We will use the actions of others to decide on proper behavior for ourselves, especially when we view those others as similar to ourselves

At the beginning of each lecture I say, 'Here's a set of events unexplainable by common sense, and I promise you'll be able to solve this mystery at the end of class.'

A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.

There's a difference between a mystery and a question. Questions demand answers, but a mystery demands something more valuable-explanation.

Pre-suasion is the practice of getting people sympathetic to your message before they experience it.

There is a group of people who know very well where the weapons of automatic influence lie and employ them regularly and expertly to get what they want. They go from social encounter to social encounter requesting others to comply with their wishes; their frequency of success is dazzling.

The obligation to receive reduces our ability to choose whom we wish to be indebted to and puts that power in the hands of others.