Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion

Simplifying

I’m confident that besides the expensive = good rule, there’s a flip side, an inexpensive = bad rule that applies to our thinking as well. After all, in English, the word cheap doesn’t just mean inexpensive; it has also come to mean inferior.

a dramatic increase in price alone had led to a dramatic increase in sales among the quality-hungry buyers.

It seems it was not the whole series of words but the first one, because, that made the difference.

A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor, we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.

The second important thing to understand is that we, too, have our preset programs,

A fundamental characteristic of these patterns is that the behaviors composing them occur in virtually the same fashion and in the same order every time. It is almost as if the patterns were installed as programs within the animals.

This book presents numerous research results that at first appear baffling but can be explained through an understanding of natural human tendencies. A while ago, I encountered such a finding when I read a study that gave volunteers an energy drink designed to increase mental abilities. Some volunteers were charged the retail price of the drink ($1

ability to produce a distinct kind of automatic, mindless compliance from people: a willingness to say yes without thinking first.