Invisible Influence

The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior

By: Jonah Berger

Narrated by: Keith Nobbs

The New York Times best-selling author of Contagious explores the subtle, secret influences that affect the decisions we make - from what we buy to the careers we choose to what we eat - in this fascinating and groundbreaking work.

If you're like most people, you think that your choices and behaviors are driven by your individual personal tastes and opinions. You wear a certain jacket because you like the way it looks. You picked a particular career because you found it interesting. The notion that our choices are driven by our own personal thoughts and opinions is patently obvious. Right? Wrong.

Without our realizing it, other people's behavior has a huge influence on everything we do at every moment of our lives, from the mundane to the momentous occasion. Even strangers have startling impacts on our judgments and decisions: Our attitudes toward a welfare policy shift if we're told it is supported by Democrats versus Republicans (even though the policy is the same in both cases).

But social influence doesn't just lead us to do the same things as others. In some cases we conform or imitate others around us. But in other cases we diverge or avoid particular choices or behaviors because other people are doing them. We stop listening to a band because they go mainstream. We skip buying the minivan because we don't want to look like a soccer mom.

In his surprising and compelling Invisible Influence, Jonah Berger integrates research and thinking from business, psychology, and social science to focus on the subtle, invisible influences behind our choices as individuals. By understanding how social influence works, we can decide when to resist and when to embrace it - and how we can use this knowledge to make better-informed decisions and exercise more control over our own behavior.

©2016 Jonah Berger (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

Disappointing and lightweight

I have enjoyed Berger's other books but found this to be surprisingly lightweight. It covers very little ground and spends way too much time on anecdotes and way to little on the underlying science. If you are looking for a good understanding of how we influence each other, and ourselves through our own biases, there are plenty of better works to choose from.

thoughtful insight

this book provides ideas on how the world around you affects your habits. .
hj

Great research, but more questions unanswered

The author presented a good argument for the utility of social influence and how different entities can take advantage of the knowledge. It's fascinating how we all have both the need to be a part of a community in one instance and to differentiate in another. I think this is a dichotomy.

While the research has been well enumerated, I wonder if the same research findings can be leveraged by policy makers to help various groups to assimilate into acceptable societal norms without the associated bias of political correctness.

I recommend this book for general information. it's also easy to follow. The author does a good job of keeping technical jargon to a minimum.

Awesome principles for any leader.

Well narrated. Well written. Very interesting studies and stories. Very helpful for leaders. Jonah Berger delivers. This was a good book but Jonahs book, "Contagious " is more groundbreaking!

Fascinating, but...

I would have liked to hear more about the principles surrounding the different behaviors. The stories are fascinating examples but at the end of the day I felt they took up a lot of time that could have been used to talk more about the underlying principles and how to use and/or counter them.

Useful information

A bit long winded, but not too much.
Well read. Have listened to it about 4 times now.

Shocking!

I liked it mainly because it offers us a counter-intuitive view about ourselves. Looking back at some of our thoughts and actions, it is easy to perceive how wrong we were before acknowledging the social aspect of our very lives.

a good book that pairs nicely with his others

there are some comments on here about it not being substantive enough. there are a few stories that are perhaps too long, but I disagree that it's confusing or overly long. overall, a good book that pairs nicely with his others

Great book

This book is a great way to understand how our society shapes our lives, and how we can use it to motivate us.

The only problem I had was with the voice reading it. While it was a clear and well enunciated reading, I found myself zoning out the voice often.

Professor Berger is more than digital!

This book was not what o was expecting, but it was still great. Professor Berger had built a name for himself discussing social media and I expected this piece to be about influence on social channels, but it is about influence across all of life. Another great work with great novel research based insights.