¶ … psychology and on the subtopic of persuasion. This author has decided to pursue this topic because of the importance of understanding the subject of persuasion. It is used in everything from sales to simply convincing someone of your opinion. While the works of individuals like Robert B. Cialdini have been trailblazers in our historical memories, it is the opinion of this author that in many ways Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People is still one of the best. While not a clinical psychologist, Carnegie was self-taught in many ways in psychology and like Cialdini gathered his observations from years of on the job and on the spot observations that are attested to by the continued reliance upon his book and principles as taught worldwide by the Dale Carnegie Institute.
Recent Discoveries/Developments
Robert B. Cialdini and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
One of the most influential psychology text on the art of persuasion was by Robert B. Cialdini in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. In three years that Dr. Cialdini spent researching and writing the book, he went "undercover" applying for training and jobs and training at used car dealerships, telemarketing companies and fund-raising organizations in order to observe many real-life situations of persuasion in order to put together a set of commonalities upon which to establish a group of universal principles. Additionally, the book reviews some of the most important experiments theories and experiments in social psychology (Cialdini, 2006, xi-xiv). In the book, he posits six universal laws of persuasion. These principles may work independently, together or at different rates during the persuasive relationship.
These laws are as follows:
1) Reciprocity-People feel a sense of obligation to give back to other people who have benefited or given to them (ibid., 17). This sense of obligation can be exploited to keep the person coming back by continually benefiting them.
2) Social Proof-People...
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