An October 23, 2013, article on the Forbes website looks at the use of social influence in business and society. “Eight Scientifically Proven Ways to Influence Business and Society” by Raf Weverbergh examines ways in which businesses use influence to get people to accept ideas or products or invest in them. It looks at eight ways which this is done, based on the work of psychologist John C. Turner. These eight ways include how small groups can influence larger groups; the importance of consistency; the use of friends to convince others; skill at solving word problems; avoiding being cast as a “radical outsider”; employ flexible style of negotiation with goals; get an insider on your side; and use a “snowball” effect. All of these ways represent some kind of activity of influence. Small groups influencing larger groups, the use of friends, consistency, solving word problems, and the insider and snowball approaches represent real influence directly on the way people think which is intended to influence their actions (i.e., to purchase a product or a service). Avoidance of the “radical outsider” label implies that one’s competitors could cause imagined influence (working on thoughts). Flexible negotiation relates to indirect influencing on thoughts or people.
Since social psychology studies how people influence each other in thought, emotion, and action, this article is very relevant since it shows how businesses use social influence to sway people one way or the other to promote their own or undermine the competition’s products and services, or to do the same with ideas and innovations.
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- Weverbergh, Raf. “Eight Scientifically Proven Ways to Influence Business and Society.” Forbes. Forbes, 23 October 2013. Web. 21 November 2013.
