Have you ever invited someone you don’t particularly like to a party just because they invited you to theirs a few months earlier? That’s human nature. It’s the psychological principle of reciprocity at work—we feel compelled to return a favor.

Reciprocity is about balancing the scales: when someo...

Once you take the first step, the next one becomes easier. Humans have an ingrained desire to act consistently with past actions. When we make a decision, we convince ourselves it was the right choice. This is the essence of commitment and consistency.

These principles create personal or social pre...

People place more value on things that are harder to obtain. We often want what we can’t easily have. This psychological force is widely used in advertising, leveraging limited availability or time constraints to encourage purchases. Scarcity applies not only to physical goods but also to informa...

Implementing change in organizations largely revolves around influencing others. Influence doesn’t happen by chance—it can be cultivated. It’s both a science and an art.

The Six Principles of Influence

Robert Cialdini, an American professor of marketing and psychology, summarized the science of in...

When faced with uncertainty about how to think or act in a given situation, people often look to others for cues. This phenomenon, commonly known as imitation, stems from the principle of social proof, one of the most powerful tools of influence.

Social proof works by showing what others are doi...