Everything here is being used on you right now.
Influence is not a dark art — it is a set of ordinary mental shortcuts that work because they usually serve you well. The trouble is that they can be triggered deliberately, by people whose interests are not yours. This wing explains each lever, rates the evidence honestly (including the famous studies that do not hold up), and shows you how to see them coming.
We teach influence the way you teach lock-picking to locksmiths: the goal is recognition and defence. There is a page here on the line between influence and manipulation, and we hold it — this site itself uses no dark patterns, no fake scarcity, no manufactured urgency. You will not find a countdown timer anywhere on it.
The six principles
Reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity — rated.
Read → 02Social proof
You copy the crowd hardest when you are least sure.
Read → 03Scarcity and urgency
The most abused lever in commerce.
Read → 04Authority and obedience
The famous study does not say what you think.
Read → 05Commitment and consistency
Say yes to something small, and you become a different person.
Read → 06Why advertising works
It was never about persuading you.
Read → 07How to resist influence
Inoculation genuinely works. Awareness alone does not.
Read → 08Persuading ethically
The line between influence and manipulation.
Read →