Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior Paperback – June 20, 2017

“The notion that our own personal thoughts and opinions drive our choices seems so obvious that it is not even worth mentioning. Except that it’s wrong.” (Inside book jacket)Jonah Berger cites his own research, research done by his colleagues, and other published research as well, illustrating their findings with interesting, surprising, and even startling, examples.As someone who believes that he is a logical and data-informed decision-maker, the author’s assertions were not always welcomed by me, especially his proposition that most of us are pretty good at noticing when others succumb to social pressure, but that almost all of us cannot see the same effect in ourselves (p. 5). Yet, his arguments were persuasive and the information is, in fact, good to know. If our decisions are, indeed, shaped by certain social groups or circumstances, then awareness of that fact can certainly be helpful. Conversely, if you wish to influence other’s decisions; e.g. lifestyle choices, voting, purchasing, or support for a particular policy; this book helps one consider effective ways to do so.The book is slightly complicated, but that is because people are complicated and Berger does not oversimplify. Yet, the author’s reasoning and writing style are clear, interesting, and compelling. There are some truly fascinating findings and conclusions to be found throughout the book. I anticipate that this book will, at the very least, become optional reading for my doctoral students who are interested in becoming more effective leaders.

Great book for psycholgists

This was a very interesting and entertaining book to read, and I felt as if the author did a great job at providing very basic concepts that help describe the things that influence behavior, beliefs, and lifestyles. I believe this book was written for those who want to have a basic understanding of how human behavior works and what influences our behaviors. Its more for a general audience with little to no experience with psychology. It is very broad and generally easy to understand, with several excellent examples to help demonstrate ideas and topics. As a current psychology student, this book helped me understand behavior influences in a very broad and generic way and was mostly entertaining to read with all of the great examples. I would have loved if the author would have gone just a little more in depth scientifically, however, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. If you don’t have a lot of psychology experience and you are interested in what influences human behavior I feel as if this book would be excellent for you since it does a great job at giving you a basic understanding. Even if you have experience in sociology and psychology I would still recommend this book as it was overall entertaining to read.

as described

You may think that you're a true individual, and that your choices are determined by your true desires. However, Berger reveals that much of our behavior is determined by social forces that are largely invisible. This book is an engaging and insightful look at social psychology, but through a slightly different lens than most books. Berger is a marketing professor, and so the examples he looks are at cases like buying BMWs (yes, you buy them for status) and a secret cabal setting the "it" color for this year's fashions. It's definitely worth a read, and if you don't believe me, here's an important piece of information: Everyone else is reading it.

This is an easy read. In fact, perhaps just a bit too easy. While there is referenced research to back up all of the points made, the points made often are intuitively obvious. For example, the notion that you’ll work harder to achieve a goal if you are near it than if it is distant is something we’ve all experienced.Many of the points made are introduced by telling a story. This certainly makes for a more engaging read, but often times it has little to do with objective of describing an invisible influence. In the section on how public performance influences whether we do better or worse, a family history of one of the researchers on this topic is presented. While an inspiring story, it has no direct connection to the research; unless the intent is to invisibly influence how we react to the presentation of the research data. Is it more convincing because of the sympathetic figure?Reading this book is low risk. It is unlikely you’ll find it boring or particularly challenging. Perhaps you’ll feel good about yourself for reading a New Your Times best seller. At same time, recognize that the author is likely applying the invisible influences to get you to order it, finish reading it, and then recommend it to your friends.

Another great read by Berger! Both conversational and informative. Could be both the subject matter and the writing style that makes his books so interesting. I tend to finish them quickly, wishing I hadn’t, but often refer back for useful insights.

Easy and informative read. Human sciences students must be the most experimented upon group of people on the planet, and there are plenty of the studies to back up the findings. There are two where the statistics are not all that compelling or the case study itself is a bit of a stretch (racing cockroaches, with an audience?), but the book is worth reading.