Robert CialdiniTime Magazine has revealed that the Obama administration is still being advised by one of its crucial campaign resources, Professor Robert Cialdini.

“What if I told you a world-famous team of genius scientists, psychologists and economists wrote down the best techniques for GOTV [Get Out The Vote] scripting?!?! …”

[The script was written by] the Consortium of Behavioral Scientists, a secret advisory group of 29 of the nation’s leading behaviorists. The key guideline was a simple message: “A Record Turnout Is Expected.” That’s because studies by psychologist Robert Cialdini and other group members had found that the most powerful motivator for hotel guests to reuse towels, national-park visitors to stay on marked trails and citizens to vote is the suggestion that everyone is doing it.

“People want to do what they think others will do,” says Cialdini, author of the best seller Influence. “The Obama campaign really got that.”

–Time Magazine
April 2, 2009
How Obama Is Using
the Science of Change

I have long admired and used Cialdini’s work. You can see my book review and the slides I used to teach it to MBA students here.