Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior

by Jonah Berger

Jonah Berger, the bestselling author of Contagious, explores the subtle, secret influences that affect the decisions we make from what we buy, to the careers we choose, to what we eat in his latest New York Times bestseller that is a rare business book that s both informative and enough fun to take to the beach (Fortune.com).
If you re like most people, you think your individual tastes and opinions drive your choices and behaviors. You wear a certain jacket because you liked how it looked. You picked a particular career because you found it interesting. The notion that our choices are driven by our own personal thoughts and opinions is patently obvious. Right? Wrong.
Without our realizing it, other people s behavior has a huge influence on everything we do at every moment of our lives, from the mundane to the momentous. Even strangers have an impact on our judgments and decisions: our attitudes toward a welfare policy shift if we re told it is supported by Democrats versus Republicans (even though the policy is the same). But social influence doesn t just lead us to do the same things as others. In some cases we imitate others around us. But in other cases we avoid particular choices or behaviors because other people are doing them. We stop listening to a band because they go mainstream. We skip buying the minivan because we don t want to look like a soccer mom.
By understanding how social influence works, we can decide when to resist and when to embrace it and learn how we can use this knowledge to exercise more control over our own behavior. In Invisible Influence, Jonah Berger is consistently entertaining, applying science to real life in surprising ways and explaining research through narrative. His book fascinates because it opens up the moving parts of a mysterious machine, allowing readers to watch them in action (Publishers Weekly)."

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Business, Self Help, Science, Sociology, Leadership

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2016

About the author

Jonah Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and bestselling author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On and Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior.

Dr. Berger has spent over 15 years studying how social influence works and how it drives products and ideas to catch on. He’s published dozens of articles in top-tier academic journals, consulted for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, and popular outlets like the New York Times and Harvard Business Review often cover his work.

Reviews

[Bianca Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this via NetGalley and admit I didn't finish it.

I liked the first 20%. The concept of mimicry is excellent. It's that we mimic those around us.

At the 30% mark I realized that there's very little research to support the stories.

By 35% I was skimming.

Forty percent - should I finish it?

And 50%, I was done.

There are lots of stories about college students and their behaviors. Occasionally research studies were referenced.

Maybe this was too pop psychology for me? It was lots of broad demographic generalizations and nothing groundbreaking. For either marketing or life.

Perhaps it's targeted at people who believe a Facebook quiz can define their IQ?

[Rob Woodbridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very fast read but lacking in substance compared to Contagious. These genres of books tend to blend together. Same stories, different angle. Not a lot of new here.

[Ramón Nogueras Pérez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un estupendo libro de psicología social, acerca de las muchas maneras en las que nuestra necesidad de imitar al grupo por un lado, y de diferenciarnos del resto por otro influyen en nuestra toma de decisiones, y cómo esto se puede usar para persuadirnos y motivarnos.

Como bibliografía para el segundo libro que estoy estudiando, redondo. Muy recomendable.

[Mircea Petcu · Rating 5 out of 5]

O carte excelentă de psihologie socială.

Locul în care creștem, normele și acțiunile oamenilor din jurul nostru modelează totul, de la limba pe care o vorbim la comportamentele pe care le adoptăm. Copii adoptă credințele religioase ale părinților, iar studenții adoptă obiceiurile de studiu ale colegilor de cameră. Tindem să facem ceea ce fac și cei din jurul nostru.
Folosindu-i pe ceilalți ca sursă de informații, economisim timp și efort (o adaptare evoluționistă). E o euristică ce simplifică procesul de luare a deciziilor. Dacă alți oameni îl fac, îl aleg sau îl plac, trebuie să fie un lucru bun.

Mulțimea ne poate influența să ne conformăm, dar, în anumite situații, ne poate determina să luăm o decizie diferită. "Efectul snob" descrie cazurile în care cererea pentru anumite bunuri sau servicii este în mod negativ corelată cu cererea pieței. Cu cât există mai mulți oameni care dețin sau folosesc ceva, cu atât mai puțin vor fi aceștia interesați să îl cumpere sau să îl folosească.
Mulți dintre noi nu ne dorim să fim singurii care să facă un anumit lucru, dar dacă prea mulți oameni încep să-l facă, ne vom orienta spre altceva. Dacă blugii rupți devin prea la modă, apare o reacție adversă.

Există și-o a treia posibilitate, cea mixtă, care combină conformismul cu repulsia. Spre exemplu, după uraganul Katrina, mai puțini copii au primit numele Katrina, dar a crescut frecvența numelor care încep cu "K", cum ar fi Kevin sau Karen.

Recomand

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Here is what I want to remember:

(p.59) If people can't see, or observe what others are doing, there is no way for those others to influence them...Social influence only works when other people's opinions or behaviors are observable.

(p. 65) Birth order is the biggest predictor of elite athletes: 75% have at least one older sibling.

(p.68-69) Sibling rivalry is about who gets to be a certain type of person and who has to be someone else...Kids' personalities even seem to shift over time in opposition to their siblings...Forever connected, but forever striving for difference.

(p.86) The illusion of distinction: we focus on the ways we are different even if at the core we are very much the same

(p.97) Social influence seems to push us to be both the same and different. Imitating others and distinguishing ourselves from them, and it matters who the "others" are and what choices they make.

(p.230) Peers don't just affect what we choose, they motivate us to action...But even though others shape almost everything we do, we are often unaware that this impact occurs.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads' Giveaways programs.

The premise of Jonah Berger's book is intriguing-- we don't make decisions that are truly our own. Instead, we are constantly relying on input from others without fully realizing it.

This book struck me an entertaining, somewhat "pop" psychology book that had some interesting information (who knew that youngest children are usually the most likely to be top athletes?). But overall, I thought it was pretty bland. Of course we are influenced by what others buy, do, and think. This book reinforced that and showed just how much this is the case. When he delved a little deeper (like talking about the use of names starting with "K" after Hurricane Katrina), I found his work much more interesting.

An entertaining and quick read, which doesn't shed that much light on something we already know.

[Atila Iamarino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Li esperando comentários sobre o trabalho dele com influência e mídias sociais, mas não foi bem o que encontrei. O livro tem boas histórias sobre o que nos influencia, de valores que queremos ter com os gostos pelo que não queremos ser. Algumas achei um tanto repetitivas, porque já tinha ouvido no O andar do bêbado (músicas, downloads, sorte e a vantagem dos primeiros), enquanto outras ouvi no You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice.

Achei um tanto longo e mais extenso do que o necessário, como boa parte dos livros da área de mente+tema, com aquelas histórias, voltas e hipérboles para introduzir uma ideia simples. Ponto para o audiolivro, que permite avançar por isso em modo 2x sem perda. Mas, all in all, é um bom livro, especialmente para quem não leu muito sobre.

[Nicole Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! In line with Malcom Gladwell, I am fascinated by social psychology and what drives humans to do what they do. I enjoyed his scenarios, his stories and his statistics. I found myself plotting how I could use social influence to make better choices, to motivate me, and leverage the now "visible" to work in my favor!

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible book.

Behavioral economics is my new favorite thing.

You can tell I'm an INTP!

What is happening when you shop, when you live in amongst the world. What factors play into your influences?

This book was absolutely amazing at describing these.

4.6/5

[Justin Tapp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior by Jonah Berger

I have reviewed a lot of books on pop psychology, behavioral economics, “influence science,” and this is just another in the pile. These books compete on the shelf namely by the twist they put on the title and how nice the design of the cover is, they mostly say the same things. It’s a two star read because it just presents a lot of other peoples’ research in a “on the one hand, on the other hand” fashion. The author doesn’t get too involved in reconciling contradicting research. He’s a marketing professor and I imagine this is what he presents in Marketing 101. Here are my gleanings:

Mimicry:
Mimicking the mannerisms of the person you’re interacting with helps build rapport and seal the deal. Waiters can increase their tips by reading back a customer’s order. Siblings encourage both mimicry but also intense competition. Marketing companies count on mimicry as people want products that will identify them with the class of people they want to be around. Mimicry is a signalling effect. Having a degree from the same school as famous, elite people signals you are also of that class. Mimicry shows up in strange places, there is a study showing a correlation between the names of hurricanes and the names of babies born around the same time period. Even when the names don’t match exactly, there is (possibly subconcious) mimicry among the vowel sounds of the hurricanes and the vowel sounds of babies’ names.

Conformity:
East Asians prefer conformity more than Americans. Social class conformity matters. People have expectations of people in their own social class and get offended when people of other classes adopt their brands or behavior. Brand names don’t want the “wrong” people wearing their products and tainting the brand.

On the other hand:
Eventually, boredom sets in. Counterfeiting-- a form of mimicry-- causes fashions to die. Sometimes people don’t want to conform to an image, but to be different. Americans’ independent streak started with the settlers and encourages liberty and nonconformity. Marketing companies also appeal to the independent streak in people, encouraging them to be rebels. The studies the author presents seem to contradict on these points but he never addresses it. People in a group at a restaurant order what they want but feel remorse when they know what others ordered, opportunity cost matters psychologically.

Thus, “moderate similarity” meets the needs for both social conformity but individual independence.

Competition and accountability can both increase and decrease performance. Competition and accountability are most effective at increasing performance when the person who is competing or holding you accountable is a peer on a similar level.

That’s all, folks. Two stars.

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

So disappointing. I was a huge fan of Berger's previous book, "Contagious." (It's actually on my favorites shelf.) This new book lacks the structure and applicability that made his previous book so useful.

It also feels overwritten. As though the publisher/editor asked him to stretch out the content a liiiiiittle bit more. Here's an example, "Teenagers are unlikely to be confused with 40-year-old business executives…." All of this filler gets in the way of some of his more interesting points.

There are some fun nuggets, such as how siblings try to differentiate themselves and how audiences impact our performance in different situations, but they are disappointingly few and far between.

[Bruna Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eu poderia facilmente ficar sentada por dias só lendo/ouvindo o Jonah Berger falar sobre experimentos sociais e marketing. É o segundo livro dele que eu leio e esse foi ainda melhor; tudo é explicado de forma simples para que qualquer pessoa acompanhe e entenda.
Um dos favoritos do ano, sem duvidas <3

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overly simplistic. I would have preferred more neuroscience and less sociology.

[Ranjana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book “Contagious: Why Things catch on” of Jonah Berger. I loved the book and decided to read “Invisible Influence” as well. This book narrates interesting experiments and examples to explain how social influence affects our choices and behaviour in both subtle and explicit ways.
The book starts by explaining that we do not see social influence affecting our behaviour because society tells us that being influenced is a bad thing. The book describes the science of social influence and is full of interesting insights and observations. Some of the insightful examples from the book are as follows: -
1. More exposure to a person leads to more familiarity which makes the person more attractive and likeable. This is the reason why so many people find their soulmates at work or school where they spend most of their time.
2. While parking cars, people tend to look for the areas where everyone has parked. If there are no cars parked in an area, people sense a concern there and avoid those places for parking.
3. Married people look so similar after being together for many years. This is because in the first place, people look for similar looking soulmates. Second, they make the same expressions at the same time for years together, leaving similar traces on their faces.
4. During negotiations and social interactions which involve persuasion, mimicry helps build rapport with the other person. This is because when someone behaves the same way as we do, we start seeing ourselves more interconnected, closer and more interdependent.
5. Waiters at the restaurants are likely to get 70% higher tip if they repeat the orders back to us word by word. Mimicking the language and mannerisms helps to increase the affiliation and liking with the customers.
6. Even experts are wrong in predicting the success stories. For example, J K Rowling’s manuscript was rejected by the first twelve publishers. People tend to follow those who liked before them and then these small, random differences snowball into a huge difference in popularity. If a song is already popular, we are more likely to give it a listen because we know that following others saves us time and probably leads us to more enjoyable experiences.
7. In corporate, managers need to encourage diverse viewpoints. To facilitate this in meetings, managers give one person the job of constantly voicing an opposing perspective. This helps bring out other alternative viewpoints as well.
8. Sibling rivalry causes younger siblings to differentiate themselves from the studious older siblings. In order to carve their own paths, younger siblings tend to be better at sports whereas older siblings are known to be better in academics.
9. The need to differentiate or blend in with others is also influenced by the cultural context. For example, American culture values distinction, independence and autonomy whereas in Eastern cultures such as Japan, blending in with the group is important and standing out is considered bad.
10. Working class people prefer more popular items over less popular items. They prefer more similarity over differentiation. Middle class or upper-class people prefer unique and differentiated products.
11. People not only care about whether others are doing it or how many others are doing it but also who those others are doing it. People diverge to avoid being misidentified or communicating undesired identities. For example, women think of computer science as dominated by geeky guys who love Star Trek and video games and many women do not aspire for this identity. Identity concerns lead many talented women to choose other fields.
12. People tend to diverge in the choices which signal identity. Choices such as hairstyle are seen more easily and are more likely to be used for identity inferences. Paper towels are functional as they are used privately and do not signal any identity.
13. Social influence can be helpful for encouraging good decisions. Associating desired behaviours with aspiration groups or desired identities is very effective. People are more likely to not get themselves tested for a disease caused by a stigmatized reason such as unprotected sex. Health risks can be mitigated by not associating the disease with a stigmatized reason.
14. Familiarity leads to liking and liking similar things makes our judgement easier. We want to be similar yet different. Similarity shapes popularity because it makes novel things feel familiar.
15. If the participants have done a particular task many times before, spectators help facilitate performance but if the task is difficult or involves learning something new, spectators would inhibit performance.
Last but not the least, the book emphasizes that social influence can be a powerful motivating force while trying to inspire a sales team or encourage students to learn more. Understanding social influence is important to maintain our individuality and avoid being swept up in the crowd. This also helps us have more fulfilling social interactions and use others to help us make better informed decisions. By understanding when social influence is beneficial, we can decide when to resist influence and when to embrace it. Understanding social influence and its impact on us can help solve several complex social and business problems. Tapping the power of social influence and the contributing factors such as cultural context, key influencers, familiarity, mimicking behaviour and social stigma can lead to developing effective marketing campaigns for functional as well as hedonic products for different target markets. There are some products such as condoms, plus size clothes, adult diapers and feminine hygiene products which are associated with social stigma. These products can be easily sold to the consumers in need if the social stigma is removed from these products. It opens doors to several new insights about understanding consumer behaviour and how marketers can leverage these insights. To summarize, the book is very entertaining in its narrative and made me sit and think about some real-life instances and how their “invisible influence” affected so many decisions in my life.

[Moujib Aghrout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimately felt I took a lot away from this book and understanding the affect influence can have on human behaviour is great as you can avoid weird social norms while taking advantage of positive influence on others around you.

[Kev Willoughby · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do other people around you shape your life and how are you shaping theirs? That's the one over-arching question that this book answers in very compelling ways, and the research may surprise you. It will certainly entertain you!

This would be a fascinating small group book study, whether at work, at church, or at your local library, and the fact that this book is a study in social phenomenon makes it a perfect fit for study with others. It needs to be discussed and implemented for purposes of improving your organization. It's ironic that most people will read it alone.

There's information in here that can help waitresses increase their tips. There are logical explanations for why most professional athletes have older siblings. You'll find yourself nodding along with the stories of why people order things they really don't want at restaurants. I enjoyed reading about how many of us want to be different, but not too different... why people buy watches that don't tell time... how people subconsciously choose baby names... and how we are motivated to do our best when we know others are watching.

One of the most interesting assertions in the book is that although we can easily tell how and why other people around us are influenced, we have a difficult time recognizing it when we, ourselves, are influenced. This book is an eye-opener.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This man needs an editor, or a ghost writer. (I volunteer. I want so badly to fix this.) The topic is interesting, and the information is worth the read, but I kept having to put the book down mid-chapter to recover from all the sentence fragments.

Also, he wound up making a couple of arguments that I think he didn't mean: like at the end, when he says children who moved out of poor neighborhoods by age eight were expected to make $300,000 over the course of their careers. He had to have meant "an increase of $300,000 over what they would have made if they had grown up in the poor neighborhood" - but that's not what he said. Somebody needs to go over his manuscript with a more critical eye so that his arguments will be tighter and more readable.

There's a pretty good recap in the conclusion, so if you don't want to read through, you can skip to the end for a quick summary.

[Dan Graser · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there are a number of books on this subject, Berger's stands out for its Malcolm Gladwell-like-accessibility and depth of understanding. For those not familiar with the social impact on our day-to-day choices this is an excellent introduction. Frequently, books like this seem geared for corporate drones trying to become slightly more human, Berger avoids those sorts of pitfalls with great humor and brio while also offering ways in which this information could be used effectively for personal growth and development. Highly readable and highly recommended!

[Lois Keller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt like this was a bunch of one off case studies without any statistical backing collected together to make a psuedo scientific study on imitation. Sometimes the case studies and quotes directly contradicted each other (ie “nobody went there; it’s overcrowded” how is it overcrowded if no one is there?). I was unimpressed and would not recommend.

[Cav · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Without our realizing it, others have a huge influence on almost every aspect of life. People vote because others are voting, eat more when others are eating, and buy a new car because their neighbors have recently done the same. Social influence affects the products people buy, health plans they choose, grades they get in school, and careers they follow. It shapes whether people save for retirement, invest in the stock market, donate money, join a fraternity, save energy, or adopt new innovations. Social influence even affects whether people engage in criminal activity or are satisfied with their job. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of all decisions are shaped by others. It’s hard to find a decision or behavior that isn’t affected by other people.
In fact, looking across all domains of our lives, there is only one place we don’t seem to see social influence.
Ourselves..."

Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior was an excellent look into the topic.

People are the strangest creatures... Rarely do their choices and opinions follow logic, evidence, and rationality. Thinking objectively is not a common trait of most people. This is part of why I love social psychology. It pops the hood of the human condition and takes a look at our strange machinations...
The author drops the above quote in the book's intro.

Author Jonah Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and internationally bestselling author of Contagious, Invisible Influence, and The Catalyst.

Jonah Berger:


Berger gets off on a good foot, with an interesting and engaging intro that sets the tone for the rest of the writing to follow. He talks about true love and soulmates; crunching some large numbers around this ages-old romantic ideal. He also lays out scope of the book, including a chapter summary. Good stuff!

The book also has excellent formatting, too. The writing is broken into well-defined chapters; each chapter into short blurbs, with relevant headers at the top. This easily digestible formatting helps ensure the reader effectively absorbs the information covered.
My reviews are always very heavily weighted to correspond with how engaging and readable the book is. Accordingly, Berger's writing scores bonus points here.

People are innately pro-social, and take cues from wider society. Berger examines how this affects virtually every aspect of our lives:

"Where we grow up, and the norms and practices of people around us, shape everything from the language we use to the behaviors we engage in. Kids adopt their parents’ religious beliefs and college students adopt their roommates’ study habits. Whether making simple decisions, like which brand to buy, or more consequential ones, like which career path to pursue, we tend to do as others around us do..."

Berger talks about familiararity in this quote. This is part of the reason branding exists, and why companies shell out big dollars for building brand recognition with advertising:

"The idea that mere exposure increases liking may seem strange at first, but it has actually been shown in hundreds of experiments. Whether considering faces in a college yearbook, advertising messages, made-up words, fruit juices, and even buildings, the more people see something, the more they like it. Familiarity leads to liking..."

He also drops this funny quote that speaks to how oblivious people are to the wiring that is fundamental to their psychological architecture:

"Recently, I was talking to a friend of mine who is a lawyer. He asked what I was working on, and when I told him I was writing a book on social influence, he lamented its impact on his colleagues.
“Everyone wants to be the same,” he said. “Young lawyers get a bonus and one of the first things most of them do is buy a BMW.”
When I pointed out that he, too, drove a BMW, he took issue with my comment. “Sure,” he said, “but they all drive silver BMWs. I drive a blue one...”

Some more of what is covered here by Berger includes:
• Solomon Asch's famous conformity experiments; Muzafer Sherif.
• Mirror neurons.
• Authentic vs false signaling; costly and fake signals.
• Conspicuous consumption; branding of expensive items.
• Differences in sports performance when competing with others vs alone.
• Using social influences to encourage energy conservation.
• The disparate outcomes of "neighborhood effects." Leaving poor neighborhoods has a positive effect on people's life outcomes.


*********************

Despite its unassuming cover, I really enjoyed this one. Berger covers this incredibly interesting subject matter very well here. I'm not sure why some of the top reviews here rated this one so badly... I found it to be excellent.
If you - like myself - are interested in social psychology, then this one needs to be on your list.
An easy 5-star rating here, and a spot on my "favorites" shelf.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The writing is good, but the subject is a bit ho-hum. I just kept thinking the information wasn't very ground breaking. Perhaps students of psychology and sociology would appreciate the in-depth discussion of influencing others.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know why this book was written or who it was written for. It's like a book for someone who hasn't read or thought about any of these topics at all.

[Yaroslav Sk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасна книжка про сили що нами керують. «Нами керує те що ми не усвідомлюємо»

[Tricia B. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book is arrogant, out-of-touch, and has too many poorly-researched bits.

Don’t get too pulled into this book’s many uncited anecdotes. Evaluate each claim carefully-- not all of them are backed by studies and those which are seem to have a small sample size of only a few Ivy League students on campus (i.e., very wealthy young people). Also, ask yourself if you would like to be talked to, not even listened to, and categorized the way that people in this book are.

*On page 102, cornrows and mohawks are presented as opportunity costs and edgy, but nothing is said about long-standing white racism artificially keeping traditional and natural ethnic hairstyles of people of color on the fringe. Cornrows are of the African diaspora and mohawks from the Mohawk Native American tribe. Minorities in majorly white spaces will have fewer numbers to take advantage of the mere exposure effect as it is, let alone rules made by white people for white people, in schools and corporations, which have been for hundreds of years suppressing traditional hairstyles. White people viewing ethnic hairstyles as edgy has terrible implications as laid out in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink. Is it any wonder why so many people of color feel excluded and pass off academia as a white thing? For a better perspective on African hair, see the work of Dr. Gloria Ford Gilmer, who shows the mathematics of African hairstyles, which is not edgy at all, but, rather, represents a combination of math, fractals, tessellations, and art, i.e., civilization. Please also support CROWN Acts (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) to make this type of discrimination illegal.

*On page 76, because cars in a Walmart parking lots have fewer different makes and models of cars than higher-end malls, the author's conclusion is that working-class people prefer more similarity. Did anyone ask the car owners? There was no indication of this in the book, only this unresearched post hoc ergo propter hoc conclusion. More money means more options, but the author tries to dismiss that. Working class people would love to have other makes and models, too, but simply can’t afford them, let alone the expertise of mechanics for foreign models! The author tries to counter this argument by saying that less-expensive cars offer fewer paint colors, but, again, there was no indication of asking car owners if they preferred other colors and, even so, fewer options keep cars more affordable. Firefighters being more likely to feel happy for someone who bought cars similar to theirs also does not have any bearing on if the firefighters would prefer more expensive cars if they could afford them, but they are already used to their working class friends having limited choices too. Perhaps it is that firefighters are more generous and sharing (and willing to save others' lives!) while the privileged Ivy League students may be more selfish/narcissist/egotistical and do not want to see others have nice things too. How convenient for those who are privileged not to ask and to assume others don’t wish for more choices and better things! By this book’s “logic,” people who live in food desserts simply prefer unhealthy foods which are the only ones they can afford or have access to. How nice it is must be to dismiss those who are less fortunate by saying they are content with their lot!

*Page 64 alleges people claim to like earlier music of popular bands as a way of finding a new source of distinction. This claim is unbacked by research in the book. Has the author ever asked people why they like earlier albums of bands? Rap and Hip Hop bands were made to stop sampling. Country music bands drop steel guitar twangs. Christian bands start making more secular songs (and vice versa). Metal bands start incorporating jazz and orchestral symphonies. Singers and key instrument players move on. Musicians get bored and have the right to go in different directions and fans have the right to prefer any or all of these changes. Don’t ask why and you will miss insights into music history and getting to know someone more.

*Page 69 alleges teens rebel by going vegan. This claim is unbacked by research in the book. Has the author ever asked people their reasons for going vegan? Health, environment, and treatment of fellow animals are common reasons. Also, there could be inspiration from pop stars and athletes, as a form of the mimicry discussed earlier, but missed with this one. None of these reasons have anything to do with rebelling. Rather, it could be a positive result of the parents teaching good values, such as empathy, and even an attempt to reconnect with ethnic roots (For people of color, see Dr. A. Breeze Harper’s works). Moreover, a parent dismissing a child’s virtues and/or heartfelt efforts at doing something mindful can be experienced as dismissive and hurtful.

*Page 69 alleges teens rebel by dating bad boys or girls. This claim is unbacked by research in the book. What qualifies as bad (having the wrong color of BMW?)? Is the dating a trend or a one-off thing? Other psychologists, such as Nathaniel Branden in his book The Six Pillars of Self Esteem, say dating, for example married people, is a self-esteem issue which may or may not have anything to do with the parents and probably needs to be worked through with a therapist. It is narcissistic of a parent to think everything is about rebelling against them and a parent passing this issue off as simple rebellion could miss the root cause of the behavior in getting the child help, if this is a real trend.

*Page 69 alleges teens rebel by generally looking bored or revolted whenever their parents pick them up from school. This claim is unbacked by research in the book. More questions need to be asked of this situation before dismissing the hypothetical teens. Respect goes both ways. Is it still age-appropriate for the parent to be picking the teen up? Is the car in good condition (no loud muffler/rust holes) and not covered with embarrassing bumper stickers? Is the parent bombarding the child with talk of the birds and the bees or other unpleasant topics? Is the parent talking at the teen and not to the teen, i.e., not even listening (again)? Some of the answers to these questions might be painful to face up to, but dismissing the teen as merely rebelling is not going to help the parent-child relationship. Instead of dismissing teens, see the book How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish.

*Page 139's experiment definitely needs to be re-done for older age groups and in various climates. Perhaps senior citizens with less to prove would check off the boxes they preferred. Perhaps more experienced drivers in a climate with a lot of snow would prefer to pick gray, as that color shows less road salt and requires fewer trips to the car wash. Why only survey college students about cars when they have fewer years of driving experience?!

*Chapter 5: Don’t even get me started about comparing cockroaches running away from lights in a maze to people who take longer to complete difficult tasks with an audience. I doubt the roaches shared the same reasons as humans. Rather, Occam’s Razor would suggest something more primal, such as the roaches ran slower with an audience in a more complicated maze because the presence of their fellows suggested less danger--hardly the case for humans in an Ivy League university lab. I doubt the roaches were self-conscious about it.

Skip this one and read Robert Cialdini or Daniel Kahneman instead. That is where the real research is! This book only rides on the coattails of those. Also, check out You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy.

[Sid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonah describes the variety of forces that influence our decision making. He highlights how pop culture can influence what we are exposed to, from books, music to food. How our siblings can shape our lives. The very presence of people/peers can influence how much effort we put into a certain tasks. How hurricanes can influence the choice of baby names. These are a few of the entertaining examples he sprinkles throughout his book. The book was entertaining and could be a good source of conversations for your next dinner party.

[Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading his first book "Contagious," I'll admit I had pretty high expectations for this book. This book blew them all out of the water! An incredible book that dives deep into how society and identity shape our decisions in such a way as to appear invisible to us.
So many can see the effects of these influences on others, but more often than not, we feel as though we aren't that easily 'tricked.' Well, take a read and learn just how much there is to learn about these Invisible Influences. With praise from Robert Cialdini himself, you know this has to be good =)

[Vados · Rating 4 out of 5]

Засновано на американському світогляду, орієнтовано здебільшого на американського читача.
Сподобалося, що комплесні та складні соціологічні дослідження пояснюють на пальцях з купою повсякдених прикладів.

І в цілому до книжки немає як придовбатися. Відповідає на всі поставлені та визначені напочатку питання, цікаво розкриває всі аспекти, має мало водички. Вельми цікаво дізнатися про соціальний вплив, помітний чи непомітний, що ж таки переважає - як оточення й побут формують нас, чи як ми формуємо їх. Все ж таки здебільшого орієнтована на людей із маркетологічної сфери та на американський світогляд.

В будь-якому випадку, корисна, цікава та ненапряжна для читання :)

7/10

[Zack Applewhite · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has a tendency to over explain simple concepts, situations, and examples.
Much of the studies referenced to have been similarly covered in other business and marketing books.
That said, reviewing similar material helps remind and ingrain key and inspiring concepts into me. As far as research driven books go, it was on the engaging and educational side of the spectrum.
Good for sales, educators, marketers, and self improvers.
(But you could also read a cliffnotes summary would likely tell you everything the book concludes, you just wouldn’t get the research explanations.)

[Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quiet the fun book to read. It explores the seeming contradictions about the social lives of people and how in some cases they may be contradictions but in others they are not contradictions at all. Jonah Berger highlights both the complexity that surrounds how people influence other people yet how simply imitating or being seen more often by another person can make them like you more. Additionally, lots of citations are available for further reading.

[Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I think I was expecting something slightly more dense and academic, that would give me more insight into how I'm affected by this invisible influence. I had an open mind about the fact that I probably am influenced more than I realize by others, but I didn't learn as much as I hoped. the writing is pretty accessible and might be a good start for someone who is just dipping their toe into the topic.