One can move someone to adopt a new attitude, belief, or action by playing with their spheres of influence, or their social influence. Social influence is the science of influence, persuasion, and compliance. Mastering this skill can alter much more than just the opinions of those around you. .
The fact is plain and simple and that is that persuasion and influence is everywhere. Starting Tuesday morning I tried to count the number of times certain things tried to control my thoughts and behavior. This included people telling me to do things, forcing me to do things, asking me to buy things, telling me to pay for things, showing me where to stop and when to go, suggesting how I should think about things, offering me slogans to repeat, songs to remember, attitudes to change, and ideologies to believe. By the time I reached my first class around 12, I lost count somewhere around 500. .
Undoubtably, we live in an environment full of influence and people or things with influence. A large portion of the population makes a living simply getting others to follow them and their ideologies. Marketers attack us everyday trying to persuade us into buying products. Whether a manager encouraging productivity, a policeman directing traffic, a salesperson closing a sale, or a president telling us we need to spend more money on social programs, each of us will be attacked to an uncountable number of influence attempts each day. .
I think society is a massive group of people influencing, persuading, requesting, demanding, and manipulating each other to further their ends. We call it society because we persuade instead of physically force. Imagine if each influence attempt were replaced with physical force. The store owner whacking you across the knees if you didn't purchase that shirt, your boss punching you in the stomach to make you work harder, the policeman simply shooting you in the back for doing 45 mph in a 35 mph zone.