Note: There are many workers who would hold that books on persuasion should have no place on a website centred
on working with hard-to-reach and vulnerable groups. They would hold that the subjects of persuasion and influence
are contaminating forces in the worker/client relationship. We beg to disagree, and I argue our case in this article.
Books on persuasion, influence and change
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Towards improved social intervention
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A solid book, more psychology than therapy. It is full of useful academic framing for commonly held
ideas and the kinds of thinking workers regularly observe in their clients. It is an easy enough
read, with a great deal of detail. The book retails at the extraordinary price of £89, but a good
second hand version can be found much cheaper.
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This classic book on persuasion (there are similar books with different titles by the same author),
discusses the psychology of agreeing to requests - and how understanding around this is often
applied. Some of the research seems conveniently neat but the basic idea of identifying the key
factors that provide bias in decision making and looking at how they are exploited has as much
relevance for social intervention workers as dodgy salesmen. The basic concepts and what they
mean for social intervention are espoused here but the book is in itself an entertaining read.
In our podcast section we link to an RSA lecture by Cialdini that serves as a good introduction to
his work.
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Almost a paraphrasing of Cialdini's book. It is not as good or concise. Though there is some food
for thought here, as a reader looking for ideas on working with vulnerable people you will have to
work harder to abstract ideas that might be relevant to you. There is discussion on manipulation
into a quick sale but no thought on how this manipulation leads to uncomfortable relationships in
anything other that the shortest of short terms.
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