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Cialdini's continuing influence: The next 40 years of persuasion

The 'Godfather of Influence' Robert Cialdini celebrates 40 years of his bestselling book Influence at ASU.

Molly Loonam

2024-10-17

When Robert Cialdini began his career as an assistant professor at ASU in 1971, he took an unconventional approach to research. While studying the power of persuasion using student volunteers in a lab, Cialdini hypothesized that influence practitioners — salespeople, marketers, recruiters, fundraisers, and other professionals whose job it was to get customers to say "yes" — were the most powerful players in the influence and persuasion field and could only be observed outside of academia.

"These people had to be using these strategies to stay in business, so they must know what works best in situations where they need to persuade others," said Cialdini, professor emeritus of psychology and marketing and president of the Cialdini Institute, which educates the public on ethical persuasion, during the 40th-anniversary celebration of his best-selling book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

While Cialdini knew influence professionals wouldn't volunteer their secrets to persuasion in the workplace, there was one place they'd offer it freely: their training programs.

Cialdini enrolled in hundreds of training programs over the next several years. The skills of persuasion had already been categorized into six key principles — reciprocity, social proof, consistency, liking, scarcity, and authority — and Cialdini added the seventh principle, unity, based on his research. These principles became the foundation for Influence and Cialdini's 2016 book Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade. The books have sold more than seven million copies in 49 languages.

Cialdini, who has written over 240 scientific peer-reviewed articles and is globally recognized as the "Godfather of Influence" for his contributions to his field, was inspired to write Influence to bring social behavioral research to the public.

"We should be writing for the larger community, not just articles for academics or a group of people that share all our same interests," said Cialdini. The 40th-anniversary event featured two discussions with Cialdini and presentations from several Cialdini Institute colleagues and affiliates.

"Behavioral science is the universal equalizer: Nothing is more important than understanding how the human mind makes decisions," said Duane "DJ" Sprague, chief marketing officer at Shopper Approved. "The influence of Dr. Cialdini's work is truly remarkable."

Lessons in persuasion
The celebration began with a fireside chat. Cialdini discussed his initial interest in influence and reminisced on his early professional years studying under the esteemed social psychologist Stanley Schachter at Columbia University. Cialdini credits ASU's commitment to providing assistant professors with resources, space, and research freedom for drawing him to the university.

"The more freedom I've had to design and construct the studies I think are important, the better the research has been," said Cialdini. "I always thrived under those circumstances."

Following Cialdini's fireside chat, Gregory Neidert, president of WOWI Career Assessment, presented strategies to determine how and when to implement Cialdini's seven principles of persuasion to create impact using the Core Motives Model of Social Influence. He emphasized that not all principles are equally effective in every situation and sorted the principles into three categories depending on someone’s goal:

1. Relationship building: Reciprocity, liking, and unity
2. Reducing uncertainty: Authority and social proof
3. Motivating action: Consistency and scarcity

"We aren’t saying you can’t be successful without using these principles, but without them, you won't be as effective as you could be," said Neidert.

Building on Neidert’s insights, Dr. Christopher Phelps, U.S. CEO of the Cialdini Institute and board-certified general dentist, highlighted ways to leverage the seven principles to solve universal business challenges, including encouraging employee self-leadership, building clientele trust, and cultivating brand loyalty.

Phelps described creating written commitments to new protocols to aid in marketing, communication, and team leadership at his practice and publicly announcing the commitments to employees and clientele. He also committed to improving employee mindsets and company culture by involving employees in business decisions and goal-setting.

As a result, Phelps grew his practice from a single dental office to four office locations with over 100 employees.

"Persuasion is not coercion, a situation where you don’t have a choice or control. Persuasion is about changing a person’s perspective and behaviors," said Phelps. "Persuasion is about choice and guiding people down a path."

Following Phelps' emphasis on ethical persuasion, Scott Brandley, co-founder and CEO of Shopper Approved and Trust Guard, discussed using the principles of influence to increase online sales.

His strategies include leveraging social proof and authority by displaying seller reviews, product reviews, and video reviews on a company website; displaying reviews on third-party review platforms like Google and Facebook; investing in paid advertising; and including secure translation fields to increase customer trust.

Expanding on the theme of leveraging persuasion for business growth, Dil Sidhu, head of the University of London's Birkbeck Business School, presented strategies that boost customer motivation and increase website conversions through written prompts. Sidhu determined that simple, straightforward prompts, leveraging triggers — like subject lines, ads, or buttons — and leveraging scarcity and social proof by identifying the number of people who had purchased a product or service increased consumerism.

Building on the versatility of these principles, Sprague discussed how he implemented Cialdini's seven principles of persuasion into his entrepreneurial ventures throughout his career and explained how anyone across any industry can apply these principles.

"Regardless of your business, audience, or product, we are all in the human-to-human business," said Sprague.

During his second presentation, Cialdini focused on the past, present, and future of the systematic study of persuasion. He emphasized that to successfully influence people using the principles of persuasion, we must base the message on science, have practical applications based on knowledge, and be ethical.

"You have to have genuine communication that honestly represents the state of affairs," Cialdini said.

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prominent in marketing, communications, and sales, Cialdini ended his presentation by discussing harnessing the power of AI to optimize persuasive efforts while detecting unethical, dishonest approaches to persuasion.

"That is the way to optimize the future," said Cialdini.

As the event drew to a close, Vice Dean, President's Professor, and PetSmart Chair in Services Leadership Amy Ostrom presented Cialdini with a framed artwork featuring his book covers to celebrate Influence's 40th anniversary.

As persuasion continues to play a vital role in today’s fast-paced and digitally-driven world, Cialdini’s groundbreaking work reminds us that influence, when applied ethically, not only drives success but builds lasting trust. His principles offer a blueprint for anyone looking to shape behavior responsibly and make a positive impact.

The legacy of Influence continues to guide the future of persuasion, ensuring that ethical influence remains a powerful tool across industries.

Learn more about the Cialdini Institute and its work educating leaders on ethical persuasion.

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