Author Guide · Psychology & Persuasion
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To find out why people say yes, the social psychologist Robert Cialdini left his lab at Arizona State University and enrolled in the training programmes of the people who persuade for a living: used-car dealers, fundraisers, salespeople. What he learned there, combined with his own experiments, became Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion in 1984, a book whose publisher now reports more than five million copies sold. Its six principles — reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity — are now standard vocabulary in marketing and sales. In 2021 he added a seventh, unity. This guide covers his six key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 6 key books · 1984–2021 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Robert Cialdini has written six key books: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (1984), the textbook Influence: Science and Practice (first edition 1985), Yes! (2008) and The Small BIG (2014), both with Noah J. Goldstein and Steve J. Martin, Pre-Suasion (2016), and Influence, New and Expanded (2021), which adds a seventh principle. Start with the 2021 edition of Influence; below is what each book covers and what to read next.
Where to Start with Robert Cialdini
If you want his famous book in its current form
→ Influence, New and Expanded (2021) — the six principles plus unity.
If you want the original 1984 classic
→ Influence (1984).
If you want something new after Influence
→ Pre-Suasion (2016) — on the moment before you ask.
If you want short, practical tactics
→ The Small BIG (2014) — small changes, measured results.
6 Robert Cialdini Books, in Order
Influence
Cialdini sets out six principles that make people comply with a request: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity. Each chapter combines experiments with what he saw in the training programmes of sales and fundraising organisations, and ends with advice on how to say no. Published by William Morrow, it became one of the most widely read business books of its era.
Influence
The academic counterpart of Influence, written for university courses in psychology and marketing. It covers the same principles with fuller references to the underlying research, and has gone through several editions; the fifth appeared with Allyn & Bacon in 2008.
Yes!
Fifty short chapters, each built around a single research finding and how to use it, such as why hotel towel-reuse signs work better when they mention what other guests do. Written with the psychologist Noah J. Goldstein and Cialdini’s business partner Steve J. Martin, it was a New York Times bestseller. In the UK it was published as Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion.
The Small BIG
A follow-up to Yes! organised around one question: what is the smallest change to a request that produces the biggest effect? The examples include a UK tax letter that raised payment rates by mentioning that most people pay on time, and clinics that cut missed appointments by having patients write down the date themselves. The Times named it a book of the year.
Pre-Suasion
Cialdini’s first solo book for general readers since Influence argues that what matters most happens before a request is made: whatever a listener is focused on at that moment shapes how they respond to what follows. It draws on research into attention and priming. Published by Simon & Schuster, it became a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
This is the Cialdini book I’d actually recommend to someone who has already read Influence and wants something new rather than a repackaging. The idea that attention itself can be primed — before any persuasive argument is even made — changed how I think about the order in which I present things, not just the content. Denser than Influence, and worth the extra effort.
— LisanneInfluence, New and Expanded
A full revision of the 1984 book, published by Harper Business in May 2021. Alongside new research, new examples and online applications, it adds a seventh principle, unity: the pull of a shared identity, a sense of “we”, between the person asking and the person being asked.
In What Order to Read Robert Cialdini
Everything starts from Influence. Read it first, ideally in the 2021 New and Expanded edition, which keeps the original structure and adds unity as a seventh principle. The 1984 edition is shorter and still in print if you want the book as it first appeared.
After that, Pre-Suasion is the one real step forward: a new argument rather than an application of the old one. Yes! and The Small BIG are collections of short, separate findings that can be read in any order, and Influence: Science and Practice is mainly for students who need the academic references.
A reading path
1. Influence, New and Expanded (2021)
2. Pre-Suasion (2016)
3. The Small BIG (2014)
4. Yes! (2008)
The years · 1945–2021
Quick facts about Robert Cialdini
- Known for
- Turning the research on why people say yes into six, later seven, principles of persuasion that sales, marketing and policy now use as standard.
- 1945
- Born; grows up in Milwaukee
- 1971
- Joins Arizona State University
- 1984
- Influence
- 2016
- Pre-Suasion
- Born
- 27 April 1945; raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Education
- BS, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee; PhD in social psychology, University of North Carolina (1970); postdoctoral work at Columbia
- Career
- Arizona State University from 1971; Regents’ Professor from 1988, now Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing
- Visiting posts
- Stanford, Ohio State, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz and USC
- Honours
- Elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2019
- Named prize
- The Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s Robert B. Cialdini Prize, for field research
The red mark is 1984: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, the book that made his principles standard vocabulary.
How Robert Cialdini Writes: Experiments, Then the Street
Cialdini is an experimental social psychologist, and each chapter rests on studies, many from his own lab: littering in car parks, towel reuse in hotels, donation requests at the door. What sets Influence apart is a second source. He joined the training programmes of salespeople, fundraisers and advertisers to learn which techniques professionals actually use, and the book moves between the lab result and the sales floor.
He writes for the person on the receiving end as much as for the persuader. Each principle in Influence comes with a section on how to recognise it being used against you and how to decline. His co-written books with Noah J. Goldstein and Steve J. Martin go the other way: short chapters, one finding each, aimed at people who want to apply a single idea quickly.
The style is plain and anecdotal, with personal stories — including times he was talked into things himself — used to open each argument. Pre-Suasion is denser, built on research into attention rather than on a list of rules. For writers who work the same ground, see Authors like Robert Cialdini.
Watch
Robert Cialdini on the science of persuasion
Cialdini and his co-author Steve J. Martin narrate this short animated explainer of the principles of influence, featured by ASU News in April 2013 after it passed half a million views.
Frequently asked questions about Robert Cialdini’s books
How many books has Robert Cialdini written?
Six key books: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (1984), Influence: Science and Practice (first edition 1985), Yes! (2008), The Small BIG (2014), Pre-Suasion (2016) and Influence, New and Expanded (2021). Yes! and The Small BIG were written with Noah J. Goldstein and Steve J. Martin.
What are Robert Cialdini’s books in order?
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (1984), Influence: Science and Practice (1985), Yes! (2008), The Small BIG (2014), Pre-Suasion (2016) and Influence, New and Expanded (2021).
Where should I start with Robert Cialdini?
With Influence, in its 2021 New and Expanded edition. It sets out the framework his other books build on and includes the seventh principle, unity. Read Pre-Suasion next.
What is Robert Cialdini’s most famous book?
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (1984). Its publisher reports more than five million copies sold, and it introduced the six principles of influence.
What are Cialdini’s principles of influence?
The original six from Influence (1984) are reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity. Influence, New and Expanded (2021) added a seventh: unity, the sense of a shared identity between the person making a request and the person receiving it.
What is the difference between Influence and Influence, New and Expanded?
The 2021 edition is a full revision of the 1984 book. It adds the principle of unity, new research and examples, and applications to online persuasion. For a first read, the 2021 edition is the more complete choice.
What is Pre-Suasion about?
Pre-Suasion (2016) argues that the moment before a request matters as much as the request itself: what a person is paying attention to just beforehand changes how receptive they are. It was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
Is Influence: Science and Practice a different book from Influence?
It is the academic version, written for university courses. It covers the same principles with more detailed references to research and has gone through several editions, the fifth in 2008. General readers can skip it.
Who are Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin?
Cialdini’s co-authors on Yes! (2008) and The Small BIG (2014). Noah J. Goldstein is a psychologist; Steve J. Martin is Cialdini’s business partner. Both books apply the research to concrete, small changes in how requests are made.
Is Robert Cialdini’s research still considered credible?
His principles are widely taught and used, and he was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2019. Like all of social psychology, the field has re-examined many classic findings since the replication debates of the 2010s, so individual studies cited in the books are best read as evidence for a principle rather than as exact, settled effect sizes.
Footnotes
- Robert Cialdini — Wikipedia
- Robert B. Cialdini — Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Heritage Wall
- Transcript: Robert Cialdini — Masters in Business, Barry Ritholtz, 2018
- ‘Science of Persuasion’ goes viral on YouTube — ASU News, 2013
- The psychological trick behind getting people to say yes — PBS NewsHour, 2016
- Influence, New and Expanded — publisher description
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Our typical reaction to scarcity hinders our ability to think.”
— Robert Cialdini, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
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