#37: Influence with Robert Cialdini

05/10/21 • 58 min

Dr. Robert Cialdini is an internationally recognized expert on the science of influence. His book Influence is one of the most influential business and psychology books of all time, selling over five-million copies worldwide. As a social psychologist, Cialdini has conducted foundational research on compliance, social norms, and helping behavior. But he is perhaps best known for boiling influence down to several key principles.

He just released an updated and expanded edition of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and it’s well worth checking out! I was excited to talk with him about the new book, how he started studying influence, what made him write a book for the public at a time when academics stayed within their university walls, and how we can be effective communicators of social science findings.

Things we mention in this episode:

“Basking in reflected glory” (Cialdini et al., 1976)
The “full cycle” approach to social psychology (Cialdini, 1980; Mortensen & Cialdini, 2010)
Observing littering in a natural environment to study psychological questions (Cialdini & Baumann, 1981)
Belonging to a group feels personal when your personal identity and group identity are fused (Swann & Buhrmester, 2015)
People who are highly identified with a political party are more willing to hide evidence of tax fraud by a politician from their party (Ashokkumar, Galaif, & Swann, 2019)

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Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."

For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/influence-with-robert-cialdini/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.

For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.

Things we mention in this episode:

“Basking in reflected glory” (Cialdini et al., 1976)
The “full cycle” approach to social psychology (Cialdini, 1980; Mortensen & Cialdini, 2010)
Observing littering in a natural environment to study psychological questions (Cialdini & Baumann, 1981)
Belonging to a group feels personal when your personal identity and group identity are fused (Swann & Buhrmester, 2015)
People who are highly identified with a political party are more willing to hide evidence of tax fraud by a politician from their party (Ashokkumar, Galaif, & Swann, 2019)

---------------
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."

Previous Episode

#36: Negotiation with Kwame Christian

Kwame Christian is an attorney and negotiation expert. He's the director of the American Negotiation Institute where he and his team offer training and consultation for a variety of negotiation needs. He serves as a professor for Otterbein University's MBA program and Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.
In his podcast, Negotiate Anything, Kwame talks to experts in negotiation and persuasion to bring insights to a wide audience. In our conversation, he shares that the podcast has been downloaded over 3 million times!
He is also the author of the book Finding Confidence in Conflict: How to Negotiate Anything and Live Your Best Life. In it, he shares how to overcome obstacles that get in the way of effective conversations. For a glimpse, check out his TEDx Dayton talk, "Finding Confidence in Conflict."You can find the negotiation guides Kwame mentions in this episode at the ANI website: https://americannegotiationinstitute.com/negotiation-guides/
In our conversation, Kwame helps define what negotiation is, the reason why people struggle with it, and how we can use practice and psychology to get better at it.
---------------
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."

For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/negotiation-with-kwame-christian/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.

Next Episode

#38: American Islamophobia with Nazita Lajevardi

Nazita Lajevardi studies public opinion relating to Muslim Americans. She’s a political scientist and attorney at Michigan State University. In 2020, she published Outsiders at Home: The Politics of American Islamophobia. The book is an extension of her research on public opinion about Muslims in the United States, discrimination faced by Muslim Americans in politics, and the experience of facing these biases. In our conversation, we talk about all these questions and what makes Muslim American identity so tricky to pin down.
Note. The brief clip at the top of the show is from Episode 4 ("Strawberries") of the Hulu show Ramy and is presented for purposes of commentary and education.
---------------
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."

For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/american-islamophobia-with-nazita-lajevardi/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.

Opinion Science - #37: Influence with Robert Cialdini

Transcript

Andy Luttrell:

I’m pretty sure I was in high school when I first discovered this book, Influence—The Psychology of Persuasion. I got it at the library. It promised to reveal powerful psychological strategies to influence other people. As a young kid looking for control in the world, it was an alluring prospect. But as I read it, I saw that these weren’t like secret mystical spells or anything...they were the results of basic scientific experiments on how people thi