Social Influence

Current Research and New Directions on Cialdini’s Seven Principles of Influence

Robert Cialdini's principles of social influence (reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity, and unity) represent one of the most widely recognized frameworks in the behavioral sciences. Originally introduced in Influence: Science and Practice and later expanded in Pre-Suasion, this framework has shaped decades of research across social psychology, consumer behavior, communication, marketing, and political science. At their core, the principles capture a powerful insight: beyond the substance of influence attempts, people often rely on numerous other signals in their environment to guide decisions, attitudes, and behavior.

Cialdini's formulation emphasized that these signals frequently operate as cognitive shortcuts triggering relatively automatic responses. However, contemporary persuasion research increasingly shows that the psychological processes underlying these principles can be more varied and dynamic than a simple cue-based account suggests. The same influence variable may operate in multiple ways depending on how recipients engage with persuasive information. In some contexts, an influence cue may function as a quick heuristic. In others, it may motivate deeper processing of message content, shape how arguments are interpreted, or influence the confidence people place in their own thoughts.

This Article Collection, "Current Research and New Directions on Cialdini's Seven Principles of Influence," brings together contemporary empirical and theoretical scholarship that advances understanding of the psychological processes underlying these principles. Contributions are encouraged that examine both the principles themselves and well-known influence tactics historically associated with them, such as the foot-in-the-door technique or scarcity-based appeals. These strategies provide useful starting points for examining the mechanisms through which influence unfolds.

A central goal is to highlight research clarifying how influence processes operate in practice, including how influence cues shape attention, interpretation, and judgment, and how social identity, group membership, and norms affect receptiveness to persuasive messages. Influence attempts are not simply accepted or rejected automatically. Rather, recipients actively interpret influence cues in ways that depend on context, motivation, and the informational environment. Contemporary communication environments provide especially important contexts for these questions. Digital platforms, social media networks, and algorithmically curated information streams expose individuals to signals of authority, consensus, identity, and scarcity in new ways. Popularity metrics, network endorsement cues, and rapid information diffusion can amplify or distort familiar influence signals. Simultaneously, misinformation, contested expertise, and strategic manipulation of social signals introduce new challenges, as does growing public awareness of these dynamics. These developments raise important questions about how classic influence principles operate when the credibility of authority, the meaning of consensus, or the interpretation of social signals becomes uncertain.

The Collection therefore welcomes research examining how influence principles function in contemporary communication environments, including studies of digital persuasion, misinformation and correction processes, networked social influence, and identity-based persuasion online. Theoretical contributions clarifying the mechanisms through which influence variables operate across different contexts and levels of engagement are also welcomed.

Social influence shapes decisions across domains including consumer choice, health communication, political messaging, and organizational leadership. Cialdini's seven principles remain one of the most widely used frameworks for understanding these processes. However, contemporary research suggests the underlying mechanisms vary depending on how people engage with persuasive information. Influence cues like authority, consensus, scarcity, and identity signals can shape judgments through multiple pathways, rapid heuristic responses, deliberative argument evaluation, shifts in interpretation, or changes in confidence in one's own thoughts.

These questions are particularly important in modern communication environments. Digital platforms and algorithmically curated information streams expose people to influence cues at unprecedented scale and speed. Signals of expertise, consensus, and popularity are now embedded in everyday online interactions, while misinformation and contested authority complicate interpretation. Understanding how classic influence principles operate under these conditions is essential for advancing the science of social influence.

Subtopics include tactics of social influence either related to Cialdini’s seven principles of influence (i.e., reciprocity, commitment-consistency, social proof, liking, authority, scarcity, and unity), or those tactics which rely on one or more of these principles as their mechanism of action (e.g., foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face, that’s not all, low-balling). Manuscripts with experimental demonstrations of effects and mechanisms are strongly preferred, though meta-analyses and compelling theoretical articles will also be considered. By assembling work that examines both the enduring power and the underlying mechanisms of Cialdini's principles, this Collection aims to deepen understanding of how social influence operates today, illuminating not only when these principles work, but how and why they operate across different psychological processes and informational contexts.

Please contact Dr. MK Huffman at [email protected] with any queries about discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system.

Dr. Joshua Guyer holds a PhD in Social Psychology from Queen’s University and a post-doctorate from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. His primary areas of interest investigate the psychological mechanisms by which different qualities of voice that reflect speaker confidence (e.g., speech rate, intonation, pitch), as well as different emotional qualities of voice (e.g., fear, excitement, boredom, contentment) influence the success of persuasive communications. Additional research interests focus on tactics of social influence such as stealing thunder and scarcity. Dr. Guyer is based in Madrid and teaches at both IE University and Saint Louis University.

Dr. Thomas I. Vaughan-Johnston is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Social Psychology at Cardiff University. His research examines the psychological mechanisms underlying persuasion, attitudes, and social influence, with a particular focus on vocal communication, and mechanisms by which individuals evaluate and change their beliefs. His work has appeared in journals such as Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. He collaborates internationally on projects exploring topics such as vocal signals of confidence, attitude neutrality, and the dynamics of persuasive communication across cultures and contexts.

The Guest Advisors declare no conflict of interest regarding this work.