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Robert Cialdini

Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

academicauthorscientistexecutive@RobertCialdini ↗LinkedIn ↗influenceatwork.com ↗Wikipedia ↗YouTube ↗

He is best known for his foundational books Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion and Pre-Suasion, which have sold millions of copies worldwide. Through his company, INFLUENCE AT WORK, he provides executive training, keynotes, and consulting on the application of his science-backed principles of persuasion.

28statements → 15claims → 13claims resolved → 92%fully supported → 4.04/5average certainty → 1.57/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 21said about them ↓

12 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 1 not checkable as stated how the 15 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

15 assertions · 13 insights · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 15 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 13 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 1 names no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Robert argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Cialdini: McDonald's Families Bought 25% More Food When Given Balloons First
“The other half, each kid got the balloon as they entered. Those families bought 25% more food because they had been given something first.”
Robert Cialdini Oct 19, 2021 ▶ 7:18 #122 Robert Cialdini - The Principles of Persuasion

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
95% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Robert Cialdini on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Robert Cialdini said on the Knowledge Project that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Cialdini: Reframing Bose Ad Headline Around FOMO Increased Sales 45%
“What we did was to change the word new to hear what you've been missing. The idea of missing out says, no time for waiting. No, no, I have to get this. I don't want to miss it. I don't want to miss out on this great thing, right? That change produced a 45% inc…”
Robert Cialdini Oct 19, 2021 ▶ 47:53 #122 Robert Cialdini - The Principles of Persuasion
Insight
Cialdini: Managers should ask employees for explicit public commitments on deadlines
“Anytime you're running a meeting and you've given members of your team tasks to perform, And complete before the next meeting. Don't let anybody out of that room until you ask the question, will you be able to complete this by our next meeting? And pause. If t…”
Robert Cialdini Oct 19, 2021 ▶ 54:08 #122 Robert Cialdini - The Principles of Persuasion
Insight
Cialdini: Defend against consistency bias by asking if new data would alter initial choice
“When we encounter a new piece of information, Relative to a decision or a choice that we've made, you know, and that we get a chance to change, we need to say, if I knew this when I first made my choice, if that was part of this decision, would I have made the…”
Robert Cialdini Oct 19, 2021 ▶ 56:48 #122 Robert Cialdini - The Principles of Persuasion
Assertion Supported
Cialdini: Invoking shared student identity increased campus charity donations by 400%
“Researchers asked a young woman, college age woman, to stand on a heavily trafficked part of campus and ask people to donate to a good cause. I think it was the United Way. And she was getting some contributions. If she said Before she made the request, one th…”
Robert Cialdini Oct 19, 2021 ▶ 58:14 #122 Robert Cialdini - The Principles of Persuasion

The other half of the tape: Robert Cialdini's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 18 times in 10 episodes on the Knowledge Project. 3 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Shane Parrish 7Julia Galef 5Rory Sutherland 2Naval Ravikant 1Josh Wolfe 1Josh Kaufman 1Adam Grant 1

Statements about Robert Cialdini, by other people (3)

Insight
Wolfe: Persuasion tactics from Cialdini, Munger, and Kahneman fail on young kids
“You can use every tactic that Robert Cialdini has come up with, and every tactic from Munger, and every behavioral psychology thing you've learned from Kahneman, and you still get tantrums and crying and dogmatic, you know, intransigent kids”
Josh Wolfe Jan 22, 2019 ▶ 13:51 #50 Josh Wolfe: Inventing the Future
Insight
Sutherland: Reframing attention allows one to synthesize happiness out of nowhere
“By getting us to shift our focus to what's good about something rather than what we assume to be bad about it, you can synthesize happiness out of nowhere.”
Rory Sutherland May 30, 2017 ▶ 9:55 Rory Sutherland: The Psychology of Advertising
Assertion Supported
Parrish: Preceding requests with extreme demands triples compliance to 50%
“First, researchers asked people to supervise delinquents for two years. This got a 100% rejection. But then he asked, will you at least spend one afternoon taking them to the zoo? And the acceptance rate tripled to 50%.”
Shane Parrish Nov 18, 2025 ▶ 31:05 Charlie Munger: The Psychology of Human Misjudgment [Outliers]

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0042832016201720182019202020212022202320242025episodesmentions
0232016201720182019202020212022202320242025episodes it came up in
0041.5832016201720182019202020212022202320242025episodesmentions per episode
2025 4 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode
2021 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2019 1 mention in 1 episode
2017 4 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode
2016 7 mentions in 1 episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
#122 Robert Cialdini - The Principles of Persuasion Oct 19, 2021 50m
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