the “click, whirr” tendency we have to react quickly to a situation based on limited information once our brain has identified that it fits into a particular category. It is a riveting read.
Here are some highlights.
Click, Whirr – This is the tendency we have to act based on very limited information. I kept thinking of Malcolm Gladwell’s recent book Blink when I read this part (it also plays an important part in the conclusion of Cialdini’s book). The basic idea is this: humans (and most other animals) have evolved over time to react almost instinctively to certain situations. When we receive enough information to conclude that we are facing that situation, we pretty much react without thinking – we roll the tape in our heads (hence, “click, whirr”) that tells us how to react. This is normally a good thing – for example, it is why mostly cooperative beings are walking the planet instead of ones who would rather kill you than look at you. But in the hands of compliance professionals “click, whirr” can be used against us. Here’s some of the ways they do it.
Reciprocation – We want to repay somebody who gives us a gift or provides a service for us. Otherwise we feel like a moocher. This is usually a good thing – it pretty much is required for any economic exchange. But in the hands of a compliance professional it can work against us – we will regularly give back much more than we receive. Some compliance professionals actually try to get you to reject them first, so they can put the rule of reciprocation to work against you when they make their counter offer.
Commitment and Consistency – If we take a public stand on an issue we are much more likely to behave consistent with that publicly stated position, even if circumstances change. This has a lot of implications with respect to union petitions and cards.
Social Proof – We tend to go with the crowd. This is usually a good shortcut for having to investigate a situation for yourself. The key is making sure to think about when a crowd is likely to be less informed than yourself – and when to ignore a crowd altogether. This is easily the most disturbing chapter of the book. It discusses how the law of social proof explains the over 1,000% increase in commercial airline fatalities in the month after a highly publicized suicide. Further, it explains how the principle led to what Cialdini calls the “most spectacular act of compliance of our time” – the Jonestown massacre.
Liking – We tend to be influenced by people we like, especially attractive or beautiful people. This law explains why I am not asked to do a lot of endorsement deals.
Authority – We also do what we are told by authority figures. This one is pretty easy to spot but often difficult to defend against.
Scarcity – This is what I call the eBay rule. We tend to value most what we think is scarce. This is a very common tactic used by compliance professionals in sales.
Cialdini concludes that these laws, if anything, are more powerful today in our always on, interconnected world where we are inundated by a constant torrent of information. The more overwhelmed our brains become, the more likely we are to fall back on these instinctive reactions to information. Cialdini offers a number of defense mechanisms that are great starting points. But perhaps the best defense is to read his book so you can learn – and recognize – when the laws are being used against you. Highly recommended.
