60 pages • 2 hours read
Robert B. CialdiniInfluence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1984A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Multiple Ways of Influencing Others' Decisions
There are an astonishing number of tools one can use to influence the decision- making process of individuals. The seven levers of influence refer to specific overarching methods, though within each of the levers there are a plethora of ways to engage that specific principle. These “levers” reveal the essence of influence and how and why people respond to them.
For example, Cialdini describes the lever of “reciprocation”: extending generosity to a potential customer in hopes the customer with respond in an archetypical manner by extending generosity in return. When a customer samples a tiny cup of food in a market, the owner hopes the customer will respond by making a large purchase. Reciprocation, however, can take on subtle aspects as well. The author writes of the rejection-then-retreat gambit: A compliance professional makes a request, knowing it will likely be declined; after the customer declines, the professional makes a second request that is less burdensome. Feeling that the professional has given them something—a concession—the customer complies with the second offer.
Perhaps Cialdini’s greater achievement is to have discovered, analyzed, and listed for the first time those processes that human beings have used and adapted since before recorded history. Indeed, if Cialdini is correct that these processes are endemic to all human societies, then they must have originated and become instinctive aspects of behavior when the human species was small and isolated. This notion fits with the author’s oft-repeated assertion that the levers of influence developed first as human survival mechanisms. The multitude of behavioral responses Cialdini has catalogued are thus among the human species’ oldest set of instinctive interactions.
Cialdini argues that humans are innately predictable. Through the many studies Cialdini has conducted, observed, and catalogued, he is able to predict which of two signs will slow the poaching of fossils in the Petrified Forest and which will make the thievery worse. The author’s grasp of the power and uses of the levers of influence enables him to predict how the majority of people will react to given stimuli in given circumstances. He knows the optimum setting for each lever as well as which of the levers is appropriate for a specific task. What is more, Cialdini is heartened by the ethical use of the levers to improve human interactions, to break down cross-group barriers, and to enable people to deal successfully with an increasingly complex world. Cialdini’s insistence that the levers can be used for human good suggests that the levers of influence have important uses far beyond the salesroom or political realm.
Compliance as a Psychological Phenomenon
At several sections in the text, particularly the first and last chapters, Cialdini refers to the rote behavior of animals, specifically describing “fixed action patterns.” These are programmed responses to the stimuli creatures face. While he does not use the term “instinct,” the behaviors he cites—such as the noise made by turkey chicks that automatically causes the hen to protect them—could be called instinctive. Likewise, Cialdini says that human beings have rote behaviors that are essentially fixed action patterns, though of a higher order than those possessed by less evolved creatures.
The seven levers of influence he details in the book all operate in human beings at a basic, subconscious level. Moreover, some of these behaviors, such as reciprocation—returning generosity—are programmed into humans by their parents. Still others, like the unity, scarcity, and authority principles, are socially reinforced on a continual basis.
Cialdini states that the automatic responses humans have to these levers of influence date to prehistoric times, when they were necessary survival behaviors: “If everyone is running in that direction, I think I should too!” He quotes anthropologist Richard Leakey as saying that, for example, the human need to return generosity is an ancient response developed by humans that sets them apart from other creatures.
The implication is that human ancestors in the distant past developed the responses Cialdini writes about as universal methods of interaction, and they are essentially a higher level of instinct. These human responses to the levers of influence, as the author points out, pervade all cultures and generations. It could be said that these are instinctive, though the author also notes that none of the levers of influence is beyond resistance. Unlike other animals, humans can resist their instinctive programming.
Since human responses to the levers of influence evolved in primitive societies, it is ironic that, as Cialdini says, these shortcuts are more necessary now than ever before. In Chapter 9, the author describes the deluge of information that besets the average person daily. A well-meaning attempt to analyze all the pertinent, available data before making decisions, Cialdini writes, will leave humans in a state of “paralysis of analysis” (442). Essentially, trying to formulate a decision by considering all possible information will freeze an individual, like a deer in the headlights. He states there is literally no way to keep up with the glut of data people receive, and therefore people must rely on the shortcuts developed by their prehistoric ancestors to cope with a constantly changing world.
Detecting and Dealing With Influence
While Cialdini has a deep-seated understanding of, and appreciation for, the levers of influence, he is well aware of the treachery and scams employed by unscrupulous individuals who use these shortcuts against innocent individuals. Thus, the author concludes each chapter with a section, “Defense,” just before the chapter summary. His purpose in including these sections is to prepare the average person to detect and then deal with the tactics of influencers.
There are actually two sets of persuaders Cialdini wants to prepare his readers to face. One set is made up of compliance professionals. These individuals, while using the powerful tools of the seven levers, are typically not criminal or unethical. They are just good salespeople who are trained to use subtle tactics to get ordinary individuals to say “yes” to whatever they are promoting. The second set is made up of con artists, scammers, and unscrupulous businesspeople who behave unethically.
Cialdini wants his readers to have a basic knowledge of the seven levers. For instance, if a compliance professional says, “This is the last day this model will be on sale and this is the last unit,” the customer will recognize the principle of scarcity. The author also lists the common unethical and illegal uses of the levers. He describes the way an electronics superstore told customers that the item they were examining was the last one in stock, though there were many additional items out of sight in the store. Cialdini details both the acceptable uses of the levers as well as the unacceptable ones. One the one hand, the author wants readers to be alert to sly sales practices and also capable of avoiding unscrupulous ones.
In the “Defense” portions of each chapter, Cialdini typically expresses the idea that readers should not hate the lever of influence being used, but rather be aware of how each lever operates and what the compliance professional intends to achieve. Thus, awareness is the first weapon of defense. With each lever, Cialdini suggests different, pertinent tactics for resistance. For instance, when faced with the opportunity to purchase a scarce item that has suddenly become very important, the customer should ask, “Do I want this because I needed it before or do I want it because it is scarce?”
In cases where a compliance professional tries to guilt a customer into completing a purchase because that customer verbally committed to buying it, the author says the best defense is to tell the salesperson exactly what they are doing: “You are trying to make me feel that I must purchase this item because I indicated I wanted it, even though I realize now I do not want or need it.” For each of the levers of influence, Cialdini suggests coping mechanisms, suggesting that being able to recognize the levers can lead to more rational decision-making.
