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Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
Small changes can make a big difference in your powers of persuasion.
What one word can you start using today to increase your persuasiveness by more than fifty percent?
Which item of stationery can dramatically increase people's responses to your requests?
How can you win over your rivals by inconveniencing them?
Why does knowing that so many dentists are named Dennis improve your persuasive prowess?
Every day we face the challenge of persuading others to do what we want. But what makes people say yes to our requests? Persuasion is not only an art, it is also a science, and researchers who study it have uncovered a series of hidden rules for moving people in your direction. Based on more than sixty years of research into the psychology of persuasion, Yes! reveals fifty simple but remarkably effective strategies that will make you much more persuasive at work and in your personal life, too.
Cowritten by the world's most quoted expert on influence, Professor Robert Cialdini, Yes! presents dozens of surprising discoveries from the science of persuasion in short, enjoyable, and insightful chapters that you can apply immediately to become a more effective persuader. Why did a sign pointing out the problem of vandalism in the Petrified Forest National Park actually increase the theft of pieces of petrified wood? Why did sales of jam multiply tenfold when consumers were offered many fewer flavors? Why did people prefer a Mercedes immediately after giving reasons why they prefer a BMW? What simple message on cards left in hotel rooms greatly increased the number of people who behaved in environmentally friendly ways?
Often counterintuitive, the findings presented in Yes! will steer you away from common pitfalls while empowering you with little-known but proven wisdom.
Whether you are in advertising, marketing, management, or sales, or just curious about how to be more influential in everyday life, Yes! shows how making small, scientifically proven changes to your approach can have a dramatic effect on your persuasive powers.
What one word can you start using today to increase your persuasiveness by more than fifty percent?
Which item of stationery can dramatically increase people's responses to your requests?
How can you win over your rivals by inconveniencing them?
Why does knowing that so many dentists are named Dennis improve your persuasive prowess?
Every day we face the challenge of persuading others to do what we want. But what makes people say yes to our requests? Persuasion is not only an art, it is also a science, and researchers who study it have uncovered a series of hidden rules for moving people in your direction. Based on more than sixty years of research into the psychology of persuasion, Yes! reveals fifty simple but remarkably effective strategies that will make you much more persuasive at work and in your personal life, too.
Cowritten by the world's most quoted expert on influence, Professor Robert Cialdini, Yes! presents dozens of surprising discoveries from the science of persuasion in short, enjoyable, and insightful chapters that you can apply immediately to become a more effective persuader. Why did a sign pointing out the problem of vandalism in the Petrified Forest National Park actually increase the theft of pieces of petrified wood? Why did sales of jam multiply tenfold when consumers were offered many fewer flavors? Why did people prefer a Mercedes immediately after giving reasons why they prefer a BMW? What simple message on cards left in hotel rooms greatly increased the number of people who behaved in environmentally friendly ways?
Often counterintuitive, the findings presented in Yes! will steer you away from common pitfalls while empowering you with little-known but proven wisdom.
Whether you are in advertising, marketing, management, or sales, or just curious about how to be more influential in everyday life, Yes! shows how making small, scientifically proven changes to your approach can have a dramatic effect on your persuasive powers.
258 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
679 people are currently reading
17336 people want to read
About the author
Noah J. Goldstein
11 books47 followersNoah Goldstein is a protege of Cialdini's. He is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He earned a Ph.D. in psychology under Robert Cialdini at Arizona State University in 2007, and he has published research with Cialdini in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 397 reviews
January 27, 2013
A good friend recommended this book one night over dinner and raised an interesting premise as to why he chose to read the subject matter: "I didn't read it to learn how to persuade people. I read it to learn how people were trying to persuade me." That concept resonated with me. Almost immediately, I purchased Yes! and added it to my Kindle. In effect, my friend's persuasive reasoning as to why I should read this book taught/reminded me the many number of ways that people are attempting to persuade me. Whether it is a lucrative advertising campaign, a co-worker, my boss, my friends, family or my wife, the number of different methods of persuasion are endless and everywhere. (Although, in my wife's case, a simple stern look often works!).
July 25, 2009
The main author of this book is, I assume, Robert Cialdini, though it has two other co-authors. Cialdini is considered the godfather of the study of persuasion, or as he calls it, "influence". This book is a summary of his research in the field, nicely captured in only 232 pages.
"Yes" is mainly targeted at the business reader, but I suspect that just about anyone who ever has to use persuasion or exert influence would find it useful.
His six principles of effective persuasion and influence are:
1) Reciprocation: You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Lobbyists understand this very well.
2) Appeals to authority: We tend to trust the opinions of reputed experts. Personally, I always check the flattering one-liner book reviews that are almost always printed on the back cover or the first page of any book I'm considering buying. The New York Times or Washington Post loved it? There's a pretty good chance I'll buy it.
3) Scarcity: Exemplified in the phrase "get it while it lasts -- supplies are going fast!"
4) Values and consistency: Most of us like to be consistent with our proclaimed values -- which is why "family values" appeals in US politics are so effective, however contrived they may seem. In fact, these often trump economic self-interest, which helps to explain why so many low-income people vote Republican.
5) Liking: We tend to believe and do business with people we like.
6) Social proof: 65% of guests in this hotel re-use their towels instead of having them changed every day? Guess I'd better do the same.
Stated this way, the principles seem pretty self-evident. The real power of the book lies in citing lots and lots of example of how to put them into practice. And his examples are well-supported with references to the scientific literature in the field.
All in all, this is a great read.
"Yes" is mainly targeted at the business reader, but I suspect that just about anyone who ever has to use persuasion or exert influence would find it useful.
His six principles of effective persuasion and influence are:
1) Reciprocation: You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Lobbyists understand this very well.
2) Appeals to authority: We tend to trust the opinions of reputed experts. Personally, I always check the flattering one-liner book reviews that are almost always printed on the back cover or the first page of any book I'm considering buying. The New York Times or Washington Post loved it? There's a pretty good chance I'll buy it.
3) Scarcity: Exemplified in the phrase "get it while it lasts -- supplies are going fast!"
4) Values and consistency: Most of us like to be consistent with our proclaimed values -- which is why "family values" appeals in US politics are so effective, however contrived they may seem. In fact, these often trump economic self-interest, which helps to explain why so many low-income people vote Republican.
5) Liking: We tend to believe and do business with people we like.
6) Social proof: 65% of guests in this hotel re-use their towels instead of having them changed every day? Guess I'd better do the same.
Stated this way, the principles seem pretty self-evident. The real power of the book lies in citing lots and lots of example of how to put them into practice. And his examples are well-supported with references to the scientific literature in the field.
All in all, this is a great read.
September 17, 2012
If you want to learn about persuasion, then Robert Cialdini is your man. However, I wasn't quite as enamored with Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive as I was when I first read Cialdini's ground-breaking Influence many years ago.
Yes!, which is co-authored by Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin (not the actor), is a collection of fifty persuasion techniques. Each technique is based on at least one psychology study, and all of the studies are listed in a chapter-by-chapter basis in the book’s Notes section. This section alone makes the book a good resource for those who want to delve further into persuasion research.
However, because the book never really digs into the psychology research itself, I wouldn't consider Yes! to be a scientific book. I consider it to be a business book before anything else, if for no other reason than each of the 50 entries provides an example of how to apply persuasion techniques to the business setting. This, I think, was actually the book's strength. Where Yes! fell short in scientific inquiry, it made up for in business insight.
With that said, I didn’t learn anything new from this book. I found some of the business examples insightful not because the material was new, but because the material was presented in a new light. (In other words, I was already aware of these persuasion techniques; I just didn’t think of them all in terms of a business setting before.) I’m well-read in social psychology so I might not be the best yardstick, but I have a hunch that most with a fair amount of knowledge in this field would feel the same way.
Even though I was personally disappointed with this book, I would still recommend it to a person who was interested in learning about persuasion. With a couple of caveats.
First, I would assume this person knows nothing or very little about this topic. And secondly, I would make sure this person knew not to expect something along the lines of Daniel Pink or Jonah Lehrer, which is to say this person shouldn’t expect a pop psychology book with substance. Yes! is a good starting off point, but nothing more.
Yes!, which is co-authored by Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin (not the actor), is a collection of fifty persuasion techniques. Each technique is based on at least one psychology study, and all of the studies are listed in a chapter-by-chapter basis in the book’s Notes section. This section alone makes the book a good resource for those who want to delve further into persuasion research.
However, because the book never really digs into the psychology research itself, I wouldn't consider Yes! to be a scientific book. I consider it to be a business book before anything else, if for no other reason than each of the 50 entries provides an example of how to apply persuasion techniques to the business setting. This, I think, was actually the book's strength. Where Yes! fell short in scientific inquiry, it made up for in business insight.
With that said, I didn’t learn anything new from this book. I found some of the business examples insightful not because the material was new, but because the material was presented in a new light. (In other words, I was already aware of these persuasion techniques; I just didn’t think of them all in terms of a business setting before.) I’m well-read in social psychology so I might not be the best yardstick, but I have a hunch that most with a fair amount of knowledge in this field would feel the same way.
Even though I was personally disappointed with this book, I would still recommend it to a person who was interested in learning about persuasion. With a couple of caveats.
First, I would assume this person knows nothing or very little about this topic. And secondly, I would make sure this person knew not to expect something along the lines of Daniel Pink or Jonah Lehrer, which is to say this person shouldn’t expect a pop psychology book with substance. Yes! is a good starting off point, but nothing more.
August 31, 2024
وقتی این کتاب تموم شد، شال و کلاه کردم و رفتم خواستگاری ولی متأسفانه نتونستم بله بگیرم :(
کتاب خیلی نکات جالبی داشت، ولی تغییری در زندگیم ایجاد نکرد. شاید یک بار خوندنش کافی نیست، چون تقریبا چیزی ازش یادم نموند. بیشتر هم برای مذاکرات و تجارت توصیه داشت.
+ به یاد علیرضا 🤍
کتاب خیلی نکات جالبی داشت، ولی تغییری در زندگیم ایجاد نکرد. شاید یک بار خوندنش کافی نیست، چون تقریبا چیزی ازش یادم نموند. بیشتر هم برای مذاکرات و تجارت توصیه داشت.
+ به یاد علیرضا 🤍
March 21, 2021
У меня лёгкая идиосинкразия к бизнес литературе и прочему коучинг контенту: каждый раз страшно бесит форма, но завлекает содержание. На обложке написано “50 доказанных способов быть убедительным” и я сразу же багровею от подачи: доказанных кем? почему именно 50? что за гнусный оранжевый? зачем вас в авторах, cyka, трое? Но при этом страшно интересно что там внутри. Так вот, внутри ровно то же самое, что и в “Психологии влияния”: техники, описания экспериментов и ссылки на исследования, но практически без воды в тексте. Такое себе лаконичное дополнение к первой книге.
А ещё в сороковой главе авторы посоветовали мне никогда не использовать слова типа “идиосинкразия” или “лаконичный”. Мол, поможет получать больше лайков. В следующий раз обязательно так и поступлю.
А ещё в сороковой главе авторы посоветовали мне никогда не использовать слова типа “идиосинкразия” или “лаконичный”. Мол, поможет получать больше лайков. В следующий раз обязательно так и поступлю.
March 24, 2009
From the time I discovered How to Win Friends and Influence People, I've been interested in learning about the power of persuasion. How to ethically make someone agree with you. Whether or not any of the techniques are put into place, this is an interesting book for anyone interested in psychology. It discusses things like why some PSAs have the opposite results than the ones intended -- more litterers, more energy use, more natural resources stolen -- why post-it notes really get people's attention and cooperation, and why restaurants should ditch their baskets of mints if they want bigger tips for their servers. Fun read and I tortured my husband by sharing many tidbits!
January 8, 2015
I find it a bit uncomfortable how I have this book 2 stars, despite it serving its purpose and explaining the methodology in a fairly good way. However, I found myself getting bored halfway through and I couldn't wait to finish and rid of it. The writing style was dull and it affected my overall reading experience sadly.
February 9, 2022
I hope you enjoy the review and pick up the book somewhere. Enjoy the picture of my daughter too!
Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
By: Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini
BookMattic's Rating:
5/5 Stars
Goodreads' Rating:
3.97/5 Stars
'Yes!' Is a very persuasive book that is all about persuading people! If you want to learn more about how people are persuaded not just directly but also indirectly and some simple tips that you can apply for almost anything in any situation then 'Yes!' Is a perfect read for you.
The chapters in 'Yes!' are clearly laid out giving you 50 scientifically proven ways to be persuasive just as it promises in the sub-title of the book. The 50 chapters are on average 3 or 4 pages long and are concise in giving you the persuasion tip and how it could be possibly used in a few different situations.
I would say I found about half of the tips to be applicable in my daily life and the other half I could possibly learn from or use in future situations.
You may think from just looking at this title that this book is only for business marketers or managers, but I found it particularly helpful in situations such as talking to my students, or even trying to convince my wife to let me buy a home theater sound system that I have been wanting to buy for a long time.
And you may be worrying about having to memorize 50 different persuasion techniques. Well, I wouldn't worry about that because some of the techniques are somewhat repetitive, which isn't a bad thing since our brains are wired to remember things that we hear, read or see over and over.
The authors and researchers did a fantastic and thorough job of putting this together for anyone ranging from housewife or househusband to used car sells person all the way even to the president of the United States. You'll definitely learn that if you use the right tools when persuading someone that you can, unbeknownst to them, persuade them to do what you desire.
Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
By: Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini
BookMattic's Rating:
5/5 Stars
Goodreads' Rating:
3.97/5 Stars
'Yes!' Is a very persuasive book that is all about persuading people! If you want to learn more about how people are persuaded not just directly but also indirectly and some simple tips that you can apply for almost anything in any situation then 'Yes!' Is a perfect read for you.
The chapters in 'Yes!' are clearly laid out giving you 50 scientifically proven ways to be persuasive just as it promises in the sub-title of the book. The 50 chapters are on average 3 or 4 pages long and are concise in giving you the persuasion tip and how it could be possibly used in a few different situations.
I would say I found about half of the tips to be applicable in my daily life and the other half I could possibly learn from or use in future situations.
You may think from just looking at this title that this book is only for business marketers or managers, but I found it particularly helpful in situations such as talking to my students, or even trying to convince my wife to let me buy a home theater sound system that I have been wanting to buy for a long time.
And you may be worrying about having to memorize 50 different persuasion techniques. Well, I wouldn't worry about that because some of the techniques are somewhat repetitive, which isn't a bad thing since our brains are wired to remember things that we hear, read or see over and over.
The authors and researchers did a fantastic and thorough job of putting this together for anyone ranging from housewife or househusband to used car sells person all the way even to the president of the United States. You'll definitely learn that if you use the right tools when persuading someone that you can, unbeknownst to them, persuade them to do what you desire.
November 22, 2008
I love Cialdini's Influence book, but this one left me cold. It's written as 50 two page essays, rather like an anthology of blog posts. Consequently it doesn't dive deep into anything, just presents 50 case studies or psych studies showing an aspect of influence and suggests how they might be used in a modern business. I was frustrated by the lack of detail--all too often we heard about something awesome ("X made people buy more") but didn't learn how much more, how many people, or what might negate the effect. On the surface fascinating, but it fails to deliver the depth needed.
However, if you enjoy reading about cognitive biases and influence, and don't mind doing more reading for the depth, this is a good source of pointers for further research.
However, if you enjoy reading about cognitive biases and influence, and don't mind doing more reading for the depth, this is a good source of pointers for further research.
April 23, 2018
Collection of 50 short stories on how to get Yes ethically. Highly recommend for anyone to read. Some good strategies to try on, some good ones which you are tried on at some point of life, etc. will do longer review later this month.
February 13, 2017
Had some great ideas but wasn't as good as I expected. Is a good book to dip in and out of.
April 1, 2019
Ottimo libro che fornisce spunti per approfondire determinati meccanismi alla base della comunicazione, sia social che no, del marketing, della pubblicità, della persuasione in senso generale.
Assegno 4 stelle perché i 50 segreti meriterebbero una trattazione più approfondita; al contempo, mi rendo conto che, se gli autori avessero seguito questa strada, il libro avrebbe avuto duemila pagine in più. Per chi fosse interessato ad approfondirne alcuni, la sezione dei riferimenti bibliografici risulta molto interessante.
Assegno 4 stelle perché i 50 segreti meriterebbero una trattazione più approfondita; al contempo, mi rendo conto che, se gli autori avessero seguito questa strada, il libro avrebbe avuto duemila pagine in più. Per chi fosse interessato ad approfondirne alcuni, la sezione dei riferimenti bibliografici risulta molto interessante.
July 7, 2025
Read for a marketing class, did not enjoy and is very basic.
August 1, 2024
Poparta przykładami i "badaniami", ale po jakimś czasie nudna i dłużąca się, mimo tego, że była krótka. Może być przydatna dla przedsiębiorców - dla mnie nie bardzo.
March 22, 2012
I don't normally comment on books in progress, but this one has a terrible snake oil start to it. You might think that "Yes!" is the important word in the title, but the author makes it very clear that it is "scientifically." He makes a point of telling us, probably 50 times, that this is science. Science. SCIENCE! It's a shame with so much science on this topic, that everyone ignores it. No need to take his word on this, this is science! Et ceterea and at unfortunate length. When he finally broaches his first topic, social proof, the content does seem interesting, but I suspect this is one of those books I'll have to grit my teeth through to get what value it has instead of being a simple joy to read.
...
When I got back to it, the style was just more than I could stand. There is some useful information early in the book about social proof and avoiding a "magnetic middle" but it just felt like an infomercial to me and got progressively harder to listen to. Eventually I had to give up. If you can tolerate the style, there are probably some things to learn here. Perhaps it is better in paper.
...
When I got back to it, the style was just more than I could stand. There is some useful information early in the book about social proof and avoiding a "magnetic middle" but it just felt like an infomercial to me and got progressively harder to listen to. Eventually I had to give up. If you can tolerate the style, there are probably some things to learn here. Perhaps it is better in paper.
September 16, 2019
A worth reading book, it represents real-life examples of how persuasion works.
January 18, 2018
This was a fascinating book. What I liked most about it was the fact that each of the 50 items mentioned was backed up by science. The book is not just a collection of things that sound like they would probably work. For most of the 50 "secrets," the book gives a brief description of the experiment that was designed to test the secret's validity. The description of each secret was not overly long, and provided just enough information to satisfy my curiosity. Definitely worth a read for anyone who would like to understand how to be more persuasive.
March 4, 2015
الكتاب يعرض مجموعة من النصائح لتسويق منتجك أو فكرتك، قرأت ملخصه للرائع رؤوف شبايك. ضروري جداً كمنتج أن تدرس التسويق ولكن من المفيد كمستهلك أيضاً أن تكتشف خفايا عالم التسويق لتتعلم الأساليب التي تستخدمها الشركات في إقناعك لشراء منتجها.
September 6, 2014
Not bad, put i would recommend to read Influence: Pshycology of persuasion instead, as the core of the 2 books are almost identical
June 30, 2022
An enjoyable book, if you enjoy learning about why people do things, paired with stories then it's a good read.
September 12, 2011
بشكل بسيط ومختصر, 50 طريقة للإقناع أو للتسويق بشكل أكبر
رائع الكتاب لمن يهتم بافتتاح مشروع شخصي
رائع الكتاب لمن يهتم بافتتاح مشروع شخصي
May 9, 2020
You are inquisitive and love to read. You may like this book.
I really enjoyed this book. I definitely preferred the 50 short sections to the longer sections at the end. I also really enjoyed how businesses had taken the advice in the last section of the book.
The aspects concerning advertising were the most interesting to me.
I really enjoyed this book. I definitely preferred the 50 short sections to the longer sections at the end. I also really enjoyed how businesses had taken the advice in the last section of the book.
The aspects concerning advertising were the most interesting to me.
June 3, 2024
Szybko się czyta, ale rozdziały są bardzo podobne, przez co raczej nieciekawe. Było wiele słabych porad, trochę autopromocji i dziwne wnioski, ale w naukach społecznych ciężko oczekiwać ogólnych wniosków, które będą pasować do całej populacji. Mimo wszystko książka zawierała też ciekawe badania i porady dotyczące perswazji. Autorzy podkreślają żeby perswazji używać etycznie.
April 4, 2025
Mažutė knyga su aukso vertės patarimais apie įtikinimo meną. Labai patiko, kad kiekvienas principas pagrįstas moksliniais tyrimais ir faktais.
Buvo nepaprastai įdomu sužinoti apie žmonių elgseną ir psichologiją. Nustebino, kad Leonardas DaVinci buvo toks atidėliotojas, kad Monai Lizai nutapyti prireikė net 16 metų!
Buvo nepaprastai įdomu sužinoti apie žmonių elgseną ir psichologiją. Nustebino, kad Leonardas DaVinci buvo toks atidėliotojas, kad Monai Lizai nutapyti prireikė net 16 metų!
March 20, 2019
“We know that people’s ability to understand the factors that affect their behavior are surprisingly poor,” (11) writes Cialdini in the opening pages of a book appealing to those interested in psychology and marketing. According to Cialdini, “A central theme of this book is that small changes in the way that requests are made can often lead to some startlingly big results” (151). The cited examples of persuasion are derived from studies published in peer-reviewed journals, mainly in the discipline of psychology. While some of these studies may’ve been confirmed in multiple experiments, there’s no clear mention of sample sizes and replication. Therefore, the findings should not be taken as clear-cut facts, which is how Cialdini presents them. The hyped-up title of the book suggests reductive contents, and Cialdini fails qualify any of his statements, both of which are concerning to an informed reader. Nevertheless, there are many interesting concepts and studies discussed in this highly readable and often humorous book. Below are some nuggets contained in the text:
• Sales of the same product were boosted when the sentence “Operators are waiting please call now” was changed to “If operators are busy, please call again” (10).
• Social proof appeals (similar to the bandwagon effect) are surprisingly effective, as shown in a hotel experiment in which guests were not asked to reuse their towels but prompted to “Join countless others in helping to save the environment” (13).
• “[T]he more similar the person giving the testimonial is to the new target audience, the more persuasive the message becomes” (17).
• The social proof appeal can accidentally inspire bad behavior when many instances of rule breaking are cited, such as an Arizona National Park sign that actually encouraged visitors to steal: “Your heritage is being vandalized every day by theft losses of petrified wood of 14 tons a year, mostly a small piece at a time” (21). A better approach would be to reframe these statistics so visitors focus on the vast majority of rule-followers who steal no wood.
• Offering too many choices of products may result in consumers purchasing less (31).
• “To ensure that your offer is seen as the valuable proposition it actually is, the customer needs to be shown the true value of your offer. So, no longer should your message read, ‘Receive a free security program.’ Instead it becomes, ‘Receive a $250 security program at no cost to you’” (37).
• “According to decision researcher Itamar Simonson, when consumers consider a particular set of choices for a product, they tend to favor alternatives that are ‘compromise choices’—choices that fall between what they need, at a minimum, and what they could possibly spend, at a maximum” (39).
• “For the most part, research has demonstrated that fear-arousing communications usually stimulate the audience to take action to reduce the threat. However, this general rule has one important exception: When the fear-producing message describes danger but the audience is not told of clear, specific effective means of reducing the danger, they may deal with the fear by ‘blocking out’ the message or denying that it applies to them” (42).
• The “norm of reciprocity” is a universal phenomenon, in which people who receive feel obliged to give (47).
• “Social scientist Randy Garner . . . found that placing a personalized sticky note on [a] survey did more than simply persuade people to respond to the survey at higher rates: Those who filled out the survey with the handwritten sticky note returned it more promptly and gave more effortful, detailed, and attentive answers to the questions” (51-53).
• “The more personalized you make the request, the more likely you’ll get someone to agree to that request” (52).
• Behavioral scientist David Strohemetz conducted an experiment in which servers gave mints to customers with their checks: “This research clearly shows the value of giving gifts that are . . . unexpected, and personalized” (55).
• “[W]hat happens to the influence of those gifts and favors as time passes? . . . According to researcher Francis Flynn, the answer to the question depends on whether you are the favor-doer or the favor-receiver. / Flynn asserts that immediately after one person performs a favor for another, the recipient of the favor places more value on the favor than does the favor-doer. However, as time passes, the value of the favor decreases in the recipient’s eyes, whereas for the favor-doer, it actually increases” (60-61).
• People are more likely to agree to larger or inconvenient requests when they’ve already taken “one small step” in the direction of the request. “The evidence suggests that after agreeing to the [initial] request, the residents came to see themselves committed to [the] cause” (64-65).
• “The labeling technique involves assigning a trait, attitude, belief, or other label to a person and then making a request of that person consistent with that label” (69).
• “[A]fter most (if not all) . . . people have publically stated that they’ll perform the socially desirable behavior, they’ll be motivated to behave consistently with the commitment they just made” (73).
• “Why are commitments that are written (and therefore active) so much more successful at eliciting participation? People make judgments about themselves based on observations of their own behavior, and they infer more about themselves based on their actions than on their nonactions. In support of this explanation, Cioffi and Garner found that those who volunteered actively were more likely to attribute their decisions to their own personality traits, preferences, and ideals than were those who volunteered passively” (77).
• “Stephanie Brown . . . conducted a study showing that people’s preference for consistency becomes greatly strengthened as they get older. This is likely the case because inconsistency can be emotionally upsetting, and older people have greater motivation to avoid emotionally upsetting experiences” (80).
• Requesting a small favor from someone you don’t get along with can have positive consequences. If the person obliges, he/she may see you in a different light, as the positive act of a favor can cause an incongruity in that person’s negative perception of you. After all, if he/she helps you, you can’t be that bad (84-85).
• “[W]hen you want assistance from others, simply pointing out that even a small offering would be acceptable and worthwhile to you is likely to be an effective strategy” that will not necessarily result in smaller contributions (85).
• “[B]ehavioral scientist Patrick Laughlin and his colleagues have shown that the approaches and outcomes of groups who cooperate in seeking a solution are . . . better than the average member working alone” and are superior to those of the best problem-solver in the group (100).
• Disagreement within a group makes for more creative approaches to problem solving, but the person who disagrees must be genuinely invested in his/her point of view (and not just playing devil’s advocate)” 104.
• When training people, focusing on real-world situations, in which mistakes were made, is more effective than explaining ideal standards of behavior (108).
• “Two-sided” persuasion is most effective when small flaws are clearly connected to larger strengths (115).
• “Social scientist Fiona Lee and her colleagues suggest that organizations that attribute failures to internal causes will come out ahead not only in public perception, but also in terms of the profit line” (120).
• “A substantial amount of psychological research has shown that we’re most likely to relate to others with whom we share personal characteristics, such as values, beliefs, age, and sex” (124-125).
• “In fact, social psychologists Tanya Chartrand and John Bargh argue that matching the behavior of others creates feelings of liking and strengthens bonds between two people” (134).
• When trying to create better interactions and experiences “try to follow the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin: ‘Search others for their virtues.’ Many of us spend too much time finding faults in the people we deal with in our everyday lives. If, instead, we try to search their character for what we like about them, we’ll like them more; and, as a result, they’ll like us more” (139).
• The scarcity principle states that “People show a greater desire for an object or opportunity when they learn that it is unique, available in limited quantities, or obtainable for only a limited time” (141-142).
• People, by nature, are loss adverse and persuasion from this angle can work well (148).
• When making a request, the word “because” can have a positive effect on people’s willingness to comply—even when the reason that follows is neither logical nor important (151).
• “Additional research by [Daniel] Oppenheimer has shown that using overtly complex language . . . can produce the exact opposite of the intended effect: Because the audience has difficulty interpreting the language, the message is deemed less convincing and the author is perceived to be less intelligent” (162).
• When people were asked to rate the accuracy of aphorisms or short statements, most favored those that rhyme. “The researchers explained that rhyming phrases are characterized by a greater processing fluency: They’re mentally processed more easily than non-rhyming phrases. Because people tend to base accuracy evaluations, at least partly, on the perceived fluency of the incoming information, the rhyming statements are actually judged as more accurate” (165).
• “[T]he characteristics of objects are not perceived in a vacuum, but rather in comparison to others,” (167) which is something to be conscious of when creating a message or request.
• “The message is clear: People will be more likely to stick with programs and tasks if you can first offer them some evidence of how they’ve already made progress toward completing them” (173).
• “Names that fall into the unexpected descriptive category or the ambiguous category create a sense of mystery and intrigue that leads potential customers to consider the positive aspects of your goods and services” (176).
• Social psychologist Jennifer Lerner found that “Sad buyers were willing to purchase [an] item for around 30 percent more than were emotionally neutral buyers. And sad sellers were willing to part with the item for around 33 percent less than were their emotionally neutral counterparts. What’s more, the researchers found that the carryover of the emotion . . . into their economic decisions occurred completely outside the subjects’ awareness—they had no idea they had been so deeply affected by these residual feelings of sadness” (189).
• “When the stakes are high, people usually have enough cognitive resources and motivation to mentally reject statements that sound false. But when people are tired, they’re more likely to be in a heightened state of gullibility because of the diminished cognitive energy and motivation associated with exhaustion” (194).
• “You might be surprised to learn, however, that there’s a drug called 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthin that could make you more persuadable if you take it and make you more persuasive if you give it to others . . . Th[is] drug . . . is more commonly known as caffeine, and these ‘trimeth labs’ are more commonly known as coffee shops” (197).
• “Because people from individualistic cultures tend to give greater weight to their own personal experiences, consistency with one’s previous experiences is often a more powerful motivator of people from countries in North America or Western Europe. And because people from collectivistic cultures tend to give greater weight to the experiences of close others, the behavior of close others is often a more powerful motivator of people from countries in Asian, Eastern Europe, South America, and Africa. What this means is that if you are asking an American, Canadian, or Briton for a favor, you are likely to be more successful if you point out that it fits with what that person has done before. But when asking a favor of people from more collectivistic countries, the research suggests that you will be more successful if you point out that it fits with what that person’s peer group has done before” (211).
• There are two “central functions” of communication: informational and relational. “Although both functions are clearly important to people in all cultures, social psychologists Yuri Miyamoto and Norbert Schwartz argued that individualistic cultures place a greater emphasis on the informational function of communication, whereas collectivistic cultures place a greater emphasis on the relational function” (213-214).
• Sales of the same product were boosted when the sentence “Operators are waiting please call now” was changed to “If operators are busy, please call again” (10).
• Social proof appeals (similar to the bandwagon effect) are surprisingly effective, as shown in a hotel experiment in which guests were not asked to reuse their towels but prompted to “Join countless others in helping to save the environment” (13).
• “[T]he more similar the person giving the testimonial is to the new target audience, the more persuasive the message becomes” (17).
• The social proof appeal can accidentally inspire bad behavior when many instances of rule breaking are cited, such as an Arizona National Park sign that actually encouraged visitors to steal: “Your heritage is being vandalized every day by theft losses of petrified wood of 14 tons a year, mostly a small piece at a time” (21). A better approach would be to reframe these statistics so visitors focus on the vast majority of rule-followers who steal no wood.
• Offering too many choices of products may result in consumers purchasing less (31).
• “To ensure that your offer is seen as the valuable proposition it actually is, the customer needs to be shown the true value of your offer. So, no longer should your message read, ‘Receive a free security program.’ Instead it becomes, ‘Receive a $250 security program at no cost to you’” (37).
• “According to decision researcher Itamar Simonson, when consumers consider a particular set of choices for a product, they tend to favor alternatives that are ‘compromise choices’—choices that fall between what they need, at a minimum, and what they could possibly spend, at a maximum” (39).
• “For the most part, research has demonstrated that fear-arousing communications usually stimulate the audience to take action to reduce the threat. However, this general rule has one important exception: When the fear-producing message describes danger but the audience is not told of clear, specific effective means of reducing the danger, they may deal with the fear by ‘blocking out’ the message or denying that it applies to them” (42).
• The “norm of reciprocity” is a universal phenomenon, in which people who receive feel obliged to give (47).
• “Social scientist Randy Garner . . . found that placing a personalized sticky note on [a] survey did more than simply persuade people to respond to the survey at higher rates: Those who filled out the survey with the handwritten sticky note returned it more promptly and gave more effortful, detailed, and attentive answers to the questions” (51-53).
• “The more personalized you make the request, the more likely you’ll get someone to agree to that request” (52).
• Behavioral scientist David Strohemetz conducted an experiment in which servers gave mints to customers with their checks: “This research clearly shows the value of giving gifts that are . . . unexpected, and personalized” (55).
• “[W]hat happens to the influence of those gifts and favors as time passes? . . . According to researcher Francis Flynn, the answer to the question depends on whether you are the favor-doer or the favor-receiver. / Flynn asserts that immediately after one person performs a favor for another, the recipient of the favor places more value on the favor than does the favor-doer. However, as time passes, the value of the favor decreases in the recipient’s eyes, whereas for the favor-doer, it actually increases” (60-61).
• People are more likely to agree to larger or inconvenient requests when they’ve already taken “one small step” in the direction of the request. “The evidence suggests that after agreeing to the [initial] request, the residents came to see themselves committed to [the] cause” (64-65).
• “The labeling technique involves assigning a trait, attitude, belief, or other label to a person and then making a request of that person consistent with that label” (69).
• “[A]fter most (if not all) . . . people have publically stated that they’ll perform the socially desirable behavior, they’ll be motivated to behave consistently with the commitment they just made” (73).
• “Why are commitments that are written (and therefore active) so much more successful at eliciting participation? People make judgments about themselves based on observations of their own behavior, and they infer more about themselves based on their actions than on their nonactions. In support of this explanation, Cioffi and Garner found that those who volunteered actively were more likely to attribute their decisions to their own personality traits, preferences, and ideals than were those who volunteered passively” (77).
• “Stephanie Brown . . . conducted a study showing that people’s preference for consistency becomes greatly strengthened as they get older. This is likely the case because inconsistency can be emotionally upsetting, and older people have greater motivation to avoid emotionally upsetting experiences” (80).
• Requesting a small favor from someone you don’t get along with can have positive consequences. If the person obliges, he/she may see you in a different light, as the positive act of a favor can cause an incongruity in that person’s negative perception of you. After all, if he/she helps you, you can’t be that bad (84-85).
• “[W]hen you want assistance from others, simply pointing out that even a small offering would be acceptable and worthwhile to you is likely to be an effective strategy” that will not necessarily result in smaller contributions (85).
• “[B]ehavioral scientist Patrick Laughlin and his colleagues have shown that the approaches and outcomes of groups who cooperate in seeking a solution are . . . better than the average member working alone” and are superior to those of the best problem-solver in the group (100).
• Disagreement within a group makes for more creative approaches to problem solving, but the person who disagrees must be genuinely invested in his/her point of view (and not just playing devil’s advocate)” 104.
• When training people, focusing on real-world situations, in which mistakes were made, is more effective than explaining ideal standards of behavior (108).
• “Two-sided” persuasion is most effective when small flaws are clearly connected to larger strengths (115).
• “Social scientist Fiona Lee and her colleagues suggest that organizations that attribute failures to internal causes will come out ahead not only in public perception, but also in terms of the profit line” (120).
• “A substantial amount of psychological research has shown that we’re most likely to relate to others with whom we share personal characteristics, such as values, beliefs, age, and sex” (124-125).
• “In fact, social psychologists Tanya Chartrand and John Bargh argue that matching the behavior of others creates feelings of liking and strengthens bonds between two people” (134).
• When trying to create better interactions and experiences “try to follow the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin: ‘Search others for their virtues.’ Many of us spend too much time finding faults in the people we deal with in our everyday lives. If, instead, we try to search their character for what we like about them, we’ll like them more; and, as a result, they’ll like us more” (139).
• The scarcity principle states that “People show a greater desire for an object or opportunity when they learn that it is unique, available in limited quantities, or obtainable for only a limited time” (141-142).
• People, by nature, are loss adverse and persuasion from this angle can work well (148).
• When making a request, the word “because” can have a positive effect on people’s willingness to comply—even when the reason that follows is neither logical nor important (151).
• “Additional research by [Daniel] Oppenheimer has shown that using overtly complex language . . . can produce the exact opposite of the intended effect: Because the audience has difficulty interpreting the language, the message is deemed less convincing and the author is perceived to be less intelligent” (162).
• When people were asked to rate the accuracy of aphorisms or short statements, most favored those that rhyme. “The researchers explained that rhyming phrases are characterized by a greater processing fluency: They’re mentally processed more easily than non-rhyming phrases. Because people tend to base accuracy evaluations, at least partly, on the perceived fluency of the incoming information, the rhyming statements are actually judged as more accurate” (165).
• “[T]he characteristics of objects are not perceived in a vacuum, but rather in comparison to others,” (167) which is something to be conscious of when creating a message or request.
• “The message is clear: People will be more likely to stick with programs and tasks if you can first offer them some evidence of how they’ve already made progress toward completing them” (173).
• “Names that fall into the unexpected descriptive category or the ambiguous category create a sense of mystery and intrigue that leads potential customers to consider the positive aspects of your goods and services” (176).
• Social psychologist Jennifer Lerner found that “Sad buyers were willing to purchase [an] item for around 30 percent more than were emotionally neutral buyers. And sad sellers were willing to part with the item for around 33 percent less than were their emotionally neutral counterparts. What’s more, the researchers found that the carryover of the emotion . . . into their economic decisions occurred completely outside the subjects’ awareness—they had no idea they had been so deeply affected by these residual feelings of sadness” (189).
• “When the stakes are high, people usually have enough cognitive resources and motivation to mentally reject statements that sound false. But when people are tired, they’re more likely to be in a heightened state of gullibility because of the diminished cognitive energy and motivation associated with exhaustion” (194).
• “You might be surprised to learn, however, that there’s a drug called 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthin that could make you more persuadable if you take it and make you more persuasive if you give it to others . . . Th[is] drug . . . is more commonly known as caffeine, and these ‘trimeth labs’ are more commonly known as coffee shops” (197).
• “Because people from individualistic cultures tend to give greater weight to their own personal experiences, consistency with one’s previous experiences is often a more powerful motivator of people from countries in North America or Western Europe. And because people from collectivistic cultures tend to give greater weight to the experiences of close others, the behavior of close others is often a more powerful motivator of people from countries in Asian, Eastern Europe, South America, and Africa. What this means is that if you are asking an American, Canadian, or Briton for a favor, you are likely to be more successful if you point out that it fits with what that person has done before. But when asking a favor of people from more collectivistic countries, the research suggests that you will be more successful if you point out that it fits with what that person’s peer group has done before” (211).
• There are two “central functions” of communication: informational and relational. “Although both functions are clearly important to people in all cultures, social psychologists Yuri Miyamoto and Norbert Schwartz argued that individualistic cultures place a greater emphasis on the informational function of communication, whereas collectivistic cultures place a greater emphasis on the relational function” (213-214).
March 30, 2019
I found this to be a very useful and interesting read. I would recommend Cialdini's book Influence over this one, but this one was great as well. It was organized and presented in a way that was both entertaining and easy to use, and while the information is most useful from a business aspect, I would recommend it to anyone who works with people.
February 27, 2020
Perswading people to say YES is sometimes a hard task. Whether your pitching to a client or simply getting your kid to bed Noah Goldstein has your back. "Yes!" is a fantastic book for anyone looking for a competitive edge. These 50 scientifically proven ways to increase the likelihood of someone telling you YES was eye-opening. I love these type of books because of the techniques they employ are straightforward and applicable to everyday life.
I recommend this book for anyone looking to get to the YES!
I will read again. Summary.
https://fs.blog/2009/08/yes-50-scient...
I recommend this book for anyone looking to get to the YES!
I will read again. Summary.
https://fs.blog/2009/08/yes-50-scient...
May 27, 2020
This is an excellent little book, full of pithy, applicable recommendations with research-based examples. Great bite-sized pieces. Good as a reminder of tools we tend to know but forget to use! I thoroughly enjoyed it!
March 29, 2023
A highly anticipated book but never met the hype. Book was straightforward and had some good, just good, insight insight about the power of persuasion but majority of it was a let down.
March 8, 2017
A must read for any business person. The consumer behavior examples in this book can be applied to any industry or job.
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