The social psychologist Robert Cialdini is a pioneer in the science of persuasion. His 1984 book Influence is a classic, and he has just published an expanded and revised edition. In this episode of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, he gives a master class in the seven psychological levers that bewitch our rational minds and lead us to buy, behave, or believe without a second thought.
We like to think that we make up our own minds, that we make our own choices about how we spend our time and money, what we watch and wear, how we think about the issues of the day.
But the truth is we are influenced into these choices in ways large and small and often invisible.
Some of this influence may be harmless, even fun, and some of it isn't harmless at all.
That's right.
You make a really provocative but resonant argument that a lot of behaviors are copycat behaviors, including workplace or school shootings, terrorist attacks, product tampering.
What should media outlets do about those events?
You may say their coverage is dangerous.
They say it's their duty to to cover it intensely.
Why are you more right than they are?
Because of that last word, intensely they give us the news.
They are invaluable for that.
The problem is when they sensationalize it for ratings.
That bothers me because the actions described are contagious.
We're seeing it right now with shootings, just a cluster of them, one after another after another, because people are learning from the news what other disturbed people do to resolve their issues.
Our guest today is among the world's experts on the power of influence.
My name is Robert Cialdini.
I'm a behavioral scientist with a specialty in persuasion science.
Cialdini spent decades as a professor at Arizona State University, where he now enjoys an emeritus standing.
I have become just as busy as I ever was, my wife says.
How do you know that Cialdini has retired.