Definition

Email this page to a friend

Influence

(Alias: persuasion)

The fool tells me his reasons. The wise man persuades me with my own.
- Aristotle

To influence is to induce beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviours in other people by influencing their thoughts and actions through specific strategies. Influence is the science of understanding how people process information and the skill of presenting it in a way that causes it to be received, valued internalized and acted upon.

Everyone Has Their Own Truth

Neuroscientists tell us that there is no such thing as objective reality. To prevent our brains from being swamped by the torrent of information that flows over us every day we have become masters of filtering. We absorb what our minds deem to be important and ignore the rest. This filtering process is controlled by emotions expressed as our values, beliefs and attitudes. We believe something to be true only if it is consistent with our strongly held beliefs. Reality therefore is only what we perceive it to be.

Facts, in isolation, have no value. It is our personal belief that a fact represents the truth that makes it significant. In the process of personal development we come upon a new fact, determine if it is worthy of passing through our filter, reflect on its value and either incorporate or exclude it from our perception of truth.

Influence is the process of taking your perception of the truth
and passing it on to others

Aristotle's Components of Influence

One of the most useful and widely applied tutorials on influence has been in the public domain for over 2000 years. The Greek philosopher Aristotle published the classic On Rhetoric around 350 BC. Aristotle suggested that a speaker's influence over his audience flows from the use of three essential devices: ethos (character), pathos (passion) and logos (reasoning).

Ethos is character expressed as integrity, honesty, sincerity, credibility and demonstrated values. Human beings are highly judgmental. Primal forces drive us to classify everyone and everything, squirreling away out shorthand take on the world in our memory banks to drive subsequent conscious or unconscious evaluation and action. Within four minutes of meeting a stranger you will pigeonhole their character in some way. Are you honest? Can I trust you? Are you qualified to be an expert in my area? If the answer is "yes" your advice stands a chance of making it through the your audience's emotional filter. If it's "no" you may as well be speaking to the wind. Some ethos can be derived purely from reputation. Is there a software company chief executive who wouldn't want Microsoft's Bill Gates as a mentor? Reputation aside to exert influence you must also demonstrate ethos by your ability to provide relevant knowledge. Your character is also judged in a more general sense by the degree to which your actions are consistent with your words - especially when you are under pressure.

Don't expect others to listen to your advice and ignore your example. - Jack Gibson, football coach

Pathos is the passion you have for your subject and the empathy you have for others. Before you can persuade others to follow a course of action you need to transparently and passionately believe in it yourself. If you aren't personally convinced, your unspoken emotional queues will be picked up from your body language by your audience's social radar.

In modern English "pathos" means to demonstrate feeling and sympathy for suffering. In the context of any human relationship this extends not only to passion for the knowledge domain but also to displaying empathy for your audience, viewing them as a human beings with emotions, hopes, fears and ambitions. For example, you exhibit pathos by enquiring how people feel about challenging experiences. Properly displayed, pathos recognizes two beliefs that are strongly held by all of humanity:

I am important and should be treated with respect
I have a point of view that should be considered.

Once you have negotiated these critical first steps of "belief" your audience will become much more receptive to your logical argument.

The deepest principle in human nature
is the craving to be appreciated. - Dale Carnegie

Logos is the reasoning you use to build an objective, logical, rational, persuasive, unambiguous, complete and defensible argument. If pathos is the work of the heart, logos is the work of the head, it is the language used to express the goals, techniques, facts and outcomes of human endeavours. Our society reveres logic. People are influenced by logical arguments based on objectivity and the facts. (See the sidebar Framing/Pitching a Logical Argument for further information.)

How to Sell Your Ideas

The essence of Aristotle's argument is that ethos, pathos and logos must all be present to establish influence. For example, without first establishing ethos and pathos the most logical of arguments can be rejected. Feelings compel you to take action; logic is often applied after the fact to justify your actions.

Exposed to all three elements of influence a person's thought processes might flow like this:

He respects my point of view (pathos)
He seems to know what he's talking about (ethos)
He understands my problem (pathos)
He had a problem just like mine (pathos)
His solution sounds logical (logos)
Maybe I should take his advice!

In this way the "logical solution" (logos) has been wrapped around emotions (ethos and pathos) to create a powerful personal belief that motivates action.

Member Comments	33 Comments	24 member ratings
Member Comments		✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✩

RE Definition: Influence

Top 6 Mistakes To Avoid While Working On An Assignment

By alleyjohn » Mon 31-Oct-2022, 23:07, My rating: ✭ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

If youre in your first year of college, you are probably familiar with the challenges of trying to produce an excellent project. But dont think custom assignment writing services will save you every time you have to work on an academic paper. The transition from GCSE to A-Level may seem abrupt, but youll expaerience more difficulties adjusting when doing university tasks. When writing assignments, there are a few common blunders made by first-year university students that can be easily avoided with the right advice. Even the brightest students can make simple mistakes if they are unaware of what they shouldnt do when writing their academic essays.

Spelling error

Even though it might seem simple, poor spelling and punctuation can make the difference between passing and failing an exam. You may remember that the solution you received last time after asking for business assignment help does not have a single spelling or grammatical error. Take my test for me You shouldnt always rely on spellcheck to do the legwork for you because it sometimes misses important mistakes.

Always take additional time to review your work and double-check spelling and grammar before submitting it to your professors because they wont like poor spelling and grammar, and could cost you many points.

Lack of evidence

Youll be required to cite a variety of sources in academic writing to support your claims. Without supporting data, your essay will be a failure. Your entire body of research and justification must be supported by the work of other scholars and theorists. Even while scientific research is frequently required, adopting academic data without your analysis wont help you much in terms of grades. Take my exam for me To fully grasp the question and how it pertains to these theories, you must critically evaluate each argument and draw conclusions.

Poor structure

All effective essays must have a strong organisational framework connecting your thoughts and allowing the essay to flow naturally. You should adhere to instructions given by your instructor, who may ask you to follow a specific format. Global assignment expert The typical structure comprises an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion, but each essay and course may have a different format. The conclusion should summarise your general argument and leave room for further research. Finally, the introduction should have a clear thesis statement. You have the chance to elucidate your points and supporting details in the essays major body. However, its best to limit yourself to one idea in every paragraph for a clearer focus.When writing an academic paper, its important to do your research and back up your claims with evidence. help me with my homework This can be difficult for some students, who may not have strong research skills. To improve your research skills, start by reading extensively on the topic youre writing about. Then, practice finding and analyzing sources to support your arguments.

Repetition

Your academic essay may come off as hurried and boring if you consistently use the same terms and wording. Try to switch up your wording, as long as you do it appropriately. Repetition can give the impression that you dont fully comprehend the subject, which wont help you when it comes time to present your case. dissertation topics Dont add more words to increase your word count because you can miss out on important points and waste valuable points by doing so. Keep in mind that there is a word limit for a reason.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is one of the biggest errors you could make when writing an academic essay. Plagiarism is when you use someone elses words or ideas without giving them proper credit. Dont assume youll get away with it; most schools use a computerised system to check for plagiarism, so make sure you double-check that you havent taken too much from other sources. phd dissertation help If youre hesitant, you may check out a tonne of internet services like Copyscape, which will evaluate your work digitally and tell you whether or not youre safe.

Poor editing

To satisfy the project demands, you should carefully edit all of your written assignments. Before emailing the assignment to the instructor, ensure you have read it. phd thesis writing services Many students commit the error of forgetting to thoroughly read the assignment in order to give the instructors the proper work. Experts who provide operation assignment help revise your paper several times before delivering it. If you have been turning in assignments without reading them beforehand, you must start doing so now if you want to start getting better grades.

Conclusion

These are the six common mistakes stopping you from securing high grades. Do not rush. Always take your time and write. Before making the final submission read it twice, check for errors and rectify it accordingly

Other Resources

Jones soda case study

Macroeconomic assignment help

gart 1500 uwindsor

33 Comments • Page 15 of 33 • Previous « 1… 13 14 15 16 17 …33 » Next

Learn More

CA Service

Tender Preparation

Framing a Logical Argument

1.	Why is the current state undesirable?
2.	Why is the new state highly desirable?
3.	What is the best means to get from current state to new state?

Pitching a Logical Argument

The Five Point Plan
1.	The hook: provide a story or statement which arouses audience interest.
2.	The problem or question: pose a problem or question that has to be solved or answered.
3.	The solution or answer: present your solution.
4.	Benefits: state specific benefits to each member of the audience of adopting the proposed course of action.
5.	Call to action: propose the concrete actions which should follow your presentation.
The Four Part Story
1.	The situation
2.	The complication
3.	The question
4.	The answer