Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D.
Thursday October 20, 2005
Time: 6:00 - 7:30 pm at ...The George Washington University
Marvin Center Room 405
800 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
202-994-7470
About the Speaker:
Dr. Cialdini received his graduate training from the University of North Carolina and Columbia University.
He has held Visiting Scholar Appointments at Ohio State University , the University of California , the Annenberg School
of Communications, and the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University . Additionally, Dr. Cialdini has been elected
President of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He is currently Regent's Professor of Psychology at Arizona
State University , where he has also been named Distinguished Graduate Research Professor. Dr. Cialdini’s book, Influence:
Science and Practice, has been printed in 20 languages. , and was recently rated by Fortune Magazine as one of the top 75 Smartest
Business Books of all time. Dr. Cialdini has received a great deal of media attention for his work, including appearances on Dateline NBC,
National Public Radio, and the ABC News Program 20/20.
About the Seminar :
What can a relatively underpowered challenger do to undermine the much more frequent
communications of a more powerful rival? That is, legitimate voices are often drowned out by
those of competitors who—by dint of greater resources, proximity, or access—can engage an audience’s
attention to a disproportionate degree. The Poison Parasite Defense offers a solution to the problem.
It requires that the challenger send the audience a message that is, first, poisonous—by virtue of a
particular type of counterargument that transforms the opponent’s message—and is, second, parasitic—by
virtue of associative links to the opponent’s message. Data to support the effectiveness of the tactic
come from experiments done in both political and commercial contexts where incumbent candidates and
market leaders have an inherent persuasive advantage over upstart challengers.
This event is co-sponsored by:
The Decade of Behavior (American Psychological Association) and by
The Department of Psychology at The George Washington University
For questions & to RSVP for any of our *free* Crossroads Seminars, please call (202) 994-1880