Influence

Using the same strategy, but this time asking Columbus, Ohio, residents to predict whether they would vote on Election Day, a te ...

evening?” (and waited for a response before proceeding) or with the statement “I hope you are feeling well this evening” and the ...

gain the desired compliance from prisoners. Of course, the first problem facing the Chinese was how to get any collaboration at ...

purchases, even much larger ones, are expected to flow naturally from the commitment. An article in the trade magazine American ...

their lawns. In some ways, their response was the most astounding of any of the homeowners in the study. Approximately half of t ...

the billboard went up, who could they conceivably hold responsible but themselves and their own damnably strong civic spirit? Th ...

The Magic Act Our best evidence of what people truly feel and believe comes less from their words than from their deeds. Observe ...

was written. People have a natural tendency to think that a statement reflects the true attitude of the person who made it. What ...

of kind treatment, and statements sympathetic to communism. The hope was that the Chinese would want such letters to surface and ...

write it down. When you reach that goal, set another and write that down. You’ll be off and running.^10 If the Amway people have ...

process is the same. Participants voluntarily write essays for attractive prizes that they have only a small chance to win. But ...

selves to their initial estimates at all; they just kept the estimates in mind privately. In these ways, Deutsch and Gerard had ...

decision is buttressed by the pillars of public commitment. They require their clients to write down an immediate weight-loss go ...

the more effort that goes into a commitment, the greater is its ability to influence the attitudes of the person who made it. We ...

and even in detail to the common initiation ceremonies of school fra- ternities. During the traditional “Hell Week” held yearly ...

peatedly, young Richard Swanson failed three times to down his piece. Determined to succeed, he finally got the oil-soaked meat ...

ban sex, you can’t prohibit alcohol, and you probably can’t eliminate hazing!”^13 What is it about hazing practices that make th ...

coeds were required to endure pain rather than embarrassment to get into a group. The more electric shock a woman received as pa ...

successful, it was specifically intended, intended to create desired levels of pride and camaraderie among those who endured and ...

tions reasons, then, fraternities should want to incorporate community- service efforts into their initiation practices. But the ...