Reading List · Lisanne Swart
Authors Like
By Lisanne Swart · 6 authors · Behavioral Psychology · Updated July 2026
Robert Cialdini's Influence identified the specific psychological levers — reciprocity, scarcity, authority, social proof, and others — that make people say yes to requests, and did it through actual field research rather than armchair theorizing, including time spent training as a salesperson to observe persuasion tactics from the inside. His work sits at the founding edge of what became the broader behavioral economics and psychology-of-decision-making boom. The writers below extend, complicate, or apply that same territory: how the mind actually makes decisions, and how that knowledge can be used, well or badly.
Readers who enjoy Robert Cialdini often turn to Dan Ariely for similarly research-based insight into irrational decision-making, Daniel Kahneman for the foundational cognitive-bias research underneath much of Cialdini's work, Richard Thaler for the economic policy applications of behavioral insight, Jonathan Haidt for the moral-psychology side of why people believe and decide what they do, Adam Grant for organizational applications of similar behavioral principles, and Malcolm Gladwell for accessible, story-driven popularizations of comparable psychological research.
Similar Voice & Approach
Dan Ariely
Ariely, like Cialdini, builds his work directly on original behavioral experiments rather than secondhand summary, demonstrating in Predictably Irrational how consistently and systematically people deviate from purely rational decision-making in ways that are predictable enough to design for, or against. Both writers share a talent for turning rigorous experimental psychology into genuinely readable, example-driven prose.
Read Ariely for Cialdini's research-grounded approach applied more broadly across everyday economic decisions rather than persuasion specifically. Predictably Irrational is the essential entry point.
→ Read more about Dan ArielyDaniel Kahneman
Kahneman's decades of research with Amos Tversky on cognitive biases and heuristics form much of the theoretical foundation that Cialdini's more applied, persuasion-focused work builds on. Thinking, Fast and Slow lays out the dual-process model of thought — fast, intuitive System 1 versus slow, effortful System 2 — that explains why the persuasion techniques Cialdini identifies actually work on the human mind.
Read Kahneman for the deeper theoretical scaffolding underneath Cialdini's more applied, example-driven approach. Thinking, Fast and Slow is dense but foundational.
Richard Thaler
Thaler, a Nobel laureate in economics, extends the same behavioral insights Cialdini catalogued for persuasion into questions of public policy and institutional design, most famously in Nudge, co-written with Cass Sunstein, which argues for structuring choices to help people make better decisions without removing their freedom to choose otherwise. Where Cialdini focuses on individual persuasion tactics, Thaler applies similar principles at the level of systems and policy.
Read Thaler for Cialdini's behavioral insights scaled up to policy design rather than individual persuasion. Nudge is the essential and most accessible entry point.
Jonathan Haidt
Haidt addresses a related but distinct question from Cialdini's: not how to persuade someone in a specific transaction, but why people hold the moral and political beliefs they do in the first place, and why those beliefs feel so resistant to rational argument. The Righteous Mind's account of moral intuition preceding rational justification complements Cialdini's account of persuasion tactics by explaining the deeper psychological terrain those tactics operate on.
Read Haidt for the moral-psychology foundation underneath why certain persuasion tactics succeed on certain audiences. The Righteous Mind is the essential entry point.
→ Read more about Jonathan HaidtAdam Grant
Grant applies research-based psychological insight to organizational and workplace contexts, examining how generosity, persuasion, and openness to changing one's mind function inside teams and companies. Like Cialdini, Grant is skilled at translating rigorous research into memorable, actionable principles, though his focus tends toward collaboration and influence within organizations rather than one-on-one persuasion tactics.
Read Grant for Cialdini's research-based approach applied specifically to workplace dynamics and organizational behavior. Give and Take is the natural starting point.
Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell shares Cialdini's gift for making psychological research accessible and memorable through vivid storytelling and case studies, though Gladwell works more as a journalist synthesizing research from many sources than as a researcher conducting his own experiments the way Cialdini did. Blink in particular, on rapid unconscious judgment, sits close to Cialdini's territory of understanding how and why people make the snap decisions they do.
Read Gladwell for Cialdini's accessible storytelling style applied even more broadly across popular psychology and sociology. Blink is the closest match in subject matter.
More from the shelf
Frequently asked questions about authors like Robert Cialdini
Who should I read if I like Robert Cialdini?
Readers who enjoy Robert Cialdini often turn to Dan Ariely for similarly research-based insight into irrational decision-making, Daniel Kahneman for the foundational cognitive-bias research underneath much of Cialdini's work, Richard Thaler for the economic policy applications of behavioral insight, Jonathan Haidt for the moral-psychology side of why people believe and decide what they do, Adam Grant for organizational applications of similar behavioral principles, and Malcolm Gladwell for accessible, story-driven popularizations of comparable psychological research.
Is Daniel Kahneman similar to Robert Cialdini?
Kahneman's research provides much of the theoretical foundation that Cialdini's more applied, persuasion-focused work builds on. Thinking, Fast and Slow lays out the dual-process model of thought that explains why the persuasion techniques Cialdini catalogued actually work on the human mind, making the two books natural companions despite Kahneman's more academic register.
What should I read after Influence by Robert Cialdini?
Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational applies a similarly research-grounded approach across everyday economic decisions rather than persuasion specifically. Richard Thaler's Nudge scales similar behavioral insights up to public policy and institutional design. For the deeper cognitive-bias theory underneath Cialdini's applied work, Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow is the essential, if denser, next step.
Is Malcolm Gladwell's work based on the same research as Cialdini's?
They draw on overlapping fields of psychological research, though Gladwell works primarily as a journalist synthesizing findings from many researchers, while Cialdini conducted much of his own original field research, including training as a salesperson to observe persuasion tactics firsthand. Gladwell's Blink, on rapid unconscious judgment, sits closest to Cialdini's territory of understanding snap decision-making.
