Books like The Social Animal

01

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Philip Zimbardo · Psychology

Philip Zimbardo designed the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971, then watched it spin out of control within days.

Both dig into social psychology.

02

The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time

Maria Konnikova · Psychology

Maria Konnikova has a PhD in psychology and writes about it for a wide audience.

Shares persuasion and human nature with The Social Animal.

03

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)

Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson · Psychology

Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson wrote this book about the mechanisms by which people protect their sense of themselves as competent, moral, and well-intentioned after they have done something that contradicts that self-image.

A kindred psychology read.

04

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert B. Cialdini · Psychology

Influence is Robert Cialdini's account of why people say yes, and how that agreement is manufactured.

Both dig into persuasion.

05

Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade

Robert B. Cialdini · Psychology

Robert Cialdini spent decades studying the principles of persuasion that animate Influence, his 1984 masterwork.

Both dig into persuasion.

06

Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert B. Cialdini · Psychology

Influence, New and Expanded is the 2021 revision of Robert Cialdini's foundational 1984 work on the psychology of persuasion.

Shares social psychology and persuasion with The Social Animal.

07

Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion

Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson · Psychology

Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson's central concern is that modern media, advertising, and politics have optimized for propaganda techniques that bypass critical reasoning and exploit psychological vulnerabilities.

Both dig into persuasion.

08

Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil

Paul Bloom · Psychology

Paul Bloom's central question is how much morality is innate versus learned.

Both dig into human nature.

09

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Chip Heath and Dan Heath · Psychology

Made to Stick is Chip and Dan Heath's investigation into why some ideas take hold in people's minds and spread while others, equally true and well-reasoned, vanish the moment the conversation ends.

Both dig into persuasion.

10

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Adam Grant · Psychology

Originals is Adam Grant's examination of how people champion new ideas without losing their jobs, their relationships, or their nerve.

Both dig into conformity.

11

Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain

Lisa Feldman Barrett · Psychology

Lisa Feldman Barrett wrote this short book — genuinely short at under thirty thousand words — as an accessible introduction to seven core findings of modern neuroscience, each presented as a lesson that overturns something most people believe.

Both dig into human nature.

12

The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others

Tali Sharot · Psychology

Tali Sharot's second book turns from how our own brains distort perception to how we can change what other people think and do.

Both dig into persuasion.