Psychology in Life ｜ Authority Effect： How Are We Convinced？

Original Bao Chuting Qunxue Academy

Only 20 or 30 years ago, psychology was a distant and unfamiliar academic term to the public in China. At that time, most of Chinese were still rushing about for a well-off society and even food and clothing, so they had no time for him. But today, Chinese, which is getting richer day by day, is beginning to know how important it is to correctly understand itself and the world, itself and society, itself and others, and itself and itself. It will make us look at this rapidly changing world with an objective, rational and comprehensive eye, especially when it is in an inexplicable crisis, such as this one sweeping the world. And this requires the intervention of psychological knowledge.

To this end, we specially invite Bao Chuting, a psychological consultant, to open a special topic of "Psychology in Life" in Qunxue College, starting from people, events and social phenomena we are familiar with in daily life, to interpret relevant psychological knowledge in simple terms, so as to provide readers with a unique mirror to pay attention to themselves and society. Stay tuned.

This article is the 40th column.

Author Bao Chuting, a native of Jurong, Jiangsu Province, graduated from the Department of Applied Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanjing University, and is a national third-class psychological consultant. I once wanted to change the world, but now I want to cure it.

Authority effect:

How were we persuaded?

Wen | Bao Chuting

We have all quoted famous sayings and typical examples when speaking and writing articles. For example, in our previous articles, we quoted many famous people’s speeches and classic psychological experiments. In fact, my purpose is very simple, just to make my views more convincing, so I will ask authoritative people to "endorse" me, which is to use the "authority effect".

What those highly respected people say will be more authoritative, valued and credible, which is the main content of the "authority effect".

There are reasons why people are more willing to listen to what authorities say:

First, safety psychology. The reason why an authoritative person becomes an authoritative person shows that others are accomplished in some fields, that is, what we call experts. How can we ordinary people know more about experts? Of course, the experts here are real experts, not fake "bricklayers". Therefore, what authorities say will be more reassuring.

Second, praise psychology. People think that the opinions of authoritative people always conform to social norms. If we listen to authoritative people, we will be consistent with social norms, so that we will get praise and praise. If everyone else listens to the authorities and I am the only one who plays the devil’s advocate, what should I do if I am rejected by others?

Third, fear of trouble. How tired it is to have to solve so many problems by yourself! Listen to the authority, save trouble and worry.

Therefore, these three points can be summed up as follows: fear of making mistakes, fear of being scolded and fear of trouble.

In most cases, listening to authority can really help us make fewer mistakes, get more praise and save a lot of trouble. However, this also has a very serious drawback, that is, we can’t stick to ourselves.

Everyone may have heard the story of Socrates smelling apples: one day, when he was teaching students, Socrates walked past each student with an apple, so that the students could smell the air carefully. Then Socrates asked everyone, "Who smells the apple?" After a while, a man stood up and said that he smelled apples. Socrates then asked, "Who else smells it?" The students looked at each other and kept silent.

So Socrates walked in front of each student with an apple and said it again for them to smell carefully. Later, when he asked again, most students raised their hands.

Socrates walked in front of the students for the third time and then asked. As a result, everyone raised their hands except one classmate. Socrates smiled and asked, "What does everyone smell?" Except the student who didn’t raise his hand, all the other students replied in unison: "the smell of apples!" "

Finally, Socrates asked the only student who didn’t raise his hand why he didn’t raise his hand. The student replied honestly, "I don’t smell anything."

Socrates put away his smile and told everyone the truth-this is actually a fake apple, and it really has no taste at all.

Even though the facts are very clear, under the great influence of authoritative people, most people can’t stick to their original selves and choose to listen to the authority.

Why did this happen? Let’s study how we were persuaded. The process of persuasion needs four elements: the sender of the information, the content of the information, the communication channel and the audience. We just need to focus on the sender of the message here, that is, the spokesperson. So, how to convey it will be more convincing?

The first is credibility, and credibility can be made from three aspects:

The first aspect is expert, which is what we call authority.

How do experts (authorities) usually convince them?

First, convey the views that the audience agrees with. When he tells us what we already agree with, we will confirm it through previous experience, and then we will find him very credible; Second, introduce yourself as an expert. If an expert loses his title and only has a name, his credibility will be greatly reduced. Of course, people whose names are enough to represent experts, such as Einstein and Hawking, are not excluded. Third, the expression of self-confidence. It is hard to imagine that a timid and hesitant person can convince people, even if he is really an expert, we still can’t believe it. These three points are the reasons why experts can easily convince the audience.

Secondly, if you want to convince each other, you have to make them trust.

One situation is that when we feel that the other party is not trying to convince us, we are often more easily persuaded, that is, persuasion does not require deliberate and hard work, and natural and casual persuasion works best. There is another situation, when the other party stands on the opposite side of his own interests to state, we will be more likely to believe him, because he is not for his own interests at all, and we will feel that such a person is trustworthy. When you have both expertise and credibility, you can also try to convince others.

Of course, we still have two bonus points. If you happen to have them, it will be more beneficial to your persuasion.

The first plus point is attraction. If your appearance is very attractive, it is undoubtedly irresistible. Similarity can also produce attraction, which will make the other person feel closer to you, and of course it is difficult to refuse you;

The second plus point is preference. The other party is your hardcore fan, and he supports everything you say. This is preference and there is no need for reasons.

After knowing the reasons and routines of authority effect, we will understand why authority has the meaning of existence. We just need to keep the habit of thinking and stick to our own ideas, and the authority effect will not be so powerful.

Being able not to be easily persuaded by authority, but also to express different views from authority can precisely reflect independence and innovative spirit. If Galileo did not challenge Aristotle’s authority, how could there be a "law of free fall" in the world? Copernicus did not challenge the authority of the church, and it was difficult for Heliocentrism to appear, and it was also difficult for people to know the real world.

Finally, this chapter ends with a sentence from Aristotle: "I love my teacher, and I love the truth more." Of course, the authority of teachers should be respected, but in the face of truth, it is necessary to distinguish between light and heavy.

Influence

(By Robert Siodini)

Siodini is a famous American social psychologist and the "godfather of influence". Presumably, after reading this article, on the one hand, everyone feels that they should not be easily persuaded by the authority, but on the other hand, they want to improve their persuasiveness. In this book, Dr. Siodini explains to us why some people are extremely persuasive, but many people are always easily deceived. What are the reasons behind these? Read this bestseller and you will understand.

THE END

Original title: "Psychology in Life | Should Experts Listen?" 》