INTERPERSONAL INFLUENCE
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Ashley White
April 07, 2014
Dr. Melanie Laliker
Interpersonal Influence
A definition of interpersonal influence is the use of verbal and nonverbal
behaviors to persuade a partner or group towards a decision in which you are enforcing.
The human race experiences influence attempts on a daily basis for many instances in life
some of which are health, nutrition, and exercise. Within close relationships such as
romantic, sexual, teammate, and coach and player relationships, the use of support and
persuasion tactics is highly influential. If used in the correct manner, with the right
situation, some influence tactics work better than others (Mackert et al. 2011; Otto-Salaj
et al. 2008; Thompson et al. 2013; Manne et al. 2011; Gillet et al. 2009; Evans et al.
2012; Blanchard et al. 2009; Standiford 2013).
Romantic relationships are often studied in conjunction with health behaviors and
an individual’s decision to cease or continue this behavior. There are a variety of topics
discussed and researched within romantic relationships such as weight management,
nutrition, exercise, cancer, and condoms. Within a romantic dyad, one partner’s use of
motivation and negotiation, whether direct or indirect, affects the other partner’s choices
and decisions when used in a health and behavior standpoint (Manne et al. 2011;OttoSalaj et al. 2008; Thompson et al. 2013). There are many factors to look at while
evaluating and researching the effectiveness of influence attempts between romantic
relationships. All of these factors have to do with the actual message such as legitimacy,
explicitness, dominance and reasoning. Along with the different meanings behind the
message, the influencer must also work on their personal delivery of the message such as
their politeness, the others resistance, their use of reward strategies, their referent power
attempts, and their use of informational tactics, along with support (Manne et al.
2011;Otto-Salaj et al. 2008; Thompson et al. 2013). Research found that positive
influence attempts contained the strategies that involved politeness, lack of dominance,
both reward and referent power attempts, and less explicitness.
When trying to influence another partner, one must use both nonverbal and verbal
negotiation tactics. The choice of nonverbal or verbal depends upon the situation.
Regarding some issues such as HIV and condom use, and weight management, the
decision of one member of the dyad to negotiate or motivate the other partner, may affect
the other partner’s choice to make healthy or unhealthy decisions (Otto-Salaj et al. 2008;
Thompson et al. 2013). Many attempts, through a romantic partner, of persuasion and
influence, when regarding health and lifestyle issues, can be seen as positive or negative.
When using attempts that provide knowledge, information, and reasoning, the receiver of
the message will, in most circumstances, change their lifestyle. Such attempts involve
someone being more knowledgeable in the field, such as a nurse or a doctor, or someone
who has researched the issue and provides many reasons why this would be beneficial to
the individual or relationship (Manne et al. 2011;Otto-Salaj et al. 2008; Thompson et al.
2013). According to most research, informational influence strategies typically gain
positive influence attempts. As opposed to when a partner attempts to exert their
dominance within the relationship and the situation, this then causes the other partner to
react negatively, usually resisting and lashing out to the influence attempt; often
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increasing the negative behaviors (Otto-Salaj et al. 2008; Thompson et al. 2013). An
example of this is a romantic partner putting their relationship on the line due to weight
gain and the opposing partner then choosing to do more unhealthy behaviors then gaining
more weight.
Males and females, according to the research, react differently to certain influence
attempts (Mackert et al. 2011; Otto-Salaj et al. 2008). Males react better to reward power
attempts such as bribing the person towards something or speaking of what they will gain
from this change in behavior; while females, on the other hand, respond better to referent
power attempts, which are attempts that show respect and look at the benefits to the
relationship rather than what they will gain from this behavioral change (Otto-Salaj et al.
2008). In contrast to Mackert et al. and Otto-Salaj et al., Thompson et al. did not see a
gender difference within the responses to the interpersonal influence techniques and
situations. Standiford particularly addresses the issues with interpersonal influence and
active females. One of the influences among female athletes competition, is that of
comparison to male athletes; males naturally have greater speed and skill when it comes
to competing in sports. Most active females receive influence and pressure attempts from
family members, peers, and even teachers; along with the issue discussed above.
Research spoke about how family members can negatively or positively influence a
female athletes performance. If their family supports the sport and their diet necessary to
excel, takes them to events, pays for events and so on; then the family is then exerting a
positive interpersonal influence towards their athlete. As opposed to the latter, family
members can also negatively influence their athlete with non-supportive behaviors and
actions.
Interpersonal influence also greatly affects close relationships regarding things
such as health and exercise. Close relationships such as families, friends, and coworkers,
address the issues and attempt to change or persuade the issues of physical activity,
nutrition, exercise, and overall body health (Mackert et al. 2011). With physical activity,
one stays fit, and therefore, in most circumstances, lives a healthier and hopefully longer
life. Since exercise is such a huge factor towards our health, most of our close
relationships have affects and influence towards this particular subject. In one particular
study, they looked into the negative influences regarding interpersonal influence towards
exercise and nutrition, one of these influences is known as undermining. Undermining is
the use of influence attempts that don’t directly address the situation, but negatively
affect the individual being influenced (Mackert et al. 2011). Although undermining is
largely affective, in most cases, it can be resisted; one particular situation of this
resistance is when undermining is being used about ones need to exercise, but the
individual is actually already content with their weight, so the attempts do not affect or
influence them in any positive or negative way (Mackert et al. 2011). But, as most
researchers have found, every individual factor affects each person and situation
completely differently, so it is hard to completely draw conclusions upon these findings.
Exercise and physical activity is usually correlated with sports and sports teams, another
area that contains a lot of different types of influence attempts.
Another instance in which close relationships have high influence rates are those
relationships formed within a sports team (Gillet et al. 2009; Evans et al. 2012; Blanchard
et al. 2009). A coach and player relationship affects competitors of all levels from peewee
to national competitions. National competitors in many sports have spoken of their
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positive and negative interpersonal influences from their coaches. Judo competitors, on
the national level, in specific, were quoted to have said that their coaches’ support of the
athlete’s autonomy positively correlated with their self-determined motivation and
performance (Gillet et al. 2009). According to Gillet et al. article; Influence of coaches’
autonomy support on athletes’ motivation and sport performance: A test of the
hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the autonomy coaching style, is
one in which the coach focuses on the individual and their abilities and self-motivating
behaviors; was seen to be a positive interpersonal influence towards the athlete and
therefore directly affecting their competition success. They also can break an athlete
down through negative influence attempts such as yelling, ignoring, and exerting their
dominance in a negative manner towards the athlete. But coaches are not the only
influencers within a sport and team setting.
Along with coach and player relationships and their influence, player-to-player or
teammate relationships also help positively or negatively influence performance and
personal achievements. Whether an individual sport, or a team sport, teammates influence
the athlete’s individual performance and dedication to the team. Most athletes, even on
individual sports such as track stated in regards to their teams influence on their
motivation and performance that “none of them has made it there on their own”(Evans et
al. 2012). According to Evans et al. findings the teammates and the team were identified
in several aspects of interpersonal influence such as; group as the reason to compete,
motivational influences, social comparison, teamwork, and social influences. Teammates
are one of the greatest influences in an athlete’s life, due to the fact that the usual athlete
spends the majority of their time with their teammates. Most teammates positively
influence each other with things such as motivation and support; but there are also
negative influences such as comparison to others that can influence their teammate in the
wrong way.
Interpersonal influence is used daily in many types of relationships and in many
situations, it is also something that is researched in depth in many different ways,
scenarios, techniques, and situations. The ones addressed in this paper, can be seen as
important situations that could result instances of life or death. Cancer screening, HIV
prevention, weight management, nutrition, exercise, and competition are all topics spoken
about in the above paragraphs. Influence attempts, both negative and positive, come from
parents, family members, romantic and sexual partners, friends, teammates, and coaches.
There are many routes a person can choose to take while trying to influence another
individual, many which lead to completely different outcomes from acceptance and
change of behaviors, to resistance and worsening of behaviors. Influence attempts have
the ability to build a person up or break someone down.
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Works Cited.
Evans, B., Eys, M., Wolf, S. (2012). Exploring the nature of interpersonal influence in
elite individual sport teams. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 25, 448-462.
DOI: 10.1080/10413200.2012.752769
Gillet, N., Vallerand, R., Amoura, S., Baldes, B. (2009). Influence of coaches’ autonomy
support on athletes’ motivation and sport performance: A test of the hierarchical
model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 11,
155-161.
DOI:10.1016/j.psychsport.2009.10.004.
Mackert, M., Stanforth, D., & Garcia, A. A. (2011). Undermining of nutrition and
exercise decisions: Experiencing negative social influence. Public health
Nursing, 28, 402-410. doi:10.1111/1525-1446.2011.00940
Manne, S., Etz R., Hudson, S., Medina-Forrester, A., Boscarino J., Bowen, D., Weinberg
D. (2011). A qualitative analysis of couples’ communication regarding colorectal
cancer screening using the Interdependence Model. Patient Education and
Counseling, 87, 18-22.
DOI:10.1016/J.PEC.2011.07.012
Otto-Salaj, L., Reed, B., Brondino, M. J., Gore-Felton, C., Kelly, J. A., & Stevenson, L.
(2008). Condom use negotiation in heterosexual African American adults:
Responses to types of social power-based strategies. Journal of Sex Research, 45,
150-163.
DOI:10.1080/00224490801987440
Standiford, A. (2013). The secret struggle of the active girl: A qualitative synthesis of
interpersonal factors that influence activity in adolescent girls. Health Care for
Women International, 34, 860-877.
DOI: 10.1080/07399332.2013.794464
Thompson, C., Romo, L., & Dailey, R. M. (2013). The effectiveness of weight
management influence messages in romantic relationships. Communication
research reports, 30(1), 34-45.
DOI:10.1080/08824096.2012.746222