Influence and Persuasion

—Shaping our beliefs and actions

Know who is pulling your strings.

Introduction

Influence and persuasion are two powerful forces that shape human interactions and societal progress. While they are closely related, each term carries distinct meanings and implications. Influence refers to the capacity to affect the thoughts, feelings, or behaviors of others, often subtly and indirectly.

Persuasion, on the other hand, involves the deliberate attempt to convince someone to adopt a specific belief, attitude, or course of action. Both can be used for pro-social or anti-social purposes, depending on the intent and ethical considerations of those wielding them. This course explores these concepts, their strategies, and their potential applications.

Objectives

The objectives of this course are to help students:

• Recognize how different modes of influence and methods of persuasion affect our attention, understanding, beliefs, and actions.
• Develop the ability to effectively direct attention, modify beliefs, and influence actions in others using these techniques.

Influence: Shaping Without Direct Effort

Definition and Characteristics

Influence is often a passive or indirect process through which individuals or groups shape the behavior or opinions of others. Unlike persuasion, influence does not always involve explicit communication or conscious effort. It is embedded in social roles, relationships, cultural norms, and environmental factors.

Social influence comprises the ways in which individuals adjust their behavior to meet the demands of a social environment. It takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. Typically, social influence results from a specific action, command, or request, but people also alter their attitudes and behaviors in response to what they perceive others might do or think. In 1958, Harvard psychologist Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.

1. Compliance is when people appear to agree with others but keep their dissenting opinions private.
2. Identification is when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected, such as a celebrity.
3. Internalization is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately.

Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard identified two psychological needs that drive humans to conform to the expectations of others. These needs are our desire to be right (informational social influence) and our need to be liked (normative social influence). Informational influence, also known as social proof, is the tendency to accept information from others as evidence of reality. It becomes relevant when individuals are uncertain, either due to ambiguous stimuli or social disagreements. Normative influence, on the other hand, is the pressure to conform to the positive expectations of others. In Kelman’s typology, normative influence leads to public compliance, while informational influence fosters private acceptance.

Strategies and Techniques for Influencing

1. Modeling Behavior:
   • Demonstrating desired actions can influence others through social learning. For instance, leaders who exhibit integrity inspire their teams to act similarly.
2. Social Proof:
   • People often look to others for cues on how to behave, particularly in uncertain situations. Highlighting the popularity or widespread adoption of a behavior can encourage others to follow suit.
3. Authority:
   • Expertise or position often commands respect, making people more likely to be influenced by those perceived as authorities.
4. Scarcity:
   • Limited availability of a resource or opportunity creates a sense of urgency and influences decisions.
5. Emotional Resonance:
   • Building rapport and appealing to emotions, such as empathy or trust, can influence others subtly but effectively.
6. Social Contagion
   • Social contagion involves the spontaneous spread of behaviors or emotions through a group, population or social network.
7. Conformity
   • Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in behavior, belief, or thinking to align with those of others or with normative standards. It is the most common and pervasive form of social influence
8. Reactance
   • Reactance is the adoption of a view contrary to the view that a person is being pressured to accept, perhaps due to a perceived threat to behavioral freedoms.
9. Obedience
   • Obedience is a form of social influence that derives from an authority figure, based on order or command.
10. Propaganda
    • Propaganda is information that is not objective and is used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is presented.
11. Hard Power
    • Hard power is the use of military and economic means to influence the behavior or interests of other political bodies. This form of political power is often aggressive (coercion) and is most effective when imposed by one political body upon another of lesser military and/or economic power. Hard power contrasts with soft power, which comes from diplomacy, culture and history.

Assignment:

1. When do you deliberately seek to influence others?
2. What techniques do you use?
3. What techniques are most effective?
4. What are the least effective?

Being Influenced

Understanding how one is influenced requires awareness of the factors shaping perceptions and behaviors. People are more likely to be influenced by those they trust, admire, or feel connected to. However, critical thinking and self-awareness can act as safeguards against unwanted or unethical influence.

Pro-Social vs. Anti-Social Applications

• Pro-Social: Influence can foster positive social change, such as promoting recycling by highlighting its prevalence in a community.
• Anti-Social: It can also perpetuate harm, as seen in peer pressure leading to harmful behaviors like substance abuse.

Distinctions Between Influencing and Being Influenced

Influencing focuses on outward actions to shape others, while being influenced involves the internal process of adapting to external cues. Influencers often hold positions of power or authority, but even subtle social dynamics can exert influence. Recognizing the mechanisms of influence enables individuals to navigate these dynamics with greater autonomy.

Assignment

1. Recall several instances when you were being influenced.
2. Were you aware of the influences acting on you?
3. How susceptible were you to these influences?
   1. How do you know?
4. Were these pro-social or anti-social influences?
   1. How do you know?

Persuasion: Deliberate Convincing

Definition and Characteristics

Persuasion involves a conscious effort to change someone’s mind, beliefs, or actions through communication. It relies on logical arguments, emotional appeals, or credibility to achieve its goals. Unlike influence, persuasion is typically more direct and deliberate.

Strategies and Techniques for Persuasion

1. Rhetoric—The Art of Persuasion—combines these three strategies:
   • Ethos (Credibility): Establishing the persuader’s authority or trustworthiness.
   • Pathos (Emotion): Evoking feelings to motivate action.
   • Logos (Logic): Using facts, data, and logical arguments to convince.
2. Framing:
   • Presenting information in a way that highlights certain aspects over others to shape perceptions.
3. Reciprocity:
   • People are more likely to agree with someone who has done something for them, creating a sense of obligation.
4. Repetition:
   • Repeated exposure to a message increases familiarity and acceptance.
5. Storytelling:
   • Narratives engage the audience emotionally and make ideas more memorable and relatable.
6. Persuasive Technology
   • Persuasive technology is broadly defined as technology that is designed to change attitudes or behaviors of the users through persuasion and social influence, but not necessarily through coercion.

Assignment:

1. When do you deliberately seek to persuade others?
2. What techniques do you use?
3. What techniques are most effective?
4. What are the least effective?

Being Persuaded

Being persuaded involves a shift in perspective, often influenced by the communicator’s message and delivery. Evaluating the validity of arguments, considering alternative viewpoints, and recognizing emotional appeals are essential for discerning persuasion.

Pro-Social vs. Anti-Social Applications

• Pro-Social: Persuasion can mobilize collective action for good, such as campaigns encouraging vaccination to improve public health.
• Anti-Social: It can manipulate people for selfish or harmful ends, such as deceptive advertising that exploits vulnerabilities. Beware of charlatans.

Distinctions Between Persuading and Being Persuaded

Persuading is an active process requiring intention and skill, whereas being persuaded involves an evaluative response to external arguments. Ethical persuasion respects autonomy and transparency, while manipulative persuasion seeks to control or deceive.

Pro-Social and Anti-Social Implications

Pro-Social Uses

• Public Health: Campaigns persuading people to adopt healthier lifestyles or influencing communities to support mental health initiatives.
• Social Justice: Using influence to amplify marginalized voices or persuade policymakers to enact equitable legislation.
• Environmental Advocacy: Influencing public opinion to adopt sustainable practices and persuading industries to reduce carbon footprints.

Anti-Social Risks

• Exploitation: Influence and persuasion can exploit emotions or fears for financial or political gain.
• Misinformation: Spreading false information to manipulate opinions or behaviors undermines trust and social cohesion.
• Coercion: Persuasion techniques can be misused to pressure individuals into unethical or harmful actions.

Assignment

1. Recall several instances when you were being persuaded.
2. Were you aware of the persuasions acting on you?
3. How susceptible were you to these persuasions?
   1. How do you know?
4. Were these pro-social or anti-social persuasions?
   1. How do you know?

Conclusion

Influence and persuasion are fundamental to human interaction, shaping individual decisions and societal trends. While their mechanisms and effects overlap, understanding their distinctions enriches our capacity to wield them responsibly. By leveraging these tools for pro-social purposes—fostering empathy, collaboration, and progress—we can create a more equitable and compassionate world. However, vigilance is necessary to guard against their misuse, ensuring that influence and persuasion remain forces for good rather than tools for harm.

Recommended Reading

Students who are interested in learning more about influence and persuasion may wish to read these books:

• Cialdini, Robert B. (20). Influence: the psychology of persuasion (Rev. ed., [Nachdr.] ed.). New York, NY: Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-124189-5. 
• Lee, Blaine (1997). The power principle: influence with honor. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-81058-4. 
• Dyer, Wayne W. (1991). Pulling your own strings: dynamic techniques for dealing with other people and living your life as you choose (1st HarperPerennial ed ed.). New York, NY: HarperPerennial. ISBN 978-0-06-091975-7.