How to Win Friends and/or Influence People

Rule 1: Talk a Lot A. Study by Jennings -Observed over 400 sexually delinquent girls at NY State School for Girls. -Recorded number of times girls interacted with others. Results: 1.Girls who spoke to others the most also received the most interactions from others. 2. These girls were chosen by others as task leaders, i.e., organizers of the group’s work goals. 3. Interestingly, the one who gave out and received the second most interactions were likely to be the socioemotional leaders, i.e., the ones who helped the group solve the social problems between group members.

B. Study by Sorrentino & Boutilier (1975) on Quantity vs. Quality of Verbal Interaction 4 person groups interacted on same task used In Sorrentino (1973) leadership emergence study Each member was placed in separate rooms because one P was actually a confederate. Based on actual transcriptions of the Sorrentino (1973) Study, the Confederate was able to mimic what was said by High Quantity or Low Quantity people in that experiment. High Quantity was the average number of responses for the Upper third of group members and Low Quantity was for the Lower third. In other words the High Quantity person spoke three times as much as the low Quantity person. It is important to note that what they said was identical; only The quantity was different. There were 3 minutes of group discussion for each of 15 trials The High Quality person was correct on 12 of the 15 trials; the Low Quality person was wrong on 12 of the 15 trials.

Note: These results indicate that motivation to be a group member more important than coming up with the right answers. A study by Sorrentino & Field (1986) showed that persons High in Achievement Motivation and Affiliation Motivation talked the most and were elected to be leader of the group. If you looked at Achievement and Affiliation Motivation separately, Affiliation Motivation was more important, as it shows concern for other members.

Rule 2. Conform Hollander’s Idiosyncrasy Credit Model By conforming to group norms people will listen to you and like you. e.g. 1.Management and the Worker: New workers must prove their willingness to be a good group member (bring in sandwiches, get coffee). e.g. 2. One of the nicest people I know. e.g. 3. Research on flight simulations and actual flight crews by Glidewell. e.g. 4. My first Miata Adventure.

Rule 3. Provide Reinforcement. Flatter, Ingratiate, Do favours. In other words, put them in your debt. e.g. Social Exchange Theory (Homans, Thibaut & Kelly). We interact with those who provide us with profit, i.e., where our rewards exceed our costs. By giving rewards people experience profit, but when they perceive they owe you, they will also be glad to do what you want.

Rule 4. Deviate ( from Hollander’s Idiosyncrasy Credit Model) Leader Middle Status Low Status Credit Debit Interestingly, the biggest conformer is the Middle status member. Why?

Well, that’s it folks. Hope you enjoyed the show. Happy Holidays from Judy and Richard