Social Influence

In addition to the long line of research and theory on influence tactics in industrial and organizational psychology, social psychology also has created a substantial amount of knowledge in this area as well. In fact, social influence is considered a cornerstone of the field. One of the leading authors in this area is Robert Cialdini (2006; 2008), who has written a series of theory and science to practice books on the topic. But in general the idea of social influence is activating automatic processing (unconscious thoughts and behaviors that once triggered produce very predictable responses) in others for them to comply with your requests. In particular there are certain behaviors that one can use to follow through with our requests.

We will highlight Cialdini’s 6 principles of social influence, but there are others that you may want to investigate.

• Reciprocity. One way to influence someone is to give them something. Humans are social creatures, and as such are programmed to return favors. That is why charities very often include “free gifts” when soliciting donations; it increases the amount of donations they receive as people feel obligated to return the favor.
• Commitment and Consistency. Very simply, if as a leader you can get a person to verbally or in writing commit to an idea, they are much more likely to follow through on it. This is particularly true if the commitment is restated consistently. This is actually the idea behind pledges of allegiance. In other domains of psychology you may have heard this referred to as “the best predictor of behavior is intention.”
• Social Proof. People will follow along with others. Again, as social creatures, people like to fit it in. So if other people are doing it, it must be a good thing. If you are at all familiar with Asch’s classic conformity studies using lines, this is the principle at work. Social proof is particularly effective in situations that are ambiguous or where there are no other clues as to how to behave, as people then start actively looking to others for what to do.
• Authority. As mentioned above, there is a certain power that comes from people being in charge. While people may complain about it, the majority will follow through on requests from authority figures. This was demonstrated in the classic research of Milgram as well as many study replications across the globe.
• Liking. We tend to listen to people we like. Who do you go to for advice? Do you often heed that advice? This is the idea behind why we are more likely to buy over-priced items from kids in our neighborhood when they are raising money for their school. Liking is also the principle behind why viral-marketing works (in addition to social proof).
• Scarcity. Would you like a Ferrari? Most people say yes to that question, but the reality of a Ferrari is that they are highly cramped to sit in with almost no cargo space (even going for an overnight trip is hard to pack for), incredibly high maintenance, and highly impractical (they are so low to the ground they very easily scrape the ground when there are changes in the angle of the road). But because only a limited number are made each year (orders often have to be placed years in advance) they become highly desirable because they are difficult to obtain. The same idea can apply in the work world. A rare promotion opportunity can entice quite a few people to work harder.