Compliance Gaining: Esteem

Series Summary

Being able to get people to do what you want while getting out of doing what you don't want to do is a big part of life, whoever you are. Whether in business, school, romance, family, friendship, or any other area, gaining and resisting compliance are ever-present aspects of our interpersonal communications. Knowing how to recognize and employ good strategies for getting people to comply with your wishes or resisting complying with the desires of others may make your life run more smoothly.

Tracy Goodwin, the "Red Sweater Lady," may be able to help. She is a professional speaker and an instructor in business communication. In this series, Tracy will give you strategies for both gaining and resisting compliance. You will learn about the importance of esteem, feelings, identity and liking. She will explain negotiation, justification, altercasting, promises and threats, and altruism and debt.

Video Transcript

"Alright, we're talking about compliance and gaining strategies and now we're going to talk about positive esteem and negative esteem. And what this is, what we're communicating with this is, what people are going to think about you. In a positive, if we're trying to build positive esteem, if you do this for me, everybody is going to think you're so wonderful. Everybody is going to see how amazing you are. The whole office is going to be in awe of what you've done. Or we can use a negative tactic. If you don't do this for me, everybody that knows us is going to think you're a jerk. Everybody that was ever your friend is not going to be your friend anymore. Everybody in the office is going to know about it and they're going to think you're an idiot. Or they're going to think you're bad or they're going to think you're mean. So again, this is playing with positive and negative aspects of communication in order to get what we want."