i saw someone praising this book here a few weeks ago and i decided to try it.
i like the practical studies he has collected throughout his career, studies that seem logical, or other that really seem counter-intuitive but are true. there's one that may interest everyone here :
an experiment showed that newly-born babies, especially the girls, look more often and smile to the beautiful ones. the ratio is quite high. that means that we have an inner instinct, deep inside us, that attracts us to the handsome people => Looks does matter then !!
there is also the one that shows that well-dressed and well-groomed people have automatically more respect than people who are dressed normally. having a business suit or a (fake) police uniform for example makes people obey your orders easily, even really weird ones => Looks does really matter !!!!
taller guys and smiling people are seen as more confident and more successuful. again, this is prooven as an automatic&inconcsious reaction => Looks are essential !!!!!!
there is also the section where he explains how we react in conversations. the most extraordinary part where he explains introducing the word "because" makes people obey your whishes. for example, the case where one student wants to bypass everyone saying : "can i use the photocopying machine now?" => this was like 10 % rate. then saying " can i use the xerox machine because i am in a hurry and i have a class now ?" => 96 % rate. then saying " can i use the xerox machine because i have to make a couple of copies". you'd believe everyone will say no as the "because" introduced NOTHING. well, practically it doesn't happen like this. there was almost 90 % success rate. just saying because persuades people. amazing, isn'it?
cool book... however, this guy is a psychologist and i really didn't like how he finished every chapter, when he explains how we can avoid the "social proof" reasons or the "consistency" tools. he always say "bla... bla .... discuss with the guy/girl then tell him he wants to use the social proof thing ... bla .... bla .... you are trying to fool me with the liking thing ..."
anyway, go buy the book, you'd learn human being have so many automatic reactions. and that there are people out there who would use them.