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Summary Influence - Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini - 5th edtion English
Complete and exhaustive summary in English of the standard work of Robert Cialdini "Influence".
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Influence: Science and PracticeRobert Cialdini
5th edition
9780205610020
English Summary of the bestseller and Standard work of Robert Cialdini: Influence: Science
and Practice.
Written in: November 2020
Contains all Chapters:
1.Weapons of Influence.
2.Reciprocation: The Old Give and Take … and Take.
3.Commitment and Consistency: Hobgoblins of the Mind.
4.Social Proof: Truths Are Us.
5.Liking: The Friendly Thief.
6.Authority: Directed Deference.
7.Scarcity: The Rule of the Few.
8.Instant Influence: Primitive Consent for an Automatic Age.
,1.Weapons of Influence.
The author starts with an example of how social aspects can influence our decisions: he tells a
story about a friend who owns a jewelry store, desperately trying to sell some left-over
turquoise pieces that no buyer was interested in so far. When ultimately deciding to put a sign
in front of the display case, saying "price X 1/2", the shopkeeper's assistant accidentally put up
a sign that read "price X 2". Within a few days, the previously disregarded pieces had been
sold! Instead of using difficult calculations of how much the jewelry could actually be worth,
buyers relied on the common stereotype of "good= expensive". This is a standard strategy and
this shortcut is most often used when we are uncertain of the quality of an item.
Fixed-action patterns and how do they influence our behaviors
Scientists in the field of ethology, which is the observation of animals in their natural
environment, have found several of those blindly automatic behavioral patterns across
different species. These so called fixed-action patterns are not simply restricted to stand-alone
behaviors but can also involve complex patterns like mating rituals. These sequences are
performed in the same manner and in the same order every time they occur. The author uses
a more colorful expression: "click, whirr" behaviors, referring to the sound of a tape recorder.
With a click, a previously recorded tape is put into the system, and with a whirr, the tape starts
rolling. However, there seems to be a disadvantage to the way the tape is activated. During
mating season for example, when some male birds engage in fights over territory and partners,
it is not an enemy in general that leads to the expression of aggressive behaviors but rather
merely some features, so called trigger features (such as color of feathers). Not only
aggressive behavior can be triggered and mislead this way. Take the example of mother
turkeys who respond exclusively to the cheeping sound their chicks make when providing care
and food. When a stuffed predator (e.g. a polecat) is equipped with a tape recorder that emits
the same cheeping sounds, the turkey will act as if it is one of its offspring, until the tape is
turned off: instantly, the behavior will switch from caring to aggressive attacks.
Two things need to be mentioned: first of all, those fixed-action patterns are appropriate most
of the time. Second of all, they are not restricted to the animal kingdom; humans rely on them
as well.
It seems clear to almost everyone, that we are more likely to do somebody a favor if a reason
is provided. This long established principle in social psychology led to a series of interesting
studies. One of those was conducted by Ellen Langer and her colleagues (Langer, Blank, &
Chanowitz, 1978). In a copy-shop, they asked people if they would be willing to let them cut in
line for the copy machine. Two conditions were tested, one that provided a reason ("because
I'm in a rush"), one that did not. The results were clear: 94% (reason) vs. 60% (no reason).
But the automaticity of the responses went even further. The researchers suggested that it was
merely the word because that triggered the compliance to let the person skip ahead in line.
They introduced a third condition, containing the question and no true reason ("Can I cut in
line because I need to make some copies"). Again, 93% complied with the request.
, Those patterns, may it be the "good= expensive" or the "no-favor without reason" shortcut,
have been formed throughout our whole life. As previously mentioned, they are reliable in
most instances and since they save energy, time, and (mental) capacities, they are simply
essential in a complex environment.
Other mental shortcuts
Some other mental shortcuts have been explained in the last years. They are called
judgmental heuristics and will be the content of further chapters. They all share the quality of
automatic responding, meaning that they involve mechanical responses. More distinguished
reactions that result from a thorough analysis of information are called controlled responding.
Research leads to the assumption that we are more likely to employ controlled responding
when we desire and are able to analyze something in a careful manner. One study that
supports this finding was conducted by Petty, Cacioppo, & Goldman (1981). They exposed
students at a university to a speech that asked about a new rule that would affect only some of
them (new requirements for graduation beginning next year). Those who did not have to fear
any personal consequences because they would graduate before the rule would come into
effect were simply persuaded by the expertise of the speaker, who was introduced as an
educational expert. The other group however, did not pay any attention to the speaker's
expertise but rather exclusively considered the quality of his arguments.
What are some of the drawbacks related to mental shortcuts?
Although all of the previously mentioned shortcuts as well as those that will follow in the
upcoming chapters serve the important function of managing everyday life, they are
sometimes flawed and occasionally result in deadly mistakes. Perhaps the most common
instance in which an over-reliance on an expert's knowledge can lead to drastic consequences
is known as Captainitis. The term describes the finding that in airplane crashes caused by
obvious errors made by the captain, those mistakes were not corrected by the other members
of the crew. Certainly, they used the mental shortcut of "the expert is always right".
Apart from this less common drawback, fixed-action patterns can also be exploited by
professionals who know how to use them for their advantages.
Ethology again serves as a good illustrator of this vulnerability. There is a special class of
organisms called mimics who evoke desired behaviors in other animals by imitating some of
their specific trigger features. An example is the female firefly Photuris which mimics a certain
blinking code of another family of fireflies, called Photinus. The Photinus male mistakenly
interprets the blinking as one of his female counterparts and prepares to mate, only to
discover too late that it was a hungry Photuris that emitted the flashes.
This mimicry behavior can be observed even to such primitive structures as viruses and
pathogens that imitate features of genuine cells or hormones to enter the immune system of a
host.
There is one aspect of true experts in the profession of exploiting our vulnerability to mental
shortcuts: they most often do so without much effort. The author compares this to the
Japanese martial art of jujitsu, in which the master would use the power of principles like
gravity, leverage etc., power that is already present in the situation. Translating this to the
world of social influence, using our own flaws and (occasionally) misleading shortcuts, the
professional not only needs to exert less force, he or she can also easily hide the appearance of
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