In this episode of The You Only Podcast, we dive into Robert Cialdini’s groundbreaking classic Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion—a book that has shaped marketing, politics, sales, and even everyday human interaction for decades. Cialdini reveals the six universal principles of influence—reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity—and shows how they are used to sway decisions without us even realizing it.

From why we buy things we don’t need, to why crowds shape our opinions, to why “limited time only” offers trigger our deepest impulses—this episode unpacks the science behind the tactics used by advertisers, leaders, and even friends. We’ll compare Cialdini’s insights to works like Propaganda by Edward Bernays and The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene, showing how persuasion has always been at the core of power and human behavior.

Whether you want to sharpen your defenses against manipulation or learn how to ethically harness the art of persuasion, this conversation will leave you seeing influence everywhere—and once you see it, you can’t unsee it.