Persuasion Article Review

Q1.
Milgram’s study of obedience was an experiment set to investigate the effect of authority on obedience using the background of German soldier who committed horrific deeds during the Holocaust, whereby he concluded that people practiced obedience out of desire to appear cooperative or out of fear. This study was an example of the power of persuasion since it involved the investigation of what influenced people to do something (obey) in relation to those in power. Coercion and persuasion overlapped but the experiment involved more of persuasion since he did not threaten the autonomy of the subjects as they could still say no and it is evident that a number of people did say no. The experiment’s subjects conformed to the requirement following a wide range of reasons citing early socialization to authority. Ever since a young age, we experience some form of authority at home from our parents, at school from our teachers and in church from our religious leaders with whom if we didn’t obey the set norms resulted to punishment. An ethical problem with the study is that the amount of volts in the electric shocks administered to learners each time they answered a question wrongly. According to human rights activists, this form of punishment is not ethical considering the fact that humans should not be subject to any form of an experiment that results to pain as it conflicts with actual moral beliefs. Although participants were fine after the study, the mode of punishment posed potential for psychological problems, damage and trauma since participants were led to believe they had killed someone. It was clear that the experiment resulted to even ordinary people becoming agents of destruction by administering electric shocks up to the maximum level where the victim seemed dead. In real life, the study can be applied to explain terrorism instances that were rampant in the United Sates about three decades ago to provide insight as to why mentally stable individual’s can become evil in a matter of minutes. However, it is important to note that in this example, obedience alone cannot be fully used to explain why an individual may want to harm a selected group of people. Another example of the experiment is the need to wear uniforms in different areas such as prison since uniforms play a massive role in how prisoners act towards them. Uniforms influence people to obey that stated rules especially in the presence of the individual wearing it.
Q2.
Cognitive dissonance is a depressing and unpleasant status that results from situations when a person holds two thoughts that are psychologically inconsistent. The theory is one of the most significant and influential in social psychology as it helps understand the aspects of commitment and consistency, two most important things that accompany everyday decisions in life. In most cases, when an individual makes a decision, he or she experiences psychological pressure to behave in a manner that is consistent with the commitment. When one is consistent, he or she becomes efficient in whatever situation that they may find themselves in and they become trustworthy as they are committed to what they decide to accomplish. Cognitive dissonance therefore becomes the basis of persuasive power of commitment citing the example of college sorority initiation resulting to pressure that seeks to remove existing alternatives by changing one of the two dissonant cognitions. Once the decision to join a certain house is made, inconsistencies would not be attractive since we closed on the advantages of joining another house and therefore people would work hard to avoid dissonance something that is obnoxious and painful. Persuaders use the dissonance aspect to hook clients for example to buy something. In most cases when people have show effort on a boring task, the aspect of boredom becomes inconsistent with the recognition of one’s wasted time leading to people seeking to reduce wasted time. Human beings are born stubborn and will always resist changing their minds once they make a decision. To avoid dissonance after making a decision, individuals are advised to change their attitudes, derogate the choice they didn’t make, add new thoughts, alter behavior and distract oneself.
Q3.
The rule of reciprocity indicates that as humans, we are bound to repay all kind of debts especially when someone does something for us. The concept of reciprocity is a principle of influence and is effective as a shortcut to decision making processes that are reliable and reasonable. Decisions are made solely based on prior experience with a given situation or cultural pressure to return a favor. Persuaders use reciprocity that most people find unpleasant as it yields a feeling of obligation. According to Cialdini, the followers of Hare Krishna were obliged to bestow flowers and in turn receive contributions. Reciprocity usually works in persuasion since people believe in the cultural rule of making concessions to persons who make yields to you. However, reciprocity does not always work citing the example of counterparts that ask for unreasonable requests. In other instances, sales persons make tricky requests and individuals should be careful to recognize legitimate favors.