The Use of Influence Tactics in Persuasion

Abstract American undergraduates (N = 154) were presented with vignettes in which a downward influence situation was described, together with conditions of (a) the types of jobs of the agent and target of the influence situation, (b) the role identities of the actors, and (c) the goal of the actor attempting to influence the target. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the hypothesis that the preference order for influence tactics would be invariant across situations (cf. Rule, Bisanz, & Kohn, 1985). The likelihood and relative degree to which the influence tactics were predicted to be used were similar across situations, providing support for the schema-based notion of a “persuade package.”

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