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How Do Leaders Lead? Through Social Influence

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Abstract

From 1933 to 1944, US president Franklin D. Roosevelt used a series of radio broadcasts—his famous “fireside chats”—to persuade Americans to remain calm through a continuing series of financial, domestic, and military crises. In the early 1980s IBM hired Bill Gates to write an operating system for that company’s computers, but Gates convinced IBM to allow him to market the system through his own start-up company, which he named Microsoft. In 2013 Secretary of State John Kerry threatened Syria’s leaders, warning them the United States would launch a military strike against that country unless they curtailed their weapons program. In 1978 Jim Jones, the leader of a religious sect known as the Peoples Temple, ordered his followers to commit suicide, and nearly all complied with his deadly demand.

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... Forsyth (Forsyth, 2015) describes leadership as a social influence process and asserts that leaders persuade others in myriad ways, ranging from direct to indirect persuasion (Chan, 2022;Shi & Zhou, 2022). ...
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Political choice has huge importance, either expressed in the balloting place or in the exit poll, in bringing a political party to power and thus impacting the economy and society's welfare. Research in leadership and decision‐making suggests that the physical characteristics and traits of an individual influence the consumer's trustworthiness. Despite being a less explored research area, studying the impact of specific verbal and non‐verbal cues of a political leader through a technological lens, such as eye‐tracking has been sparsely talked about. Three sets of experiments were conducted to study voters' visual attention and reactions to gage their willingness to vote. First, an eye‐tracking tool was used to record the visual attention and regions of interest (ROI) of voters. Subsequently, a short survey was used to analyze the “willingness to vote”, followed by a pilot study on their attention to non‐verbal cues from the candidate. Also, a sentiment analysis of the voters was gathered from social media platforms. The present study analyzed the non‐verbal aspects of a political leader with regard to voting intention and found that even a few of the non‐verbal cues have an influence on the willingness to vote for a candidate. The findings contribute to the literature of neuro‐politics and decision‐making by analyzing voters' experiences of two political leaders, Narendra Modi (NaMo) and Rahul Gandhi (RaGa) based on non‐verbal cues. Political parties and candidates should focus on non‐verbal cues to increase their chances of winning elections. In addition, practitioners from the industry should incorporate appropriate non‐verbal cues while designing ad campaigns, personal branding, PR campaigns, and CEO addresses.
... Forsyth (Forsyth, 2015) describes leadership as a social influence process and asserts that leaders persuade others in myriad ways, ranging from direct to indirect persuasion (Chan, 2022;Shi & Zhou, 2022). ...
... The Social learning process could be acquired by interaction, instruction and personal experiences (Bandura, 1977;Rotter, 1954). Leadership involves the exercise of influence to affect the behaviour of others in a group in a way that the members are relatively satisfied (Forsyth, 2014). Social norms could be positively affected through social influence in a way that the diverse backgrounds of the citizens of Nigeria, which has hitherto raised concerns for many with issues such as nepotism and tribalism featuring prominently, could be leveraged upon and the synergy harnessed to propagate the desired development-centric behaviours. ...
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In recent times, ardent watchers and analysts of the Nigerian project have suggested that the country has endemic leadership issues with genetic foundations deeply rooted in Her DNA. Although this assertion has been sharply contested, the apparent malady in the current behaviours of persons in key leadership positions in the country seems to have assumed worrisome dimensions .The observed leadership behaviours have taken an impoverishing toll on the efforts at National Development. Thus, this work, in the bid to evolve persons with development-centric leadership behaviours, took an organic approach to attempt to resolve the underlying leadership malaise. This was done using metaphoric symbolisms and biological analogies to have an introspective view of aspects of molecular ecology. This dimension was adopted in order to explain how leadership behaviour mutation could counteract the prevailing leadership trend and provide actionable thoughts for the ultimate attainment of sustainable National Development.
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Influence is a kind of friendly impact wherein a gathering of individuals is intentionally encouraged to acknowledge a specific thought, mentality, or game-plan. Convinced entertainers disguise new standards and rules of fitting conduct, and their inclinations and personalities are reshaped accordingly. Persuasion is an attempt to change people's minds through messaging, with a focus on communicators' and listeners' attributes. The ultimate goal, however, is to strengthen or change attitudes and behaviours, thus the use of motivational facts, opinions, and appeals must reinforce that goal. Good persuaders understand the importance of emotions and respond to them in two ways. Framing your objectives in a way that identifies areas of agreement with individuals you're trying to persuade is crucial to successful persuasion. Avoid the top four mistakes made in huge persuasion project. Influence is the most common way of convincing others to modify their psyches, make a responsibility, purchase an item or administration, or play out an activity. It involves listening to others, testing a position, formulating a new stance based on the group's input, and then trying again. Influence is a procedure for convincing individuals to change their viewpoints about a specific item, point, or individual. Not at all like consistence getting, social impact is often non-objective coordinated. The outcomes might be conflicting with or random to the communicator's expectations. INTRODUCTION Persuasion is a personality attribute that some people are born with, but it can also be learnt and enhanced. Whether we are quietly monitoring their conduct or actively complying with their requests, other people have an impact on our thoughts and actions. Influence is a sort of friendly impact wherein a gathering of individuals is intentionally encouraged to acknowledge a specific thought, demeanour, or game-plan by emblematic strategies. At any given time, there are a plethora of competing inputs vying for our attention and resulting in perceptual organisation. The stimulus features, as well as our own internal requirements, motives, and socio-cultural setting in which we were raised, are all important. All of these aspects, as well as sensory variables and internal factors unique to each person, influence how our perceptions have developed. Persuasion "needs debate and reasoning to alter the minds of others," rather than "being merely a technique of manipulating exogenous incentives to elicit desired behaviour from the other side." Convinced entertainers disguise new standards and rules of proper conduct, and their inclinations and characters are reshaped subsequently.
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This research took as its object a villa/hotel in Pecatu Village, Badung Regency, with the aim of examining the influence of price, service quality and influencer marketing on the decision to stay at a villa in Badung Regency. Quantitative Multiple Regression Research Method with a sample of 84 and data analysis using SPSS Version 24. Findings from the Research: (1) Price (X1) influences decisions to stay in a positive and significant way; (2) Service Quality (X2) influences decisions to stay in a positive and significant way; (3) Influencer Marketing (X3) influences decisions to stay in a positive and significant way; and (4) Overnight Stay (Y) influences decisions to stay in a villa or hotel in Badung Regency in a positive and significant way all at once, making them into a single unit. Research Implications This research found that the influence of price variables, service quality and influencer marketing on the decision to stay at a villa/hotel in Badung Regency is very large.
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Geleneksel olarak, eğitim örgütlerinin sıklıkla hiyerarşik bir yapıya dayalı olarak yönetilmiş ve kararlar genellikle üst yönetim tarafından alınmıştır (Jones, 2019). Ancak, son yıllarda, alternatif yönetim modelleri ve daha katılımcı yaklaşımlar eğitim alanında da giderek daha fazla ilgi görmektedir (Brown, 2020). Araştırmanın amacı, anarşist kuramın ve holakrasinin eğitimdeki rolünü anlamak ve gelecekteki araştırma ve uygulamalara yol göstermek için bir temel oluşturulmasını sağlamak, eğitimde yönetim düşüncesine ve uygulamalarına farklı perspektif sunmak ve bu perspektifin eğitimdeki potansiyel etkilerini değerlendirmektir. Bu bağlamda, anarşist kuramın eğitimdeki etkileri ve holakrasinin eğitimde uygulanması üzerine odaklanarak, alternatif yönetim modellerinin eğitim alanındaki rolü tartışılmaktadır. Anarşist kuramın eğitimdeki yönetim düşüncesine nasıl bir perspektif getirdiğini incelenmektedir. Anarşist kuramın temel prensipleri olan özerklik, katılımcılık ve özgürlük gibi kavramlar, eğitime nasıl yansımaktadır? Holakrasi kavramını açıklanarak ve geleneksel yönetim anlayışından nasıl farklılaştığını açıklanmaktadır. Eğitimde yönetimde holakrasinin nasıl uygulanabileceğini ve potansiyel etkilerini ele alınmaktadır.
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Investigated whether men and women in positions of equal power differ in the strategies they use to influence subordinates. 24 male and 24 female undergraduates were placed into a supervisory role in a simulated organizational setting and were compared on the frequency, range, and types of influence strategies they used to direct the work of 3 bogus subordinates. Although gender differences consistent with general sex-role stereotypes were found, most differences were weak and only of marginal significance. Relative to males, females made fewer influence attempts, used a more limited range of influence strategies, used fewer rewarding strategies, particularly promises of pay increases, and used more coercive strategies, especially pay deductions. Females displayed lower levels of self-confidence than did males, and sex-linked differences in self-confidence explained much of the gender difference observed in the frequency with which influence attempts were made and the extent to which coercive strategies were used. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The author conducted a partial replication of Stanley Milgram's (1963, 1965, 1974) obedience studies that allowed for useful comparisons with the original investigations while protecting the well-being of participants. Seventy adults participated in a replication of Milgram's Experiment 5 up to the point at which they first heard the learner's verbal protest (150 volts). Because 79% of Milgram's participants who went past this point continued to the end of the shock generator's range, reasonable estimates could be made about what the present participants would have done if allowed to continue. Obedience rates in the 2006 replication were only slightly lower than those Milgram found 45 years earlier. Contrary to expectation, participants who saw a confederate refuse the experimenter's instructions obeyed as often as those who saw no model. Men and women did not differ in their rates of obedience, but there was some evidence that individual differences in empathic concern and desire for control affected participants' responses.
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Previous research on the persuasive impact of an overheard audience has yielded conflicting results. In this study, we attempted to understand such audience effects within the framework of the heuristic model of persuasion. Subjects listened to an audiotaped persuasive message that conveyed arguments of either high or low quality and that was responded to by either an enthusiastic or an unenthusiastic overheard audience. In addition, subject involvement (high vs. low) was varied. Consistent with predictions, the audience response cue influenced postmessage opinions only under low involvement; under high involvement, only argument quality affected persuasion. Analyses that took into account subjects' need for cognition supported the additional hypothesis that individuals lower in need for cognition would be more responsive to the audience manipulation under low involvement. Thought-listing data and regression analyses provided further support for the heuristic model.
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This articles describes a procedure for the study of destructive obedience in the laboratory. It consists of ordering a naive S to administer increasingly more severe punishment to a victim in the context of a learning experiment. Punishment is administered by means of a shock generator with 30 graded switches ranging from Slight Shock to Danger: Severe Shock. The victim is a confederate of the E. The primary dependent variable is the maximum shock the S is willing to administer before he refuses to continue further. 26 Ss obeyed the experimental commands fully, and administered the highest shock on the generator. 14 Ss broke off the experiment at some point after the victim protested and refused to provide further answers. The procedure created extreme levels of nervous tension in some Ss. Profuse sweating, trembling, and stuttering were typical expressions of this emotional disturbance. One unexpected sign of tension––yet to be explained––was the regular occurrence of nervous laughter, which in some Ss developed into uncontrollable seizures. The variety of interesting behavioral dynamics observed in the experiment, the reality of the situation for the S, and the possibility of parametric variation within the framework of the procedure, point to the fruitfulness of further study.
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Chapter
The concept of social influence is the cornerstone of social psychology; people would not be social beings if they were not influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. If humans were guided only by their personal interests and idiosyncratic goals, even the most simple of collaborative undertakings would end in failure. People must be sensitive to, make use of, and in many cases change in response to social influence. Early studies of such topics as the psychology of crowds, the development of norms, reference groups, and leadership provided a foundation for the scientific analysis of three sets of social influence processes: conformity, compliance, and obedience. Because of both normative and informational influence, individuals often conform to the standards set by other people, although dissenting individuals sometimes succeed in eventually changing the majority's opinion. Compliance, like conformity, involves a change in opinions, judgments, or actions, but this change results when one person deliberately tries to influence another person. Obedience is also a relatively direct form of influence: a change in behavior to match the dictates of a person who occupies a position of social power. Research, including Milgram's behavioral study of obedience, suggests that those who control key bases of power can compel individuals to obey even when they would rather resist this social pressure, but that those who occupy positions of power in a social organization experience psychological changes that can cause them to misuse their authority.Keywords:social influence;conformity;compliance;obedience;social power
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In the present chapter, we advance a reciprocal influence model of social power. Our model is rooted in evolutionist analyses of primate hierarchies, and notions that the capacity for subordinates to form alliances imposes important demands upon those in power, and that power heuristically reduces the likelihood of conflicts within groups. Guided by these assumptions, we posit a set of propositions regarding the reciprocal nature of power, and review recent supporting data. With respect to the acquisition of social power, we show that power is afforded to those individuals and strategic behaviors related to advancing the interests of the group. With respect to constraints upon power, we detail how group‐based representations (a fellow group member's reputation), communication (gossip), and self‐assessments (an individual's modest sense of power) constrain the actions of those in power according to how they advance group interests. Finally, with respect to the notion that power acts as a social interaction heuristic, we examine how social power is readily and accurately perceived by group members and gives priority to the emotions, goals, and actions of high‐power individuals in shaping interdependent action. We conclude with a discussion of recent studies of the subjective sense of power and class‐based ideologies.
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The studies reported deal with the effectiveness of films and other mass-communication devices. Part I on film evaluation studies contains chapters 2-6 entitled (2) The orientation film, "The Battle of Britain," (3) general implications derived from the orientation film experiments, (4) the audience's evaluation of films, (5) experimental comparison of alternative presentations, and (6) effects of films on men of different intellectual ability. Part II on studies employing controlled variation contains chapters 7-9 on (7) short-time and long-time effects of an orientation film, (8) the effects of presenting "one side" versus "both sides" in changing opinions on a controversial subject, and (9) the effect of an audience-participation technique in film-strip presentation. Chapter 10 is a summary and evaluation. An appendix on measurement problems deals with (A) the baseline for measurement of percentage change, (B) "marginal" versus "internal" effects, (C) comparison of the before-after and the after-only design of experiments, and (D) "regression" in the analysis of effects of films. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Most experiments in social psychology are considered defective because the investigators, lacking social perspective, set up their problems within the culture of their own communities. The writer has no sympathy for the controversy between the individual and the social approaches. The individual is regarded as basic, and any valid psychological principle should apply to the individual, alone, in a group, or in relation to his whole culture. Throughout psychology, in perception, in judgment, in affectivity, etc., the frame of reference is shown to be an important determinant of experience. Variations in culture are shown to be variations in frames of reference common to various groups. Social frames of reference (social norms, i.e. values, customs, stereotypes, conventions, etc.) are regarded first as stimuli which meet the individual in his associations with others and then become interiorized. The process of establishing a social norm is illustrated experimentally in an unstable perceptual situation (autokinetic phenomenon). Observing alone, the individual establishes his own frame of reference, which is modified in the direction of conformity when he observes in a group. Observing first in a group, frames of reference are set up which determine subsequent reports when the individual observes alone (illustrating the factual basis for the contentions that supra-individual qualities arise in group situations). Social values in relation to personal needs are discussed in the light of this experiment. A final chapter describes "human nature" as dependent upon the norms peculiar to the individual's group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Reviews research conducted by the author and colleagues between 1962 and 1984 on the use of power in organizations and in personal relationships. Research using a self-report methodology has been supplemented with content analyses of verbal influence techniques as they are actually used by psychotherapists and protagonists in dramatic literature. It has been shown that people choose particular influence tactics on the basis of their degree of dominance over the target person, their objectives, and their expectations of compliance. Certain tactics often result in disruptions in personal relationships and lead people to derogate individuals they have influenced. Results have also illustrated how the introduction of new technologies is a control strategy that reduces the power of workers and leads managers to evaluate them unfavorably. (63 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The purpose of this study was to investigate "what kinds of personal characteristics, in any student community, determine those social relationships which in turn lead to varying reactions to proposed social changes." Students of Bennington College (1935-1939) served as subjects. The 3 major types of data used were paper-and-pencil questionnaire responses, written reports on individual students, and individual interviews. A scale of "Political and Economic Progressivism" (PEP), scored by the Likert method, was the main measurement employed. Findings were as follows: a significant change in social attitudes (from more to less conservatism) between freshman and senior years; persistence of senior attitudes at least several years after leaving college; slight relationship between attitude changes and course of study; and a relationship between community identification (measured by "guess who" technique) and PEP score, greater identification being associated with greater liberalism, and "community-negativism" with conservatism. Interpretation of results in the light of the Bennington milieu leads to the following conclusion: "It is the community role which mediates between social attitudes and other personality characteristics." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Propaganda relies less upon techniques which help the individual to come into intelligent control of his conduct, and more on techniques which induce the individual to follow non-rational emotional drives. The four principles followed in propaganda are: (1) rely on emotions, never argue; (2) cast propaganda into the pattern of "we" versus an "enemy"; (3) reach groups as well as individuals; (4) hide the propagandist as much as possible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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This research explored the notion that the use and efficacy of influence tactics launched from different social power bases depends on influence agents' and recipients' need for cognitive closure. In three separate studies conducted in diverse organizational contexts, it was found that, while overall participants exhibited a preference for soft over hard social influence tactics, this preference becomes less pronounced for supervisors high (versus low) on need for closure and becomes more pronounced for supervisors low on the need for closure. Overall, soft tactics were more beneficial for subordinates' performance than hard tactics; however, the benefits of soft tactics decreased as a function of subordinates' need for closure. Finally, organizational outcomes were improved when recipients who were high (versus low) on the need for closure were exposed to “hard” power tactics and those low (versus high) in the need for closure were exposed to “soft” tactics. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
According to the pique technique, a target is more likely to comply if mindless refusal is disrupted by a strange or unusual request. We demonstrated the use of this technique in two experiments. In Experiment 1, passersby on a local municipal wharf were approached by a confederate panhandler who made either one of two strange requests: “Can you spare 17¢ (or 37¢)?” or made either one of two typical requests “Can you spare a quarter (or any change)?” Subjects in the strange conditions were almost 60% more likely to give money than those receiving the typical plea. In addition, a strange request piqued interest as evidenced by increased verbal inquiries about the request. Experiment 2 replicated the first experiment in a laboratory setting and provides additional evidence (via a cognitive response analysis) that strange requests piqued subjects' interest in the appeal as well as increased liking for the panhandler.
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Guided by the belief that we cannot make broad extrapolations from the obedience studies without first firmly establishing what has and has not been found using the paradigm itself, this article draws on 35 years of accumulated research and writings on the obedience paradigm to present a status report on the following salient questions and issues surrounding obedience to authority: (a) How should we construe the nature of authority in the obedience experiment? (b) Do predictions of those unfamiliar with the obedience experiment underestimate the actual obedience rates? (c) Are there gender differences in obedience? and (d) Have obedience rates changed over time?
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This special issue focuses upon the creation, maintenance, and use of legitimating ideologies by authorities, institutions, and societies. Such ideologies provide normative justifications for existing policies and practices through which they are seen as appropriate, reasonable, and fair and are, consequently, more readily accepted.
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While much has been written on the subject, a crucial component of leadership has been largely ignored: the mind of the leader and the minds of his or her followers. Linking the study of creativity and leadership, Gardner demonstrates the strong tie between traditional creators (artists and scientists) and leaders in the realms of business, politics, and the military. Gardner claims that the key to leadership is the creation and embodiment of an effective story. He argues that unless they're working with specialists, leaders must deal with the "unschooled mind." They must take into account the fundamental theories about the world that all of us acquire as children and that persist through life—even when those theories are later undermined by what we learn in school. In striking portraits of a wide range of leaders . . . Gardner recreates the leaders' stories and depicts the struggles among rival stories that occur in the minds of an audience. He explains the overwhelming appeal of simplistic stories and enumerates the key moves needed to counter that appeal. He also describes the ways in which all leaders ultimately confront failure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Political Science. Includes bibliographical references.
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Incluye índice Incluye bibliografía Se describe y analiza una amplia variedad de teorías sobre el liderazgo, haciendo énfasis en cómo cada teoría puede aplicarse para mejorar el liderazgo en organizaciones reales.
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A series of interrelated hypotheses has been presented to account for data on informal social communication collected in the course of a number of studies. The data come from field studies and from laboratory experiments specifically designed to test the hypotheses. Three sources of pressures to communicate have been considered: (1) communication arising from pressures toward uniformity in a group (2) communications arising from forces to locomote in a social structure [and] (3) communications arising from the existence of emotional states.
Social influence Advanced social psychology: The state of the science
  • R B Cialdini
  • V Griskevicius
Social power Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles
  • S T Fiske
  • J Berdahl
Persuasion and leadership
  • J M Olson
  • G A Haynes
  • JM Olson
An invitation to social influence research The science of social influence: Advances and future progress
  • A R Pratkanis
The crowd: A study of the popular mind [La psychologie des foules]
  • Le Bon