4 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Robert Cialdini's 1984 account of the six principles of influence (reciprocity, commitment/consistency, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity) — based on three years embedded in sales, advertising, and fundraising organizations — one of the most influential books ever written on persuasion.
Chip and Dan Heath's 2007 framework for why some ideas stick and others fade — the SUCCESs model (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories) — providing a checklist for designing memorable and persuasive communication.
American social psychologist whose Influence is the most widely read account of the principles of persuasion — a systematic account of the psychological mechanisms underlying compliance.
American cartoonist and author — creator of the Dilbert comic strip — author of Win Bigly (on persuasion and Trump) — who predicted Trump's 2016 victory early based on persuasion analysis and then made increasingly extreme statements that ended in Dilbert's cancellation in 2023.