Every day, we're bombarded by attempts at persuasion. Television commercials, websites, billboards, political campaigns, and even our friends and families when they ask us to help them. The power of persuasion is clear.

But how does persuasion work? What are the keys to successful persuasion and influence? The psychology of persuasion has some answers.

This course is meant to get you started by showing you 5 proven persuasion strategies. These insights come from real published research in the field of social psychology. You'll see how lots of careful experiments show us how persuasion can be most effective.

If you're interested in persuading people, what are you waiting for? Consider the following scenarios. All of them illustrate the value of understanding persuasion and influence:

• You work for a charity and are trying to collect donations
• You manage a team of people and need them to cooperate
• You have a product to sell and need the world to see its value
• You have an issue you're passionate about and want to convince people of its importance
• You are moving to a new house and need to convince your friend to help you
• You are trying to collect signatures on a petition
• You need to find the persuasive language or persuasive argument to make your point

See how all of these scenarios require you to persuade and influence other people? They would be so much easier if you just knew the persuasive words to use. The videos in this course will get you started!

I'm a social psychologist, and I do research every day on topics of persuasion and influence. I've taught psychology to many students--both online and in the classroom. Now it's your turn!