Product Description

Most of us are only too aware that, whatever roles we have in
today's fast-moving world, much of our success lies in getting others to
say `Yes' to our requests. What many people might not be aware of, though,
is the vast amount of research that has been conducted on the influence
process. What factors cause one person to say `Yes' to the request of
another?

Yes! is full of practical tips based on recent academic research that shows
how the psychology of persuasion can provide valuable insights for anyone
interested in improving their ability to persuade others - whether in the
workplace, at home or even on the internet.

It combines the counter-intuition of Freakonomics with the popularising of
Does Anything Eats Wasps? For each mini-chapter contains a mystery which is
solved in a way that provides food for thought for anyone looking to be
more persuasive, and for anyone interested in how the world works.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #680 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-08
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA
In a world where persuasion is a more and more important part of what governments and organisations have to do, this book is invaluable.

Daniel Finkelstein, The Times
"The ideas in this book changed my way of looking at the world. This thinking is the real deal. Want to be in on the next big idea? Don't miss out."

Octavius Black, Management Today
"You should read this book. You should read it because you'll enjoy it; because it's perfectly pitched for smart businesspeople; because it's easy to dip into while waiting for a colleague or a plane; and because if you don't someone else is going to get one over on you."

Customer Reviews

Thorough research
The authors of this book know what they're talking about. Great research credentials from the writers themselves and they always back up what they're talking about with really good anecdotes or actual research studies.

The only problem was that the chapters started to blur into each other. So there was almost too much information to take in. I should re-read this book so that I know when to use different tactics to influence people.

A good read if you want to understand more about the human psyche!

I'm another fan too..sorry negative reviewers :)
I've got a reasonable list on my profile of books relating to persuasion and influence. This is the latest in a long line.

Does he reuse material from his original? Yes. Is the book personally helpful to me and make sense? Yes. For that reason it's fair I leave 5 stars. I will be reading it a second time.

I'm sure I can scour through and raise my eyebrows at a couple of chapters here and there. However on the whole I found it a worthwhile addition to my growing collection.

The authors are clear, concise and set out to be scientific in an arena which is generally not.

Common sense is not what folks think it is. It varies from person to person. Common sense might tell you to do one thing in a given scenario, however for me it may say something totally different. Common sense ain't so common and is pretty undefined at the best.

Too much of a good thing
'50 secrets from the science of persuasion'... Well, I'd never heard of `the science of persuasion' before and this is actually a series of short case studies based on social psychology academic papers published over the last decade or so. Each case study is presented as a problem, the experiment and results are described and then a `scientifically proven' solution is suggested. It's an appealing way of covering a broad subject and most of the results are thought-provoking and maybe genuinely useful. The only problem is that these snippets are not structured or ordered in any way so unfortunately fact fatigue sets in after about 30, and by the time you struggle to 50 the science of persuasion began to seem a rather disorganised discipline. An admirable book, but you might have thought `persuasion scientists' would have known a bit better how to determine exactly how much is a `good thing'.