Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior

The New York Times bestselling author of

Contagious explores the subtle, secret influences that affect our behavior-from what we buy to the careers we choose-in this fascinating and groundbreaking work.

THINK ABOUT A CHOICE YOU MADE RECENTLY. Any choice. Which place to eat lunch, or a more Important decision, like which political candidate to support. Why did you make that choice? Why did you prefer the particular option you ended up choosing?

Seems like an easy question. While various Idiosyncratic reasons may come to mind, in general they all point in the same direction: you. Your personal tastes and preferences. Your likes and dislikes.

The notion that our own personal thoughts and opinions drive our choices seems so obvious that it is not even worth mentioning. Except that it's wrong. Without our realizing it, others have a huge influence on everything we do. We vote if other people are voting and run faster when others are on the adjoining treadmill. But social influence doesn't just lead us to do the same things as others. Sometimes it leads us to do the exact opposite. Our older sibling is the smart one, so we become the funny one. We avoid honking our horn in traffic because we don't want to be one of "those" people.

When do we imitate others, and when do we avoid what they are doing? When do peers motivate us to work harder, and when do they lead us to give up? And what does all this mean for happiness, health, and success-both at home and at work?

Learn why others lead us to pick the same health plan but a different dinner entrée, why peers make us better runners but worse parallel parkers, and what cockroaches can teach us about the science of motivation.