Maintenance
Before you act on manipulation resistance exercises
Manipulation resistance exercises to run before you need them: seven drills, a four-week schedule, and an honest account of what practice cannot deliver.
Desk
Policy Desk
Regulation, licensing and the obligations that apply to persuasion and social influence psychology.
Industry
Manipulation resistance signs and what each one means
Eleven manipulation resistance signs, grouped by whether they show up in the offer, in the pressure or in your own reaction, each with a check you can run.
Features
Which scarcity book survives the two-halves test?
The best scarcity books split into two halves, real resource shortage and manufactured urgency, and only one title survives both halves of the test.
Rules
Commitment and consistency: research cases, FTC rules, Canadian consent limits
Field experiments and regulatory rules show when commitment and consistency tactics hold up, when escalation breaks consent, and what US and Canadian law requires.
Rules
Liking principle research: what the studies actually show about warmth and compliance
Liking principle research: what similarity, praise, cooperation and familiarity studies show about compliance, and where warmth loses to authority cues.
Costs
Scarcity meaning: telling a real limit from a manufactured one
Scarcity meaning, defined against urgency, exclusivity and rationing: what a real limit has that a manufactured one does not, and how to tell them apart.
Rules
Social Influence Basics in Real Settings: A Field Exercise Guide
A step by step field routine for social influence basics: four step session plan, observation log, debrief questions, failure modes, and disclosure rules to follow.
Rules
Social proof in U.S. retail: how store traffic data changes shopper behavior
How store traffic and dwell-time data become social proof cues in U.S. retail, what counters measure, and where crowd signals mislead buyers.
Rules
Social proof in U.S. retail: what store traffic data actually shows
Foot traffic counters, mobile location panels and POS data tested against social proof claims in U.S. stores, plus FTC disclosure rules and vendor questions.
Rules
Unity principle at work: 6 belonging cues that change a US team's yes
Six belonging cues that shift a US team's yes, plus a 30-day test, real costs, common failure modes, and the diagnostic to run before you commit.
Rules
Unity Principle Persuasion: US Examples, Backfires, and a Self Check
Explains the unity principle in persuasion with US company examples, when shared identity backfires, and a simple self check before you use it.
Maintenance
Commitment and consistency mistakes and how to change your mind cleanly
Commitment and consistency mistakes: confusing consistency with integrity, sunk costs, public commitments, and how to change your mind cleanly.
Rules
Only some commitment and consistency techniques survive being named aloud
Commitment and consistency techniques for helping people follow through honestly, plus the escalation tactics that only work while the person is not looking at them.
Reviews
Liking principle signs and what each one means
Eleven liking principle signs that warmth is carrying an offer, split between your own reactions and how the situation was arranged, plus what to do next.
Maintenance
Authority at work: a script for objecting to a senior decision
Authority at work, from the junior seat: which kind of authority is speaking, four moments where objections die, and five moves that make an objection land.
Costs
Liking principle examples: the separation that keeps warmth from working on you
Liking principle examples showing where warmth moved a decision it should not have, and the one separation that keeps a good relationship from becoming an argument.
Rules
What APA ethics rules mean for persuasion research with human subjects
Persuasion psychology research with human subjects must follow APA rules on informed consent, deception, and debriefing in social influence experiments.
Rules
California and Texas consumer protection laws that limit persuasive marketing
Persuasion psychology meets hard limits in California and Texas, where consumer protection laws restrict dark patterns, fake urgency, and targeted ads.
Rules
Do CAN-SPAM and Canada's CASL change American cross-border email persuasion?
Persuasion psychology meets CAN-SPAM and CASL: how U.S. and Canadian consent rules shape cross-border email strategy, footers, and frequency.
Rules
How the FTC's endorsement guides change persuasion tactics at U.S. ad agencies
Persuasion psychology principles meet FTC endorsement guides: what U.S. ad agencies must disclose, test and document before any claim ships.
Reviews
What reciprocity research can support, and what it cannot
Reciprocity research is contested: here is what the evidence can support, what it cannot, and the studies and questions that decide which claims to trust.
Rules
Persuasion Psychology Principles in Donor Appeals
Persuasion psychology principles for donor appeals: examples of social proof, reciprocity, norms, and a pre-mailing checklist for reviewing claims.
Costs
How to tell which reciprocity technique is being used on you
Reciprocity techniques that work when explained: giving first without a hook, conceding honestly, and the four moves that collapse once they are named.
Rules
How to Write CASL Compliant Email Persuasion That Still Sells
CASL compliant email persuasion needs consent records, sender identity and a working opt-out, plus the Quebec French-language rules for that province.
Rules
Competition Bureau Influencer Marketing Disclosure: What Canadian Brands Must Ask
Competition Bureau influencer marketing disclosure: what Canadian brands must ask about Ad Standards rules, records and Quebec language requirements.
Rules
Dark Patterns vs Persuasion: Where US Regulators Draw the Line
Dark patterns vs persuasion in US law: the FTC, state privacy rules and what a compliant disclosure must contain before a charge, plus penalties and refunds.
Guides
Nudge Theory vs Persuasion: When a Choice Architect Should Step Back
Nudge theory vs persuasion: which tool fits a given choice, and when a choice architect should step back. Defaults, consent and dark patterns decide the legal risk.
Industry
How to build a four-week drill for reading social proof honestly
Social proof exercises that build one habit: asking how a crowd number was produced before deciding what it means, with a four-week run and honest limits.
Rules
4 things nobody tells you about social proof signs
Eleven social proof signs that a crowd number was manufactured or is being misread, and the check that separates a real count from a persuasive display.
Guides
Social proof examples: cheap signals compared with costly ones
Fifteen social proof examples, grouped by what the crowd signal is actually made of, with the reading each one supports and the reading it will not carry.
Reviews
Normative influence reading, organized across five disciplines
Best normative influence books 2027: five books from five disciplines, why a norm is worth faking, and how to run a room so the norm does not decide it.
Industry
Informational influence mistakes seen from the repair side
Informational influence mistakes people make when relying on what others know, each with what actually went wrong and the check that costs two minutes.
Rules
Informational Influence Research: What the Studies Show
Informational influence research spans classic experiments and cascade models. See what Sherif, Asch, Deutsch and Gerard support, and where the evidence stops.
Costs
Normative influence ethics: when norms become pressure
Normative influence ethics asks when social proof is truthful, when it becomes pressure, and what a person must be able to know and refuse.
Maintenance
Social influence basics examples: first principles, 2027 edition
Social influence basics examples: twelve everyday cases sorted by channel, what each one shows, and how to run the same reading on your own decisions.
Reviews
Social influence basics exercises: the version that survives contact with reality
Social influence basics exercises: eight drills, a four-week schedule to run them on, and an honest account of what practice here will not fix.