Influence

Click, whirr: the weapons of influence

Robert Cialdini is a social psychologist. To learn how persuasion works in the real world, he spent years undercover in sales and fundraising jobs, studying the people he calls compliance professionals. He found that most of their tactics fall into a few categories, each based on a basic rule of human behavior. He calls these weapons of influence.

The book opens with a mother turkey. She cares for any chick that makes a "cheep-cheep" sound. Researchers showed that she will even mother a stuffed polecat, a natural enemy, if it plays that sound. The sound triggers a fixed-action pattern: a fixed sequence of behavior. Cialdini calls it "click, whirr." A trigger clicks, and a prerecorded tape whirrs.

Humans have similar shortcuts. A jewelry store owner in Arizona could not sell a batch of turquoise. She left a note to cut the price in half, but an employee misread it and doubled the price. The stones sold out. Buyers used the rule "expensive means good." In a study by Ellen Langer, people let someone cut in line at a copy machine far more often when the request included the word "because," even when the reason was empty ("because I have to make copies").

These shortcuts are not stupid. Life is complex, and we need rules of thumb. The danger is that people who know the triggers can exploit them. Cialdini also describes the contrast principle: the second of two things seems more different from the first than it is. A clothing salesperson sells the expensive suit first, so the sweater seems cheap. A real estate agent shows a run-down house first, so the next house looks better.

Cialdini argues that modern life makes these shortcuts more necessary, because we face too much information to weigh every choice. People who fake the triggers, with false testimonials or staged scarcity, pollute a system everyone relies on, and we should push back against them.

The core of the book covers six principles. For each one, Cialdini explains how it works, how professionals use it, and how to say no. In the 2021 new and expanded edition, he adds a seventh principle, unity: we say yes more readily to people we see as part of our own group, a shared "we" based on family, place or identity.

Reciprocation

The rule of reciprocation says we must repay what another person gives us. It is found in every human society, and it lets people trade and cooperate. It is also very strong. It can make us agree to requests we would normally refuse, and an uninvited gift still creates a debt.

Cialdini describes the Hare Krishna Society, whose members pressed a flower or a book on travelers in airports and then asked for a donation. People felt obliged to give even when they did not want the flower. In a study by Dennis Regan, a person who received an unexpected soft drink from a stranger later bought more raffle tickets from that stranger, whether or not they liked him.

A related tactic is rejection-then-retreat, also called the door-in-the-face technique. A Boy Scout once asked Cialdini to buy circus tickets at five dollars each. When he refused, the boy asked him to buy a chocolate bar at one dollar instead. Cialdini bought two, though he does not like chocolate bars. The retreat from a large request to a smaller one feels like a concession, and concessions call for a concession in return. The smaller request also looks modest by contrast.

How to say no: you do not have to refuse every gift. Accept favors in good faith. But if a "gift" turns out to be a sales tactic, redefine it in your mind as a trick. The rule says favors must be repaid with favors, not that tricks must be repaid at all.

Commitment and consistency

People want to be, and to appear, consistent with what they have already said and done. Once we make a choice or take a stand, we feel pressure to behave in line with it. Researchers found that bettors at a racetrack became more confident in their horse right after placing a bet.

Commitment works best when it is active, public, effortful and freely chosen. Cialdini describes how Chinese captors in the Korean War got American prisoners to write small, mild statements against the United States, then build on them. In the foot-in-the-door study by Freedman and Fraser, homeowners who first agreed to display a small "Be a safe driver" sign were much more willing later to accept a large, ugly "Drive Carefully" billboard on their lawn.

Salespeople use lowballing. A car dealer offers a great price. Once the buyer commits, the dealer "discovers" a mistake and raises the price. Many buyers stay with the deal because they have already built new reasons for wanting the car. Toy companies, Cialdini says, promote a toy before Christmas, then undersupply it, so parents who promised it to their children buy something else and then return for the promised toy after the holidays.

How to say no: listen to your stomach signs, the tight feeling that you are being pushed into something you do not want. For harder cases, ask a heart of hearts question: "Knowing what I now know, if I could go back, would I make the same choice?"

Social proof

We decide what is correct by looking at what other people do, especially when we feel uncertain and when the others seem similar to us. This is social proof. Canned laughter on television works, even though viewers know it is fake.

Social proof can freeze a crowd. When everyone looks to everyone else for clues, and no one acts, each person concludes that nothing is wrong. This is pluralistic ignorance. Cialdini discusses the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in New York, then widely reported as having 38 witnesses who did nothing, and the bystander research of John Darley and Bibb Latané. Their studies found that people are less likely to help when others are present.

The fix, if you need help in public, is to remove the uncertainty. Pick one person, look at them, and give a specific instruction: "You, in the blue jacket, call an ambulance."

Cialdini also covers darker effects. The sociologist David Phillips found that suicides rise after a widely publicized suicide story, a pattern he named the Werther effect. Cialdini also explains the mass deaths at Jonestown in part through social proof among isolated, uncertain followers.

How to say no: watch for counterfeit social proof, such as staged testimonials or fake reviews. Remember that the crowd can be wrong, and do not let it be the only basis for a decision.

Liking and authority

We prefer to say yes to people we know and like. Tupperware parties work because the request comes from a friend, not a stranger. Cialdini also describes Joe Girard, who was listed as the world's best car salesman and sent each customer a card every month saying he liked them.

Factors that increase liking include:

• Physical attractiveness, which creates a halo effect.
• Similarity in opinions, background, dress or style.
• Compliments, even ones we know are not sincere.
• Contact and cooperation. In Muzafer Sherif's summer camp studies, rival groups of boys grew hostile through competition and became friendly only when they had to cooperate on shared goals.
• Conditioning and association. People link a messenger with the message, which is why weather forecasters receive hate mail for bad weather and why brands pair products with celebrities.

How to say no: do not try to resist every factor. Instead, notice when you like a salesperson more than you would expect in a short time. Then separate the person from the deal and judge the deal alone.

We also tend to obey people who appear to have authority. Cialdini centers this chapter on Stanley Milgram's obedience studies, in which many ordinary volunteers delivered what they believed were dangerous electric shocks to a stranger because a researcher in a lab coat told them to continue.

The pull of authority shows up in medicine too. Cialdini describes nurses who carried out obviously wrong orders because a doctor gave them, such as the case of ear drops for a "R ear" given rectally.

People respond to symbols of authority, not just authority itself. The three main symbols are titles, clothes (uniforms and business suits) and trappings (such as an expensive car). Studies found that people obeyed a stranger in a guard's uniform more readily than one in street clothes.

How to say no: ask two questions. Is this person truly an expert in this subject? And how truthful can I expect them to be here? Watch for a small admission against interest, a common trick for building trust before a bigger claim.

Scarcity

Opportunities seem more valuable when they are less available. Sales tactics such as "limited number" and "deadline" offers use this.

Part of the power comes from psychological reactance. When we lose a freedom, we want it more. Two-year-olds show this, and so do teenagers whose parents forbid a romance (Cialdini calls it the Romeo and Juliet effect). Banned books become more desirable.

In a study by Stephen Worchel, people rated cookies from a jar of two as more desirable than identical cookies from a jar of ten. Cookies were rated highest when the jar had just dropped from ten to two. New scarcity is more powerful than constant scarcity. Competition for a scarce item makes the effect stronger still.

How to say no: treat the rising rush of excitement as a warning sign to calm down. Then ask why you want the item. If you want to use it, remember that a scarce cookie tastes no better than a common one.

What the critics say

Some of the book's examples have not held up. Later reporting found that the Kitty Genovese story was exaggerated: there were not 38 passive witnesses, and some people did call for help. The research on bystanders still stands, but this case is a weak illustration. Other readers note that the book works as a manual for manipulators as well as a defense against them.

Who should read it

Read it if you work in sales, marketing, fundraising or management, or if you want to recognize when someone is pushing your buttons. The defense sections are as useful as the tactics.