Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

“We are obligated to the future repayment of favors, gifts, invitations, and the like.”

Giving someone a small gift makes them feel forced to give back. Even a cheap flower or a soda creates a heavy sense of debt.

“Since as many as 95 percent of the people are imitators and only 5 percent are initiators, people are persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer.”

People follow the crowd when things get confusing. We look at everyone else to see how to act, but usually they are just looking back at us.

“It is, quite simply, our nearly obsessive desire to be (and to appear) consistent with what we have already done.”

Once we make a small choice, we feel a massive pressure to keep acting that way. We will even invent new reasons to justify a bad decision just to stay consistent.

“The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.”

Items feel more valuable simply because they are running out. Losing a chance feels much worse than never having the opportunity at all.