Lecture
1. Explain what is meant by the expression «rank has its obligations» and how this expression relates to the rule of reciprocity. Hint: American President John F. Kennedy once said, «Of those to whom much is given, much is required.»
2. You are finding it hard to make yourself study for an important exam that is coming up soon. Using your new knowledge of the psychology of influence, describe what you would do to make yourself find the time you need for your studies. Explain why the tactic you chose should work.
3. Speaking of the devotion Harley-Davidson owners feel for their «iron horses,» one commentator remarked, «If you can get your customers to tattoo your company’s name on their chests, you’ll never have to worry about them switching to another model.» Explain why these words hold true. What factors strengthen the influence of commitments on future action?
4. Why do we want to appear, and to be, consistent in most situations?
1. Suppose you have to give heart patients a lecture titled «How to Get Help from Others If You Have Acute Chest Pain While in a Public Place.» What would you advise them to do?
2. Describe an incident from your own past when you were tricked into agreement by someone who deliberately falsified the principle of social proof. How would you handle a similar situation today?
3. Suppose you are a television producer assigned a delicate task – to create a series of public-service programmes aimed at reducing the number of suicides among teenagers. It is known that, in keeping with the principle of social proof, airing such programmes can actually increase the number of suicides. How would you use this very same principle so that your show helps its teenage audience resolve this problem? Whom would you interview on camera? Would you interview anxious teenagers? What questions should you ask them?
4. In a letter to her sister, Natalia declared, «I want people not to be very likeable – that spares me the trouble of loving them too much.» What difficulties associated with people’s liking for us was she referring to?
5. Nikolai used to boast that he had never met a person he didn’t like. What can such an approach lead to in interpersonal relationships? Think about your own style of building interpersonal contacts. Is it closer to Nikolai’s style or to Natalia’s? Why?
6. Suppose you want the person sitting next to you to feel greater liking for you. Describe how you would arrange your next meeting with this person in order to achieve your goal.
1. There is a phenomenon known as «captainitis,» the essence of which is that crew members ignore the captain’s mistakes or are reluctant to mention them. If you were the commander of an aircraft crew, what would you do to minimise the likelihood of this dangerous tendency showing itself?
2. Suppose you work at an advertising agency that produces television commercials for food products. If you want the audience to believe in their merits, should you mention their shortcomings? If you do mention them, when would you do so – at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the commercial? How would you explain the choice you made?
3. Ovid said, «What comes easily is wanted by no one, but the forbidden is tempting.» Explain the meaning of this statement from a psychological point of view.
4. For more than a decade, the central idea of a wide-reaching advertising campaign promoting the virtues of «Virginia Slims» cigarettes was as follows: «the modern woman «has come a long way» from complete «downtroddenness» to independence; the modern woman can smoke cigarettes on an equal footing with men. During the period this advertising campaign ran, the percentage of cigarette smokers increased in only one demographic group – the group of teenage girls. Explain this fact.
1. Why do we want to appear, and to be, consistent in most situations?
2. What four factors contribute to strengthening the influence of commitments on a person’s self-image and on that person’s future behaviour consistent with this self-image?
3. What is the essence of the principle of social proof? In light of this principle, how can we explain the effect of a recorded laugh track on the reactions of viewers watching a comedy?
4. What can you say about most people’s tendency to bask in reflected glory? Under what conditions, and in which people, is this tendency most pronounced?
5. What symbols of authority influenced the participants in S. Milgram’s experiment on obedience to an authority figure?
6. What is the relationship between the principle of scarcity and J. Brehm’s theory of psychological reactance?
7. What is people’s standard reaction to forbidden information?
8. What communicative and personal qualities, in the view of various researchers, are necessary for the manifestation of the «charismatic» capacity for personal influence?
9. Name the main personality traits characterising each of the types of influence in V. M. Pogolsha’s classification.
10. Which types of influence are most common among your circle of friends and acquaintances?
Comments