Currently, Cialdini is Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University.

It was based on three "undercover" years applying for and training at used car dealerships, fund-raising organizations, and telemarketing firms to observe real-life situations of persuasion.

He found that influence is based on six key principles: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity.

[11] In 2016, Cialdini published Pre-suasion, which became a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

[14] Cialdini was hired alongside many other behavioral scientists for the Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2012.