Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials)

social scientists uncovered the confidence heuristic: people tend to think that confident speakers must be correct.

each time we comply with a request, even a trivial request, it modifies our attitudes and self-concept such that we will tend to act more consistently with that type of action.

Our implicit rules often take the form of things people “should” or “shouldn’t” do: “You should spend money on education, but not on clothes.” “You should never criticize a colleague in front of others.” “You should never leave the toilet seat up, squeeze the toothpaste in the middle, or let the kids watch more than two hours of TV.” The list is en

undeniable: They make us value things in ways unrelated to actual value, and they are everywhere.