Leadership Through Social Influence

About this course: This course will provide learners with a systematic general framework for analyzing persuasive influence situations. Learners will be able to identify different challenges faced by persuaders and to fashion appropriate strategies for addressing those challenges. The broad goal is to provide learners with not only an extensive persuasion tool kit, but also with an understanding of how different tools are useful in different situations. Specifically, the course will address four broad topics: strategies for influencing people’s personal attitudes; strategies for affecting social factors influencing behavior; strategies for affecting people’s perceived ability to undertake the desired behavior; and strategies for inducing people to act on their existing intentions.

Created by:  Northwestern University

• Taught by:  Daniel J. O’Keefe, Owen L. Coon Professor

  Department of Communication Studies, School of Communication

Basic Info Course 3 of 6 in the Organizational Leadership Specialization Commitment 4 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week Language English How To Pass Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. User Ratings 4.5 stars Average User Rating 4.5See what learners said Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research and teaching university with campuses in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, and Doha, Qatar. Northwestern combines innovative teaching and pioneering research in a highly collaborative environment that transcends traditional academic boundaries.

Syllabus


WEEK 1


Influencing Attitudes



This module discusses the first of four challenges that persuaders often face: getting people to think that what you’re proposing is a good idea. Sometimes, the reason people aren’t already doing what you want is that they’re not yet convinced that they should—that is, they don’t have sufficiently positive attitudes. This module discusses some fundamental strategies for changing people’s attitudes.


8 videos, 3 readings expand

1. Video: Introduction to Course 3 with Dean Blount
2. Reading: Meet your Professor
3. Reading: Course Grading and Logistics
4. Reading: References and Optional Readings
5. Video: Compliance, Persuasion, and Message Adaptation
6. Video: Four Persuasion Challenges
7. Video: Influencing Attitudes: Module Introduction
8. Video: Consequence-Based Arguments
9. Video: Consequence Desirability
10. Video: Consequence Likelihood
11. Video: Addressing Counterarguments

Graded: Influencing Attitudes

WEEK 2


Influencing Social Factors



Even if people have positive attitudes about what you’re proposing, social factors—what they think other people do or want them to do—might lead them to not do what you want. This module discusses several ways in which such social considerations might pose a challenge for persuaders—and discusses how to successfully influence such factors.


4 videos expand

1. Video: Influencing Social Factors: Module Introduction
2. Video: Changing Descriptive Norms
3. Video: De-emphasizing Prescriptive Norms
4. Video: Changing Prescriptive Norms

Graded: Influencing Social Factors

WEEK 3


Influencing Perceived Ability



People can have positive attitudes about your advocated action, and all the social considerations can be lined up positively, but still people might not engage in the desired behavior—because they don’t think they can perform the action. That is, they think the behavior is too difficult, too hard to do, they lack the ability. This module discusses strategies for addressing that challenge—strategies for influencing perceived behavioral ability.


4 videos expand

1. Video: Influencing Perceived Ability: Module Introduction
2. Video: The Importance of Perceived Ability
3. Video: Removing Obstacles
4. Video: Rehearsal and Modeling

Graded: Influencing Perceived Ability

WEEK 4


Converting Intentions into Action



Even when people already have the desired positive attitudes, positive social factors, and high perceived ability to perform the behavior—that is, even when they intend to engage in the behavior you want—even then they might fail to do so. When people have the intentions you want but aren’t acting on them, then the challenge is to get people to convert those intentions into actions. This module discusses several strategies that can encourage people to do that.


6 videos expand

1. Video: Converting Intentions Into Actions: Module Introduction
2. Video: Prompts
3. Video: Explicit Planning
4. Video: Inducing Guilt
5. Video: Course Summary: Adapting to the Challenge at Hand
6. Video: Conclusion of Course 3 with Dean Blount

Graded: Converting Intentions into Action