Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini, PhD is a fascinating book on the science of how, what people experience before a message, influences their receptiveness to that message.

What it presents, in essence, is the use of priming techniques to get the consumer (whether it is a product or consuming information) to respond in a in a particular, predictable way.

I found this book to be enlightening as to how individuals and societies can be influenced and how, if you look for them, you can see pre-suasive techniques being used in the world around you. In example, it explains those endlessly long landing pages that show success stories, show successful images, use success terms, etc. before asking you to sign up and if you’re not ready, they continue priming you before they ask again. You can even see how this came into play in last year’s election if you look at the different campaigns.

Cialdini says that the hope for the book is that its information is to be used for good and not evil (OK, maybe those are my words, but it is his sentiment). But, obviously, when you set out to influence people, it could be for your own personal benefit or for theirs (hopefully both).

This book is well worth your time and, if you are intrigued by this topic, I encourage you to read his other book , Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. It’s another book based in behavioral science of how we can be and are influenced.