Just finished reading Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini. This has got to be one of the most convincing books I have read in a long time. I read it as part of an internal study group on Managerial Psychology and I’m glad I did. Though it really is a text book, it hardly reads like one. There are so many cases and anecdotes all throughout the book that it can easily qualify as an easy to read storybook.

All through the book Cialdini talks about shortcuts, our automatic responses to situations such as buying unwanted things at the fear of scarcity, committing to previous decisions just to be consistent etc. There are so many every-day examples in the book that it gives you a constant feeling of déjà-vu as you read the book. At the end of each chapter he also talks about defenses against many such shortcuts. Fortunately these sections are smaller and the author prevents it  being just another self-help book.

Cialidini concludes by referring to the informational deluge that we are facing and noting that such shortcuts can come in very handy to make quick decisions when we are inundated with too much information. The only thing we need to be aware of is that the people are not exploiting the shortcut responses and are not fabricating the information to invoke the shortcuts.

I think the next book I am going to read will be Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. That book also touches upon the subject of quick decisions and should be a good read after Influence.