The character arc of Robert Cialdini

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 27 April 1945. Between then and now sit a Wisconsin degree in June 1967, a Chapel Hill doctorate in June 1970, postgraduate work at Columbia, years of field observation among compliance professionals, Influence in 1984, Pre-Suasion in 2016 and election to the National Academy of Sciences in April 2019. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Robert Cialdini?

He went and stood where the selling happened.

He took a bachelor of science at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in June 1967 and a doctorate in social psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in June 1970, then did postgraduate training at Columbia. He has held visiting appointments at Ohio State, at Santa Cruz, at the Annenberg School of Communications and at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and is Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University.

The thing that separates him from the rest of his field is what he did next. Rather than study persuasion only in a laboratory, he went out and trained alongside the people who do it for a living: salespeople, fundraisers, recruiters. He has described it himself as years of participant observation. Nobody with a doctorate was doing that.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, published in 1984, is what came back. It sets out the principles compliance professionals use, whether or not they could name them, and it has been in print for more than forty years. Later editions came under the title Influence: Science and Practice, and were followed by Yes, written with Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin in 2008, The Small BIG in 2014 and Pre-Suasion in 2016, which argues that the moment before the request matters more than the request. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in April 2019.

The moments

Robert Cialdini's timeline.

The 1960s

Jun 1967

Wisconsin

Milestone. A state university degree, and the start of a long training.

The 1970s

Jun 1970

A doctorate at twenty five

Milestone, and it changed everything. A doctorate at twenty five, and then more training on top of it.

1 Jun 1974

Study it, or go and see

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: train alongside them, taken, or stay in the laboratory. Influence has been in print for more than forty years, and it could not have been written from a laboratory alone.

Jun 1975

Out among the sellers

Milestone, and it changed everything. A psychologist who left the laboratory to stand where the selling actually happened.

The 1980s

~1984

Influence

Milestone, and it changed everything. The principles compliance professionals use, whether or not they could name them.

The 1990s

Jun 1995

The visiting years

Milestone. Four institutions, and a subject none of them had taught that way.

The 2000s

~2000

Science and Practice

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The same book, rewritten for students, and still selling.

2 Sep 2008

Yes

Milestone. Fifty findings, one per chapter, written with two co-authors.

The 2010s

2 Sep 2014

The Small BIG

Milestone. Small changes with large effects, which is the whole field in one title.

6 Sep 2016

Pre-Suasion

Milestone, and it changed everything. The argument that the moment before the request matters more than the request.

30 Apr 2019

The National Academy

Milestone, and it changed everything. Elected at seventy four, thirty five years after the book.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is a set of principles a great many people now recognise being used on them, which is the most useful thing a book about persuasion could possibly do.

What he wrote

Books by Robert Cialdini

1984
Influence
The psychology of persuasion. Written out of years spent training alongside the people who persuade for a living, and in print ever since.
2008
Yes
Fifty scientifically proven ways to be persuasive, written with Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin.
2014
The Small BIG
Small changes that spark a big influence, which is the whole field in one title.
2016
Pre-Suasion
The argument that the moment before the request matters more than the request itself.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

His left the laboratory and went to stand where the work actually happened. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

Step through

Draw my own line Explore Character Arc

Robert Cialdini: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Robert Cialdini's character arc?

A doctorate in social psychology at twenty five, then years spent training alongside salespeople, fundraisers and recruiters instead of staying in a laboratory, then the book that came out of it and a national academy at seventy four.

What is Influence by Robert Cialdini?

His book of 1984, subtitled the psychology of persuasion. It sets out the principles that compliance professionals use, whether or not they can name them, and it has been in print for more than forty years.

How did Robert Cialdini research Influence?

By his own account he spent years in participant observation, training alongside people who persuade for a living, including salespeople, fundraisers and recruiters. No academic in his field was doing that at the time.

What is Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini?

His book of 2016, which argues that the moment before a request is made matters more than the request itself, because what a person has just been attending to shapes how they answer.

Where did Robert Cialdini study?

The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where he took a bachelor of science in June 1967, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he took his doctorate in June 1970, followed by postgraduate work at Columbia.

Is Robert Cialdini in the National Academy of Sciences?

Yes, elected in April 2019, at the age of seventy four and thirty five years after Influence was published. He is Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University.

What books has Robert Cialdini written?

Influence in 1984, Influence: Science and Practice from 2000, Yes in 2008 with Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin, The Small BIG in 2014 and Pre-Suasion in 2016. The first of them is the one everybody knows.

Where does this timeline of Robert Cialdini's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Robert Cialdini isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

More character arcs

Lives that rhyme with his.

Every Character, A to Z

Sources

Robert Cialdini, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
National Academy of Sciences, members elected April 2019.
Publisher records for Influence, Influence: Science and Practice, The Small BIG and Pre-Suasion.